Yes yes... everybody in the family has been rather busy and hyped up with eager anticipation for the last of the Tan brothers to get hitched. Yes siree! My youngest BIL and soon-to-be SIL are getting hitched in May.
My FIL has tailored a pair of pants to go along with his jacket recently -- it was a suit he made for our wedding 5 years ago but the pants' missing. My MIL said she will go shopping when she's on leave. Elder SIL has already shopped for her dress at Celia Low and a flower gal dress for Anthea. Older BIL said he will wear the jacket that he wore to our wedding, but probably have to get it taken in cos he's lost quite a bit of weight since.
Louis had tried on his jacket suit, complete with shirt, tie and shoes weeks ago and declared he's all prepared. He's got a new pair of Paul Smith cuff links to wear, compliments of our Korean friend, HY, who swing into Singapore last month. Hmmm.... seems like the guys seem to have it easier. They can always "recycle" their suits and nobody would be none the wiser. We females have gotta shop for new clothes cos we do not want to be seen wearing the same piece of dress we wore years ago. That or partly becos we can't squeeze ourselves back to the dress we bought years ago ;)
I did some shopping for Faith and myself this week. After prowling through a number of baby clothes outlets, finally got a fairly decent off-white dress with a short brown cardigan at GAP. For moi, I went to a shop recommended by K and gotten a dress and matching pair of shoes too.
Since this is going to be the final wedding for our family for a long while to come (till the next generation weds ;)) , I guess we are pulling out all the stops and aiming to dress ourselves to the hilt. And we've booked a room for ourselves at the wedding hotel too on the actual day. For once, Louis and I won't have to leave the party early so that we can put Faith to bed. This is one wedding in which we intend to stay till the last dessert course :)
Yippee!
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Leaking pipe in the house - Part II
There's going to be more on this saga about my leaking pipe, although I do hope once this problem has been solved, it would be the last time that I hear from HDB or my downstairs neighbour. *Fingers crossed*
A silver lining in all this hoo-ha with the leaking pipes and ceiling is that our home renovation contract comes with a 5-year guarantee. Thus, we have not forked out a single cent for all the repair works that had been carried out.
Since the cost is to be borned by the renovation company, it comes as no surprise to me that they are requesting for a further confirmation that indeed, my neighbour's dripping ceiling is due to a leaking pipe from our house. Becos the cost of this repair work certainly wouldn't be cheap and its not going to be something as simple as the past, with just patching works involved.
Hence, they have requested for us to not use the water in our house for a 24-hour period so that they can take the meter reading and also see if there's immediate improvement to the leaking ceiling downstairs. If it is, then, it can be sure that our pipes are the culprit. You can just imagine that if we are not to use any water for an entire day, we need to find alternative accommodations for the night.
After some discussion between Louis and myself, we decided to check ourselves into a hotel and to do it soon at that. Thanks to my MIL, who joined a few hotel membership programmes, we are able to make use of one of her vouchers for a free 1-night stay at Fairmont this Friday.
If there's still no improvement in our neighbour's ceiling after this 24-hour period, the next step for us would involve some hacking and drilling into our existing kitchen cabinets so that they can install and redirect live water supply to a new pipe.
Call me an ostrich, but I don't even want to think about the trouble and mess that would bring! Meanwhile, I'm going to just enjoy the 1-night stay at the hotel, together with Louis and Faith. Hopefully, the weather is good. Then, Faith can have some splash time at the pool.
A silver lining in all this hoo-ha with the leaking pipes and ceiling is that our home renovation contract comes with a 5-year guarantee. Thus, we have not forked out a single cent for all the repair works that had been carried out.
Since the cost is to be borned by the renovation company, it comes as no surprise to me that they are requesting for a further confirmation that indeed, my neighbour's dripping ceiling is due to a leaking pipe from our house. Becos the cost of this repair work certainly wouldn't be cheap and its not going to be something as simple as the past, with just patching works involved.
Hence, they have requested for us to not use the water in our house for a 24-hour period so that they can take the meter reading and also see if there's immediate improvement to the leaking ceiling downstairs. If it is, then, it can be sure that our pipes are the culprit. You can just imagine that if we are not to use any water for an entire day, we need to find alternative accommodations for the night.
