Dear bought him a battery operated motorbike which he lacks the courage to ride on it yet and Dear is so disappointed.. but i guess he is just too young for such toys.. I wanted to get him a kitchen centre too so that he can learn to pretend play and role play.. hmm.. but we couldnt make up our mind on which set we should buy him.. initially Daddy was so adamant on not buying him the kitchen set as he thinks kitchen are only for girls.. now then i realise how conservative daddy is despite him looking so modern and always claim himself to be modern dad.. in the end i have to get April to convince him that it is perfectly fine for boys to play with such toys too.. kitchen are not just confined to girls!  Anyway, the set that we are interested in (as the other set on sale is too big for our home) have no sale today, so we decided to shelf it first and come back another day when there is sale or at a later time since there is no hurry now.. anyway i don't foresee that Cepheus will be able to appreciate the big toys at the moment yet as he just keep throwing things around still instead of putting things in place.. i intend to get him before he go to school which is year end though.. enough time for me to clear out some of the things at home to make place for new toys.. i am so excited at the thought of playing it with him though!  we don't have such luxurious toys in our time!!!!

last time when i told him to 'hug hug' or 'sayang' he will obediently comply but recently, he just bo chap me altogether.. and only sayang and hug one person which is his idol daddy!  even when daddy is not at home, then he will stick to me.. but also refuse to sayang me .. i really wonder why.. are you 吃软不吃硬？must i revert back to constant scolding then you will realise my existence?

But with the tummy getting bigger each day, its so big now that it looks like 6 mths rather than 4.. I am getting easily tired and I cant carry Cepheus for long.. and i cant keep up with his playing running about for long too.. wonder if that is the reason that he finds me boring now.. and refuse to come close..

Just now, i am so sad that even when daddy ask him to 'sayang' me he still bo chap and my tears just fell down, not with anger but overcome with sadness.. when Cepheus saw me crying.. he then walk towards me and 'sayang' me thrice on my forehead and then stayed quietly by my side looking at me smiling.. until he saw me smile and then quickly ran away again to play .. i so much wanted to hug him tight tight and tell him i love him so!  But no matter what i do now, he won't appreciate at all.. i felt that he doesnt love me at all. I am such a failure..

i tried to 'sleepfeed' him again but in vain.  Again he reject milk and reject to suck even when he is 'sleeping'.. i wonder is it a ploy at all.. for us to stop sleep feeding him and then start to feed him by cup and then all of a sudden, he refuse milk altogether.  Now we can neither sleep feed him or feed him when he is awake.  Ridiculous!  I am not going to waste time on you anymore!

Cepheus' intake of milk have increased back to normal the past few days by drinking from the straw cup. From 80ml to 100ml to 150ml per time now.  At least now we do not need to sleep feed him and he have a good decent peaceful sleep all he wants.  And he drinks pretty fast from the cup too, compared to sleep feeding, whereby he can take as much as 30 min just to finish 100ml sometimes.. which makes my arms aching after every feed... hahaha.. now feeding Cepheus is more relaxed, as he will cue to us if he wants to drink or eat and we will just feed accordingly.. Kudos Cepheus! Thanks for being a good boy! Mommy loves you muchie!

Well, the pros of having a boy is that i do not intend to spend much on the second boy since there are lotsa pass me downs from Cepheus!  But now that it's a girl! whats the next action to take?? SHOPPING!!! kekeke.. its time for spending again!

Next month will be the detailed scan already at 5th month... hopefully the scan did by Dr Ang today is correct and that it is indeed a girl.. however, even if its a boy, no worries, cos mummy will still love ya! and you can fight with your elder brother!

Having a girl have its pros and cons too, having to worry about the growing up is the most stressful and worrying part for having a girl.. compared to a boy .. who can be more garang..

well well well.. its going to be a girl and mummy will be busy dolling you up!  it will be fun to see a little ferris and a little xiaoping running around in the house very soon! kekekeke

Life is so vulnerable, you do not know what will happen next moment, minute, hour, and tomorrow.  So what if you have been a millionaire.. so what if you have loads of assets or fame under your name.. you may not have truly lived your life and before you know it.. you are gone.. or you may have missed your loved ones.. 

so many things happened recently, natural disasters or man-made tragedy.. it just opens up my mind that having truly lived your life.. having truly loved and being truly happy being with your loved ones are what matters which is above everything else.. having health and happiness is something that nothing, money, diamond nor gold can buy.. live every day as if there is no tomorrow.. love everyday like you have never before.. it sounds so true.. but its something so hard to attain and carry out in our daily busy bee like lives.. 

And my heart goes to all those survivors and those who were not spared in this ordeal, it is the mistake of the government, mistake of human kind that lead to such a tragedy.  May they all rest in peace...

Went to the dentist just now, just go to visit any at the telok blangah rise blk 35 clinic since my normal dental appointment is all full this week.  The dentist seeing me for the first time and seeing that i am pregnant somemore, dare not give me any medication, take any x-ray or do anything to me.  All he did was to give me some 'valuable' advice on that i should not try to do anything now that i am pregnant, and tell me to continue to take in panadol to ease the pain!  What a waste of time! If panadol can solve the problem, why would i have rushed all the way from the office to see him!  I came back all the way just because i broke out into cold sweat in the morning when the pain was so intolerable again.  But yet all i gain is a piece of 'advice' from the doctor who dare not take any responsibility enough to prescribe me any painkillers or antibiotics or do anything to me.

Should i just wait till the baby is out then i go for surgery?  Will speak to my gynae, Lawrence Ang this friday and see what he suggest before i take the next step.

A non air con, open concept school, with a big open air playground in the middle of the premise.  As it was raining earlier in the morning when we visited the school, we can see how messy the school is, due to the open space of the school, i believe the rain somehow splash into the building and the corridors of the classrooms, and you have to walk a big round the class room but you cant avoid getting wet if you happens to be walking at the corridor and met with a heavy downpour.

Principal seems very rush to bring us through the cirriculum and school and the air was very stuffy in there. Although she mentioned that there were already 15 parents on waiting list.  It was already a NO NO, not an ideal choice for our kids in our minds.

2. Cherie Hearts @ Bukit Purmei

It was a shock to us, the centre was beneath the HDB block, poorly ventilated (coupled with the upgrading works in place), walls in the centre were not painted properly, centre seems to be dirty, dark and stuffy, also non-aircon, we wanted to get out of that place soon after we reached.  But principal is a very kind and patient lady who keep talking to us and entertaining our queries.  Teachers are mostly Philipinos and PRCs. The auntie who cook there looks abit untidy and fierce, kitchen seems to be 'not so clean' and the toilet and bathroom were beyond our imagination (no doors only shower curtains separating the toilets from the classroom!

3. Eager Beavers @ Bukit Merah Swimming Complex

A very nice place with nice friendly teachers and well ventilated environment, fully air-conditioned, with their own classrooms for every different levels and classes.  Two storeys in the centre (first storey for toddlers), and second for older children.  Have their own outdoor playground and a big centralised eating area (so you do not mess with the food in the classroom).  As it is situated in the swimming complex, once the swimming complex is done with renovation, the kids will even get to have water play at the swimming pool.  The cirriculum looks attractive with optional lessons on drama and speech, music etc. Kindergarten classrooms are neat and well decorated.  Price is reasonable and attractive too.

4. Cherie Hearts @ The Bay

This was the most satisfied centre so far we have seen, with nice teacher, director, pupils seems very disciplined and well organised, with a large space as they are expanding, with infant care and the we saw the students dancing as well, everyone seems to be enjoying and is happy at the centre, centre is very clean and hygenic and the care givers looks very professional and friendly too.  However, there is no outdoor activities as they are situated in a commercial building, they have inhouse playground though in the fully air-conditioned premise.  The minus point is that it is too pricey, almost 1k before any subsidy.

5. NurtureStar @ Mt Faber Safra

This is the second time we visited the centre, it is only open for eight months after taking over from eager beaver's premise, they follow the cirriculum of Kinderland and the cirriculum seems to have changed. They now allow waterplay in the safra swimming club.  And although they have their own outdoor playground, they will also bring students out to the club's premise for a walk or the playground in the club's premise too.  Fully air conditioned, well ventilated and clean with young teachers.  They seem professional and friendly and attentive to the students.  Centre is very strict on hygiene and do not allow unneccessary people into the premise not even parents who are picking up their children.  The centre is big enough for 90 students and has yet to be fully occupied.  Price is a bit pricey but as a Safra member we do enjoy discounts and on comparison of the environment, it is on par with eager beaver.  However, it still beats EB due to the strategic location, within walking distance from our block and it will be easier for us to pick him up after work or even if we need my MIL to pick him up earlier after school.  The centre customer service lady told us that we should still be in time to register him for Dec or Jan intake, however they do not allow for early registration as they strictly take on first come first serve basis three months prior to the entry date.  

At first we have agreed to let Cepheus go Childcare only in January just before my second one is due in Feb.  However, after talking to the persons in charge in NurtureStar and Cherie Hearts @ The Bay, both recommended that we should let him join earlier in Dec so as to let him have more time to familiarise himself with the surroundings as they can cry up to a month or two after joining.  And the most crucial point is that we should not send him just before or even after his sibling is just born so as not to let him have a sense of abandonment that he was sent away just because of the arrival of the young one.

