It’s well past midnight in Singapore, and I haven’t slept a wink. Feeling like an emotional wreck for no reason.
I’m sure I’m way past baby blues period of postpartum. Adam has grown to be a super cute and healthy boy. I have nothing to worry about.
What is it then? Depleted mother syndrome? PMS?
Whatever it is, I hope it will go away soon.
Heidi Klum on staying healthy:
“I cook really healthy dishes for the whole family. I already try now with our kids, to have them understand this from early age so they don’t get to be the next generation of pizza-, mac-and cheese-, and peanut-butter-and jelly-sandwiches-loving kids.”
What did you get on your wedding anniversary? Me, nothing that I couldn’t get on any other days.
In the first few years, Zsolt had always been diligent in buying me a bouquet of flowers as anniversary gift. After a while, he gave up — the poor chap.
And who could blame him,after all it’s a common knowledge that most women are flower sniffers. Isn’t it why they have that saying “say it with flowers”?
For me, though, it’s not necessary to celebrate wedding anniversary. Come on now, aren’t we supposed to celebrate our marriage everyday?
Of course I love getting gifts, but not flowers please. Methinks flowers are the easiest, most useless and predictable gifts.
Choosing a gift for somebody takes time. Many men don’t have the time — nor patience — to do it, so usually they’d just grab some red roses. It works most of the time!
But really, what can you do with flowers besides showing them off to relatives and friends? They’ll wither and die after a few days, and there goes the hubby’s hard-earned cash.
Seriously ladies, do you prefer flowers to — say, D & D books? I’d choose the books anytime!
But that’s just me. The truth is that men keep buying flowers, and women continue sniffing them like there’s no tomorrow.
Anyways, happy sixth anniversary to my husband Zsolt. Thank you for not getting me flowers.
Today Adam is ten months and eight days. He only gained a few grams since last month, but at 10 kg and 82 cm he’s still bigger than other infants in the same age.
His four teeth appeared exactly on the same day a few weeks ago. I thought brushing his teeth would be a difficult task. It turned out that he loves getting them brushed.
Besides finger toothbrush, I also use Spiffies twice daily. He simply can’t get enough of them.
If you can’t get toothwipes, you could make you own. Just wet a small clean cloth with luke warm water. Wrap it around your index finger, and it’s ready to use. Not sure whether the baby will like it as much though. I’ve never tried this myself.
However, dental hygiene is important. Maybe I’m a bit paranoid about this, but you can never be too careful.
I know as mothers we have like never ending tasks to do. Well, who said raising a kid was a part time job? For that reason, I’ve seen many mommies forgot to pay extra attention to their children’s dental care.
I hope I’m not one.
Not only decayed teeth will mar the baby’s smile and give him unpromising breath, they may affect the growth of the permanent teeth.
Guys always seemed to complain about girls’ preference for bad guys. Is it true? Take a look at this pie chart that Zsolt tipped me off.
Actually, I prefer a wizard.
What have you been up to?
Me, I’ve been telling people that I’m too busy to be online since Adam occupies most of my time.
But psst, that’s not totally true. With Gmarket being all the rage in Singapore right now, I’ve always spared some time to check it.
True enough, online shopping is nothing new, especially in Singapore — where most people are internet savvy. But let me tell you why Gmarket is better.
I’ve tried Amazon. The service was good, it’s just that the shipping cost a bomb. Recently I wanted to buy a bunting for Adam which cost US$14.90, which was very cheap. The only problem was that they charged US$80++ for the shipping — not to mention that the US is all the way round the world that Adam would be a man when he received the bunting.
e-bay is a little better, in a way that there are many sellers from our areas. I just think it’s a turnoff to make a bid before buying. And I may love budget shopping, but I don’t buy secondhand stuff from people — unless for books. Excuse me, but who knows what have happened to those items before. You can never be too careful, can you?
What we need is a local trustable site, which is exactly what Gmarket is. I’ve purchased several items from different merchants. So far I’m a happy customer.
But as I’ve said, I do budget shopping. So if you’re into expensive branded stuff, you don’t belong here. Otherwise, you could find cheap useful items which you might never see before. I’ve bought little romper extensions for Adam for $4 per piece. What a genius invention! Well, it depends. Actually for the same price you could even get a brand new romper. I know I did.
