22 Dec

My designer cum contractor gave us a contact for making curtains. Remember how I went to Spotlight and intended to get mine done there?

I even took pics of all the cloth I wanted for each room already.

This one was suitable for the MBR but in a darker shade.


Or this one.

I had shortlisted this for the kids' bedroom.

Or this one, since the kids' room is swathed in yellow and green and has a nature/ garden theme.

But then, the people in charge of making curtains are always not there when I show up, and then when they were finally there, they told me there was not enough cloth left for my windows. I mean, those particular cloth I wanted.

So I called this guy up and he arrived at my flat with his wife to take measurements. He showed me many samples as well, based on what I said I wanted.

He and his wife provided excellent service and I had them make all my curtains.
Will show the final product when I take the pics. I am very satisfied. My designer is a really great guy. He suggests all the right contacts.



11 Dec
Fri

Move-in day!

A little back-dated here. This is the day we moved into our own apt. Home sweet home.

We needed some help with the king-sized bed. The headboard and divan bottom could be dismantled, so that wasn't a problem, but the king-sized mattress posed a headache.

We enlisted the help of WK (Angeling's hubby) and VJ (my bil). So they first had to wrestle the mattress from the 2nd floor of my mil's house down to the ground floor. The staircase is very narrow, but they managed to do it. That's still not the toughest part.

I hired a covered lorry just to ferry the bed, some boxes and 2 bookcases to the flat. Very reasonable rate. As long as we moved everything ourselves, the rental of the lorry cost just $50.

When we reached our block, since my apt is way up high, if we can't fit the mattress in the elevator/ lift, that's it! Our poor hubbies would have to move that thingy up by the stairs!!

Fortunately, with a lot of noise (heaving, puffing, ranting), they managed to squeeze and fold and squish the mattress into the lift, and then hurl their 3 bodies into the same lift as well. It must have been really funny. I didn't witness, cos the kids were roped in to "jaga" (watch) the bookcases and headboard at the void deck, while I was stationed in the house with wide open doors to receive the mattress. It was Dh who related the account to me.

This pic shows the divan bottom with the hydraulic lift-up cover for additional storage within. That's VJ and Dh.

And the headboards. That's WK. Big thanks to the great manpower.

19 Dec

YST conservatory

Msian Youth Philharmonic Orch concert

Dh got complimentary tickets for our whole family and we went. Initially I was concerned that they wouldn't let ds2 enter because most venues allow kids 6 and above only.

But Dh says this is a youth concert, and YST is less strict than the Esplanade. So we tried.

Also, the concert's prog was mostly familiar favourites, like The Nutcracker Suite for the 2nd half. They even played many Xmas favourites as encore pieces.

We also had the pleasant surprise of meeting up with many friends. For me, I bumped into 2 NIE Bio classmates. Since it's my dearest old friend, I sat down to catch up with her while Dh, who also met his friends, brought the boys along with him and they went for their chat.

And then ds1 met his piano class friend. Actually, what his teacher does is, everytime there is a student scheduled before ds1, she'll make that student interact and play something for the next student. I find that very nice. First, it allows the earlier student to have more little performing opportunities, and then it motivates the next student to want to reach that level to enjoy playing that piece too.

So far, ds1 told me about this boy who played The Pink Panther for him before, and this girl who we met at the concert, who played a very nice piece for him, but he can't remember the title. I can see ds1 enjoying his piano lessons a lot, thanks to this teacher. Well, she's Dh's friend, so I guess this kind of recommendation will never go wrong.

When I taught piano last time, I couldn't afford to give presents each lesson. I did give stickers as rewards. But so far ds1 has received M&M packets, soft toy, nougat, Mamee noodle snack and other chocs as rewards! Of course those motivate him a lot too. :-) And then, he also loves the piano teacher's cat, so he always looks forward to playing with her cat.

I guess this should last longer than I expect, and that's good...



The first few days in Dec passed by in a flurry cos there were contractors, my designer, kitchen people, plumber, City Gas, PUB, HDB Town Council pp etc to meet up with as they trooped to my house.

Not to mention delivery of appliances and the various demonstrations.