I hope my blood test turns out to be normal.. maybe because just like what the GP say, this second pregnancy is making me weaker.. 

now we are in headache of two choices:

1. to put Cepheus to school in January or

2. to hire a confinement lady during CNY and send cepheus to school only in April

I am now shortlisting schools for Cepheus and will be visiting the schools next week.  The nearby CC that i have shortlisted are Cherie hearts merryland and Cherie hearts @ depot. Lets see how Cepheus react next week at the CC after the visit before we make up our mind..

why do we get upset over lose of money opportunity?  YK mentioned today that in TW there exist a couple who strike a 4 mil lottery, and took a month to decide if they should collect the money.. why are there people who gets upset over not striking lottery whereas there are actually people who have to struggle and think for so long to collect their prize money despite having won it?  The reason why they did not collect the prize money earlier was because they have heard too much sad stories over the plight of people who won lottery, surrounded by hypocrites, murdered for money, cheated and dying young for striking rich suddenly..  RS mentioned that if the return is a sad ending for him then he rather do without striking the lottery and slog his life away in peace and harmony with his little family happily for the rest of his life.. there are those who are so easily contented and those who are continuously struggling to fight hard to earn more.  Why do i love money so much?  because of circumstances, i dread of being poor.. i am scared of being poor, the thought of being poor, and no money to pay for bills, for food, constantly being hounded by money lenders and being sick but with no money for medical bills worries me, especially when i am constantly surrounded by money lovers, who treats money above anything else.. i dread of being poor and looked down by people, i dread of being poor and penniless and knowing that there is nobody i can turn to if anything were to happen to me or my child.. I dread to think that i have nothing or legacy to leave to my child, i dread to imagine that he will be left with poverty when i am gone.. and that was exactly the reason why i did not encourage to have a kid for the longest time.. i dread my life of being constantly poor... what more can i dread than being poor?  well still BEING POOR!!!

Today, we brought him out to the neighbourhood to walk around and he was even more elated than yesterday.  He would walk repeatedly around a specific corner esp when there are staircases, whereby he will walk up and down the stairs repeatedly until Daddy carries him away.  He will also insists that both of us hold him by each of his hands and refused to let go until Mommy tells him to only hold on to one person, so that he can learn to walk more steadily on his own.. and he chose his Daddy to hold on.. hahaha but it was more relax for me in that case and i do not need to always 'bend' down my body as it was really tiring since he wasnt tall enough for us to hold on with our body straighten up..

Cepheus is very smart boy, he knew that wearing shoes means going out.  We brought him to Dear's granny's place last night after shopping and to my Dad's place tonight and when Cepheus gets tired of the area, he will point to his daddy and wanting to put his shoe on.  Once he have his shoes on, he will keep pointing to the door telling us he wanted to leave and go home..it was pretty amazing seeing him do that as he already associate wearing shoes with 'leaving' and 'getting out of the place'..

There will be more to come as Cepheus slowly discover his new found freedom on walking.. he already displayed authoritativeness tonight when he refused to go in our direction but his own direction and Daddy needs to carry him away so as to make him comply..of course he complied not without putting up a struggle and screams.. but it was really cute seeing him behaving that way.. well.. maybe not so cute after awhile more.. when he starts to run about and behaving like a spolit child in public in the near future..

I started to develop rashes on the top of my right palm since yesterday, it was mild at first but it got worse today and i found that it have somehow started to spread to my left hand and other parts of my body.  When i was pregnant with Cepheus a year ago, things wasnt that bad.. although i have a history of ezcema, the rashes wasnt this bad especially after medication and were only confined to the legs.  However, this time, the rashes seems to have got worse and spread to my hands as well as the legs.. I cant imagine the itch getting worse as it goes on and i already cant get to sleep tonight (so might as well watch the final of Spain vs Holland! Dear is watching it now as i am typing this and i heard someone screaming!!! Holland NEARLY scored..but only nearly..) .. tomorrow i shall see a doc and hopefully i can get some medication to apply to control the rash and itch from getting worse and best is to eliminate it totally!

This trip was generally nice, weather was nice and cooling, people are courteous and polite except that the shops here close really early.  They normally close at 6pm except for Thur and Fri whereby they have extended shopping hours till 8pm, at the bigger outlets like Pennys and DunneStore.  Things were cheap and we couldnt stop buying.  But i told Swati and Angeline to curb their purchasing, as they were due to Cupertino in October, and there are where the real shopping lies, Gilroy, factory outlets as well as the Great Mall!  For the same prices in USD, you can get Osh Gosh, Carters, Polos etc... So they are saving their lasts for the Oct trip hahaha.. but their luggage are already almost busted with all the things they bought these two days.  

Three women makes up a market and it seems to be true enough!  We cant stop gossiping about people, work, bosses and so on!  This was an interesting trip as both the ladies were open and fun to travel with! Too bad i wouldnt be able to make it for the October trip as i don't think i can make it through over 20 hours of flight to US in my current condition.  I have already been having giddy spells, motion sickness and nauseats durng my stay here.  Now i am quite worried about the domestic flight to london tomorrow..hope everything went well for me..pray hard..

It is 9pm in Cork now but its still bright and sunny.  The sun will only go down around 10-11pm during the summer time.  The hotel room i get is the lousiest, with the opposite just facing a block of office buildings and you can actually see other from the office into the hotel room.  Angeline's view is the best, facing the river (just like clarke quay).  Anyway since its bright and sunny, i closed all curtains so that i can truly enjoy my good night's sleep later on.

Ate cup noodles for the first night, as all of us are too tired to go out and find food.  Its practically a dead town, when we came by in the taxi, all the shops are already closed, except maybe the pubs and and some dining outlets.  Swati who arrived in the afternoon, cooped up all day in the hotel too as there are not much shopping or walking to be done.  I tried to find magnets at the Cork airport, however, the airport is so old and empty that i am now beginning to have doubts if i will ever find some decent magnets to bring home .  I am going to make this my last business trip until 9 months later when i told my boss about my situation currently.  I cant take long flights as much as before although i thought i could before this.  i just hope my journey home is a smooth one...Going to sleep now.. Dear miss you and Cepheus dearly  Good nite!

today also marks the day that Cepheus never takes in any single drop of milk by the bottle.  He just refuse to be fed any milk at all, not even during sleeping.  It have been increasingly difficult to feed him at all nowadays with my MIL also complaining that he seems to be more and more aware of the sleep feeding compared to previously.  I am so heartache seeing him not touching any milk today, how could a BABY not having any milk??  How do i get him to drink at least some milk?  how do i get the supplements of the milk into his meals daily?  These are questions constantly on my mind.  We bought him full cream choco milk tonight in hope that he will like it, but the answer is NO!  He doesnt touch anything with Milk at all, be it vanilla, choco, cheese, yogurt, anything milk like or taste like milk or butter!

Compared to Kaeus, his little cousin, just one month ahead of him, Kaeus is so much lovable, throughout the entire journey today, he sat quietly in his pram, eat porridge in his pram, drink milk after porridge diligently, and never cry or throw tantrum, he enjoys the trip today thoroughly and is so cute and likes to 'kiss' everybody who 'sayang' him, whereas for Cepheus, he is picky, irritable, constantly wanted to be carried, refuse his milk, cries when being fed porridge half way and a nuisance when we put him into his pram and getting jealous when he sees me carrying Kaeus around, not to say sayang, he doesnt even know how to reciprocate when people sayang him.  He is acting like a spoilt brat through and through.  Why cant he just be as lovable and 'guai' as his cousin.  i will be so glad.  I just want him to grow up healthy and good and not be lack of any minerals or vitamins that he needs, but how am i going to do that?

Dear Sir/Mdm,

I am writing this letter to appeal the fine given to me for driving inside the bus lane dated 6^th May 2010.  The incident happened around 6pm.   It did not occur to me that the last lane after the traffic light is a designated bus lane until I changed the lane after being behind a lorry in the second lane at the traffic lights junction.  As there are vehicles on my right side, I did not manage to filter out of the lane in time.   As my intention is to turn left quickly into Ang Mo Kio Ave 3 carpark  (in front of Courts after the bus stop) and I did not manage to filter back into the right lane in time, I continued in my course and kept left as I am approaching the left entrance into the car park less than 100m away.  I also made sure that I wasn’t blocking any bus in doing so.  I regretted my action and I will not repeat it again.  As this is my first offence, I sincerely hope that you would consider my appeal.

Thank you for your time in reading and considering my appeal and hope to receive a favorable response from you.

07:00 - Prepare and feed Cepheus breakfast

08:00 - Vaccum and Mop flat

10:00 - Eat breakfast

10:30 - Visit NurtureStar at Safra

11:30 - Cook Lunch for Cepheus

12:30 - Put Cepheus to afternoon nap

14:30  - Feed Cepheus lunch

15:30 - Do laundry

16:00 - Play with Cepheus

17:00 - Dismantle and clean four standing fans in the house

18:00 - Prepare dinner for Cepheus

19:00 - Feed Cepheus dinner

19:30 - Bathe Cepheus

20:00 - Eat my dinner

20:30 - Friends visit

21:00 - Put Cepheus to bed

21:30 - Iron clothes

22:00 - TV time

00:00 - Fell asleep

18th April 2010:

06:00 - Cepheus woke up

06:45 - Prepare and feed Cepheus breakfast

07:30 - Prepare Cepheus laundry

08:00 - Bathe Cepheus

08:30 - Put Cepheus to morning nap

Cepheus also learnt how to wave his hands when we say 'bye bye' and when we wave to him.  He will always smile and waved at us whenever anyone said bye bye and waved to him.. even to strangers when we go shopping..  

At 11 months, he also mastered how to clap and how to give things to us when we told him.  When he is extremely obedient, he will take heed of all commands and execute them promptly, however, when he is in frustration or impatience he will choose not to do so.. and he also do not like to execute the repeated instructions several times...haha kudos to the bull temper..

Although Cepheus already knew how to 'sayang' people for a while ago, he will use his forehead to lean and rub onto ours to signify 'sayang' as we do to him when we kiss him by using our lips and pressed against his face.  Today, however, Cepheus surprised us by crawling over to me himself and put his hands on my head and then lean his face towards mine while i am lying down, in doing so, he rubbed his lips and face onto my cheek and even rubbed a few times.  At first, i was so scared that i thought he wanted to beat me or scratched me with his hands again as he did that very often..i actually shut my eyes and even have the intention to siam his 'attack'.. but when he actually 'kisses' me, i was so touched.. We were so elated that for a moment, i felt so loved and touched and i felt that my son loves me when i have always thought that he only loves his daddy! and he actually repeated the action twice when his daddy told him to 'sayang mummy' again thereafter.. after which, we tried the same thing on his daddy, by telling 'sayang daddy', he actually crawled towards his daddy puts his hands on his body, knelt down and use his face to rub against his daddy's.  Today is a happy day for us as truly parents as we have been giving him so much love that finally we felt that it is reciprocated!!

