过大礼 – 三部曲

Saturday, 26 April

第一部: 彩礼篮

On Saturday morning, I received a call from my Mother-in-law to inform me that she could not seem to find the 3 tier basket for the dowry session on Sunday. I told her maybe she can search for it in her house storeroom. Meanwhile, my immediate reaction was to call the shop to check for details.

During the week, I had been doing some research on the web to check on shops that provide such services. Quite luckily, there was this shop – Gin Thye 锦泰饼家, which specialized in such occasion. They provide the use of the basket for FREE as long as you ordered the cakes and whatever items from the shop, no minimum spending required.

MIL called me to confirm that the basket is not in her house. So together with my PIL and the 2 A’s, we went to the shop. Luckily the owner was quite accommodating to our request and we bought some items from the shop. We got the BASKET… mission accomplished. The shop owner ever provided us information on the arrangement of the auspicious items into the basket. It was an eye-opening session for me as I learnt more about tradition.

After buying all the stuff, we headed to MacDonald to packed 2 child meals for Anthea and Anders. We headed toward Sembawang Hill estate hawker centre for lunch. We had a nice fish soup and pastas for lunch. After lunch we went home to rest. Dinner was at Zhou’s kitchen @ Novena Square 2 as we had a 20% discount for UOB card. During dinner, there was discussion on the dowry ceremony and also the upcoming wedding dinner, 2 more weeks exactly.

Sunday, 27 April

第二部：送嫁妆

The auspicious hours for the ceremony are between 2 – 5 pm. At around 1.40pm, Adrian made his way to my PIL house to meet with Terence and my 2nd BIL, Louis. The 3 Tan Brothers were missioned to carry the stuff over and present to Cherry’s parents. Heard from Adrian that the exchange went smoothly. Then they brought the stuff back to my PIL house after Cherry’s parents had done the changes:

- exchange 12 oranges for 12 oranges
- presented the “四点金”
- presented the “聘金”
- presented 4 boxes of cakes and cherry’s parent returned 2 boxes
- presented 2 bottles of Red wines and cherry’s parents returned 2 bottles Ribena
- presented the tradition Teochew pastries and cherry’s parents returned ½ of the pastries

第三部: 结婚仪式及欢庆活动

Popiah Gathering and wedding day briefing. Cherry’s parents organized a popiah party for the 2 sides of families to get together also a get –to- know you session. Cherry has 3 younger siblings – 2 brothers and a sister. One of her brother is married. We had nice home made popiahs and there was even Hainan coffee. Her parents just went for a holiday in Hainan island and bought back the Hainan coffee. The coffee was very nicely brewed.. : )

Terence did a briefing on the agenda of the wedding day event. It will be a busy day for the Aces family as each and every one of us has been assigned a duty: P

Adrian –Reception for relatives and guard of “wedding ang pows”

Anthea – Flower girl (rehearsal session on 5 may and need to report early on actual day for final rehearsal)

Anders – Opening of car door when Terence and Cherry arrives at PIL’s house for tea ceremony
Astee – provide logistics support of flower girl and boy in attendance

Really looking forward now to 10th May 2008 !!

伤心的理由

刚从修车厂把车拿回来。。。心好痛。损失惨重 – 总共还了$1681. (可以买一个名牌 LV Bag !!)。

伤心 1 ： 无缘无故损失钱， 都怪自己的不小心。

伤心 2 ：修车一事，我都没有被问过意见。

伤心3 ：凡事我都不要再参与了，每次问什麽,答案都一样,决定了！！

伤心 4：就是伤心。。。唉 ！！

什麽都提不起劲了。。。难过。 其实我已经被“警告“过了- 不要再提此事。不管它了，张学友都能唱 “一千个伤心的理由”我才立了四个，算不错了。

Choke

Anders had this tendency to get choke quite easily…sigh.

The previous Saturday, he requested for a sweet and I gave him permission to have one. It is one of those hard sweet. I told him that he should not bit the sweet and just allow it to melt slowly in his mouth. He listened to my instruction and did not bit it. Then I told him to take a bath as we were going out for dinner.