Then I had obgyn appt, and I renewed my kids' and my passports cos of the church camp trip (ds2's passport is valid for less than 6mth, so I decided to renew everyone's).

Also engaged a part-time helper for the first time in Sg, thru an agency. After she came and left our newly renovated apt, I started to miss my Tianjin ayi so much that I called her. Sigh. Sg's part time helpers are so much more expensive yet not as competent. Or maybe, should I say, they are purposefully less hardworking, more assertive and like to waste time so time pass faster and then they just get what they want to earn and leave.

And why use a hard coconut bristle brush to brush my new toilet seat that had been so smooth and shiny and now full of abrasive scratches? Sigh.

After she cleaned my windows, I had to do them over myself too. Not very clean. (She comes 1x a week, abt 3 or 4 hr each time.)

Anyway... Let me see how to change another one. Will update if I do.

Then perhaps due to all the strain and bending and carrying of heavy stuff, my lower back started to ache like mad. Even when I am sitting. But extremely bad when I rise up to a standing position from a sitting position. And I can't walk properly due to the pain. The lower pelvis bones seem to all be coming apart, like they grate together or go loose alternately. Anyway, it became very painful to walk.

So I made an appt with an osteopath after I got a recommendation. Had contemplated and researched the difference between a chiropractor and osteopath and then decided on the latter.
The one recommended was booked till Feb next year! So I was referred to the other lady osteopath in the same practice.

My appt was right after the church camp. She was nice and patient and helpful. And she moved my limbs and did massage and felt my spine and listened to the movement of my cerebrospinal fluid (!), and gave me some exercises and suggestions to help alleviate. After her manipulations and massage, when I got up, I was fine. But the pain came back the next day!!! After of course, another round of mopping the new place's floor cos of new dust that settled as another batch of workers came in to install stuff. (I bend down on my knees to mop with a cloth lah, that was the bad thing.)

So I decided no need for more osteopathy. It'll just be like that till I deliver, just bear with it for another month!!!

I had many more appts till I forgot to attend my ex-student's wedding. Furthermore ds2 was sick that day, coughing and all. Sigh, it's so rare I get invited to a student's wedding and I missed it. I was very apologetic of course, and will send her a card and vouchers when she gets back from her honeymoon. So bad of me...

The other medical appt was for ds1.

21 Dec
NUH paediatric opthalmology dept at Biopolis

ds1's doc was very very nice. She has a son of her own and is very good with kids, and she explained all her stuff to me and ds1 very well. The rest of the staff there were so friendly and patient too. I am very impressed with govt restructured hospitals nowadays.

My experience at SGH and KKH were excellent as well.

Anyway, so ds1 first had a normal check of his eyes. The Malay guy who did it for him using the lenses and eye chart was very friendly and humourous. He wore very hip and funky clothes also, with leather jacket, shiny pants and all.

He found both of ds1's eyes to be 250 degrees! So the doc suggested he use eyedrops to relax and dilate the eye because of the ability of the eye muscles in kids below 8yo to accomodate very well and thus not get a reliable reading via the normal testing.

So we had a nice wait while ds1 had 4 eye drops first. 1st 2 as anesthesia, then the dilator thingy. Wait 5 min, another 2 drops. Another 5 min, another 2 drops, then 30min, another 2 drops. Then wait to test again with the Malay guy. (Doc praised ds1 for being so brave cos the drops were very stinging. ds1 didn't struggle or cry or anything, while the doc said her own son had to be restrained and some other kids had to be pinned down in order to get the drops. Maybe she's just being nice. Somehow ds1 didn't think it was a big deal. He did go "ouch" and grab my hand when the eye drops went in. That's all.)

During the wait, I could read the magazines and the Straits Times there, while they turned on the TV's okto channel for ds1. The doc said he might have blurry vision or sensitivity to bright lights for about 8hrs or a day, but funny it didn't affect his ability to watch okto.

Still similar results after the drops, so the doc gave a prescription for his spects. We discussed lazy eye, and the doc gave ds1 a test (which she told him was a game) to confirm it is not amblyopia. It was a very fun test consisting of many dots and arrows.

I also asked about all the current methods to help delay myopia progression in kids used by parents nowadays, like the Eye Relax machine, ortho-k lens, progressive lens, etc, and she gave her comments.