After some discussion between Louis and myself, we decided to check ourselves into a hotel and to do it soon at that. Thanks to my MIL, who joined a few hotel membership programmes, we are able to make use of one of her vouchers for a free 1-night stay at Fairmont this Friday.
If there's still no improvement in our neighbour's ceiling after this 24-hour period, the next step for us would involve some hacking and drilling into our existing kitchen cabinets so that they can install and redirect live water supply to a new pipe.
Call me an ostrich, but I don't even want to think about the trouble and mess that would bring! Meanwhile, I'm going to just enjoy the 1-night stay at the hotel, together with Louis and Faith. Hopefully, the weather is good. Then, Faith can have some splash time at the pool.
Friday, April 11, 2008
Building confidence
Faith and I are thoroughly enjoying ourselves at the Little Gym class. One of the important things that kids learn through being at the Little Gym is about building confidence. Yesterday, I learnt something else too about myself. It is that even I myself require confidence too. Confidence and bravado in doing some of those tumble and play activities so that Faith can see me having fun at them and be willing to try some of these activities too.
The typical routine for the class would start with everyone gathered in a circle and the instructor would bring out a box of bells. The kids are encouraged to go forward to the instructor and pick out a bell for themselves from the box. That by itself requires confidence especially in some of the more introverted or reserved kids to be able to walk forward, reach out and take a toy. With bells in their hands, the class would start singing a welcome song, jingling and banging the bells on the floor.
After the song, the kids would put the bells back into the box and the instructor would start sharing about the lesson theme for the day. Last week's lesson was about the importance of giving ample hugs and kisses to children and yesterday's was about nutrition. Then comes the fun stuff, where the instructor would show or demonstrate with some willing kid various tumble and play activities. So far, these activities include doing somersaults, walking with their hands like a wheelbarrow and many others.
What we did yesterday seemed more like an acrobatic stunt to me. It required the parent to sit on the floor with their knees drawn up. You then place your child's back leaning against your propped up shin, with your feet in between at the base of their backside. The child should be looking forward. Putting your two hands on their shoulder, you lower yourself onto the floor, with shin lifted to be parallel to the floor. With a quick flip of your lower legs, you toss the kid up and over your head, with her landing on her hands and knees slightly farther from where your head is.
As I was doing it the first time with Faith, I couldn't help but "hear" the voices of my mom and MIL, wondering if they would be berating me or gasping in shock at what I was about to do. Blame it on the Asian background. But coming from one, I know my parents and my late grandma would always be nagging at me to be careful with children as their bones and all are still fragile and it can be so easy to twist/break/strain their hands/legs/neck/back if you're not careful. Whenever we see the Caucasians tumbling around with their kids or doing dare-devil stunts, we can't help but mumble under our breaths, saying "Aiyoh... crazy Ang Mohs... not afraid to die...".
Despite the slight fear and the possibility of getting my ears blasted off (by my mom) should anything untoward happened, I said a quick prayer as I tossed Faith up and over my head, landing her (thankfully) safe and sound on her knees just above my head.
Upon landing, Faith had this look on her face. Its the one where she is deciding whether she should be laughing in glee at this new act or to scrounge her face up and break into loud wales. Deciding to act fast, I make a big to-do out of clapping my hands, telling her "Wow, Faith! Wasn't that fun?"
And then she smiled... *thank goodness*
That's why I said it require the parents themselves to build confidence in their ability to carry out some these activities and not worry that harm would come to their kids. Truly, I appreciate that every lesson, the instructor would remind the parents not to have any undue expectations of their kids and never to compare what their kids can do vis-a-vis others. Yes, the idea is to expose and let the kids play in a safe and controlled environment. However, if they are fearful or do not want to do any of the activities, don't force them. It just means that they are not ready for it now.
As for Faith, we tried the feat a second time and this time, she happily broke out into delighted laughter. Now, she's confidently flipping somersaults. I just tried it this morning with her and I was surprised when she allowed me to fold her head downwards onto the mattress and flip her over. She was giggling and laughing as she landed softly on her back on the mattress.