As he walked to the bathroom, something happened. He swallowed the sweet and I think it got stuck in his throat. I was with him in the bathroom. His face turned very red and had some problems with his breathing. I did an abdominal thrust (Heimlich maneuver) repeatedly,

hoping to clear his blockage. At the same time, I gave him some water; he tried to drink a little at the time. He started crying and it was a sign to indicate the object may have clear from his throat. It was a relief and what a fright I had.

Anders seem to get choke quite easily, I think sometimes, he wants to do too many things at one time. Usually for dinner, I will make sure all the vegetables and meat are cut into small bites before mixing with the rice. Also, I will tell him not to talk when eating his meals and most important to bit his food before swallowing.

I do hope that as he grows, this problem will go away. But meanwhile, I have to be very watchful over his mouthful of food intake... : P

Life interlude:

Last evening, we were watching the 9pm Chinese drama “迷图“。The male actor (志伟)
gave a bouquet of flower to the female actress（淑贤）.

淑贤 : 今天不是情人节，为什么送花给我？

志伟 : 这是我第一次送花给女孩。

Anthea: mommy what is 情人节?

Anders: 情人节 is Valentine ….

Me: yes, Anders, you are right. Who taught you this?

Anders was all smiled.

I was totally caught off guard and surprised that he knew of this. Probably he may have overheard this before and remembered it. Glad that he is able to use it in the right way!!

How are we doing?

Last year this weekend, it was a sad Saturday for us as Siti, our domestic helper returned home for good.

For the past one year, we are still in contact with Siti via SMSes; she will send us messages to say how much she misses Anders. I do hope that she will have her own children real soon; I know she will be a very dedicated mother.

Time really passed so quickly, it has been a year that we had been without a domestic helper. How are we faring? So far, I think I AM doing fairly ok with my new multi-tasking skills at home – being a maid & mother.

Housework chores are endless and fetching the children to and back from childcare centre is also very tiring. Luckily for me, I do not need to cook as we ordered Tingkat dinner delivery. Also my mom comes once a week to help me with some house chores which I am always THANKFUL of.

With all these daily routines, sometimes I do miss Siti as she is such a wonderful helper to have.

Since day 1, she does the household chores on her own schedules; I don’t need to give her any timetable.

She cooks whatever I buy and we eat whatever she cooks – no complaints.

She loves the children like her own, so that was why I managed to returned to workforce and leave Anders under her care.

If I ever get a domestic helper, will I be so lucky again…: P

Expensive Lesson

Eversince we had our own family car in 2006, i took refresher course to polish on my driving and parking skills.

So far, driving the car is not difficult as it is an auto car. I do had some problems when parking as my judgement is still not up to par. So whenever the car is available, i will take the opportunity to drive, in order to keep improving my skills.

Yesterday as Adrian was on leave, so i drove to work as per normal. I was also planning to bring back a laptop to test its wireless function. (I am actually typing this entry on the office laptop). So with the car, it was more convenient to bring it back.

After work, i drove back and as normal enter our multi level car park to park the car. I was doing the reverse and i sweared that i had looked very carefully to ensure that the car was in the correct angle and away from the pillar. So with this assurance, i reversed slowly and surely into the lot. Then suddenly there was a small "BANG"...*sh*t*...i thought to myself - hopefully nothing major. So i drove out and adjust the parking and finally when the car was parked. I went to checked on the damages.

Sigh...the side hit the pillar and the bumper was a bit damage with the paint work also destroyed. I told adrian of the "accident" when i reached home and he went to check the car. I told him that we can send it to any of the car workshop in SIN MING Automart to do the repair but he said he does not trust those unreliable source. So he insisted on sending it back to Borneo workshop.

Needless to say, I had to pay a hefty sum for this lesson...sigh. (WE should have gone to any AH Beng car workshop because i really think it's pointless to pay so much just for a simple repair!!)

Anyone has a good car mechanic to recommend? i will put it in my list to standby...hee : P

Financial Independence

One of my colleagues is a high earner. The other day we were chatting about our children primary school after school care provider. She has 2 daughters and the eldest is the same age as Anthea.