I also told ds1 to have better reading habits and take better care of his eyes. The doc commented that since he had myopia so young, it is most probably a genetic reason. Though of course, good eye care will help slow the progression in the next few years. I am just concerned cos till now, my left eye is just 275 degrees. I was 250 only in JC I think and he's only 6. Sigh.

The doc suggested to have his spects made at 200 deg first, then we'll have a follow up appt in 6 mth time. She asked if I'd rather go to the main NUH building. I said no, this Biopolis clinic is so clean, with less patients and there was ample parking, so I'd prefer going to the Biopolis one.

The same afternoon, we went to Jurong Point to get his spects done. He was very particular and at once decided on the frame he wanted. Very specific taste. His head and face are so small, so any spects look big on him. :-)

So this is his new look....

As the boys shared a book on another day, it got me thinking, when would it be ds2's turn? Now I have to keep reminding both of them to keep a distance away from the book, have good lighting and take frequent rests.


Oh yes, before my gas pipe was concealed properly, I couldn't use my cooker hob for the longest time. I was raring to have a home-cooked meal though, and only my oven could be used. So I did some roasts.

This was therefore our first meal at home after we moved in.

Lamb cutlets, pork ribs, corn, peas, and baked potato. All done in the oven.



Nothing fancy, but since it is memorable, being our first meal on the new dining table in our newly done place, I must document it. :-)



We moved into our new flat, that was not totally done up yet, just before the church camp. That was 11th Dec.

We had just 1 day on the 12th to get some urgent things hooked up and settled before we left early on 13th morning for church and then directly to Desaru for the camp (13-16 Dec).

We forgot to bring several things cos we were so last minute in packing, and not to mention, couldn't find a lot of things too.

But we still had a great time. I liked the drive. We always enjoy road trips... The driving part is a huge part of the fun..

The resort was nice. Besides following the church camp schedule, there was free time for our own family activities too.

The kids had a splashing good time at the pool. Dh brought them down while Angeling and I sat with the towels on the deck chairs chatting. Mary and my sis also brought the kids. Everyone had a great time.


The outdoor playground was fun for the boys too.

I was so glad for the kids' classes. It allowed me to attend all the discussions and lessons without worrying about my kids being occupied. They in turn, had fun with their friends and teachers. I felt it was a good bonding experience, since normally on Sun or Wed, they don't get that much time to spend with their friends or these 2 particular teachers.

There were indoor and outdoor games. In my state, of course I joined only the indoor games.

This was one funny game where each group had to continue a story for 5min where each member can only say 1 word. We cannot pause, otherwise we'd be out. The story had a fixed starting and ending.

This is Dh's group and theirs was the most entertaining. It was about a trip to the wet market, and somehow they ended up talking about jellyfish!


During the indoor games, the kids will play by themselves at the back of the auditorium. Moms with toddlers will be there too, like my sis and Mary. So I confidently left my kids playing there and joined in the games wholeheartedly. I think this is the 1st camp since ds1 was born that I was able to fully join in the activities, cos the previous camps, I was the mom with the toddlers!


Another game that involved blindfolding members and placing them in different parts of the room and getting them to find each other again.

The beach was so alluring. We strolled along, collected pebbles and shells and admired the many crabs. Kids having some fun with YY.


Dh and ds1.

Meals were all buffet-style. We happened to meet another church group from Singapore there! A coincidence. Met an ex-student and Dh met his orchestra mate.

We sat with different church friends for different meals. Here's one of the breakfasts or lunches.

A dinner group pic.

L and ds1 with one of their most fav kor kors.

Entire camp group pic. Wearing camp tee.

My group.

On the last night, it's called the Family Night and there were so many wacky games. One of the them was to send out reps from each group. Dh was his group's rep. They had to try and tie a knot on a candy rope/ string, using only their tongues!!!!

So tough. I'd never be able to do it. Some who tried and tried just could not do it. It remained a fight between Angeling and Dh! Both of them did 5 or 6, I can't recall, but it was no mean feat! Some tried and got 1. Many could not. I didn't try but I am very sure I'd fail!

Group pic at family night.

