Pass!

1. I passed my FTT!!! Yippppeeee!

(Thank you, everybody for the good luck wishes and prayers!)

2. I decided to take up driving lessons with BBDC. Signed up and paid for it. Wah leow. Must pay about $70 for the theory lessons which I don't need but must still sit through. Otherwise, I will not be able to take the driving test. $^*%#!

But no choice because my former instructor no longer picks up his students from Woodlands. Everyone has to go to Bukit Gombak. If I have to go to Bt Gombak, might as well go BBDC lor.

3. I left Farah behind at my mom's. My younger sis took care of her and the little girl gulped down all 5 oz of milk I left for her. Hooray! No problems with the bottle for her!!

4. I pumped out my milk last night and managed a miserable 1.5 oz. Nehmind, I thought. Just starting to pump after months of direct latching so, the Bs not ready to respond to a machine lor. This morning I managed to pump out another 3.5 oz. Not that great an amount but not so bad lah. The total amount should be enough for one feed.

But, what bothers me is that the morning milk was not thick and creamy. It was watery which means that it's mostly foremilk. How to make my milk creamier? What do I need to eat more of? (Looks at my round tummy and wonders what else could I possibly lack.. *shudders*)

5. I'll be pumping my milk more frequently from now on. Maybe at around 11pm. Cos Farah's last feed is around 8pm and her next feed would be around 4am.

6. I plan to go for driving lessons at least twice a week as long as there are slots in session 3. And as long as my pumping sessions yield enough milk to cover my absence.

Hopefully, I'll be able to sit for the test soon and pass the test soon. Then, I'll volunteer to be my dad's driver - if he has faith in me, that is.

7. 2010 will see 14, 15 and 16!!!! YIPPPPPPPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!

Rumble Jumble

1. I am now supposed to be studying for my Final Theory test which is happening this Friday. I am supposed to be studying online because I've lost my book. But, as long as I have something else more important to do, the less likely I am to do it and the more likely I am to write in my multiply.

I intend to use this round of NPL to do lots of self-improvement works - becoming a better cook, getting my driving license, taking a few courses with British Council on the English Language and well, read read read.

I was about to sign up for driving classes with BBDC instead of private instructors this time round but when I wanted to do so, I was greeted with a screen that says my FTT has expired. So must take again lor. Which means I must study again. Which is not what I'm doing now.

My twin sister (so says taxi drivers but *ahem* this twin sister is a good 12 years younger than me *ahem ahem*) is also taking her FTT and she has the book but each time I go to my mom's place to study (supposedly), I simply don't. There are too many distractions - chocolate bars in the fridge, for one.  

GAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!! I just realised that Friday is the day after tomorrow!!! Oh. My. God.

(After a moment of panic, I'm back to my procrastinating self.)

2. Rohana, you were saying that we should screen our calls? Yes, perhaps we should. Huda's starting a bit too early.

Still, I think it's so cure how the boy is glaring at Huda like that, as if telling her, don't pick your teeth in public!

3. For me to go off for 2 hours weekly to learn driving, I've got to go get my breast pump fixed. (So that Farah can have an emergency stash of milk should she want some.)

I bought this Medela pump the day I was discharged from the hospital. (The post-pregnancy hormones must have wreaked havoc in my mind because I had problems with my first 2 Medela mini electric yet I still went on to buy a third one) And soon, the pump decided to act up. I will inherit an Ameda double pump in September from my sister (the older one) but 'til then, I have to make do with my Medela. Can people who are breastfeeding or intending to do so not buy the Medela mini electric, please? Spend more money and get either the huge Medela double pump (the one that costs some $600) or the Ameda Lactaline double pump (best value for your money) or the Avent manual pump.

4. The ants are back in the kitchen. The small reddish-brown ones. And they are getting more desperate. Yesterday, I saw them carrying a small piece of dried egg white which was stuck to the stove after it spilled out of the bowl in which I was stirring it. I'm feeling a bit more adventurous these days so I will look for their home and it will be goodbye ants soon! *evil laughter*

5. There's the eclipse today. If Huda were bigger, I would have wanted to take her to the Science Centre and observe this phenomenon over there. But, I don't think she would appreciate it for now.

This makes me wonder - when she's in primary or secondary school and when special events like this take place, will I dare to pull her out of school for a little while to observe such phenomena? This is what learning is about, isn't it? Wouldn't it be great to be able to watch things unfolding as they are happening and not through the TV screen? Reminds me of Twilight - I hate that movie; must state that for the record - the absence of the vampire kids on sunny days were attributed to the parents who take them out for trekking and educational stuff whenever the weather is good.

If parents were to do that here, will teachers frown? As a member (a non-active one, though) of the possibly-frowning-group, I think I will have issues if the students are weak and no amount of sun-gazing will help them do better in their studies. But, if the students are above-average ones, the teachers may not mind so much but to just roll their eyes.

What will be written in the official record to explain their absence? Absent without valid reason?

