I had previously asked Emma to choose between this and Mickey Mouse Magic Show. She chose Mickey Mouse and I bought the tickets and we happily went for that show. Then there was this Facebook giveaway by Singaporemotherhood.com and I entered the competition just to try my luck. And guess what? I did win 4 passes to the show, including a meet & greet session after the show! And the tickets I won were for 20 Dec, which happened to be my confinement nanny's birthday as well. The show was also at Marina Bay Sands theatre, which was the same venue for the Mickey Mouse Show as well.
It was the new batch of Hi-5 people including Dayan, Stevie, Ainsley, Lauren and Mary. My personal favourite Hi-5 member is Tim, cos he's soooo good looking. Hahahaha. (Apparently he and his wife got married on Fiji Island... so romantic!) They came out and did their dancing and singing. Emma was engrossed in watching, but did not seem to be eager to dance along. However, somehow because of the concert, she became more involved when watching their shows on TV and starting dancing along more. (She also became more into Mickey Mouse when she met him and Minnie Mouse at Hong Kong Disneyland.)
I'm glad for the meet & greet session after the show, as Emma and Leanne got to have their pictures taken with the cast. That was a cool experience!
After which, we went to Din Tai Fung to celebrate Fen-Jie's birthday.
So my last day of work before I went on maternity leave was 29 Nov 2013. Over the weekend I felt some tightening of my tummy, but didn't realise they were contractions. My #1 was induced and I had epidural immediately after, so I had never experienced contractions. So I thought I was just feeling the Braxton Hicks thingy. By this time I was about 38 weeks plus. I was supposed to meet my gynae Dr Yvonne Chan on Tuesday, but Andrew had a meeting, so he asked me to bring forward to Monday.
When we arrived at the clinic on Monday, Dr Chan examined me and said I was already in the early stages of labour, so might as well admit into hospital so they can help me along, rather than go home and probably check back in later that day or the next day. We agreed.
I was admitted around 11am, and by 12pm the epidural was in. I requested for some food and they gave me some sandwiches for lunch. Upon examination, Dr Chan thought I would probably give birth between 6-7pm. Then she came in on and off. Around 3.45pm, she checked and I was only 4cm dilated, so she said maybe later 8pm I would give birth. But suddenly within 15 mins I felt the urge to push and asked the nurse to check. Apparently somehow I had dilated to 10cm already.
So Dr Chan came down and I pushed. This time round no need to use vacuum or forceps. Baby came out relatively quickly. When I saw her, I immediately felt that she looked so much like Emma. Suddenly I felt like awww, I'm her mummy. I didn't really feel that way for Emma, only until she was 6 months old and more interactive. She was 3.125kg and 49cm; Emma was slightly lighter at 3.035kg (37 weeks) and 49cm also.
When they placed her on my chest, she went at my breast like a great white shark in a feeding frenzy. No problem latching at all. Maybe of her vigorous sucking, or maybe it's the second time around, my breasts were able to start "production" pretty quickly. I did top up one or two scoops of formula milk after I discharged from hospital, but after that my supply came in and I was able to give her full breast milk.
I love her bombastic hair and her eyes are gorgeous! Just like mine! Haha!
Emma had her first school concert performance on 30 Nov at Matrix @ Biopolis.
We thoroughly enjoyed her performance, especially as she was one of the rare few toddlers in her class who actually performed. The boys were mainly frozen, with the exception of one boy who kept running round and round on stage. Her performance cost almost as much as a superstar concert:
Costumes - $45
Tickets - $25 per ticket for first 1 tickets and $10 per ticket for subsequent tickets
DVD - $35
Total: $150
I did highlight to the school that it was quite expensive, especially since my second sister-in-law told me that the parents at her kids' PCF were complaining that they had to pay $2 for tickets when it was free previously. I told the principal personally as well, if they could consider venues like primary school halls or community centres, which would also be nearer and easier for rehearsals. But somehow they seem quite fixed on Biopolis, and unfortunately will be using the same venue this year.
I asked Emma whether she wanted to watch the Mickey Mouse Magic Show or Hi-5 House Party. At that point in time, she was more crazy over Mickey Mouse so she chose Mickey Mouse. Thanks to Grand Aunty Hock Neo and Grand Uncle Chong, they had a complimentary room for us at Marina Bay Sands and also used their (thousands of) points to purchase tickets for the Mickey Mouse Show as well. So we brought her on 26 Nov, which is also our Wedding Anniversary. Sadly this is how we spent our Wedding Anniversary very unromantically, lol. Well, I guess she is a by-product of our Wedding Anniversary. Heh.
Anyway I can't remember much of the show, just some magic tricks that were quite typical. Only 2 magic tricks that were quite impressive, how they had 2 boxes and managed to transfer one person from one to another; and another how they had 2 magician assistants doing the usual cut box in half one, but the twist is that they mixed the legs up and they came out wearing mismatched pants.
I've been wanting a Tag Heuer watch ever since my secondary school days when I saw this girl wearing an aquaracer. I didn't like her, but I thought her watch looked cool. So it has always been stewing in my mind that I will get a Tag Heuer one day. I had seen photos, and browsed their website. Previously just after I had Emma, I was eyeing this model. The pink mother of pearl face was gorgeous and the diamonds complemented it perfectly. But I thought about it and convinced myself not to buy it. Two years later, just before giving birth to Leanne, my sister-in-law was looking to replace her Tag Heuer watch and got me looking at Tag Heuer watches again on 4 Nov. I started looking around too, and finally decided not to think too much and just buy it. Now the decision was where to buy it from. The official Tag Heuer shops only give 15% discount. At the airport, there was an additional 7% off due to GST. So I decided to buy from DFS watches, as Andrew was due to fly in two weeks' time.
However, my heart was itchy to take a look, and I went down to Taka to one of the watch houses to take a look. I can't disclose the name, as they gave me a 20% discount and that's not allowed apparently. The price difference between there and airport was $20 so I decided to buy it from them, after all they could adjust the strap for me on the spot. What they did was charge me the retail price minus 15% discount, then minus off some "voucher/ credit", so I just paid based on 20% discount off retail, which works out to SGD3320.
Anyway I finally got it!!!
I love how it's flexible enough to be a casual everyday watch, and yet because of the diamonds is glam enough for night. I'm typing this more than 4 months after I bought the watch, and I still love wearing it. The diamonds add a lovely sparkle to the whole feel of the watch. Emma loves playing with my watch as it is pink, and when she sees me wearing, she will want to wear her own watch as well (she chose a blue watch with 5 different animal add-ons that you can fix to the strap). Well, there are some tiny minor scratches due to me wearing it so frequently. But I figured since I bought the watch, just wear lah. I don't want to be one of those who buy a super expensive watch and then be super careful and mindful. Wear already also stress, no point. So this watch is just nice. Maybe next time when I'm richer I can buy a $10K Rolex watch (already eyeing, maybe I'll buy it in another 10 years) to anyhow wear also.