Cepheus seemed distant from me just after a week, he doesnt want me to carry, only if daddy not around, otherwise, his preference is always daddy .. but i will work harder to make him prefer me hahaha...

Was damn tired during the long long flight, lucky it was a business class flight, otherwise, i think i will cry in plane as i really hate to take plane!  Enjoyed the movie marathon during this trip, movies includes

i. Invention of Lying (thumbs up)

2. SlumDog Millionaire (was quite disappointed as have very high expectations due to the good reviews)

3. 48 hours Mystery (real police thriller case in US, 3 episodes)

4. Cloudy with a chance of meatballs

5. PokerKing

6. G Force (thumbs up)

7. When Love Happens

8. He's just not that into you (Thumbs up)

9. The Education

Spent an hour or two packing and sorting out my luggage and now was finishing up my laundry as well as cleaning up the kitchen and stoves as CNY is coming!  Tmr have to do more spring cleaning of the toilet, floors etc...  What a day... was so excited to be back.. but immediately return to the part time maria status once i reach home..  cant even catch a good sleep.

I was glad that Dear likes the stuff i have bought for him very much, esp the big coach bag that i have bought for him and kept a secret from, as it was meant to be a surprise present for him!  

Tomorrow going to April's place for reunion lunch... i am going to be so damn tired.. will need to rush back immediately after lunch as Cepheus will need to eat porridge and i need to finish up all the housework.  Oh ya.. will need to bring my second lil' darling (小白) for a wash too before sunday!

the flight landed 45 min earlier in HK.. wonder how they get the estimated timing to be so way off... anyway didnt want to exchange any HKD for shopping so there is nothing much to do actually and i proceeded to the Business lounge.. with free drinks and snacks.. hmm now i am so tempted to take the free shower hahaha..

First time on the business class and i was excited previously as the last time i came to US nearly 8 years back, HP didnt allow anyone to take business class and end up squeezing in the economy class.. first time in business class and i am so SUA KU.. i really thought that there is no TV LOL.. but manage to find it later.. hahahaha.. well the seats are so so just slightly bigger than economy and wider but how come i still get aching legs and neck after just a 3 hour flight le?? hmm the problem must be with me...

Decided that Cepheus shall not sleep on our king size bed tonight, as i already got a phobia since his falling off the bed and knocked on his forehead last sunday.. however, Cepheus was a brave boy.. although he always fell and knock here and there, he only cried for awhile and not for long.. however, nothing can be compared to his attention seeking cries.. those are worse than when he hurt himself.. i guess to him right now, being lonely is much worse than being in physical pain..

Looking fwd to collecting my car next week.. yippee!

I hope that things will get better for me and everyone in 2010.  May my family be in the greatest health and may there be more peace and love in this world.

Cepheus weighs only 7.6kg and 68cm long today.  Cepheus have turned to rejects milk completely now.  If he is awake, it is impossible to feed him with any milk, he only takes in water, cereals, porridge, puree or biscuits BUT milk! We are getting worried that his milk intake is getting lesser and we can only make him take in milk when he is asleep.. At times, if he realise that he is drinking milk he will suddenly awake and keep struggling to get rid of the milk bottle...

Why is it so difficult to make him drink more milk?? he used to like milk until we introduce semi solids to him.. and he is coming to 8 mths soon and still 'Bo geh" (without any teeth).. which makes me worry only more on his slow progression.. what a birthday.. My only birthday wish is to have Cepheus grow healthily, strong and sturdy.. guess that will be my only wish for the next years to come as well..

Oh well, one good news came to me as a happy birthday gift as well.. which is Dear Dear have gotten a job at Starhub! So now he iwll be colleagues with Yihui hahaha.. According to yihui, starhub is a good company and she enjoyed working there as well as the people and culture are very nice.. hope that Dear will be enjoying his time there and most important of all, he will not be doing IT anymore, which is what he is looking for.. although taken abit of pay cut.. being happy is most important i guess..Gambate Dear!  All the best in Starhub!

Cepheus loves to bite, anything that is within his reach, be it hair, fingers, teddies, hanky, edibles or non-edibles.  We suspect he is already teething as this have been ongoing for a few months, however, yet to see any teeth of his coming out yet.  We introduce fish porridge to him which he doesnt really like and he also doesnt like avocados, but one thing we know he like is this veggie biscuits that i have bought for him recently.  Two flavors, the other one is fish flavor which he turns down too when we try giving him.. hmm how to make him like fish more..

Dear have been taking pictures with his new Pana GF1 and have been taking pictures of Cepheus with the camera, wow what nice pictures.. i am very surprised with the quality of the pictures and do not regret the purchase.. its worth its every cent as can be seen from Cepheus recent pictures taken.  Cepheus have been extremely 'talkative' nowadays and will 'hur hur huh huh wah wah ho ho ho..' sometimes non stop and it just sounds so funny..

Cepheus have tried rice cereal, wheat cereal, pumpkin puree, carrot puree and sweet potato puree, we are going onto fruits and i have just prepared apple puree for him but he is too tired and have been sleeping since we return from swimming this evening.  Will let him try tomorrow then.  He loves puree and always eat in anticipation for more and he looks so satisfied when we fed him.. makes us all the more happier.. but he doesnt like the rice cereal which is why i changed it to friscreme wheat cereal.  I have to mix puree into the rice cereal before he will actually take it previously.  We are going to start him on porridge soon, one more week ba.. hope he will respond better to porridge.. but porridge will be quite blend compared to the cereals and puree.. which i am worried if he will actually respond well to it.

Cepheus went for his 6-in-1 jab at NUH again on wednessday, and this time, the PD advised that we stop the pneumoccocal jab as the MOH have announced that babies only need 2 jabs instead of 3 now during the first year... he just need the last booster again at 18 mths and that's it.. good news as we cant bear to see him going through 2 jabs at the same time again! However, Cepheus is very brave boy.. when the nurse injected the 6-in-1 jab into him, he just cried for a few seconds before stopping and reacted as normal looking around him in the hospital curiously.. we were so worried that he will actually kick up a big fuss after the jab! however, back home, he rejected most of the milk on that day but he managed to regained his appetite on friday again kudos..

We made rice cereal for Cepheus the very first time on wednessday after advice from the PD, not sure if he doesnt really like it or he simply do not know what to do with the cereal, he just push them all out with his tongue when we fed him.. anyway we tried for these few days by feeding him only once and a few small spoonfuls each time. However, tonight i decided to feed him making the cereal more solidified as my MIL and hubby makes it quite watery for him and i think he don't like it.. tonight he seems to respond better to it and actually opens his mouth in anticipation!  i think he knew its not milk cos its much more solidified.. but i only gave him a few spoonfuls and then gave him his milk as usual .. hmm will start to prepare puree for him once he is adapted to taking in the cereals..

Ouch ouch ouch..I am still suffering from toothache these days, although i just have a wisdom tooth extracted (the upper right tooth) on wednessday itself.. i think its swelling up and i can feel some swelling at the upper right side.. however, since it doesnt cause me much problem eating and drinking.. i am going to ignore it for now.. however, the thought of the tooth extraction really puts me off.. i wonder how i survive the caesarean when i cant even put up with tooth extraction.. the dentist advised me to extract my lower left wisdom and molar tooth together as it have decayed quite a bit, however, he must have seen through how scared i was throughout the tooth extraction that he suggested that i can actually take it off during 'sleeping' .. i was like 'sleeping' and smiling in anticipation.. in the end he said that it have to be done in the hospital under GA if i wanted to.. but which will costs a bomb.. otherwise the next best option will be to invite a anaesthecian into the clinic and put me under sedation.. which will costs twice the price the wisdom tooth operation.. i was initially planning to go for the operation in nov/dec timeframe.. however, now i am thinking twice.. i don't think i can go through the whole operation while i am so awake but even if i can afford to pay the price.. i still worry about the pain after the operation.. 嗨

Anyway, will be busy for the next couple of months at work, as we are migrating all three regions towards the common global tool and i think its coming fast and furious.. after this, it might mean then that my team may be gone if global is going to take over everything.. however, i will just take a step at a time and see how it goes.. well just enjoy while i can, i will just treat this migration as another major project milestone in my company and gain more fun and exposure from it!  In fact I am telling my global lead that i am looking forward to it!  

I am not sure if its Cepheus that is too tired (he has been up since 6am) or that he doesnt like crowds, he wasnt really happy today and most of the time sleeping or sulking.. Dear said that it is because he is too tired as he couldnt get any good sleep at the event due to the loud speakers and the crowd around him... speaking of the loud speakers, i actually complained to the helpers at the event that the speakers are way too loud for the children, its a children event and many babies were brought along but the speakers were blasting off like nobody's business.. Cepheus was in shock when the speakers blasted and will always cry when he was near any of the speakers.. they should have been more considerate in this aspect and act according to the event's requirements..

Dear will not need to go to work tomorrow since he have suddenly become jobless.  He have been stressed and unhappy lately due to work and now retrenched, although he have not been happy in his job but we did not expect him to be jobless without any replacement so soon.. on top of that, his little severance pay was nothing to be talk about.. as now is year end, not easy to find a job at this time, we are starting to get worried about the family expenses, bank loans, home bills and milk money, and the recently added insurances for Cepheus..

There goes my plan about getting an OPC in January next year too, and previously i am also thinking of looking for something new next year, guess i have to put all my plans on hold for now..