Even though it has only been 3 lessons at the Little Gym, I can see that Faith is starting to slowly open up and enjoy herself at class. She's less afraid to reach out for the toys when they are offered to her, she crawls merrily all over the floor of the gym and mostly, she screams loudly and clap her hands in joy. The other stand-by instructor in the class was remarking yesterday that she didn't know Faith had it in her to be able to scream so loudly :)
So yes... my little baby is slowly and steadily building confidence in herself with each Little Gym experience. And this mummy finds great joys in watching all her little accomplishments.
Good job, Faith!
The typical routine for the class would start with everyone gathered in a circle and the instructor would bring out a box of bells. The kids are encouraged to go forward to the instructor and pick out a bell for themselves from the box. That by itself requires confidence especially in some of the more introverted or reserved kids to be able to walk forward, reach out and take a toy. With bells in their hands, the class would start singing a welcome song, jingling and banging the bells on the floor.
After the song, the kids would put the bells back into the box and the instructor would start sharing about the lesson theme for the day. Last week's lesson was about the importance of giving ample hugs and kisses to children and yesterday's was about nutrition. Then comes the fun stuff, where the instructor would show or demonstrate with some willing kid various tumble and play activities. So far, these activities include doing somersaults, walking with their hands like a wheelbarrow and many others.
What we did yesterday seemed more like an acrobatic stunt to me. It required the parent to sit on the floor with their knees drawn up. You then place your child's back leaning against your propped up shin, with your feet in between at the base of their backside. The child should be looking forward. Putting your two hands on their shoulder, you lower yourself onto the floor, with shin lifted to be parallel to the floor. With a quick flip of your lower legs, you toss the kid up and over your head, with her landing on her hands and knees slightly farther from where your head is.
As I was doing it the first time with Faith, I couldn't help but "hear" the voices of my mom and MIL, wondering if they would be berating me or gasping in shock at what I was about to do. Blame it on the Asian background. But coming from one, I know my parents and my late grandma would always be nagging at me to be careful with children as their bones and all are still fragile and it can be so easy to twist/break/strain their hands/legs/neck/back if you're not careful. Whenever we see the Caucasians tumbling around with their kids or doing dare-devil stunts, we can't help but mumble under our breaths, saying "Aiyoh... crazy Ang Mohs... not afraid to die...".
Despite the slight fear and the possibility of getting my ears blasted off (by my mom) should anything untoward happened, I said a quick prayer as I tossed Faith up and over my head, landing her (thankfully) safe and sound on her knees just above my head.
Upon landing, Faith had this look on her face. Its the one where she is deciding whether she should be laughing in glee at this new act or to scrounge her face up and break into loud wales. Deciding to act fast, I make a big to-do out of clapping my hands, telling her "Wow, Faith! Wasn't that fun?"
And then she smiled... *thank goodness*
That's why I said it require the parents themselves to build confidence in their ability to carry out some these activities and not worry that harm would come to their kids. Truly, I appreciate that every lesson, the instructor would remind the parents not to have any undue expectations of their kids and never to compare what their kids can do vis-a-vis others. Yes, the idea is to expose and let the kids play in a safe and controlled environment. However, if they are fearful or do not want to do any of the activities, don't force them. It just means that they are not ready for it now.
As for Faith, we tried the feat a second time and this time, she happily broke out into delighted laughter. Now, she's confidently flipping somersaults. I just tried it this morning with her and I was surprised when she allowed me to fold her head downwards onto the mattress and flip her over. She was giggling and laughing as she landed softly on her back on the mattress.
Even though it has only been 3 lessons at the Little Gym, I can see that Faith is starting to slowly open up and enjoy herself at class. She's less afraid to reach out for the toys when they are offered to her, she crawls merrily all over the floor of the gym and mostly, she screams loudly and clap her hands in joy. The other stand-by instructor in the class was remarking yesterday that she didn't know Faith had it in her to be able to scream so loudly :)
So yes... my little baby is slowly and steadily building confidence in herself with each Little Gym experience. And this mummy finds great joys in watching all her little accomplishments.
Good job, Faith!
Tuesday, April 08, 2008
Leaking pipe in the house
Did I just say that there's nothing that I don't love about our house except for those unwanted intruders? Make that two things I don't like about the house!
To be frank, its really not the fault of our unit. Blame it on the fact that the flat is old, or that our renovation was the culprit or even perhaps, our renovation contractor was not savvy/thorough enough. For the last one year, there was a constant problem plaguing us and our direct neighbour one floor below us. The problem is one of water leakage, most probably arising from the copper pipes running through our kitchen or the bathrooms.