Dh's group got overall 2nd prize. Both boys had the privilege to go up with him to collect the prize.

That's Dh's group. My group got 3rd. Each group received a lot of goodies to gorge on.


It was very late after the Family Night already but the kids wanted to play this last game of Magic Cards before going back to our room to sleep.

Since it is the last night, we let them.


On the way back, we followed 2 other families to eat at a Channel U recommended seafood restaurant, and then stop to shop at Jusco before heading back to Singapore. It was a Wed, so we all met up at the church building again for Bible class.

We love church camps and we'd try not to miss any, looking forward to the next one!



8 Dec
8th year of marriage

Tues, 6.30pm

My parents were in Msia for a week-long vacation, even though my mom earlier agreed to babysit. But my dad only had this week free, so they decided to go to Pangkor Island and relax for the week.

So my mil kindly helped us babysit the boys, even though they tend to be a handful especially with grandparents. They know they are able to test the limits and push them further and further, so they usually behave out of boundaries with them. So we're thankful we even get to go out for dinner alone.

Dh had dined at Dozo with his friends before, twice in fact, and I hadn't tried the food there. Dh really enjoyed the experience because you get to taste and sample a lot of delicacies but a little of each, so you don't feel too stuffed and yet every course or dish leaves you wanting even more.

So he made reservations and we went to Valley Point where Dozo is (River Valley area). It is supposed to be a Japanese restaurant but is more like fusion cuisine.

There were 7 courses and other snacks. Like there was a welcome drink that's some kind of juice, very refreshing. Then I loved the cheese sticks.

Then came the 1st course, which is called Chef's Selection (Starter).

Then the cold dish, where I chose King Crab Claw salad drizzled with sesame vinaigrette. This is the pic.


Dh chose smoked duck breast with cranberry vanetta.


3rd course: I chose chawanmushi with black truffle slice. (It was extra creamy and rich because they added foie gras in it. I am not a fan of foie gras but I love chawanmushi. And it actually tasted good. Hmm, but I still haven't changed my mind about foie gras.)

Dh had escargots. No pics here.

4th: Soup.
I chose an infusion of Cepes mushroom with truffle and Dh tried the crab bisque cappucino style (where he had to drink it down like coffee, no spoons involved).

5th: The Main course

I chose Baked Atlantic Cod fillet. It was delicious. And I thought of all the goodness it would give to the baby and felt good about it. haha.

Dh chose a platter of sushi. All very exquisitely arranged. The service was wonderful.

6th: Dessert
I chose warm chocolate cake with ice cream. Yum yum! Dh chose Espresso creme brulee.

But they surprised us first by bringing us to a secluded corner. There were no other patrons there. It was a quiet area by the bar with an Xmas tree. They said it was more romantic there. Indeed there was dimmer lighting and they lit a candle for us.

Then they served up a surprise dessert on the house. This is a pic of the complimentary cake. And they took several pics for us. Unfortunately I just look extremely overweight in all the pics. Hmph.

The last course was drinks. A whole list to choose from. I chose Iced Fruity refresher, while Dh chose Iced Mallow Apple Melody.

They came in a pot, with fruits in it. Too much actually. I was so full by then, which is surprising because every course was so tiny in serving. I guess this is healthier, to eat everything in moderate amounts, than a huge buffet.

But of course, at the price of $59, we can't have this too frequently. :-)

They offered to take a few more pics for us to remember this anniversary by. Sweet of them.

The food was lovely, the company without the kids was precious, and the romantic ambience was perfect for the occasion. We enjoyed ourselves tremendously.

What about presents? I got Dh a Sony digital photo frame and Dh bought me a pair of shoes (from Bata, but I chose it myself), and of course the dinner treat.

We still can't believe 8 years have passed so quickly. However, 8 years under our belt do give us more confidence. Somehow we feel certain that after going through so much together, the rest of our lives seem not that difficult to walk through together.

We know exactly what each other feels about certain issues, we can preempt what each other is going to say, we know the likes and dislikes and various habits, weird or not, and our beliefs and stand on how to raise the kids... and so on. Sure, we are past the dizzy courtship stage so maybe it's not as exciting as before, but it is a very comfortable co-existence and companionship.