I told her that my ideal plan is to work ½ day morning and be able to look after Anthea after school, if she is in morning session. Otherwise we have to work out other options .

She said her husband also asked her to work part time or quit her job. He felt that she should spend more time with her daughters, guiding them in the education.

She said: “No, I do not want to give up what I am earning now, unless my husband can match it. “
She said : “ I am enjoying my financial independence and I can buy what ever I like and I want, no need to ask my husband permission. “

I was thinking – indeed, ask any mommies - who do not want this kind of independence. But when it is your CHILD versus MONEY, I think the answer is quite obvious. There are exceptions, of course.

For our family,if we were to rely on Adrian sole income, it will be a bit taxing on him. I don’t earn much but enough to support my own insurance policies and also builds up on children education funds.

In Singapore, we are considered lucky as we are able to employ maids to look after our children or send our children to after school care services. So working mommies still have the options to remain in workforce.

To work or not to work – that’s a question for me, comes 2009 !!

"Lobangs"- “ 特惠家族”

This is a weekends of "Lobangs" for the family.

Friday's Lobang : Anthea's 1st Tooth drops

In the evening, when I reached home, Anthea told me "mommy, I want to show you something.” Then she showed me the thing. It took me a while to find the thing as it was quite camouflaged among the papers. Finally I saw it...it was one of her Front tooth and it has finally dropped. It has been shaky for the last few weeks and there is few more now waiting to come out. So that her permanent teeth will start to set in.

Saturday Lobangs: 3 Crabs @ Jumbo NSRCC

My extended families and we are great supporters of any discount vouchers or restaurants that had special card promotions because we dined out on weekends. Last Saturday we went all the way to Jumbo Seafood restaurant @ NSRCC in Changi, simply because my PIL had a $50 discount vouchers which can be used at selected outlets. We were a table of 10 + 1 infant. We ordered 3 CRABS (steam, chilli & pepper – my personal preference is still the steam crab). This is the 1st time our families ordered 3 crabs instead of the usual 2. It was a very good crabby meal with other nice dishes.

Then what happened next is really our “catch” – the captain gave us another $100 cash certificates for our next visit to ANY Jumbo restaurants. And the plus point is no minimum orders required, so you can use on any amount for your bill. FIL already made plan that we shall eat at Jumbo@Dempsey as this will be their latest outlet due to open on 21 April 2008. This time I think we can make it 4 CRABS… : )

Sunday Lobangs: My Dinner Dress & UOB Voucher

As mentioned in my previous blog that I would need to get a decent evening dress for the wedding dinner. After a good prata breakfast and coffee. I told Adrian that I would like to visit Celia Loe’s boutique @ Thomson Plaza. Also we can do our groceries shopping at NTUC and have lunch at the food court. So it is hitting 3 birds with a stone.

Down the memory lane a little – I bought my ROM Dress from Celia Loe’s boutique almost 10 years ago. And also I bought a dinner dress from Celiana for my best friend – Cindy’s wedding dinner. So whenever I need a nice and classy dinner dress, I would consider Celia Loe’s boutique.

Back to shopping, so at the shop, I tried a few dresses recommended by the Sales associates and Anthea. After trying them, it seem that all felt that the 1st dress was the best match for the occassion,. When I saw the price tag, I had 2nd thoughts but Adrian said to go ahead. The sales associate seems to read my mind and asked if we had HSBC Card as there is a 10% discount.

I remembered that my MIL has a HSBC Card, so Adrian tried calling her and asked her for the favor. However I knew that she was babysitting my little niece, so I told Adrian, we can reserved the dress and come back on a weekday. Then later Adrian received a call from my BIL and he said he was on the way to meet us but as the Car park at the plaza was full, they could not drive in. Arrangement was made for my SIL to meet us at the boutique to make the payment for us. I was so grateful and thankful for their immediate activation to our call…and paiseh to make them rush down just to pay for the dress… : P

Due to their kindness, we enjoyed the 10% discount for the dress. I think it’s still a bit expensive but luckily recently we received our ERS from the Govt, so it helps to bring down the guilt level. Now that I bought my dress, I would need to buy a pair of matching shoes...hee : P

Dinner was at Crystal Jade Golden Restaurant @ Paragon as my FIL had the UOB $50 redemption voucher. (Didn’t I say we are STRONG SUPPORTERS Of vouchers). As usual the food quality was very good and we had an enjoyable dinner.