The very first time our neighbours notified HDB of a leaking ceiling in their kitchen, we had gotten our renovation contractor to come in to patch up the water outlets in our common bathroom and kitchen. While that seemed to solve our neighbour's problem for a while, it appears that some 6 months later, the problem resurfaced.
At that time, it appeared that the leak was now coming from the toilet ceiling in their master bedroom. Hence, our contractor was contacted again. The solution? Fully patch the water outlets in the 2 bathrooms and to apply a coat of water proofing sealant on our bathroom floors. Apparently, the first time that they patched the water outlets, they didn't do a good enough job. The HDB clerk-of-works officer asked that they fully seal up the drainage holes found under the water outlets.
As for the water proofing sealant on our bathroom floors, we later got our contractor to sand it off again becos our bathroom tiles, which were non-slip, became so slippery with the coating. We fear that my mom or Faith might slip and fall when there's water on the floor.
Again, that stop-gauge measure seemed to work for a little while. Alas, last week, I opened the door in the morning to find my neighbour from downstairs standing outside, looking rather apologetic. She told me that her kitchen is leaking again and if it was alright for her to contact HDB about it. I told her to go ahead as we have tried a few solutions on our end too. I can't think of how else to resolve her problem.
Despite the inconveniences to her, she was really very nice about the entire saga. Even though we had to carry some of these repair works on our end, its rather minor compared to the inconveniences and distress the leaking ceiling might have caused to her and her family.
Yesterday, the HDB officer came to our house, along with my renovation contractor. After checking around, she shared her hypothesis that the problem might be due to a leaking pipe. But she couldn't confirm that with certainly becos all the pipes have been concealed during the renovation work.
They decided to test the hypothesis by asking us to stop using the water supply in the house for a few hours today. At the agreed time, the HDB officer came over to note the meter reading, returning 3 hours later to check again. Apparently, the meter moved 12 units during this time. She noted that the movement for this period was considered to be very high especially when we assured her that we didn't use the water at all during this 3-hour time frame.
Hence, the problem indeed was a leaking pipe. But becos everything has been concealed, she has no way of seeing where the problem area lies. A probable location is the T-joint (whatever that means) or anywhere along the pipes running to and from our kitchen and bathrooms. Regardless, the situation on hand now doesn't look good becos it would certainly involve hacking into my existing kitchen cabinets no matter what. Sigh...
I'm now waiting for my contractor to get back to me. My worry about the entire situation is any hacking and drilling would bring not only inconveniences but possible hazard since we are nearly always at home and we have a crawling toddler that's curious to explore anything different. On the other hand, if I put myself in my neighbour's shoes, I can most definitely empathise with her and should therefore look towards an early resolution of the leaking pipes issue. Sigh... a most vexing problem...
Let's hope my contractor has good news for me, although I think it would be a miracle is he really has a solution that does not involve any hacking on my end. Double sigh...
To be frank, its really not the fault of our unit. Blame it on the fact that the flat is old, or that our renovation was the culprit or even perhaps, our renovation contractor was not savvy/thorough enough. For the last one year, there was a constant problem plaguing us and our direct neighbour one floor below us. The problem is one of water leakage, most probably arising from the copper pipes running through our kitchen or the bathrooms.
The very first time our neighbours notified HDB of a leaking ceiling in their kitchen, we had gotten our renovation contractor to come in to patch up the water outlets in our common bathroom and kitchen. While that seemed to solve our neighbour's problem for a while, it appears that some 6 months later, the problem resurfaced.
At that time, it appeared that the leak was now coming from the toilet ceiling in their master bedroom. Hence, our contractor was contacted again. The solution? Fully patch the water outlets in the 2 bathrooms and to apply a coat of water proofing sealant on our bathroom floors. Apparently, the first time that they patched the water outlets, they didn't do a good enough job. The HDB clerk-of-works officer asked that they fully seal up the drainage holes found under the water outlets.
As for the water proofing sealant on our bathroom floors, we later got our contractor to sand it off again becos our bathroom tiles, which were non-slip, became so slippery with the coating. We fear that my mom or Faith might slip and fall when there's water on the floor.
