Fun ‘n Go Tag

Actually, I have nothing on my mind to blog until Elaine tagged me. Wow…this is the first time I kena tag by someone. I feel so honoured.

1. Grab the book nearest to you, turn on page 18 and find line 4.
…least one marketing expense that you have strong suspicion isn’t… (Streetwise Complete Business Plan – hubby’s book)

2. Stretch your left arm out as far as you can.
Hole puncher

3. What is the last thing you watched on TV?
CSI:Supreme Sunday (didn’t finish the whole show, my boy woke up from his nap)

4.Without looking, guess what time it is?
3 pm

5. Now look at the clock, what is the actual time?
3:16 pm

6. With the exception of the computer, what can you hear?
Air-conditioning

7. When did you last step outside? What were you doing?
Few minutes ago. Putting Brae in the car seat to sleep after nursing.

8. Before you started this survey, what did you look at?
Elaine Lee’s blog

9. What are you wearing?
Nursing top with a skirt

10. Did you dream last night?
Couldn’t remember. There were so many dreams last night.

11. When did you last laugh?
This morning. Tickled Brae and I laughed as well.

12. What is on the walls of the room you are in?
Brother-in-law’s framed up certificates

13. Seen anything weird lately?
I don’t think so

14. What do you think of this quiz?
Fun

15. What is the last film you saw?
King Kong (watched with hubby at Imax – leaving Brae with his brothers…no more cinema after that)

16. If you became a multimillionaire overnight, what would you buy?
More insurance and education policies for the kid(s)

17. Tell me something about you that I dunno.
A good listener but not a good talker

18. If you could change one thing about the world, regardless of guilt or politics, what would you do?
No war, please

19. Do you like to dance?
Nope

20. George Bush.
Talk a lot

21. Imagine your first child is a girl, what do you call her?
Myra or Mya (maybe change when the time comes)

22. Imagine your first child is a boy, what do you call him?
First child is a boy and he is called Braedyn

23. Would you ever consider living abroad?
Thought about it. If possible, we would like to stay in Melbourne, Australia

24.What do you want GOD to say to you when you reach the pearly gates?
Don’t know

25. Five (5) people who must also do this meme in their journal.
Lyon & Wien
All About Zara
a s h l e y

These two have been tagged though:-
Mumsgather
Elaine Lee

A trip to Singapore – Part I

My husband once mentioned that we must bring our kids (currently only 1 kid) on holidays whenever possible, if overseas even better. Cameron Highlands was the furthest place that we have been to this year and this was during Chinese New Year 2006. Brae wasn’t bothered by the cold weather and he loved looking around. My uncle, who lives in Cameron Highlands, was surprised that we brought our 2 month-old baby along.

However, it freaked me out when hubby asked me to follow him (bringing Brae along, of course) to Singapore next week for a business trip for three days. One half of me said “Go” but the other half said “Don’t go”. After much thought, I decided to go since hubby was scared that I couldn’t cope alone with Brae in the house.

Things that Mummy worries about:-

• Bus. All this while, we travel by car so I’m not so worried because Brae has his own car seat. Furthermore, it is convenient for me to nurse Brae in the car with a comfortabe bolster supporting my arm. Brae can have his toys to play with when he is cranky. But this time, we are hopping onto the Aeroline bus to Singapore. Definitely no car seat, Brae will have to be carried on the lap for a long 4-5 hour trip. Definitely tiring! Then there’s the extra luggage which includes the bolster and toys.
• Food. Brae has just started on semi-solids. I feel hesitant in changing to baby jar food after having fed Brae freshly-made food at home. I’m thinking of bringing ‘Babypappa’ along but that’s another add-on baggage to worry about.
• Hotel. Worried that the hotel room’s air-conditioning would be too cold for Brae. I will need to buy a sweater for him, just in case. I’m scared that Brae is not used to sleeping on the hotel bed.
• Sight-seeing. I will have to use a sling (for mummy) and a carrier (for daddy) to carry our boy.
• Nursing. I’m worried that, being unfamiliar with the shopping malls there, I won’t be able to locate breastfeeding areas quickly.

“Go” reasons:-

• Baby stuff. Heard that the baby stuff in Singapore is cheaper. Hope to get more nursing wear and more stuff for baby there.
• Loneliness. I don’t think that I can stay alone with baby in the house as I am not used to sleeping alone.
• Food. I may end up not eating proper meals because I rely on my hubby to “ta pau” food for me.

Nursery rhymes

Nursery rhymes are meant for kids but it turns out that mummy has to learn them first before she can sign them to the baby. When I first started singing to Brae, the only song that I recalled from my younger days was ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’. I kept repeating the song over and over again. I’m not sure whether Brae was getting bored with the song but I sure was!

Therefore, I decided to brush up my nursery rhymes but I either found CDs with no lyrics included or nursery rhyme books without the tunes. I always have the problem of never locating the things I want. Perhaps I am not the observant type. My hubby went to search and he found a CD with a nice lyric board book board by ‘Ladybird’ at the ‘Tape Video’ section. It’s so embarrassing because I went to look for it a few times but I never thought of rummaging around that section. In the end, we ended up buying the locally produced nursery rhymes book with VCD (my hubby found this at the ‘Poetry’ section) at RM10 each for 10 songs compared to the ‘Ladybird’ which cost RM32.

So now, I play the VCD daily for the baby to listen and for mummy to learn to sing the songs.

Inculcate the reading habit

Every weekend, we would bring Brae to the bookshop and pick some books to read to him. Each and every time, Brae would make a fuss and we do not know if it’s due to the fact that he’s sleepy or the air-conditioning is too cold. He usually prefers to look elsewhere or simply just grab the book in front of him to put in his mouth.

As a first-time parent, we thought we were ‘kiasu’ by reading to a 5 month old but to our surprise, there were others in the children section with children as young as Brae! At least we didn’t feel so out of place! Among all the bookshops, we prefer Borders in The Curve because their books are neatly arranged.

Whenever there is an MPH Warehouse Sale, we always end up spending a lot of money on books mainly; fiction, cooking books, health and fitness books for myself, and non-fiction for hubby. This year, we bought a lot of books too but mainly for Brae. When my hubby saw the Roald Dahl and Dr. Seuss books, he recalled his younger days reading those books so he bought the whole collection for Brae’s library. We originally thought of getting Brae to choose his own books when he is older but we couldn’t help it and ended up buying them for him. Hopefully he will read the books that we’ve bought!

Things that Daddy does for Mummy and baby…

For baby

1. During my confinement without a confinement lady, he would bathe our newborn baby while I was recuperating from the delivery. Even though he didn’t know how to bathe the baby, he tried his best to learn from our midwife. He would not hesitate to bathe baby during weekends or after late outings while I prepared baby’s clothes.
2. During our outings at shopping malls, he would change diapers for our baby on his own.
3. He would carry the baby when we were outside having meals, cradle and rock the baby when the baby was cranky and sleepy.
4. He would scan the floor or road for coins (even the 1 cents) for the baby’s piggy bank.
5. He was the first one who fed baby semi-solid food the next day after our midwife taught us.

For mummy

1. He would never grumble when he had to rush back everyday to ‘ta pau’ lunch and snacks for me. His main concern was to keep me well-fed so that the baby will have sufficient nutrients from my breastmilk.
2. He would cook dinner and do the dishes even though he had a long day at work.
3. He would help me carry all the stuff (my handbag, baby’s bag or groceries) so that I can focus on carrying the baby.
4. He would do all the housework while I attended to the baby in the house.
5. He would feed me when I was nursing or carrying the baby in the sling.