So long, farewell...

Babysat Rayhan for a bit today...Joanne went to visit her mum at SGH and dropped him off on her way there. He was ok for about 30 mins and played with Nat and Gigi before it hit him that his mum was missing and started bawling his head off. Thank goodness Joanne was only 10 mins away!




It was Arlyn's last day today...2 years have just gone by in a flash. Am really grateful to all she has done for us, and the great care she showed with Nat. She wasn't perfect, but neither are we but the good outweighed the bad and her efficiency will be missed...but not the PMS! Hope Nat doesn't suffer any withdrawal symptoms.

We tapau-ed her favourite Tiong Bahru chicken rice and Joanne stayed for dinner. It was like a childcare centre with 4 babies/toddlers in the house.

Nick, Swana, Kevin and Aunty Sarda saw Arlyn off at the airport. I stayed home, tried not to cry too much during the goodbyes...if I had gone to the airport I would have probably been a basket case. Before she left, I set up a Facebook account for her, hopefully we'll stay in touch there.

Thanks Arlyn!

Had the chills and a 39 degree fever this morning from what I suspect was a milk duct infection. After popping some paracetamol and napping for a bit, felt well enough to go out for lunch. We were having a farewell meal for Arlyn and welcome for Lita and Wendy at Sheraton's Dining Room. Also, it was Ata's second death anniversary and the folks' 34th wedding anniversary.



It was pumpkin's first outing (aside from the polyclinic) and she slept throughout except for pooping in between. The spread was mainly local/Asian and quite extensive, mmm...durian pengat! Thanks to credit card promotions, we paid about $30 nett per head.





Once back home, Nick's paternal aunt and cousins came to visit Natasha. This is probably the second time we are meeting in 2 years but they were cool. Natalie got to play with her second cousin Zach and we had an impromptu candle-blowout for Nick's cousin Glenn, as it happened to be his birthday. After they left, Nick's 3 maternal aunts also paid a surprise visit as Aunty Darrell had not met Natasha yet.

Bag or bling?

Went out for a short bit today to return one of Maryann's props and collect the CD of Natasha's newborn shoot. There were soooo many pictures, I couldn't decide on which ones for touching up so stuck with buying whole CD. Here are some favourite shots.











I popped by Nick's office, and changed some Euros and then spent a fair amount of time at the Soo Kee at Raffles Place which was having a pre-renovation sale. Nick was about to come over after work but the weather thwarted my jewellery mission.

The Euro is pretty low at the moment so I have stocked up a little in the hopes of an Italian escapade, failing which will ask someone to help me buy a Chanel bag. Though it goes against my principles to spend so much on a bag, the 2.55 is a classic and I probably won't buy another black bag for a loooooong time!

On the other hand, that money could go towards my carat fund, so am torn between bag or bling.

Joanne arrived in town recently and swung by for a visit this evening with her whole family plus Tarek. Unfortunately Nat was already asleep. Ray was also asleep but woke up as soon as Tarek tried to put him down. Thereafter, he showed off his crawling skills.

My jeans fit!

I had the last of my post-natal massages today and I think they were really effective in shedding the weight. Granted I only put on about 10kg this pregnancy but I lost them faster than the first time round. I could feel the waist shrinking after each wrap!

As of today, I am down to 53kg+, another 2kg to go if I want to down to pre-pregnancy weight and another 5kg if I want to go down to early-SingTel weight! I can squeeze into my jeans already, so am not too bothered, though I have to do something about the kangaroo pouch!

The Handover

We fetched our new helper Wendy last Friday from the maid agency. Poor girl had been up since 3 am for an early morning flight from Manila and hadn't even had lunch so we stopped at Great World en route home and I bought her some buns and orange juice.

She's petite but not as skinny as Arlyn, hope it all works out. Swana also had a new helper start a couple of weeks ago so Arlyn has her hands full training them in the coming days. I briefed Wendy yesterday, Swana thinks my task list is scary and she edited before she shared it with Lita...but I don't think it's scary, just thorough! In fact it can afford to be more thorough in terms of instructions.

So at the moment, I have 3 maids at home...which is a luxury but also a case of too many cooks! Nat is slowly warming up to Wendy and Lita, have been telling her Arlyn is leaving so I think she understands.

2 down, 1 to go

Jane and Rena came to visit this evening, Rena is getting bigger each time I see her. Just about a month to go!

Since Jane had Ethan not long ago, she was comfortable holding a newborn, though Rena was a little rusty! When Germaine returns from her ultra-long holiday, she'll have 3 new babies to meet!

Lights! Camera! Action!

Natasha was ready for her close-up today...Maryann and her assistant Charlene from The Studio Loft came over for the newborn shoot I had booked.


Before they arrived, I had just reprimanded Nat who was screaming and crying like there was no tomorrow. While I was feeding Tash, she had managed to reach a blown light-bulb on my dressing table (which Nick was supposed to bring out with him to find a replacement) and though I had warned her not to play with it, she threw it at Nick's wardrobe in spite when she saw me approaching. It smashed to bits of course and that earned her a time-out and the naughty corner after which she promised not to do it again.


Natasha wasn't co-operating much during the shoot, peeing on one of the props once, and accidentally pooping on another while farting! Ha ha. She was also quite wide-awake when we needed her to be sleeping in some of the shots. That delayed things for a while and I had to disappear mid-way when my massage therapist arrived.

Thereafter it was a rush to eat lunch and express before Ginny popped by, in between had a couple of calls from work...so it was a little chaotic today. But I hope Maryann managed to get some good shots, can't wait to see the pics.

In the meantime, here are some from mine and Ma's camera.