Cepheus went for his second round of rotavirus this afternoon, he is weighing 6.7kg and measuring 65cm in length.  The doctor said that this dimensions are 50th percentile for a full 5 month old baby, whereas Cepheus is now 2 more weeks to 5th month!  I am so happy upon hearing that, Cepheus have indeed catch up alot these 2 months.  Haha but most importantly is that he is growing healthily and steadily.  The doctor commented that Cepheus is having very dry skin with abit of enzema.. well, the dry skin must have been inherited from his daddy and as for enzema, i believe from myself as i am having abit of enzema condition myself too.. well the doctor gave us a sample of moisturizer, claiming that it is very good as its the premium brand from france.. too bad, he did not carry it in his clinic and its not sold off the shelves, he did recommend some other creme though that we are able to buy off the shelve, maybe we will try out this first and then buy the one that he have recommended too...

I have been in very foul mood lately, and always complaining about how my life have changed since i have Ceph.. Dear Dear have been most patient with me and Cepheus and although he hates to feed and change Ceph (he have yet to change him yet), he is always willing to give a comfort arms to Ceph whenever Ceph throws a temper, cries or is sleepy.. no wonder Ceph likes him so much.. he have never really scolded or even raised his voice at Ceph before, even when Ceph is so difficult to care of these days.. unlike me, i have been raising my voice at Ceph and Dear when things don't go my way.. after being stressed at work and whenever Ceph throws a temper or refuse his meals or sleep.. that i am feeling so guilty now whenever i raise my voice at him.  i wonder how a big guy like Dear can be so patient and caring towards a baby!! He really makes me 佩服 him and makes me ashamed of myself .. Dear have never really complain about how our life changes after having Ceph, although he do grumbles at times (i know he didnt really mean those mean remarks) and he is always so happy and willing to carry Ceph nowadays, much more than me.

Dear thank you for being so patient with me... after seeing how bad Ceph's temper is.. i hope i can change mine and to influence him in future too..

He is growing very well and gaining weight quite steadily.. and 不知不觉 he is already 6kg now.. although we do not feel that he have grown much becos we are seeing him everyday, but we certainly can 'feel' it! Dear Dear and I are suffering from body aches and hands cramps every now and then.  Nowadays, i can even feel my hands go numb while typing at work or while feeding him and the effect is obvious esp when i wake up from bed everyday!  My arms will be aching and my hands will go numb (pins and needles) for awhile before i can feel it again.. i guess we really need to work out more... esp me.. even my colleagues are asking me if i have problem carrying my own son because i look so fragile myself!

During maternity, i always thought to myself that i wanted to be a stay home mum and look after our only son.. give him the very best and be there for him everytime he step on to a new journey eg flipping, 'talking', crawling etc.. however, as long as i step back to work, i realise that working gave me my meaning in live! i have felt so useless when i were staying home looking after him full time previously.. i doubt i can take that kind of life for long.. esp when i am such an impatient person!  Getting back to work makes me more fulfilling and satisfied..and time flies faster.. coming home from work and seeing my son in the night, spending time with him over the weekends have made time fly faster.. in no time, it will be his first birthday!  and i am looking forward to his turning one!

BTW, we just bought a whole life insurance for him from prudential, me and Dear were contemplating whether to buy an investment link policy for him or a whole life, we finally decided on whole life after speaking to Jean and understanding our objectives.  It makes more sense to buy a whole life for him since we are giving it to him as a gift and he doesnt need to worry about getting himself insured when he grows up.. he can concentrate on buying his own funds etc for his financial planning when he step out to work.

while my MIL was putting Cepheus to bed last night, again Cepheus managed to flip and also this morning, however, he is still not able to flip as and when he likes it yet.. as there are still attempts whereby he will fail to flip and he will start crying.. i guess he just needs more time in building up his strength to flip over as and when.. it always happen unexpectedly that we are not able to flim it down in time..too bad dear dear till now have yet to witness any of the flipping incidents! 加油恒恒！！ 翻给你的老爸看！！

Cepheus did his first flip today while i was dressing him after bath, i was rubbing his back on his cot when he just flipped himself over and held his head up high, however, after that, he did not manage to perform the trick again in front of his daddy.. hmm i am sure Cepheus will be able to perform the full flip in no time! Cepheus '加油'!!

Cepheus hugged his brownie close to him whole day and we introduce him to the Bumbo seat today which he didnt really like initially as he began to cry after awhile.. but he played with his brownie quietly in the rocker though..

hmmmm.. was just telling my Dear Dear that the past 16 weeks have been a very expensive experience.. as i have thought that i would be able to save more money during my maternity but end up my expenses soared even higher! Think this is because i have been shopping more often, physically as well as doing more online shopping nowadays .. hopefully when i am back to work i will be more focused on job instead of buy buy buy! hahaha..

Finally its been full three months and i have learnt alot the past three months too.. learning how to recognise my baby's needs and wants.. and also taking care of my son alone.. raising a kid is certainly not easy.. now is still considered easy stage.. the real difficult stage will soon come and we need to be prepared for it.. 

Cepheus at 3 months is learning to make 'cooing' noises and is exceptionally smiley, he smiles at anyone who talks to him or touches him and it always makes the people around him very happy to see him smile.. i read that this is the period (4th mth) that a baby will be smiling always and this is also the period that he will probably be smiling the most compared to the next 12 months.. its been a blessing that we have been able to witness Ceph smiley moments as i have heard from friends that not all babies smile as much as ours

Finally i will be back to work in a week's time, how time flies.. i really wish that i could be with Ceph always, be by his side when he cries, when he wants a hug, when he wants milk and when he wanted to play.. however, reality kicks in and i cannot afford to be a SAHM .. instead i have to work even harder than before so as to provide a better life for Ceph.. 

As i am going back to work soon, i spent a few hours packing the entire store room and moving our furnitures around to make space for Cepheus growing up needs.. as our hall is small, i have to remove my coffee table (so now no more kopi friends! haha) shifted my sofa to the wall and also shifted the dining table so that it will be more baby friendly and to have more space for Ceph in future.. although my flat now do not look as glam as before.. but its worth it .. as its all for Cepheus..

The next thing we have to consider and make arrangements soon is to confirm the policies to buy for Cepheus.  1 Life insurance, 2 hospitalisation plan and 3 Education funds ..

Ceph likes his father alot too.. whenever Daddy returns from work, Ceph will always smile when he sees Daddy.. not sure if its becos Daddy always smiles at him with teeth wide opened.. Daddy says that babies and children likes over exaggerated voices and expressions to keep them entertained.. and whenever Daddy smiles, Ceph will smile back happily too.. just too bad that mummy do not have a 'clown' face lor..

Ceph weighs at 5.26kg today and 59cm in height, going on 12 weeks already and he only gains 2 kg in all, what i heard is that ideally baby should grow at 1kg per month.. PD also commented that he is only in the 25th percentile.. so considered slow and smaller in size.. but certainly he said Ceph do not look like those malnourished type and that i should not worry too much.. we can only monitor to see if his growth rate is slowing down, he suggested that i can start Ceph on milk powder or cereal earlier in the 4-5 mths to give him more nutrients for growth.. how can i not worry about his growth? definitely i do not want a FAT baby, but i certainly do hope that Ceph will grow up to be tall and strong like his daddy.. ya now he LOOKS like his daddy but i am hoping that his physique will take after Ferris and not Me cos he is a boy and he needs to be taller!!  Ceph is feeding on only 700+ml everyday and it is considered little because he certainly needs more than that!  We have to start feeding Ceph more often now since he is able to sleep through at night and not waking up for milk means he is actually skipping at least 2 meals when he is sleeping.

Tao Tao was telling me today not to worry too much as breastfed babies tend to grow slower because our breast milk do not contains much fat but more nutrients, compared to milk powdered babies who grow up to be fatter, but breast fed babies should have more nutrients which is much more important at this stage.. That being said, I do hope that Ceph will grow more in the next round of checkup..

The PD also commented today that we should not let Ceph sleep on Sarong as it is very dangerous esp during the 4-5 mths period when he learns how to flip.. and ask me to take special note on this as he worked in the A&E dept in KK hospital before, he heard and see alot of baby accidents that occurred because of the Sarong and is strongly against parents allowing their babies to sleep on Sarong.. 

Went over to papa's place today and Ceph took some pretty shots with gong gong.  It's been some time since i visited 'lucky' (my dad's precious dog whom have been part of our family for almost ten years..) and today when she sees me she was so happy and excited on seeing Ceph too.. Me and dad were so careful of not letting lucky go near Ceph and lucky got so jealous that she actually barks (she seldom barks, only when she is angry or happy) and whine when we 'sayang' Ceph instead of her.. 

Lesson learnt today, make sure your baby have enough sleep during the day.. do not get him too excited in a day as he may end up losing sleep and appetite at night, i thought it only happens to toddlers, but it seems that it happens to babies too.. i felt so xim tia when i see him not drinking and sleeping well last night.. but when he gets back his good sleep owed to him just now, he manage to finish his milk again in the afternoon which we were relieve to see so.. 

Got the news from my colleague that i am 'losing' my job soon.. as i refuse to be back in time and my temporary replacement quit the job, my boss have to give my job to someone else and this time.. permanently.. so i am also not sure what else i will be doing back in August.. would i still be able to hold a secure job?? let's hope so..

Will be bringing Ceph to the Tiong Bahru Pediatrician this afternoon for the RotaVirus Vaccine.. was quite angry with the NUH PD that they never advise me to take this vaccine, it has been reported that almost every baby will be infected by Rota Virus (which will cause fever, diarrhea and vomit) by the age of 3, although it is not always life threatening, but it does cause severe dehydration or complications to baby if it gets too serious, in rare cases, it may cause death too.  To me, since it is an inevitable infection that will be captured later in life, it is better to be vaccinated earlier, and the vaccination can only take place before baby reaches the age of 15 weeks!! Ceph is already going onto 11 weeks, and so we must really do it fast.  Well being the modern parents, we would not want to take any chances on our baby's health right! 

