went to eat my favourite ramen with few colleagues & ex-colleagues before popping. =)

my usual. 

this artist mummy is so creative.

what amazes me is the baby is really sleeping! did the mummy place him there after he fell asleep or work around him while he sleeps.. i thought babies are light sleepers.. 

attention to detail. 

the crane is labelled "cranky"..

lol.

my favourite of the collection.

source: http://www.boredpanda.org/wengenn-in-wonderland-sioin-queenie-liao/

and so we all finally meet up yesterday!
we 顺便 celebrated lili's birthday at 鼎泰豐 and headed to starbucks for cake! 

♥

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update: decided to "kop" pj's instangram photo of us.. hehehe.. =)

cant remember when was the last time we took a photo just the two of us. 

♥♥♥

C is for Crochet.

so this is what have i been up to lately.. =)

trial and error many times (with mummy's help) already and hopefully this time it will work..

from a total noob at it, till now you see my stitches are so nice and neat.. 

*self-praise. =P

was suppose to complete it before the bump photoshoot, 

but it did not turn out nice.. so we scrap the idea. =(

hopefully this pair can fit minibean and be ready by her photoshoot =)

yah, we have quite a few photoshoot and the best part? 

they are complimentary from our our wedding photographer, PIERRE OOI! 

three weeks and four days to go....

with less than a month to go...

...more and more people are asking if i am excited. yes, i am excited about the time after the birthing part. lol..

till now, i am still not looking forward to the birthing part at all. wishing and praying very hard that somehow i can miraculously skip that part and to after birth.. anyway to get myself more prepare about what to expect, i have been reading about birthing stories.. after the first day of reading, i decided not to give birth anymore.. all the horror stories of the things that may go wrong! that really scares me..

this birth story is the worst - nella cordelia birth story. its my worst fear of what might happen, though the amniocentesis test came back ok.. but then again, recently a friend gave birth to a baby with extra fluid in the ventricles also and after much test, the baby has hearing problems (permanently or not, still not sure). so i guess i can never ease my mind till i see her. its not about the baby not being "perfect", its about my capability to help her live her life to the fullest which i am afraid i cannot fulfil.

anyway back to the birth stories. but it is also that birth story which kept me reading more - nella's story did not end at her birth. she continued to write and help raise awareness about the amazing abilities of individuals with Down syndrome (read more here) . she reminded me that birth is just the beginning, not the end. go read her blog here! its truly inspiring :)

and so i read more stories but am still scare..

***

with less than a month to go...

... we finally have bought all the baby necessity! now left with the washing and setting up and storage part..

... mummy has started to wash and clean minibean's hand-me-downs.. =) her clothes are so small and cute! she is really lucky to have so many hand-me-downs and some of them are even brand new! thank you everyone!

... the hubs has also fix up the bassinette cot for minibean.. its the travel kind cus there arent much space left in the house.. hopefully she will be comfortable in there. cant wait to put her own elephant, monkey and rabbit inside.

***

with less than a month to go...

we have finally narrow down the last character of her chinese name to four - xuan, ling, min & wei.. =)
so now we wait till she pops out and see what she look like and decides! sounds easy right! =P

and for her english name, we have picked out a few and the ones we like better are...

- abigail (my father's joy), i like the meaning of the name. the look on the hubs face every time he sees her on the ultrascan makes me 90% that this is the name for her.. the 10% is every time i think of the name, i think of the abigail. but looking on the bright side, there is a abigail sin who is a prodigy pianist! WOW!

danielle (God is my judge) - i really like this name too. my only concern is the 'elle' which makes its a little mouthful.. =S

hannah (grace of God)

roxanne (dawn) / rosanne (rose + full of grace) - i like the first and the hubs likes the spelling of the latter though the meaning of the names are different.

i have also been toying if the idea of naming her patience. i always thought i have a reasonable amount of patience but she really stretch that.

patience.. 

... to wait till the time of the month and the month after and month after... while sitting on the bowl for the line to appear. to wait for the first appointment. to see her (a dot) on the screen finally. to finally hear her heartbeat. for the first trimester to be over and my morning sickness to go away. for my bump to show. while waiting for my turn to see the dr at kkh which waits are ridiculously long. while waiting for the test results to come back. for the second trimester to be over so that we will be nearer to the 40 weeks. to know if the extra fluid in her brain would have any physical effect on her (dr says at this moment there is nothing they can do to see if she is really fine. i find this more hard to face than a baby with no name).. 

and now, patience for the 25 days to past which are passing at such a miserable slow rate... -_-"


***

with less than a month to go...

we went for the 36th week scan last friday and she is 3.1 kg already! o.O

more presents for minibean! 

lucky her =)

this time round, its from kiwi - the person i trust most with my hair. 