To many more blissful years ahead!



Some church activities that haven't been blogged about:

27 Nov
Fri

3-6pm

It was the Four Seas Bible College Graduation/ Commencement exercise and 6 students were graduating and then returning to their home countries.

We went as a family. Always nice to see them study so hard for 1-3 years, do well and graduate. We will miss them as they leave Singapore to go home, but we know we'll still meet again someday, somehow.

28 Nov
6.30pm

There was cottage meeting at Lai Mui's house, or rather, mansion, as we like to call it, since it is so very huge - 5 storeys...

This time there was no potluck because she catered for food. Pretty relaxing for all those who went, so we chipped in to buy her a gift instead.

This was the last session in 2009 so there was an introduction of the new person-in-charge and also some sharing and discussion, and of course, singing.

6 Dec
Sun
JBC Prize-giving and Parents meet teacher session

This year my boys kinda "played cheat". Usually the gifts are given to the students who attended a whole year of Sunday school, but my boys have been back since Sept only, yet they get to receive prizes. No one's complaining of course.

Started off with singing some children's songs. They sat by classes, and ds2 is seen in the 1st row of chairs beside Ch. Can see ML also. They are part of the Nursery class. Cradle Roll kids do not need seats cos all the babes are in their moms' arms. :-) ds1 can be seen 2 rows back, with MX and Celeste.


Then there was a quick Bible quiz as an ice-breaker game I think. 2 Qs per level/ class. And ds2 and ML got prizes for the Nursery class Qs. ds2 answered "How to spell Jesus". Well, even if he didn't know the answer, the word was written so big and clear on the blackboard! So that was a giveaway.

He was just fast in putting up his hand, and why did he do that? He saw that the prize included a tissue pack with Ben 10 on it. Hmmm, talk about misguided motivation. I sure hope it wasn't just that.

ds1 got a prize for the Kindy class quiz too. His Q was something related to obedience or discipline, I can't quite recall it, but I remember Mary turning to me and saying "wah, you train your son well huh!". So I was quite proud of that. haha. Sounds very superficial cos I was proud of myself more than of ds1, since I can't even remember what he answered correctly, sigh.

After that, it was time for prize-presentation for every student, and each parent will receive a student report on our kids' performance during the year. This is ds1 and his teacher.

ds2 and his teacher.


All the babies from Cradle Roll got to get their presents with their mommies. This is my barely 2 mth old nephew and my sis, receiving his "award" from his teacher.

Photo-taking after that. Cradle Roll class with babies from 0-2 or 3, if their moms or the teacher feel they should remain in the class. Big range of ages here.

I'm also in the pic not cos I'm pregnant lah. Cos I helped to teach several lessons and so am considered one of the teachers.

Nursery class, mostly 3-4 yr olds. ds2 is here, again in between 2 girls, should be his closest friends in the class since the mommies are close friends too. :-)

ds1 with his kindy class. 5-6 yr olds.

ds1 got a whole box of very useful things for P1. Stationery and so on.
ds2 got this game below. Both of them enjoyed playing with it. The aim is not to let the precariously balanced plastic tray topple while continuing to place tokens onto it.

The tokens have to be placed at specific numbered positions according to the die number thrown. Quite exciting towards the end. This pic shows just the middle of the game, and it's really very tilted already!





A pic of ds1's toothless look.

His 2 upper incisors have fallen off, as blogged previously and the new ones are still slow in emerging. Can only see the tip of the left one and nothing of the permanent right one yet.

We were in my obgyn's office, waiting to see him when I took the pic. It was a longer wait than usual that day and both kids were with me, so I was too free. I read Jamie Oliver's book while waiting also. My obgyn has very interesting books and magazines in the waiting room, thankfully.


The kids liked reading all the messages on the heart-shaped pieces of paper hung on the Xmas tree. I asked them to "admire" the abstract art on the wall and told them it'd be great if they can paint like that, looks so simple, yet can earn so much money through selling one painting. haha.


You know how my kids are so accident-prone and how many scrapes they've gotten into right?
But somehow, so far, God has blessed us with no major accidents. We haven't had to rush to hospital with either kid yet.