It is also noted that Ceph prefers his pooh bear over Brownie (poor Brownie :'( )

Ceph trying to grab the bottle while feeding haha..

throughout the show, i cant help but think of Ceph.. nowadays when i am out, i cant help thinking of him.. even when i am in the midst of the movie, all i can think of is "have he drink his milk?", "is he sleeping yet?" and i keep asking Dear Dear what would Ceph be doing right now.. maybe that is why, i find the movie draggy and cant really enjoy it too much.. I wonder what will happen when i went back to work in August.. i may just go crazy thinking of Ceph the whole day!  must learn to let go Ping..

On the last visit to Prof Prabha (Surgeon), he commented that Cepheus have a habit of turning his head to one side only and that we should start training him to sleep on the other side.  Not sure why, but after the surgery, Cepheus have been turning to his right (where his cyst used to be) very often, almost always and refuse to turn to his left.. Dear bought a 'donut' pillow for Ceph as per advised by Prof and we tried to bring his head to his left.. however, seems in vain as Cepheus will use his mighty strength to always turn to his right after sleeping.. according to Prof, this may impair his neck muscle in future if he keeps doing that.. what else could we do to prevent that from happening??

Cepheus poo'd on our fabric sofa today!! I don't know how it happen, but as i was carrying him and he wanted to cough, i hold him upright and when he coughed, his shit came out together real hard and fast and BOOM, there goes a big patch of yellowish stuff on the sofa.. oh my... Dear time to bring it for a wash soon..

My MIL was supposed to return to home last night as she said she wanted to rest over the weekend.. However, due to my condition, she stayed over again to help us look after Cepheus last night.  Not too sure what happened but Cepheus turned cranky last night, he was crying every half hour or so.. and no amount of cooing will help.  My MIL have to cradle him to sleep every time he wakes up crying.. it makes all of us very tired as whenever he cry, my MIL and dear dear have to wake up to attend to him.. Me on the other hand have to take good care of myself so i do not carry him and avoid walking about too much.. i remain on the bed.. i do not want myself to be another burden in case my condition worsened and have to be admitted to hospital again.. 

I checked and cleansed my wound every 4 hourly in conjunction with my pumping session.  Its still discharging some discharge but getting lesser.. i avoid walking too much and carry anything except for my pump as i am afraid it will aggravate the condition.  Sorry baby.. Mommy will carry you again when mommy gets better.. for now, please be guai guai and do not bully your granny and papa ok.

Was considering to start his formula milk this/next week, starting from night, so that he can have a fuller feed.. since nowadays he does drink more in the night time..

will be bringing Cepheus to NUH to visit the PD shortly at 4pm.  Will need to ask his doctor about the strider issue that he is still having during feeds..

Baby have been very guai last night and this morning, he only wakes up for his feed and change of diaper and then smile at us before going back to sleep.. oh my, we really love him to bits.. nowadays, he will cry for more milk at night, hmmm, maybe he just want to have more sleep after that? but he still wakes up every 3 hours for his milk after that.. hehe at least i can still catch his timing right and manage to warm up his milk before he cries in panic for it.  If he cries before his milk is ready, it is really very hard to feed him as he will always get choked and out of breath while feeding.  However, if the milk is already warmed for him by his feeding time, he actually drinks it slowly and in good faith and will finish his milk quietly.. and i think this is actually better for his health too as the more he cries, the more air he takes in and the less milk he took..

I started off with changing diaper which is a breeze, since i have seen it so too many times when Cepheus was still in the ICU, next is bottle feeding, which is also a breeze, since i have fed him a few times too, and also latching, which the nurse actually praised me that i seem quite good in latching though i am a newbie! haha.. the final one will be tomorrow which is bathing.. this is what i am worried about too, as i have never bathed him before.. although i keep telling them that my MIL will be there to help me with the bb, they insist that mummy must master the skill before bb can go home..

spent almost 6 hours in NUH today, i am not prepared to stay that long and so did not prepare to bring my manual breast pump to the hospital, although i tried to latch Cepheus on, he being so lazy, gave up after awhile (since my milk is not so much now, he need to work hard for the milk by sucking more and harder) and start crying, so he did not empty my milk and i have to end up supplementing him with my defrosted milk.. I was feeling so full and in pain when my breast start to engorge from 3pm.. and after Cepheus refused to latch on longer... and then he started to cry out for attention and will only calm down if you carry him in your arms.. i was so annoyed and upset with an engorged and painful breast plus a crying baby.. the nurse offered to help but i refused.. i carried Cepheus in my arms until he falls asleep, put him down quietly before returning home.. what a tired day! but fulfilling as well! cos i managed to latch Cepheus on even if its only for 10 min! I felt like a mother! haha.. and tomorrow, i will be able to bring him home! yippee hooray! can't wait to let him sleep in his own bed and play his own toys!

And oh yes, did i say that Cepheus is very popular in his ward?  Even young children from beds further from his came over to visit him and say hi to me today! He said that he is very cute and that he sounds very 'pitiful' when he cries.. which i answered 'which bb do not sound pitiful when crying??' haha.. and i think Cepheus is notorious for insisting on being carried that the nurses came to me to 'complain' that he always bully them and make them take turns carry him to sleep!

Still visited Cepheus in the PD ICU this morning, trying to bottle feed him, however, he refused to drink but insists on sleeping while in my arms.. he only drank half bottle (1 oz) before falling asleep.. hmmm, but the moment i put him down, he is awake again and keep staring at us with his big round eyes! Ferris papa said that he seems to have double eye lids and look like me! hehe.. well we'll see in a few months time, Cepheus always like to open his eyes half way.. not fully open yet.. i am worried that he may get lazy eye sight if he continues to be like this, anyway, don't be lazy ok, must be more hardworking, drink more milk, build up your immune systems so we can bring you home earlier, there are lotsa toys and clothes waiting for you, my dearest darling! 

My only greatest worry now is still the noise that he is producing while he is sleeping or even during feeding, however, the nurse said that he is still feeding quite well and doesnt seem to have strider issues, his heart rate and oxygen level have been monitored to be doing well and other than the noise he is producing, nothing else seems the problem.. but that noise is the noise that led to his early operation in the first place.. so i am still not without any worries.. the PD mentioned that it could be due to his swollen trachea issue now that he is on the tube for almost a week.. that could have caused his trachea to be swollen and esp after the surgery that he is feeling discomfort, the noise should go off in future.. which i am hoping so to be true..

Oh yes, and we managed to capture a video clip on him saying (waving) bye bye to us this afternoon! will get ferris papa to upload the video clip soon!

so far so good, cepheus is coping with his recovery well, we really hope we can bring him home real soon! Watch his blog space for a video clip of him making funny noises and faces while asleep!

However, he was not given any food since 6am this morning and he was crying for food! He has almost lost his voice from the respiratory tube earlier on that now he cries, it was all hoarse!! However, the nurse said that he was recovering pretty well and putting up a 'good fight' whenever he feels hungry.. The nurse actually gave him a 'pacifier' to suck and he actually sucked with such good mighty although its from a milk bottle but few moments later, little Cepheus realised that he was actually 'tricked' into believing that the pacifier is a milk bottle and began struggling and crying again.. the nurse informed that he can only be fed with milk later in the day around 4pm after he have his x-ray taken.  Poor baby.. hang on! they will be feeding you with mummy's potent most nutritious milk and you will recover real soon! Cant wait to carry him home.  Cant wait to hug him close to my face and plant him with million kisses non-stop.. have not been able to carry him and kiss him for days now because of all the tubings on him.. Although i see you everyday, mummy still miss you so much!

We arrived in the hospital at 1pm again and was again informed by the surgeon this time that Cepheus surgery will have to be postponed to tomorrow again at 830am.. i was quite unhappy at first.. as we were supposed to be first in queue today.. but after hearing his explanation that they did not manage to op on Cepheus because another baby girl got worse in her condition with cancer.. my heart softens and goes to the girl.. poor baby.. so small already have cancer and her op will lasts from morning till the night.. the surgeon informed that they have wanted to op on Cepheus first but due to the criticality of the situation, they decided to op on the girl first and quite unexpectedly the girl's condition is not as positive as they have thought and that the surgery will last into the night although they have estimated a 4 to 8 hours op initially.  He explained that he will prioritise Cepheus first thing tomorrow morning.. I hope that there are no more unexpected twist to Cepheus' operation tomorrow.. i just get worried as the day goes by if this drags on.

Again Cepheus do not seem too comfy today and keep struggling and crying (albeit without noise with the tubing still in him), as he struggles he generate more secretion from his throat.. which turns yellowish.. the nurses and docs do not know why its yellowish and they sent it to the lab for testing.. god bless that there is nothing wrong with him, doc did mention that there is no liquid found in his lungs after the x-ray and its not likely that he have an infection or leakage of cyst.. anyway.. after tomorrow, i hope everything will be fine.. 

I do hope that the little girl with cancer today turns out fine too, my heart goes to her parents and her.. little people like them do not deserve to suffer like this..

We spoke to a surgeon from the surgical team, who said that they have to pull up his surgery to monday instead of tuesday, first thing tomorrow morning at 830am, i told him that we will be there at 730am.  He informed us of all the kinds of possible risks involved in such surgery and that sends shivers down my spine.. i know all kinds of surgery no matter how minor contains a risk.. but i really pray and hope that my Cepheus will be blessed and protected with all mighty and please all gods and beliefs please protect my son from any harm and that his surgery tomorrow will be smooth and successful.  Please keep my Little Cepheus safe and healthy.. 