At Paragon Metro, I managed to get a pair of shoes for Anthea to match her dinner dress, so her mission is accomplished.

We took a stroll at the basement of Paragon and surprisingly there was an Ah-Mei Café in the building. We had cups of teas and chat at the café. Everyone is now very excited and looking forward to the event of the year.

Counting Down (UP) !!

Wedding:
“Mommy, how many more days to Uncle Terence and Cherry jie jie wedding? “ Anthea has been asking Adrian and myself this question often, after she bought the dress & Tiara. I think she is the one looking more forward to the wedding than anyone else...hee : P

“Today is 10 April 2008; it is exactly 30 days to Uncle Terence’s wedding.” I told her. Her face brightens up. This reminds me that I also need to go and get myself a decent dress for the wedding dinner. I heard that all the men in the family are going to be Suited Up. So as the 大嫂 of the wedding couples, I must also look presentable. Now what should I wear?? Ps: Adrian had suggested that I get a pink dress to match Anthea’s dress. I don’t know if this is a good idea… : P (伤脑筋)

So this weekend, I must start shopping, shopping & shopping.

ERP:
Extract from Mr. Brown:

“I wonder if you know, how they live in Toa Payoh
Please lah tolong, only Lorong. Not Expressway also tio!
Fast and furious! (Kena!) (Beep! beep! beep!)
Spread like virus! (Aiyah!) (beep! beep! beep!)”

Starting this Monday, if I drive to work, I will kena this “Beep” as my office is in Toa Payoh. So now I will need to plan my TIME strategy. I have decided that on those days if I am driving, I will try to time myself to reach the ERP Gantry after 9 am. This means I will be a bit late for work but will stay back longer to compensate for the time lost. My working hours are 9 am to 5 pm. So 5 minutes +/- should be alright with my Boss… I hope.

A DOLLAR A DAY is a lot, especially nowadays prices of everything and anything is going UP & UP…sigh. $ 1 x 5 days = $5 x 4 weeks = $20.

Add another few dollars can buy a tin of Abbott Growth milk for Anthea, u say leh…it’s really “牛车轮” to me.

Happy MacFun Party

Today is the birthday party celebration for Anthea in her childcare centre with her classmates. They are in K2 and this will be their final year together as classmates. Comes 2009, they will go to different Primary schools, some may still be school mates, and some may not.

So the best way for her to have a memorable 6th birthday is to Party with her Friends. I took a day off and Adrian was on leave too. The Mac Fun party was scheduled to start in the afternoon. So in the morning, I managed to complete some tasks.

Task 1 – medical checkup. I used to do annual medical checkup when I was working with my previous company as the company subsidized such claims. Ever since I was retrenched in 2003, I stop doing so. After giving birth to Anders, I would still have review with my gynae in 2004. Then I stopped going for medical checkup. Recently I found out that there is a NTUC Medicare Family clinic in AMK Hub and they offered some screening package, so I decided to give it a try. Today, I did the advanced health screening, Blood test & Pap Smear. The result will be out in a week and I will return to the clinic for review.

Task 2 – couple times with Adrian. Since we had children, we hardly can manage couples times during weekends, so usually we will rendezvous on a weekday during our off day. After my medical checkup, we had lunch together at Botak Jones @AMK Ave 10. Adrian ordered the Ribeye steak and I had the Lamp with rosemary sauce. We shared a Caesar salad. It was an enjoyable and relaxing lunch. Adrian mentioned that we hardly had chance for a peaceful meal like this...hee : P

Task 3 – photographs developing. After a good lunch, I went to the HUB to run some errands. I managed to developed photographs stored in the SD Cards. It is always handy to have copies as the children childcare will at times request for family photos.

Task 4 – THE PARTY CELEBRATION!!

At 2.30 pm, I went by to the childcare to wait for the MacDonald party staff. Adrian went to collect the birthday cake. The party staff arrived around 2.45 pm to set up for the party.