The other day though, both boys were playing on the Kawai digital piano in my mil's house when something happened.

Ok, let's give some background. My mil gave my Dh's brother (my bil) a baby grand last time, when we moved to Utah. Used to be ours but my mil bought over it when we wanted to sell it. So it's at my bil's house. And his kids were learning how to play the piano then, so he had bought a Kawai digital piano. Now his kids are not using the Kawai but the Yamaha baby grand. And ds1 just started taking piano lessons from Dh's friend.

So we were thinking if we should get an upright when mil reminded us that bil can lend us the Kawai, so we agreed.

Bil brought the Kawai over. It has this foldable metal stand (you know, like how the ironing board stands are?). It is like an X when opened. Apparently it wasn't the original stand for the Kawai, and the Kawai is too heavy for it, but we didn't know. Dh found out later.

So the digi piano was on the stand and both boys were playing on it. They played all kinds of things they made up, and were getting more and more into it, like rock band keyboardists, if you can visualise.

Dh and I were not in the same room (living room), neither was mil. But we were a short distance away in the dining room.

Suddenly we heard a loud crash and ds1 started crying. ds1 seldom cries nowadays, and this was a really loud cry. We rushed to the scene to see lots of blood. Like really lots. Dripping on the floor, and onto ds1's clothes. Worse, his left hand was still pinned under the Kawai. And it was not those light Yamaha or Casio synthesizer. It was a digital piano.

In that instance, there was no time to find out what had happened yet, so I tried to free ds1's hand. He shouted even louder when I touched his fingers, so I stood back and let Dh remove the Kawai first. It was too heavy for me to lift up even!

With the Kawai out of the way, ds1 managed to stand up. We saw that both his hands were crushed! How come?? Weird. My mil's legs became jelly (she told me later she was so shocked), she thought his finger bones must have all been broken. She rushed to ds1 and comforted him. He cried and cried but still holding his fingers up. Dh was angry and scolded both of them. He felt they must have been fooling around, which caused the piano to fall.

ds2 looked very terrified, he kept staring at ds1's hands and at all the dripping blood and he almost cried too, as he asked me "how is ds1" repeatedly.

Somehow when something happens, I tend to stand aside and observe everything first. I don't know if that's good cos in mil's eyes, I was too cool and unconcerned. She was the first to rush to ds1. For me, I kind of usually take in everything before reacting. Maybe it was shock, maybe it is just my character not to react immediately.

So anyway, after observing that Dh is shouting, ds2 is terror-stricken and mil is too scared to do anything, while ds1 is still wailing, and no one was doing anything to stop the bleeding, I finally snapped into action. I brought ds1 to clean up his wounds before I can assess the damage, since there was too much blood to see how bad the wounds are.

I think he was too overwhelmed by the blood so I kept telling him it was ok, that his injuries were minor and would heal soon (even though I had no idea).

While washing with water, I realised it was not that superficial. 4 fingers were involved. 2 on each hand. 3 more serious, 1 superficial. Of the 3, one finger was really badly crushed, with multiple cuts, and the nail looked flattened and blood was oozing out from under the nail. Part of the flesh underneath the nail had turned purple.

Ds1 stopped crying soon. He also knew Dh was angry, so Dh's scolding worked somewhat, to keep him from being too hysterical. After most of the blood was washed away and his wounds cleaned, plus reassurance that it was not serious, he was pretty much calmed down.

I had to use a lot of gauze to bandage his fingers though. And for the most serious wound, blood and pus still kept oozing out hours after. He's so poor thing. Sigh.

This pic was taken 2 days after the incident.

So what had happened actually? No one knows for sure. ds2 was incapable of giving a coherent account. Everytime he related it, details were different.

ds1 said they were playing on the piano when ds2 banged too hard on his side, causing the piano to tilt and shift. As it was going to fall off the stand, ds1 said he reached out with both hands to try and stabilise it, to move it back onto the stand. That's when the piano fell, landing on one of his hands while the metal stand folded up, crushing his other hand in between the hinges. As it was made of sharp metal edges, it cut up his fingers badly.

Actually we cringed when we looked at the metal stand. Indeed, the foldable part looked very dangerous.