What’s better is that many sellers offer free delivery, including the ones from Korea. Usually your item would be delivered within 3-7 days. Meanwhile, you could contact the seller if you wished to ask questions about your purchases.
I guess I’ll still be coming back for more after all. Here’s the T-shirt I received today. I paid $5.90 for it. What do you think?
I’ve been receiving this notice several times this week. The spaminator is so good that it doesn’t even allow me to write comment on my own blog.
What’s a girl to do?
If you asked me about Manohara Odelia Pinot, 17, three months ago, I’d certainly say I had never heard of her. But within these last two months she’s probably become more famous than Susan Boyle in Indonesia.
The reason? It’s none other than her “Cinderella” story. In short, last year the girl married a thirty-year-old prince from Kelantan, Malaysia. Yet, instead of living happily ever after, she ended up locked in the palace. The prince charming allegedly abused and using her as a sex slave. She was said to have her breasts slashed and things like that . Long story short, the tale has become national headlines thanks to Mano’s mommy dearest, Daisy Fajarina.
And at last, Mano could flee from her husband while she’s in Singapore. She reportedly called the local police and pleaded for help. Now she’s back in Indonesia and already filing for divorce. Good for her.
Momma Fajarina, on the other hand, was still working her fifteen minutes of fame. Always being helpful to the press, she provided all details of the treatments received by her daughter, and ended it by saying, “No parent could be silent if their child was treated in such a barbaric way.”
Well since I’m a mother myself, I couldn’t agree more with her on that. But then again, no parent in their right mind to give consent to their underage daughter to get married at all — and especially not to a 30-year-old man!
There may only be two reasons for the marriage to be so urgent. First, if Mano couldn’t live unless she received financial support from the guy. But this is obviously not the case Mano’s situation. She’s a model, and she was actually romantically involved with Adrie Bakrie, the son of Aburizal Bakrie. Just thinking, how old was she when she started dating? Hmm, and mommy actually allowed that?
Anyways, the second reason is if Mano had unplanned pregnancy. But this is also not the case. So why Ms Fajarina didn’t ask the prince to wait is beyond me. Mano was not short of suitors, so it’s like mommy was selling her to the highest bidder.
Would she give her consent if the guy weren’t a prince? Nah! Methinks it’s clear what her motive was in marrying her daughter to this prince. She was actually the one to introduce the prince to Mano at a gala dinner hosted by the Malaysian PM when she was only 14, saying that the prince wanted to befriend her. Lame!
Many parents see their children as long-term investments. Just think of the old saying “banyak anak banyak rejeki” or “many children, much fortune’, which means children are the major source of income. In other words, children must repay their parents — usually materially. Of course there’s nothing wrong with children helping their parents, especially when they can afford it. But it’s not okay to ask them to give more than what they could.
Don’t forget, parents may choose whether or not they want a child — and not the opposite.
Just thought I’d share a picture of Adam with you guys. Here he is at Istana, on last Labor Day.
Now in his sixth month, he’s 9 kg and 75 cm. His height is already more than half of mine. In short, he’s BIG, but not that kinda big. His height and weight percentiles are evently matched–both are over 90 per cent.
Who knows, I could be weightlifting champion by next year!
I was just taking Adam for an afternoon stroll around the pool downstairs. As well as meeting his usual friends, we saw a middle-aged woman with his (I think) grandson.
Me: “So cute. What’s his name?”
Woman: “******. Are you Indonesian or Filipino?”
Me: “Indonesian.”
Woman: “But you can speak English, ah?”
Me: (Quickly before she thought I were Adam’s nanny) “I can, my husband is European.”
Woman: “Oooh!” (looking confused)
Woman: “So the baby is Chinese, rite?”
Me: “*$@^&^$#+_>X”:!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
Miss Universe Dayana Mendoza on her visit to the US prison camp at Guantanamo Bay:
“It [the trip] was a loooot of fun!… I didn’t want to leave, it was such a relaxing place, so calm and beautiful.”
Beauty with brain, eh?