Again, that stop-gauge measure seemed to work for a little while. Alas, last week, I opened the door in the morning to find my neighbour from downstairs standing outside, looking rather apologetic. She told me that her kitchen is leaking again and if it was alright for her to contact HDB about it. I told her to go ahead as we have tried a few solutions on our end too. I can't think of how else to resolve her problem.
Despite the inconveniences to her, she was really very nice about the entire saga. Even though we had to carry some of these repair works on our end, its rather minor compared to the inconveniences and distress the leaking ceiling might have caused to her and her family.
Yesterday, the HDB officer came to our house, along with my renovation contractor. After checking around, she shared her hypothesis that the problem might be due to a leaking pipe. But she couldn't confirm that with certainly becos all the pipes have been concealed during the renovation work.
They decided to test the hypothesis by asking us to stop using the water supply in the house for a few hours today. At the agreed time, the HDB officer came over to note the meter reading, returning 3 hours later to check again. Apparently, the meter moved 12 units during this time. She noted that the movement for this period was considered to be very high especially when we assured her that we didn't use the water at all during this 3-hour time frame.
Hence, the problem indeed was a leaking pipe. But becos everything has been concealed, she has no way of seeing where the problem area lies. A probable location is the T-joint (whatever that means) or anywhere along the pipes running to and from our kitchen and bathrooms. Regardless, the situation on hand now doesn't look good becos it would certainly involve hacking into my existing kitchen cabinets no matter what. Sigh...
I'm now waiting for my contractor to get back to me. My worry about the entire situation is any hacking and drilling would bring not only inconveniences but possible hazard since we are nearly always at home and we have a crawling toddler that's curious to explore anything different. On the other hand, if I put myself in my neighbour's shoes, I can most definitely empathise with her and should therefore look towards an early resolution of the leaking pipes issue. Sigh... a most vexing problem...
Let's hope my contractor has good news for me, although I think it would be a miracle is he really has a solution that does not involve any hacking on my end. Double sigh...
Monday, April 07, 2008
The unwanted intruder
Louis and I have deemed that the purchase of our current house was one of the smartest choice we ever made. There's absolutely nothing that we do not like or love about our house. Except for one little problem... there are some unwanted intruders that pop in every so often that drives me crazy.
Mosquitoes! My most hated insects of all. I have a love-hate relationship with them. They love me (or rather my blood) while I hate each and every one of them to the core. For exactly the same reason that those blood thirsty vampires seemed to love me for.
Our unit is located in the middle of a 19-storey flat. Right outside our balcony window, there's a tall tree. Across a little road from our block of flat, there's a nursery. I suspect that the mosquitoes come from either the tree or the nursery, especially when they fumigate the place every so often.
Usually, the mosquitoes would grant me their first (few) kiss of love. But when we put Faith to sleep earlier at night, she usually sleeps on her own until we are ready to go to bed. It is at these times when she's more susceptible to mosquito bites since Target #1 (i.e. myself) am not on hand to provide food for those blood sucking vampires!
Last week, a mosquito bit her all over her face. She's got bites on her forehead, side of her head, on her right eyelid and another on her hands. Unfortunately, Faith's reaction to mosquito bites are like mine. She develops allergies to the bites and they would swell and turn a bright red. Those bites took almost a week to subside and clear.
The very next day, I hit the pharmacy and NTUC to buy calamine lotion and 2 different types of mosquito repellents to put in the house. I first tried one of those "air-freshener" gel-like canister, placing it on the open window sill of our bedroom.
It seemed to work for a while, but just on Sunday night I'd gotten a mosquito bite on my left arm. Incest, I crept out of our bedroom in the middle of the night to read the instructions on the other pack of insect repellent. This one is an electric mosquito repeller, which you affix a mat into the grill of the heater, shaped in an electrical plug which you promptly place into an electrical outlet. I seem to suffer no further mosquito bites for the rest of the night. Thankfully, Faith didn't have any mosquito bite on her when I checked her first thing on awakening.
While these mosquito repellents all seem to work one way or another, their effect is rather short term. They usually last for a 12-hour basis or the effect seem to wear off after a short spell -- like the gel canister. I would like something that works well on a longer term period, rather than to have to change or plug some sort of insect repellent on a daily basis. But I rather suspect that there's nothing like this available commercially. For now, we just have to be more diligent :(
The above picture shows Faith with her mosquito bites. The circled number representing each bite on her face.