Hmm.

Okay. Must study for my FTT. Friday is not so far away. Sigh.

The Other Stuff...

Now that I've written one entry exclusively about Farah, I shall write one jumbled-up entry about everything else.

1. My Royal Fatness

Please don't try to placate me or roll your eyes when I talk about this. You don't see what my mirror sees. *wails*

My tummy, my bottom and my thighs have been expanding rapidly. Those packs of Kinder Bueno are not helping. I'll soon have an hourglass figure - if you take into account only my tummy and my bottom.

I am trying - well, not very hard - to get rid of the excess weight, or at least, to redistribute the fats. I've tried the concealment method - corsets, tummy-flattening-butt-firming-thigh-constricting knickers from Marks and Spencers which don't come cheap, abdominal binders. They don't really work. Once those things come off, all the flabby parts jump out for joy from all their hiding places.

Then I tried walking very, very fast. I walked Huda to school and back home again. But, I had to go through throngs of Republic Poly students so when RP became an H1N1 cluster, I figured it was not a wise idea to expose Farah to the RP students. So we went back to the tried-and-tested TheGrandfather-drives-Huda-to-school-while-TheMother's-bottom-expands-at-home method.

I was also supposed to take my grandmother for walks in the evening but that did not burn any calories because she needed to stop at every bench available.

2. My SAHM-ship

Now I'm back to being a Stay-At-Home-Mother. Not drawing any salary, I'm trying to curb my expenses on taxi. So, instead of taking the taxi to my mom's place, I walk there. Which would be respectable if my mother's house was very far away. But, it's not. So, there's nothing to shout about there. But, I always delude myself into thinking that I'm saving money each time I walk there and all the extra savings go into my chocolate fund which, you guessed it, is for tummy-expansion purposes. *rolls eyes* (Insert prayer: Oh God, please help me have some self-control in the chocolate department.)

It's not too bad, the life of this SAHM. Because I'm an inept one, Huda still goes to full day childcare. We feel that she has much to learn from going to school. She picks up nonsense too from her peers but that is to be expected. More on this later.

When both of them are home together, both of them will fight for my attention. Yes, both of them. So, when Huda goes to school, I get to play with Farah exclusively. Otherwise, Farah would be deprived of the attention that Huda received when she was Farah's age.

And as Farah takes her morning naps like the good girl that she is, I manage to cook and clean the house, well, on most days lah. So, home-cooked food is a more frequent occurrence now than the last time I went on my unpaid leave.

But, in the cooking department, I'm still very, very much a novice. There's much to learn and I still don't enjoy cooking Malay food (though I like eating it) because Malay food is just so leceh to cook. There are lots of spices needed and pounding to be done. Then, the cooking process is also complicated. "Stir fry over medium heat until the paste is fragrant.." Define fragrant - ck1? Gucci Envy? Sorry Malay cooking connoisseurs; that's why I prefer cooking western and other non-Malay dishes.

3. Hunting for A Home

We found something we both like. BUT, the owner seems to be dragging his feet. I'll keep you posted on this as the situation unfolds. We'll be disappointed if we don't get this because this is the best there is in the area we're looking at.

4. Huda

Huda enjoys school. As always. She learns lotsa good stuff from the school but when you interact with your peers, it's inevitable that you pick up a couple of things from them. For example, she would say, "I don't friend you!" whenever she's frustrated with someone or something. We're, of course, aghast at the ungrammaticality of "I don't friend you." The thing is, she has no idea what it means. She knows that it's said in a frustrating situation. So, when a recalcitrant plastic bowl refused to stay in its place, she threw the bowl onto the floor and shouted, "I don't friend you!"

5. Rambutans

See those red rambutans? I see them so tantalisingly close every time I look out of my window. But even with my 8-foot-long bamboo pole, I can't reach them. Darn.

Gotta stop now. Must feed the little one. Til next time!!

 

It's Been Very Long...

.. since I last wrote anything here.

I'm trying to not use facebook to replace the functions that multiply has because I don't like the messiness involved in having everything everywhere. So, facebook is, to describe its function so succinctly, a time-waster. I'm addicted to one inane game after another on facebook. First it was Word Challenge and Scramble. Then it was Pet Society, Bejeweled Blitz and Desktop Towers and now it's Mafia Wars and Scrabble (played against my brother who beats me miserably practically all the time). I'm sure there will be more games for me to get hooked on once I overcome my Mafia Wars addiction.

Let me talk about Farah before she grows up.

1. She is now 5 months old. She smiles and laughs when you talk to her. She has smiled and laughed countless of times but we have not been able to capture her laughter and smiles on camera!

This is the closest we got to getting her to smile.

2. She's rolling over - from her front to her back to the front to her back to her front etc etc etc - a lot now. The strange thing about her rolling over is - the day she turned 4 months, she managed to roll over 5 times. The next day, she rolled over twice. Then we went to KL where she was either in her stroller, in the baby carrier or if we were in the hotel room, she was swaddled. The rolling over stopped after that. But, happily enough, it started again 2 days ago. She seems to be making up for lost time and it seems like she's never in the same position for long.