Related posts:
Miss Universe Has Gone “Artistic”
Miss Universe 2005: When English Proficiency Becomes a Blunder
Holiday season in the rest of the world may be over, but not here in Singapore. Chinese New Year is coming soon, and another holiday means another excuse to indulge yourselves in shopping spree.
Once again you can first check #1 Coupons for better deals before doing your online shopping. Kohls Gold Star Clearance Dept, for example, gives 60-80% off of their items. A perfect time to expand your wardrobe collection, eh, girls?
And don’t forget about your other halves. You can shop for him on the cheap. Check this sale for seasonal fashion items for men and women.
If you’re interested in those offers, then you might as well like to get 75% discount on perfume, skin lotions, bath soaps, cleansers, makeup, fragrances, self tanning creams and gifts.
And plus-sized ladies, you too can receive up to 60% off of these Step Up Comfort boots. From their usual price $69.99 - $74.99, now you may have them for $39.99 - $44.99 only.
As always, don’t forget to verify that your free coupons are still valid upon checking up, and make sure that the price they give is correct. It wouldn’t be funny if you used an expired coupon after all.
Apart from the deals mentioned above, you could still expect many more discounts from many merchants. Click here for the merchants list. Happy shopping, ladies!
I’m feeling a bit sentimental at the moment. Yesterday I heard my neighbor played an old song from Backstreet Boys. It goes something like this:
I’ll never break your heart
I’ll never make you cry
I’d rather die than live without you
…
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not gonna talk about how much I was into Nick Carter (yuck!!!!). It’s just that the song brought back memories from more than ten years ago — that is when I was still in school.
What did you hate the most in school? I had a lot to hate 
but one of them is the flag ceremony held every Monday morning. You know, students and teachers must stand for 30 minutes to sing national anthem, listening to speeches yadda yadda yadda.
I never know who first had the idea of enforcing it to schools and all institutions. Mr. Suharto? Anyways, I used to envy students in the USA — those whom I saw from movies. They didn’t have to wear uniform, they never had ceremonies, they never had to salute their teachers.
Overall, I thought ceremony was utterly useless. Oh, if you haven’t known, its purpose was said to boost our patriotism — our love to the nation. But most students like me couldn’t see it. Many of us would make up excuses just to skip it.
“Look at those Western people. They love their nations, even if they never have such ceremonies,” or so we thought.
Ten years later, who would’ve thought that listening to those songs we used to sing in the ceremony would have different effect. Take this one:
I don’t know about you who are lucky enough to be able to live your lives in Indonesia. But for those who have been away for years, like myself, such songs are enough to reduce me to tears. They brought back the memories of my childhood. And they remind me so much of Indonesia — of the morning dew, of the way people still know each other by names so you won’t need GPS, of everything. If there were bad things, they’re all forgiven (mostly).
Di sana tempat lahir beta
dibuai, dibesarkan bunda
Tempat berlindung di hari tua
sampai akhir menutup mata
Given my current circumstances, Singapore is the right place to live in. But I still miss Indonesia. I miss tempe gembus. I miss my cat Temon. I miss becak.
I’m just feeling sentimental.
Is this the result after doing that ceremony for twelve years? The person who created it must have been a genius.
I’m thinking of getting my hair done very soon — that is like er, tomorrow or the day after. Unfortunately, I still can’t make up my mind about what I want to do with it.
Since I was still expecting Adam, I had actually planned to perm my hair again after a satisfactory visit to Jean Yip at Bugis Junction.
However, I then went to Jean Yip Tampines, and the hairdresser could convince me that I should rebond my hair instead. Perm definitely needs lots of extra attention, and she said once I had a baby, there would be no time for that. Good point. Sadly, I’ve been obsessed with Angela Zhang’s permed hair as you could see on the picture .
So now I’m torn between the two. What do you think, what should I do?
Rebonding:
- Expensive
- Easy to maintain
- Pretty
Perm:
- Very expensive
- Very high maintenance
- Very pretty
We’re selling our car, folks. If any of you happened to plan to buy one or know somebody who planned to buy, choose ours!
It might be a two-year old car, but Zsolt is a very careful owner, I can assure you. He pampered this car more than me. It’s like a second wife for him.
The reason we are selling it? Zsolt is looking to buy a new second wife So please, please, please click here for more details.