I was finally really conscious and know what's happening by the second morning with the IV drip and the urinary tract still inside me, i have an intense phobia for c-sec due to the pain i have suffered when they try to insert the UT into me when i am fully conscious without the GA.. again the pain was quite unbearable and being first time mother and first time surgery for me.. i dare not request for any pain killers, i only take when the nurse offered to me.. by the third day, i am already crying in my bed until the doc was asking me why i never request for pain killers.. i was so afraid that pain killers may affect my breast feeding in future that i have opted out of it.. but the doctors assured me that the medication they give me will not affect the quality of my milk.. so i safely took it diligently round the clock.. only then am i able to bear the pain and climb down my bed to visit my son..

I visited Cepheus on the third day because the drip and the UT was only taken off me by the third morning.. filled with anxiety and worries, i arrived at the ICU, watching him for the first time and holding him in my hands for the first time, the feeling was indescribable.. it was .. ecstatic!!  But i couldnt hold back the tears in me when i saw my bb lying in the ICU with the cyst on his neck, whenever he cries, i was worried that he was crying because he was in pain.. although the nurses keep assuring me that he wasnt in pain and that he was actually feeding very normally and actually drinking alot of milk and is sleeping well..but the thought of his condition worries me intensely and i couldnt eat nor sleep in the hospital, i suffered from amnesia and would not be able to control the tears from flowing.. the docs were all very worried that i will suffer from post natal depression and they warned my hubby about it..

I tried to stimulate my milk for breast everyday by massaging and pumping with the milk express machine in the ward, but in vain, i am under intense stress that i am not able to produce any milk for my son.. the lactation consultant came over everyday to help me with the massaging and advice and tell me not to give up.. on the fourth day, she inspected me and said i am doing fine and encourage me to keep pumping at home and not giving up..

I was finally discharged yesterday, and we were told that we would be able to bring cepheus home the day before and the operation will take place 3 months later, however we were not convinced by the diagnosis as when we visited him the day before he was found to be facing some breathing difficulties, with deep breathing noises like something was blocking his nose pipe.. we spoke to the PD and the docs did not manage to convince us.. my hubby insisted that the surgeon do another round of checks on our son before we bring him home.. they did a CT scan on him yesterday and found that his condition is not as good as they have thought! his cyst was already resting only a few mm away from his windpipe and as he turns his head, the entire cyst is blocking his pipe until he have difficulty breathing.. he needs to be constantly watched out for his breathing any negligence would mean disastrous.. the surgeon decided to operate on him this coming tuesday instead.. we were glad that we have insisted that they do another check on him and i must say that i am very disappointed with the first diagnosis that they have made on him so hastily and claims that we can bring him home.. as parents out there, please remember that you always have intuitive in you that other people may not be having towards your kids.. being professionals doesnt always mean that they are always right! you have the right to insist on more tests to be carried out to make sure that your loved ones are safe.. we are glad we made the right move and not listen to them blindly as parents and this could jolly well save our son's life!

We will go down to visit Cepheus everyday to make sure that he is taken well care of and i will also try to breast feed him as much as i could.. Cepheus, love of my life, be strong, be calm and be good.. everyone will be praying for you....

went out to ikea to look for a spare kitchen table, in the end we also bought a wooden chest of 3 drawers for bb stuff and clothings, plus two PC leather chairs.. can you imagine all items from ikea including the chairs are self assembly?? they really know how to make money, their things arent really that cheap but if you want them to assembly for you, you have to pay 6% of the value of the item, so the more expensive your item is, the more you pay for the assembly, its not tied to the LOE at all.  Plus delivery charge of $55 applicable if you purchase above $300 and $50 if you purchase less than $300, isnt delivery charge supposed to be cheaper when you buy more things?  sigh.. don't really like the way ikea do business, everything is money, even asking for a plastic bag costs 5 cents! and if i compare the prices and quality of their items to those neighbourhood furniture shops, theirs are not considered cheap at all considering their cheap wood and planks used.. but for the convenience sake, we just buy everything from there today since we are going to ask them to deliver anyway... don't think i will ever buy any furniture from there in future.. not those big items.. small items still ok since quality is not in the consideration, big items value for money? better go to those reputable stores.. 

http://www.taising.com/Combi/CombiKW530.jpg

Oh and finally! we managed to fix up the bb room and our MBR roman blinds with the use of safety pins! now we can see sunlight into the room again!

Today did alot more things, whilst Dear went out with my MIL to send April's full month yummy pastries and went down to chinatown to buy herbs for my confinement.  I spent the rest of the day at home tidying and cleaning up the kitchen, vacuum and mop the flat, washing of bb mattress and new clothings etc..

Tomorrow will be another busy day for us, we are going back to BHG to enjoy the 15% discount off the combi pram! this is the most discount so far that we have come across for combi stroller! And we have decided to go with the Ricco W (khaki green) and maybe the combi 3-in-1 potty as well (might as well get it earlier since there is sale now).  Hopefully still have the green pram that we are eyeing for.  Was supposed to go down early this morning to get it, but too bad we woke up too late and Dear is scheduled to buy herbs with MIL in the afternoon.  SO hopefully we can get our dream pram in favourite colour tomorrow!!  

BB see how much we dote on you! you must be good and be filial to papa and mama when you grow up ok!

I met up with Jamie and Aiyan last night for dinner, i can't understand why they are so happy over pregnancy, they are so amazed over the kicks and turns that their baby is having inside them before they were born, but i am only feeling pain and discomfort, yeah its a miracle that you can see your tummy move and someone kicking you from within but it have become a burden for me that its causing me so much discomfort esp causing my insomnia..  They were still discussing when to have a second baby, OMG, and here i am cant wait to have my bb out of my stomach!  i really have to consider again if i am going to have a second child seriously in future, this nine months have not been a breeze for me considering the stress that we are having due to its condition and the physical changes that i have to go through..

As the other two mahjong kakis arent here yet, we started off with games of Wii! playing SPORTS and RAVING RABBIT! watching the youngsters play is so much fun compared to me playing them, i am just not amused by Wii anymore haha... although yanting did ask me to sell it to erwin at some time, we refused to sell because it still keeps our guest entertained every time without fail! haha.. still serves its purpose well..

around 9 plus, Shixiu, the long awaited mahjong kaki finally arrived and the mahjong session began in the small orange room (to be converted to bb room) while some of them took their leaves back to the hostel and home.. wee nee arrived around 1030pm with lays chips in hands and they continued the mahjong session throughout the night until 3am! whow youngsters nowadays really can tahan without sleep.. as the host, i felt pai seh to sleep first so i watch 'indiana jones' that wee nee just brought over, she said she bought it at a discount in tiong bahru that day, i havent watched indiana jones before and it kept me entertained.. finally at 330am, jimmy came out of the room and pronounced that he is going home.. seems not much luck for him that night and he didnt really catch enough sleep the night before.. haha.. so left wee nee, shixiu and jun wei in my flat.. they stayed over the night sleeping on the coach and sofa and left only the next day's morning around 730am.. but they were really guai though, when i woke up at 730am, they already kept my mahjong tiles, table and chairs and ready to take off.. hmmm.. seems like everyone enjoyed the gathering last night at my place! i am glad to be of host again for my team.. This is the second time that i hosted overnight mahjong session at my place with my team members, as every batch of interns changes, but this may be the last time i am able to do so.. cause there will be no more mahjong room and bb will be arriving soon.. i won't have time to entertain my friends and colleagues again.. kinda pity..but well i am still glad that everyone enjoyed themselves and i am sure we will have such fun again will try to organise one again if i could!  so that everyone can have fun whllst working hard!

very excited and nervous.. plus abit lost too.. anyway dear dear also went to SGH to see specialist on his nose today.. he worries too much liao.. doc simply say its only sensitive nose.. so good la.. nothing to worry about..

things to do next week

===============

1. buy pillow

2. buy cot mattress

3. bathe brownie

4. go guan im temple

5. buy pyjamas

6. arrange the kitchen (make space for bb stuff)

7. bring out the steriliser, milk bottles, breast pump, slow cooker, kettle, 

8. remind dear to change out the sofa cover for dry cleaning

9. remind dear to arrange a time to fix the bb cot when i in hospital

10. arrange the hospital bag and brief dear dear where are the bb stuff in case doc allows bb to be taken home with me

hmmmm what else have i left out??

For the past week, i have been counting down to my maternity leave next week however as days goes by i cant help worry and stress over work.. esp now with the news that Emmy is going to leave us and i have to find a replacement real soon.. more interviews on thur and fri liao.. no more time to lose..my replacement just came in on monday but he is too new for me to handover existing tasks to him so i still have delegate out the existing tasks to emmy and jimmy.. and the bad news is the contract that we are offering him is 3 months basis.. no one can tell if he will be extended beyond the 3 months now as still subject to approval.. in the back of my mind i am telling myself.. wats the use of a 3 months replacement which may not help much at all..i really hope my boss will fight for him to stay for 6 months at least until my return to the office.. by august.. my entire team may be new.. new interns, new replacement for emmy and new IT developer .. wow.. and i think i am gg to suffer from amnesia after 4 months away from work.. really stress upon foreseeing all these.. should i really take 4 months???

I was really worried as i laid on my bed and think what if i were to go into labor now.. i am not very prepared.. its still too early and i wanted my bb to stay in my womb for as long as possible near to due date for the good of my bb.. Not sure if its due to the nature of my job but i kept telling myself and my bb that we have to be ontime and not early or late.. have to keep to the timing and all along i have been quite confident that i wouldnt go into premature labor.. but don't know why last night just causes me to freak out and kept thinking of the impossible... BB you have to be guai ok.. you are only coming to 37 weeks next week, let's be more patient about it ok

I keep wondering why the other mummies can be so energetic, i remembered when jamie and patsy were pregnant, they were just as active..but for me, i just felt lazy and lethargic.. but i still continue to go to work and doing my housework chores.. but the rest of the time, i just felt like doing nothing.. dun even felt like lying in bed at times, because the tummy just give me pains or uncomfy feeling whenever i lie down.. I just dont felt like going out to anywhere..