If she's not rolling over, she'll be moving just about everywhere. Too often, I find her stuck under the armchairs or the sofa.

3. Her weight gain, which was very promising in the beginning, has begun tapering somewhat. It is now not as great as before but I've come to the realisation that my children are in the featherweight category so I should not worry too much. (Oh sure.) For Farah, I just must make sure that she gives me the desired number of pees and poos daily. That's how you see if a baby is well-fed.

4. And the amazing little thing this baby is - she does not wake up at night for her night feeds as often as her sister used to. My lovely little Farah wakes up around 3am and again around 6am. Sometimes, she'll even forgo the 3am feed. Isn't she great? :D (Of course, she's just as great even if she wakes up every 2 hours.

5. Talking about sleeping - between 6 and 8 in the evening, she would want to have milk all the time. And by 8 in the evening, I'll put her down in her cot, switch on the fan (cos she perspires all the time), kiss her goodnight and to slumberland she goes.

6. Farah sleeps on her tummy. She's been doing that for about 2 months already ever since she developed greater control over her neck muscles. The Husband was worried for her initially but she enjoys her tummy time, both sleeping and awake.

7. I think, things are easier this time round not because Farah is an easy baby. I think being a mother the second time around helps. I've learnt from mistakes made the first time (such as playing with the baby when she wakes up at 11pm, 2am, 3am, 3.30am, 4am, 5am or diligently changing her diapers every 3 hours even when she is sleeping).

(I realised that I ended the entry rather abruptly. So I'm adding one more picture to end this Farah-centric entry. Not that it will help with the abrupt ending.)

 

Cut Out The Agent!

We've been looking for a new place for more than a year now. But, our plans were thwarted when we realised that we were not eligible for the HDB loan. Now that I'm on unpaid leave (and therefore eligible for the HDB loan), we have started house-hunting again.

We do not wish to pay an unnecessary amount to the housing agent. Especially when the agents insist that we, as agent-less buyers, must pay 1% commission to the seller's agent. We are doing practically everything ourselves. Why must we give them our hard-earned money?

There's a huge conflict of interest here. The agent is supposed to represent the seller's interest. If there are two interested buyers, one with an agent and one without, who do you think the agent will 'promote' to the seller? The one from whom they can easily earn $3000+ or the one whose $3000+ will go to his own agent? We encountered this situation last year when the agent wanted us to be the buyers even though we offered lower than the cash amount stated. The other buyer had his own agent. Thankfully, the plan fell through because we were not eligible for HDB home loan then; otherwise I will always feel a bit guilty. 

So, here's what we are doing to buy and sell our flats ourselves. We hope it will be of use to anyone who wants to avoid paying the housing agent's fee.

Week 1

Sunday 4 July: Saw a flat we really like. The valuation isn't out yet but we know we gotta start working towards the flat if we really want it.

Sunday 4 July: Submitted an online application for HLE using HDB's website. We want to get a loan from HDB. We don't want to take up a bank loan.

Monday 5 July: Posted supporting documents needed for HLE.

Thursday 9 July: The flat's value is out. $348k. A bit pricey for an almost 20-year-old Woodlands unit but this one is on the highest floor and it has a good view in front and no blocks blocking its view at the back, ie, a very rare unit in the area we are looking at.

 

Week 2

Monday 13 July: Submitted online request for our home to be valued.

Tuesday 14 July: Received a call from HDB regarding our HLE application. I need to make a Statutory Declaration that I am not drawing any salary during my period of unpaid leave.

Wednesday 15 July: Went to HDB office at Woodlands Civic Centre to make the declaration. It's free but cost about 2 hours of my time waiting in line. Went to HDB Hub at Toa Payoh to drop off the declaration.

Wednesday 15 July: Received call from valuers. They can come tomorrow. Massive cleaning expected tonight!

Thursday 16 July: We are getting a loan from HDB!! Yayy! Now, all we have to do is wait for the seller to get back to us. We have not made an offer yet because he cannot decide how much cash over the valuation amount he wants. It all depends on his bank loan.

 

Week 3

Tuesday 21 July: TheHusband has been calling the seller's agent almost every day to find out how much COV the seller is thinking of. But, the seller is running into some problems, it seems. The seller of the condominium unit he's buying has now decided not to sell the unit although he has already paid a deposit. The condo-seller thinks his unit will fetch a higher price in the next few months. So, our seller cannot sell his flat otherwise he'll end up sleeping at the void deck.

I'm disappointed but I'm not crushed. We are not in desperate need of a flat so not getting one is okay, It'll be nice to have a bigger place but if it's not meant to be, it's not meant to be.

 We'll see if we'll find something else. It won't be as nice as this one, I'm sure. But, it'll be better for us.