to think of it, kiwi has been managing my hay since i was back from uni.. at the beginning it was only on and off cus at that time bel still had time for hair treatment and stuff so we usually go to a salon at amk.. then she got more busy and frequent kiwi's more. 

i remembered the first time i had my hair done at her shop.. it was christmas eve 2006 and was to attend a christmas party at one of the hubs (le bf then)'s friend's house in the evening. i was meeting his friends for the first time and i wanted to look "impeccable".. lol.. okok... "presentable" then.. we reach her place around one in the afternoon and taking very long to decide that i wanted to reborn my hair which will take like four hours ending at around 6.. she did not turn me away or ask me to come back other days. in the end, we were done only around 7 plus - on a christmas eve and all her staff has already left and her friend was waiting for her in the shop for their later party! 

you must be thinking, 她有钱赚,为什么会不要! after knowing her for so long, she really can be 有钱赚, 都不要. there was once she turned down a bleach/dye job for my cousin cus she says her hair is damaged already. further bleaching and dyeing will make it worst. the last time i went to trim my hair, i told her that i want to cut my hair short after the photoshoot. but she asked me if i will feel hot if i cant tie my hair during the confinement period. if yes, i should cut it may be only after i can shower since now the hair length is just nice for tying. see! 是不是有钱赚都不要?

she takes really good care of my hair and scalp too. i used to have very sensitive scalp. it gets irritated easily and looking red . so she is always careful of the temperature of the water and hairdryer.. she will also remind her staff of the temperature when she is too busy to do the washing part for me and keep a watchful eye on them. for treatment and stuff, she is always careful not to use chemicals that are not too strong or apply them too close to my scalp. so 细心 right! 

and what i love most about her, she never lets me go out of her shop until she is satisfied. i went to her to help me style my hair for jooch & enhui's wedding dinner. after asking what type of dress i will be wearing, long or short dress and i would like a updo or a relax one, she set to work. she tong the ends of my hair creating relax waves. the finish was already nicer than what i can imagine. but! she felt something was not right and my drooping fringe (she cant tong my fringe so it was normal) was giving me a very tired look. after thinking for awhile, she did braids on my left side, keeping most of the messy fringe out of my face! i love my hair that night! =))

the hubs had also started to let her cut his after ever since she made the bold cut for him for our pre-wedding photoshoot. she cut his hair really short at the sides and still cheekily ask me 你看我剪到那么短, 你怕吗?and though i shook my head but my heart was almost in my mouth. in the end his hair cut turned out nice and he simply loved it.. from then on, he would ask me is it time to cut his already.. lol..

10 things you can do to stop yelling at your kids:

1. Set clear boundaries. 

Kids are not psychic - you have to make the rules clear. If the rules aren't clear, kids have trouble following them. You may assume that your child heard and remembers something you said to them in passing, but they may not. So, you need to be really clear. Instead of saying, "Don't come in the house with wet shoes," say, "When you come in the house, I want you to take your shoes off and leave them by the front door - whether they are wet or not. That way, we won't bring the trash and germs from outside into the house." Now that's clear. Or, if you want your child to pick up their room, physically go in there and show them what you mean (when I was a kid, throwing everything into my closet and closing the door was my idea of cleaning my room). 

2. Set simple consequences. 

Many parents threaten consequences and then don't follow through on them. However, empty threats don't work. 

3. Speak to your child on his or her level. 

Bend down so that you're eye-to-eye. Getting face-to-face makes it easier for them to hear you, listen to you and pay attention. 

4. Be sure your child understands what you are asking. 

After you've instructed your child to do something, have them repeat it back to you. That way, you'll know if they've actually heard it. 

5. Respond every time a rule is broken. 

Be consistent. Each and every time a rule is broken, calmly impose the consequence. 

6. Remind your child of the rule only ONE time. 

Your child gets one reminder. After that, they get a consequence. 

7. Immediately deliver the consequence. 

8. Ask someone to remind you when you're yelling. 

Pick someone who knows you well (a spouse, parent, friend, etc.) and ask them to give you a signal when they see you yelling. 

9. Respond kindly when your child yells at you. 

Instead of shouting back when your child is screaming at you, just calmly say, "I know you're mad at me right now, but please talk to me like I'm someone you love." That stops everyone in their tracks.

10. Take a "parent" time-out. 

Sometimes even parents need a time-out. It doesn't mean you have to go sit in the corner, it just means that you need to take a break. Take a shower. Have a cup of tea or a glass of wine. Revisit the situation later when you're not feeling so angry. In fact, walking out of the room inspires fear far more than yelling does.

source: http://www.drlaura.com/b/10-Things-to-Do-to-Stop-Yelling-at-Your-Kids/998972918980543940.html?utm_campaign=1010stop-yelling-at-your-kids&utm_medium=blog&utm_source=facebook&utm_content=10.10.13&utm_term=link


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something that may be useful in the future.. =)