Thursday, April 03, 2008
Fastest milk drinking record for Faith
I hope I wouldn't jinx things just by writing about it. But its the first time today that Faith drank her milk so quickly... 100ml in 5 minutes. For me, that's even better than hitting jackpot or striking lottery.
She went for her Little Gym class today and the timing was at 3 pm, which coincides quite closely for her afternoon milk feed. What with all the exercises, she must be ravenous and thirsty after. We gave her a bottle of milk and she drank it very quickly, stopping with only a few intervals to catch a breather. Yippee!!!
This class that she's in is a much smaller one than the weekend. There was only 5 sets of mother-child participants, including ourselves and one other who was there for a trial class. The kids in this class are however older, and with the exception of the "trialer" and Faith, the rest of the kids are walking and around the age of 18-20 months.
While at The Forum, popped in very quickly to a bookshop to grab some books for Anthea. She's celebrating her birthday this weekend and my SIL requested for books as presents cos she said that Anthea's been doing some bedtime reading on her own these days. Hope these books would be just right for this young budding reader.
She went for her Little Gym class today and the timing was at 3 pm, which coincides quite closely for her afternoon milk feed. What with all the exercises, she must be ravenous and thirsty after. We gave her a bottle of milk and she drank it very quickly, stopping with only a few intervals to catch a breather. Yippee!!!
This class that she's in is a much smaller one than the weekend. There was only 5 sets of mother-child participants, including ourselves and one other who was there for a trial class. The kids in this class are however older, and with the exception of the "trialer" and Faith, the rest of the kids are walking and around the age of 18-20 months.
While at The Forum, popped in very quickly to a bookshop to grab some books for Anthea. She's celebrating her birthday this weekend and my SIL requested for books as presents cos she said that Anthea's been doing some bedtime reading on her own these days. Hope these books would be just right for this young budding reader.
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
Pick up stick
The rate at which our little baby develops and the sheer capacity of her little mind's ability to absorb and learn about the world around her never ceases to amaze me. After all, I've been with her every single day of her life and have watched her grow from a wee little thing who started out in life sleeping, eating and pooping on a 24 hour basis to (what seems suddenly) a budding toddler that is ready to take on the world.Just like a brand new computer with high speed RAM and hard disk that efficiently uploads and downloads information, Faith's carefully watching all of us and learning so very quickly new skills every single day.
At the Little Gym last week, we only tried twice with her to lift her upper body and legs off the ground, letting her walk with her hands. Yesterday, as I was trying to practice those exercises and show my mom what she had learnt, Faith immediately started walking with her hands the moment I lifted her body and legs, like a little wheelbarrow.
In a separate incident, I had introduced a curved stick (like curved handles of umbrellas) to her and showed her how to use the curved end to hook out her toys some weeks ago. This was in a bid to reduce the number of times I have to retrieve her toys and balls from under our TV console :)
At that time, she made a half-hearted attempt to hook out one of her pin balls that rolled under. Just as quickly, she decided to abandon that mini project. Still grabbing the stick in one hand, she crawled and stood up on the other end of our TV console. Using the stick, she tried to hook and yank at some of the photo frames and pictures sitting atop the console instead! As much as I was bemused at her reaction, I had to applaud her for her quick thinking. Talk about improvisation.
Today, I was just sitting unobtrusively in one corner of the living room, watching her play with her toys. When one of the items slide under the TV console, Faith automatically turned around to look for the curved stick. Using it and wriggling her butt to lay flat on her belly, she tried to prod the item out with her stick. Looking at her, I can't help feeling a little proud that my little baby is taking teeny-weeny baby steps towards gaining independence and confidence in herself.
No longer does she first look to us, pointing and grunting in the direction of the toy, waiting for us to retrieve it for her. Well... technically, she still does. But only when she still can't pull out the toy despite her impatient yanking and hooking, which is quite often cos her control of the stick isn't good yet. Hence, she mostly ends up pushing the item further inside than outside :)
Almost on a daily basis, I'm surprised by the things that she picks up and learn. But she's really so adorable now... so full of fun and surprises :)
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