Another 4 more weeks to go.. and time passes so slowly.. how i wish time passes more quickly.. but then i felt just as nervous when the time comes.. so contradicting..

Another thing to 'fan' over now is the condition and operation of my bb, as the date draws nearer cant help worrying about it, but like what the A/P said, no point thinking so much now as there is nothing much they can do except wait for bb to be born before they can diagnose and advise on the next step to take.. whether they allows bb to go home anot after delivery, when is the operation etc.. will not be factors for concern now but only when bb is out.. 

went to Best Denki and bought two standing fans finally today, one for the baby room and another for the living room.. was glad to rid of the old living room power fan.. the one that cannot tilt or oscillate at all, always makes me sweat! this standing one is so much better lol!  

After chatting with April today then i realise i still got outstanding items, i havent pack my hospital bag, i havent bought clean pail and scoop for my confinement bathe plus a scoop! And the bath herbs too..I was planning to buy pyjamas at bugis village too.. hmm think will buy that when i meet patsy at month end to collect the glass bottles ba.. she can bring me where she can buy those comfy cheap pyjamas too!

Arrival of baby means that i have to part with Brownie very soon.. he have been accompanying me in bed for the past weeks and there is abit of unwillingness to give him back to baby... but no matter what like what Dear Dear said, i shouldnt fight with baby over a toy!! so i have to 'bathe' him and return him in the bestest condition to my dear bb...

FInally completed the 2nd round of baby's laundry.. 

Baby have been so active lately that i am feeling very uncomfy, he keep changing his position from left to right, top to bottom, my stomach always seems to go 'out of shape' lately.. haha.. and made me damn tired .. keep knocking on my tummy and sometimes to the extent that i felt nauseous.. baby can you be more guai and let mummy rest for awhile esp when mummy is working.. u know mummy have to be in best condition to work so that can provide for you le..

Last night, Dear Dear bought home two big chilli crab from Chinatown.. our favourite stall prior to our marriage for crabs.. however, although the crabs are very big, more expensive but it doesnt taste like before anymore.. abit disappointed ..

Decorated the bb room with stars and galaxy last night.. Dear dear did the most work by climbing up and down the chair and filled the entire ceiling with stars!! when the light is switched off, the stars will be prominent and fills the room with skylight..  but alas my bears that were sticked on the wall doesnt blend in with the stars.. so they have to be taken down.. sadly but i am sure we will find some place to expose them to the light again in future!

Here's a picture of my department! Arent we a cute and young lot! hahaha

Really tired.. why does one always led to another? and bad things of all?  what you mean by gestational diabetic, i was not diabetic all along! i know it can happen to anyone but why me???! why of all when we were praying and hoping that nothing will go anymore wrong these last two months, i have to undergo such procedure again?? Why cant i just have a smooth delivery like everyone else? this is making me sick and phobia about the whole entire pregnancy thingy, isnt it supposed to be a happy affair.. why is it that i am unhappy most of the time since i got pregnant??  Is this what pregnancy is all about?!

today marks the 2nd Anniversary of our wedding night.. Dear Dear I love you too! Thanks for the simple yet sumptuous dinner!  

Although today is our anniversay but we went shopping for our precious son instead, visited a few shops looking for luminous stick on walls stickers so that the little one can see colourful stars and moons at night in his own room .. however, none of the shop sells and PageOne also ran out of stock for it.. nvm, we will look for it again some other time.

but we still manage to buy something for him today hehe.. while keane have "kimi" and didi have "blackie", he have his own "brownie", isnt it lovely!!

Hee Hee another thing to be happy about tonight, Dear Dear say he not going to play game tonight but keep me company to sleep! so happy! so we going to zzz now.. good nite everyone.. have a nice dreamz..

The letter that Dr Choo gave me to Prof Biswas could only help me to get into subsidised ward during admission, i am still considered a private patient in NUH now.  So Prof Biswas advised me to get a letter of referral from the Polyclinic so that he can help to process my scanning and other fees at a lower public rate.. 

Prof Prabha was here today too but i heard along with many others but was standing behind the curtain watching the other xray screen, i heard that he brought along with him his entire dept of doctors as well as some visitors too.. i felt like a guinea pig.. but they were kind enough to stand behind the curtain and not making any noise so as not to let me feel awkward though..

So it seems like i have to be extra careful from now on and i have to visit NUH every two weeks now to closely monitor the situation with the profs.. and hopefully, we really hope we do not need to go into the extent of tapping or pre-mature delivery.. i am already tired enough after all these ordeal.. and i couldnt let this affect my work further too...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJz5845BPVE

1. So Far, the baby is growing well, and the cyst is growing too, the cyst is not going to disappear spontaneously but will continue to grow as the baby grows.

2. At this point in time, we only know its a fluid cyst and estimated it to be highly probably a branchial cyst, but it could however jolly well end up a thyroid cyst, branchial cyst or cystic hygroma, but whatever it is, it have to be excised once baby is delivered.

3. This is a 1 in 5000 birth cases that would have happened, its a rare rare phenomenon and on average singapore only sees 4 cases of such annually... which is a rather rare hit..

4. I will have to undergo caeserean as there is no way baby can come out naturally.

5. Baby will be considered for surgery once its delivered, if he doesnt go under surgery immediate after born, he will be hospitalised for CT or further scanning, testing and diagnosed further before going under operation.  Baby will be hospitalised in neonatal or ICU from birth until after surgery till recovery, we estimated at least one month stay period.

6. I will have to be admitted to NUH for gynae and delivery, and will opt for subsidized ward as i can't go in as a private patient since baby will be considered as private immed too and the costs will be exorbitantly hugh which no one can afford.  

7. Only worry now is that the growth of the cyst may block the Esophagus and may cause a danger to both mum and baby, which will result in pre-mature delivery due to excess of the amnio fluid inside the womb.

8. Both the doctors at NUH from gynae and pediatric are very helpful and gave useful advice, they will work together with me and consider all options of delivery, when to deliver, how to deliver, when baby must undergo surgery, what kind of surgery, ward to admit to etc.

Next steps to take,

9. Discuss with Dr Choo Wan Ling on changing gynae service and register myself as a NUH patient

10. Continue to monitor closely with Prof Biswas and Prof Prabhakaran on the situation of the baby during every scan.

11. We have been to search for infant cares but so far those near to us are full and not taking in anymore intake until 2010.  We have to consider other option which includes looking for outside nannies, maid or best choice my MIL for help since baby will need special care after the ops.

There is nothing really we can do right now, except praying that we do not have to undergo pre-mature delivery, growth of cyst do not grow out of proportion and cause other complications and that everything is under control until my full term.. 

Actually a closer look and i feel that my Dear Dear do look abit like Jason S. Ha Ha, little hair, long face, small eyes.. except that DD got a bigger wider mouth.. hmm if only my son looks like Jason S when he grow up, he can then be a super star! 

well well, i thought my tummy is big enough already to command some attention on the train and buses, however, even when i am wearing tight fitting tee such as a lacoste polo tee last friday, those bunch of teenage idiots just stared at me blankly.. my friend said that my tummy isnt big enough! well, then what do they think is that bulge on my body?? am i so fat to notice that!!  strangely enough, a mature lady can even spot my bulge whilst i am wearing a loose blouse last week on board 195.. she even get her mum to give up her seat to me! which of cos i kindly refused.. well her mum was so much older than me and looks so relunctant when she asked her to give me the seat man.. cool it old auntie, nobody is going to snatch your seat from you.. you can have it back la..

We went to NUH for a further detailed scan yesterday and the A/P found that the 'so called' lump on my baby is actually highly probably a cyst.  Hopefull it will go away in time, however if not, when the baby is delivered he may have to undergo surgery to take it out as it is just at the neck (danger of blocking its windpipe)... but of cos here we are hopefully and praying that it will go away by itself soonest.. cannot bear to see it undergo the surgery table at such a young age..

Anyway we also did the amniotic test on the same day to ensure that the cyst is not caused by some chromosome disorders.  But the A/P have mentioned that the probability of that is low and ask us not to worry too much, at least the baby is still safe in my tummy right now.  Well the procedure of the test is damn painful lo.. and they still say it is like drawing blood only.. well its definitely more painful than that i guarantee!  But its over within a few minutes. Now we know that the fluid that my baby have swimming in is actually yellow in colour! oh my, its so gross!! all along i thought is clear fluid..

Alright now, so all we hope is to see the cyst ceasing by the next scan and also a favourable result from the chromosome tests.. then we can really set our mind at ease..

You should know by now how much we care for you and how much you mean to me.. please all i want is that you are safe and healthy..

in the office!! however, this is something that one cannot avoid or choose to be away from.  Just my luck for not choosing my words carefully and treating everyone as my comrades when all they do is quoting behind my back!!  Well, learnt my lesson the hard way! learn to be smarter siowping! not everyone is as kind as it seems!!

I am getting more grouchy by the day, and its unhealthy .  Must learn to control my emotions.   Already into my twelvth week and have been getting very bad  nausea gravidarum  that  i can't really concentrate on my work at times.  I wonder how long this is going to take me.. hope that it won't be too long before the nausea will stop and  i can have a healthy an happy wait to delivery.

Been very stress over work lately.. Think hundreds of cells have died today alone.. I should learn to control my emotions and maybe go for anger management.  Like what my boss say, don't even need to entertain unreasonable or nonsensical comments or feedback.. no matter what, everything falls back to what is stated onto the contract.. everything else are just talks... true.. i think i should just learn to be cool and take things more easy.. don't let nonsense stand in my way!

Where is my iPhone!! supposed to get it last week but was delayed.. hopefully can get by next week... after this incentive, will be looking fwd to the thanksgiving paid leave in Nov!! thinking of where to go now, Taiwan maybe.. hmmm...