It started with the Happy Meals – as it was the children snack time, so they started with the food. Each child had pre-selected their own choice of main/side and drink. So the party staff handled them their orders according to the list that was provided to them. The children had a good time eating their Happy Meals. Anders also joined in Anthea’s class for the meal.

After enjoying the food, they proceeded to the centre multipurpose room for the game session. The party staff started with a warm up game called the Action Game. When the staff shouted a certain actions, the children have to follow her action. It was quite fun to see the children following orders and some even got “lost” during the commands.

After the warm up session, they were divided into 2 teams. So the teacher told them to follow their usual RED / BLUE team in class.

The 1st game they played was Pass the Balloon Game. They had so much fun at this game and the whole room was full of their cheers “oh...we win…we win.”

The 2nd game played was the Pyramid game. Small cups were given to each team and they were supposed to build a tall pyramid with all the cups. Both teams put in so much effort in building the pyramid and Teamwork was the emphasis of this game.

The 3rd and last game played was the Fruits game. 2 children were given the same fruit name. And each time when a fruit name was called, they need to find an empty space to sit down. When someone shouted “fruit ball”, all must changed seats. It was really fun to see them played the game and enjoying themselves so much. Ms Loh also joined in the last game.

After the game session was completed, it was cake cutting ceremony. Anthea had requested a Sleeping Beauty Princess cake. So I ordered a 2 kg cake for her to share with her classmates and teachers.

Her classmates sang the English and Chinese version of the birthday song for her. She was very happy. After eating the cakes, it was time for her to give the happy meals toys to her classmates. Ms Loh made her present each toy to her classmate personally and they even had a handshake with each other. It was like an award ceremony. Each child had a Macdonald balloon too but Ms Loh said she will give them when they are going home.

It was a very well coordinated party and all the children had so much fun. Anthea was a very Happy Birthday girl and a Happy Host. I am glad we had this birthday celebration for her and I know she will remember it for a long, long time.

Happy 6th Birthday to Anthea

Anthea turns 6th years old on 09 April. We decided to have a small dinner birthday celebration for her on Sunday with the families.

My eldest brother has kindly given me a $50 Tung Lok voucher, so needless to say, the dinner is held at one of the Tung Lok’s group. Seem like we are BIG share holders of Tung Lok restaurant.

After some discussion with Adrian, we choose Lao Bei Jing located at Novena Square.
Mainly the place is near to Toy R Us in United Square, I know from experienced that the doting grandfather will usually bring his grandchildren to Toy R Us to shop for their presents. Actually yesterday, they did go to United Square but to shop for her shoes for Terence’s wedding dinner.

According to my FIL, there was a very nice pair of shoes for her but it was 1 size bigger, so they will try another shop, another day. Seem like the shoes is the one that is more difficult to get instead of the dress...haha. What a surprise it is to me.

I booked a table for 12 adults + 1 infant at 老北京. Since I arrived earlier while the rest were either shopping/ on the way or in church. I took the initiative to order the meals. After some good recommendations from the Captain, I managed to order a few dishes & a Peking Duck.

(this is a prawn in crusty nest dish,SIL commented that it looks like water flowing out,good symbol)

We had a sumptuous dinner with a bottle of red wine. As usual I enjoyed my dinner because of good companionship. Anthea was also having a good time, ever eager to open her presents and also showing off her new bought Tiara. Before dinner, she even asked me to wear it for her. I told her the Tiara should be reserved for Uncle Terence’s wedding.

After dinner, we had the cake cutting and this round I ordered a 1 kg Black Forest cake. Her Princess cake will be shared with her classmates during her party. During the cake cutting, Anthea even asked Da giu to dim the light as we were in a private room, luckily the other table of dinners had left the room, so we had the whole room to ourselves.

Anthea received some story books from her Uncle Louis,Aunty Eve and Faith mei mei.
When we were home, she started on the 1st book for her bedtime reading. As for Uncle Terence & Cherry, they still owe her One..haha.

As usual ah pao & da giu gave her ang pows which mommy here will deposit to her saving account.