We don't know if it was entirely true, cos it made ds1 the victim and ds2 the perpetrator, while ds2 vehemently denied banging on the piano too hard. So we didn't blame either party but reminded them to be very careful next time. And that if any heavy thing was going to fall, neither of them was to go and try and carry it.

Imagine a motorcycle or huge cabinet going to fall on them and they trying to stabilise it instead of running away! Dangerous indeed.

Even 2 days after, when ds1 accidentally added more pressure or played too rough with ds2, the wounds will bleed again. This pic shows a re-bleed.

Another finger.


We were initially not sure if we had to go to the doctor for the most serious one cos some cuts were deeper and we didn't know if they'd heal properly without stitches, but thankfully kids' skin regenerate very quickly and his finger looks fine now.

Must pray for less such accidents to occur! I know a childhood is incomplete without accidents, but let's hope they are always minor!



Last week of Nov to 1st week of Dec.

6th week of renovation. Almost done.

We moved into our flat on 11 Dec. These pics were taken the 1st week of Dec.

Kitchen almost done, except for the dishwasher inlet and outlet, cooker hob and the drawer system. The windows, without the grille, look so much better. But because of the kids, we really need all the grilles. No choice, have to sacrifice aesthetics for practicality and safety until the kids are grown.

Common toilet:

Toilet door. Changed to wood instead of the previous plastic one.

Bathroom fixtures are all in. The kids will be using this bathroom.

Our study room. The silvermink colour has been painted. Our new doors. The glass partition which will allow me to supervise the kids from the living room. It also makes our living room look bigger. And it also allows the boys to play and have fun loudly even when the baby is here.

I can let baby sleep in the living room during the daytime, if the kids are playing in the study. Or if the boys are in the living room, I can leave baby in the study, and continue my household chores in the kitchen or living room, but still be able to keep an eye on baby from outside. I really love the transparency now.

Whatever the boys or Dh are surfing, I can see too... haha. No more secretly surfing for Ben 10 YouTube clips! They're back to no more TV watching since we moved back. So they don't get to watch Ben 10 anymore. It helps them not to fight as much, I believe. But I realise they are able to get Ben 10 on YouTube as well, so now I tell them, no Ben 10 on the computer also.

It's fine for other kids to watch Ben 10 if they don't act it out like how my boys do. I do what I do because I observe that they fight a lot more if they watch such shows. I don't like them acting out everything they watch on TV. So I channel their attention and time to other activities. Right now, they enjoy playing their magic cards, and Lego. That's good for me. Of course, they still fight, but it's a different kind of squabbling. I find it much less violent. It's just irritating, now, but not rough and violent.

Our MBR. Our lamp is in. And the olive green paint is done.

Took this pic at V.Hive. I was looking for a dresser but a lot of dressers come with either very ornate Victorian designs, or they are too bulky and old-fashioned for my liking. Since our apt is small and most of our things have clean lines, I wanted just a simple table with a mirror. Hence I was carrying this mirror from another department to the office section and tried the mirror out on the different office desks/ tables to see if it will work as a dresser.

And I took this pic for Dh to view since he is mostly not with me whenever I go furniture hunting.

Lest you think I am the customer from hell, I actually asked the mirror dept guy if I could do that (move the mirror to other depts) and he obliged. :-) I did ask for permission ok!

In the end, I did get my dresser done up something like that, but I got the office desk from Ikea. This Linnarp line of office desks is clean and simple. Just a table with legs. Very nice. And I'll get a mirror to match. It is small and nifty enough for our MBR too.

Surprisingly, after I bought it and had it set up in my MBR, I bought a copy of Jan 2010's Home and Decor magazine, and in there, the Linnarp desk was featured as being a nice table. Ahhh, is my taste good or not??

-{dear-hubby}- dh
-{dear-son}-ds1 T
-{dear-son}-ds2 J
-{dear-daughter}-dd E
singapore/utah/tianjin
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huiming shaypiao chiuwai teck 03S73 05S73 05S75 05S78 05S7B janelle medalene eunice zelda maryGanMa meizan sheryl dory jessica danielle sammi jen OzSeow

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designer | kathleen huiming
image | moonburst23
brushes | aethereality.net
font | violation