Been having some hard time at work... real busy with the ASEAN project, and doing alot of UAT the past two weeks and preparing for Dashboard take over.. whew.. been a very challenging month.. I have been thinking fast and hard.. i have been enjoying my work so far.. alot attributes to my colleagues.. colleagues are very important in the course of one's career.. it makes me feel so enjoyable at work (minus the actual work) plus feel so much at home.. for once.. i dun dread going to work and start to wake up early for work.. although the thought of the actual work puts me off at times.. haha but overall i am still enjoying.. guess as long as my colleagues are around i will feel as happy as ever, young and vibrant!! oh yes. we are also planning trips and gatherings.. every month we are going somewhere.. next month should be malaysia!! yoz!!

In a nutshell, the city is in the south of vietnam, overcrowded, motorbikes more than cars (just like in BJS you can see bicycles more than anything else), and they go zig zags.. you have to be careful when crossing the roads, the motorists will just whiz pass you even when its showing 'green man'.  The trick to doing so is to 'close your eyes and mind' and just cross the road, the motorist will go zig zag around you and avoid hitting into pedestrians.  If you were to 'wait till coast is clear' you can never expect to cross any road there.  

If you wanna some quick and cheap shopping, try the 'russian market' now renamed as 'Saigon SQ' , Ben Thanh Market, these two markets are the best well known among tourists, sells 90% fake goods, food stuffs etc, just like chaptuchak in BKK where you can get real good bargains.. if you bargain hard enough though. Diamond plaza is their landmark in saigon, where they sell branded stuffs and a decent shopping mall, but singaporeans may get disappointed when they get in there though, the size is relatively small and merchandise is not that much, hmm more like our smaller scale BHG in bugis lor...

its good to take a walk around the places in district one, like Hai Ba Trung st, Dong Khoi st..well the shops in saigon is quite saturated, you have to have the patience to walk around, some shops are really interesting, but are scattered at all corners and along all streets, you may experience visitng a shop and then walk on with no shops and then another shop appears again.. well the good thing is that the city itself is small enough to walk around.. you won't get lost with a good map in hand, unless you wanna travel outskirts to places of interest..

Take a look at cityhall with statue of ho chi minh just right in front, the post office, saigon cathedral (just beside the post office) museum of war and reunification palace if you have the time.. but do take a good look at the buildings around you, there is a mixture of old, french, modern buildings around..which makes this city extra interesting with a tinge of mystery.. 

Back from Corea!!!

Finally Home Sweet Home.. these 7 days in Corea was Fun Fun and Fun!! 

But however Tiring and food is boring.. the worst is the food.. everyday eating BBQ and pork and fish soup.. ohh.. and the taste is nothing like the SIN served... SIN serve better Korean food in fact in the food court! Was told that those food we ate in korea is the local dishes they consume in spring whereby its cold to keep us warm.. we tried out the YueGaeJung in the local food court and oh my, it sucks!!  I so miss SIN chicken rice these 7days.. however, the Ginseng chix we have in Jeju Island is by far the best meal I have so far in korea.. give credit to that.

Hmm two nights spent in Jeju is mainly sightseeing, mountains and hills, Jeju is a small island, small village with not much shopping to speak of.. the night life is also boring however the sceneries are great and air is fresh and cool whole day.. 

Seoul is so much different and so much vibrant, so much like Japan, Tokyo, lifestyle between these two cultures and countries are very similar if you have been to, its surprising to hear from the tour guide though that they still hate each other so much to date, but their shopping is very different, korea shopping is like pasar malam, so much shouting and squeezing, people do not apologise and just knock against ea other, Japanese are by far more polite in this aspect.. u cannot say that Koreans are rude though, its their culture, when I was in DongDaeMun, the famous midnight market, a lady stepped on me, turned to me smile and nod her head .. I was like! What the hell did u smile at me for! What I need is an apology.. but forget about it, cos they DO NOT apologise...

These 7 days have been a tiring but rewarding trip, waking up at 7am every morning, even as early as 5am when we were rushing for the domestic flight back to seoul..

Places worth visit in Jeju, I am not going to list all, but only those that I find interesting.

1)      Sungsan Ilchulbong Peak - here, you have to climb hundreds of stairs up to the peak, it took me around 20 to 30 min to reach, but once u reach, its so worthwhile, the scenery is breathtaking and you can see the whole view of JeJu island from above..

2)      Jeju Folk village - where Da Chang Jin was filmed.. very interesting history background with real cottages layout..

3)      Mysterious Road - there is short stretch of road in Jeju that when seen with the naked eye it looks going uphill.. and when you turn off the engine, the vehicle do not go downhill but continue to go uphill.. haha like David Copperfield.. it does happens.. but I am not going to reveal the secret here.. let those who are interested see for themselves and feel the difference

4)      ATV ride - Have a go at the All Terrain Vehicle ride! Its fun and exciting! I nearly topple but steady steady.. haha

Jeju is a more cultural feel and experience how the more rural area looks like, very peaceful feel there compared to seoul where pace is so much faster.. but if you are not used to it, you will get bored on the second night.. lucky we only stayed for 2 nights.. haha.. oh and try visiting their casino and see if you have any luck, its not open to Koreans but only to foreigners.. on the night we went, some Japanese won a lot in jackpot though..hahaha..

Back to Seoul,

1)      Everland - Corea's "Disneyland" with their own icons, but not sure what it is though, looks like imitation of mickey and Minnie! Hahaha, with fun rides and performances, its as big if not bigger than the Tokyo Disneyland, but I still prefer Tokyo Disneyland although this everland in seoul is not as crowded, prob because we were there on the first day and a Monday itself.

2)      Unification Observatory - understand the history of the north and south Korean war and its effects, its really sad to see that a country so near to each other is separated with such different cultures and standards of living, a lot of families are separated and not seen again since the war broke out.. if your luck is good, you can even see north korea from the observatory tower, the day we went the fog is very heavy but I still managed to see very faint images of the houses and village across the "Han Jiang" also known as Han River where the two territories are being seperated.. I really wish that one day the north and south could unite too as too many families are being sacrificed, is it worth it?

3)      Mt Sorak National Park - visit the famous Sinheungsa temple, the great Buddha is known to be quite 'accurate' in blessing health and peace according to the tour guide, sets your mind at peace

4)      Teddy Bear Farm - this is one of my favourite hunt!  The whole shop is full of teddy bears, big, small, any colours, shape and size, this is the first and original teddy bear farm in seoul there is another one in Jeju but was built on a later stage

5)      DanYang Aqua World - to me, this is just another resort kind of place, but there are spas and swimming pool in the basement, whereby if you have the guts, try out the 'naked' spa, go naked and body scrub with the rest of the ladies, for me, I just tried out the sauna, spa and swimming pool, not the naked one though.. haha

6)      Gyungbok palace - where 'Gong' the well known princess drama serial was filmed too, interesting but all the palace and rooms all look alike though..

7)      National Folklore Musuem - learn the different festivals, cultures and faces and history of korea

Night life of Seoul is more vibrant, a lot of cafes and restaurants everywhere we go, and they open till quite late too.. every turn u make there is a fashion shop or restaurant selling bbq food.. very interesting place to hunt around at night if you are not tired.

Other additional places of interest will include the korea rice museum, Kimchi making lesson whereby you can even take some pics in Korean costume, the War memorial hall where all the fighter planes, tankers and memorial statue was placed.. Koreaentertainment famous hall is another, try taking pictures with Rain and the famous koreastars today.. posters of coz.. whaddya think hehehe..

Lastly for shopping, the most famous is nonetheless the DongDaeMun, however, its not cheap and its terribly crowded, one part of it in front of the stadium is pasar malam like with hundreds of stalls opening till wee hours of the morning, but 90% selling fake branded goods.. opposite the stadium are big shopping complex, very much far east like small stalls and shops selling similar stuffs, not cheap though!  Compared to Dong Dae Mun, I would prefer ShinChon University street also known as the 'woman's street, the stuffs are more trendy, prettier, and not so crowded, more interesting and at least the clothes do not look like This Fashion or made in China..

Visit also the so called Orchard Road of Corea, however, its also damn crowded and very much like Dong Dae Mun...InSa Dong is another cultural walk whereby you can buy a lot of souvenirs like stuff from there..

If you like to go for mid price and good quality facial stuffs, go for skin food and face shop in korea, the price of the stuff in face shop is 50% that of SIN... All the ladies went in empty handed but came out with bags and bags of facial masks, scrubs, cleansers etc.. Also they have a lot of other brands some are really local brands which we may not have heard of, but as long as its made in korea, you should be assured of its price and quality.. I was told that the korea stars are now crazy abt the BB cream, a tinted moisturizer with foundation cream.. however, SIN is so dry and humid not very sure if its suitable to be used here so I gave it a pass..

And if you have the money to spend, try the ginseng amethyst factory, it's a government statutory show room but the stuffs they sell are damn expensive, however, I do believe that ginseng is good for health esp for pple like in sin who are so stressed up and old people like papa and mama who may need more supplements to keep them healthy, was broke in the ginseng factory when I bought over SGD 2k worth of ginseng home...

Throughout the journey, we were accompanied by Allen, our Chinese Tour Guide and Joy, a young Korean photographer who can't understand or speak English.  He works very hard doubling as a porter, nanny, and waiter for all of us, served us food and makes sure that we are full and not lost in korea, guess he have to work doubly hard in order to mix around with us and building the rapport since he is not able to communicate with us.. it's a pity that we are not able to communicate, if not, I am sure we will make good friends with him too..  On the last day of the trip on the way to the airport, he showed us the pictures that each of us took, and each picture costs 5000 won, which is around SGD 7.50 per piece, its very expensive to speak of, but on seeing that he have been so hardworking the past few days, all of us bought at least 10 pictures from him.  He took really nice pictures of us though, think he edited it, he took 21 pictures for me and Dear, which is 105k won, SGD 150 bucks! But we were not able to afford all, so in the end we only took 13 home, and paid him around SGD 90 bucks.. if it have been cheaper, I promise that I will buy All.... I really like those pics very much... I even put it up in my own place now!