It was a Happy Birthday celebration for my little Princess and happiness was all over her face.

Dearest Anthea,

Happy 6th Birthday to you and may you be filled with Happiness everyday .

Love,
Daddy, mommy & di di.

(ps: during dinner, i had a photographer in training..and below are some of the photos he took.. : P )

Flower Girl In Waiting

This morning after a good breakfast of home baked chicken pie and cup of brewed coffee. I told Adrian that we should go & shop for Anthea dress for Terence wedding. Adrian claimed that it's too early. I told him it's ok, better to start early than till the last minute, in case, we really can't find anything that Anthea likes. (ps: i am not being Kiasu, just being careful...)

We arranged with my MIL & SIL with her little darling to have lunch in Toa Payoh hub. We had Ichiban sushi for lunch and then we headed to Kiddy Palace to shop for Anthea's dress. I know that Anthea may or may not eventually be the Flower Girl, subject to the wedding couples final decision. Since this will be very FIRST TIME to be a flower girl, so i thought that she should get a nice dress. Even if she is not a Flower Girl, she will still be dress to the occassion.. : )

When we reached the dresses department, it was such an easy choice. Anthea saw one dress from the rack & she said she wanted that dress. So i took 2 different sizes for her to try and when she wear it..i know it was the RIGHT DRESS. She looks simply "stunning" in the dress. It was pink in color as requested by the wedding couples. Then we managed to get her a Tiara as requested by Anthea, herself.. : P

We tried to get a pair of matching shoes but can't find her size. So we had to try to look for it another day.

It was a Fruitful trip and i know that my girl will be very happy and proud to show off herself on the actual wedding day.

After shopping, we went home for the children's nap. In the evening, we met up with my PILS and SIL with Faith for dinner at Zhou's Kitchen @ Far East Square (again!!) haha..seem like this is one of our regular hangout at the moment.

Anders had a good time bonding with Faith,his little cousin, playing 'hide & seek'. It always send a smile on my face when i see my little niece smiling and laughing away. It's so contagious !! Now that she is learning to be more vocal, her voice can be heard so clearly..hee : )

Anthea and Anders wanted to have ice cream after dinner, so we tried to look for a dessert outlet around the area but seem like there isn't a cafe that was opened. In the end, we saw this new Japanese restaurant - Shin Kushiya and it serves Japanese ice-cream. So we settled down at the restaurant and ordered the ice cream. Much to our surprised, the desserts that we ordered - Azuki Parfait (red bean ice cream), Uji Matcha Parfait (green tea ice cream) and Satsuma imo macha ice (green tea ice cream with jap sweet potatoes) were all very delicious. We had a good time sampling all the different favours. Yummy !!!

(a quick preview of Anthea in her dress and tiara, i have requested for my SIL to do her make up on the actual day.)

Anders 4th Year Old Assessment

On Wednesday I brought Anders to the Polyclinic for his 4th year old assessment. The nurse did a routine check on his vision and tested him on his motor skills as well. After that she referred us to the doctor and he did another round of check on his medical condition.

We were given an OK for the check up and his next review will be till he starts primary school. The only remark that left a bit of concern is – Anders is underweight. He falls below the 50%.

I believe it could be due to the recent holiday that he lost a fair bit of weight. During the trip, he didn’t eat much. I must admit that this boy is quite a typical “china boy”, he prefer Asian cuisine to Western meals. He prefers noodles and rice over fish & chips / spaghettis. I do hope he will grow to like other types of food than just Asian food.

Now that we are back to our normal routine, I will make sure he eats and eats…hee
: P

To me, the most important thing is he is healthy and happy.

Recently, my SIL blogged about kids saying the darnest thing…here goes one of my own recent encounter with Anthea:

Anthea: “mommy, I don’t know what to name my baby.”

Me: “why is that so? “

Anthea: “all the names are already taken by my friends and also the princesses (these princesses are from Barbie stories.)

Me : “dear, not to worry, when you have a baby, you will sure know what you want to name your baby.”

Anthea: “ok…”

I know i will have more of this kind of conversations as she is maturing into a little girl.. : 0