A hectic 2 weeks

Over the past couple of weekends, we've been hosting housewarming gatherings for close friends and family. What a busy 2 weeks! *whew* Now that all that's done, we can finally settle into full nesting mode waiting for baby L to arrive!

Many thanks to friends and family members for your wonderful gifts and hongbaos!
 

Pressies for the baby!

 

Some housewarming gifts

Catering for 4 separate groups of people can be overwhelming. But we somehow managed to get it done. Hubby has been superb, rushing to order food, collect them and cooking for some of our friends. I could only contribute little treats in the baking department.

 

I baked mini chocolate muffins for my guests :)

 

I walked by a stationery store and saw these uber cute Disney baby rattle toys! They are washable and I thought it'll make such an adorable Christmas gift for baby L. So I bought 1 on impulse and hope that he'll like rattling it!

 

shoooo cute!

Hubby turned 29  21 *opps* last week and we had a mini pre-celebration for him because I'm too big and clumsy to plan anything too elaborate. So I promised I'll do better next year for his big 3 *opps*.

Hubby beaming with his chocolate fudge cake!

Then on his actual birthday, I brought him to Wooloomooloo for his annual atas steak treat! The USDA Prime ribeye was awesome! I downed all 12 ounces of it despite being really full. The steak was perfectly done in my opinion, but the menu in general is almost identical to Morton's. The standard of the steak was pretty on par, but the appetizers and sides pale in comparison to Morton's. Morton's was still a clear winner in the steakhouse department, at least for us.

Happy Moo-day husband of mine!

But this, this little chocolate devil stole my heart. The creaminess of the ice cream, the texture of the cake and the oozing chocolate lava is just pure heaven. It wasn't too sweet, it was perfect. It was one of the, if not, the best chocolate lava cake I've tasted. This is a definite MUST ORDER!

 

And because we were celebrating 2 occasions, they very kindly doodled two celebratory notes on the plate for us.

 

*I miss this sooo much!*

It's been almost 2 months since we've last watched a movie, and probably a couple more after I've popped before another movie night together. This prompted me to splurge on awesome seats to pamper ourselves, the parents-to-be. The hubs wanted to shop around Vivo-city while I was desperate to get into the Gold Class lounge. He stopped by a nut shop to browse some nuts and I looked at my phone and realized we were running out of time to chill in the lounge. So I whipped out the pre-collected tickets from my bag and held it in front of his face to tell him that we needed to go. The look on his face was priceless.

 

Movie night!

And then it was the Philips Carnival Sale that I've been waiting super impatiently for! I was so afraid that I would pop before I can get to the event to grab the remaining baby stuff but we made it!! So we got the Avent sterilizer and warmer set for S$159 with free bottles and baby pillows, the new born starter kit with a set of clothes and some bottles for S$35 and some storage cups for a friend at 10 for $22. Really good deals!

Baby Loots!

So all in all, it has been a very eventful couple of weeks. This is perhaps our last weekend alone so we're gonna make full use of it and spend as much time as we can together before the baby mayhem begins. I'm so nervous and yet I can hardly wait! Oh baby baby when can we see you? :)

Confinement nanny woes...

I booked this lady for confinement just a month after I found out I was pregnant, and I was so proud of myself for securing a good confinement nanny 8 months ahead of my EDD. So duper proud. Turns out, promises made were shot to hell when she decided to inform me only last week that her family wishes to go to Shanghai to celebrate Christmas and asked if she could help me for only 2 weeks instead of the usual 4 weeks. I was furious. Where on earth was I going to find a replacement for 2 weeks? At such short notice?? Not only was she not apologetic, she went on and on about how cheap the airfare was and how she would be missing out on time spent with her whole family. I was so pissed at how she sounded over the phone that I contemplated hanging up on her right there and then but I was afraid I couldn't get anyone else. So I reluctantly agreed to her coming for 2 weeks instead of 4. She was over the top with glee and told me that this is great news for her, and that it was a "win-win situation". I mean seriously? "win-win" for whom??? So I hung up fuming as I relayed the message over to hubby and the both of us were quiet on the car ride home, worried about how we are going to cope.

 

We thought about inducing the little munchkin and bringing forward the delivery date but upon consultation with Dr Lee who advised against inducing at only 37 weeks, we decided to let him come on his own. This means we’ll be left hanging for 2 weeks nanny-less and left to fend for ourselves.

Thus, I went into war mode and was very determined to find myself a replacement confinement nanny. And by a stroke of luck, I found one who was willing to find someone else to take over a prior booked short December confinement and concentrate fully on mine. She was slightly pricier than my original confinement nanny but this is price we have to pay for a last minute booking. I am so relieved to get this weight off my shoulders. Now I can concentrate on my final leg without fantasizing about wringing a certain lady’s neck every day.

So my advice to anyone is to always find yourself a few backup numbers in case your nanny flakes out on you. I’ll give a review of my nanny after my confinement is over. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that all will turn out great! Wish me luck!

Goodies from abroad!

A bunch of goodies came in the mail last night! Oh how my priorities have changed. I used to receive packages of clothes, cosmetics and shoes and now, it's baby toiletries and breast pump packages.

 

Spectra M1

But lookie at this baby! I'm so excited to receive this! I've done extensive research on pumps and it seems like Spectra (Cimilre) is steadily gaining popularity with mummies in Singapore! Online reviews have said that this pump works more effectively than Medela and Avent and I'm really not keen on spending $600-$800 on pumps when I'm not even sure if I'm going to be a mummy with supply. The whole set cost me $200 inclusive of shipping, with the pump itself just costing $120. So.damn.cheap. Buy!!

Next up is my parcel from iherb. I love iherb! Iherb is a supplements, toiletries and health products heaven with the cheapest shipping rates in the world! Only S$4 for a large box of toiletries to Singapore! Feel free to use my discount code EWU596 for an instant $10 off your first purchase of $40 or more, or $5 off smaller orders.

my poor baby's shampoo!!

But just when my love for iherb is soaring, the recent package gave me a nasty shock. The pricey organic baby shampoo and body wash which I bought for the little one got opened mid-shipping and has spilled inside the unfastened ziplock which eventually flowed out to the rest of my stuff. 

Man... I spent the whole night cleaning up the sticky soapy mess on the rest of my stuff and decided to write to iherb customer service the next day. They apologized and have refunded me for the spilled shampoo. Pretty top notch customer service if you ask me. Why more can I ask? :)

 

I also bought Johnson's baby honey apple wash because it sounds like it'll smell awesome and it does! Plus I've never actually seen this sold in Singapore.

 

 

And a foaming hand sanitizer because, I reckon I'll be sanitizing my hands like 2854 times a day and I don't want my hands to dry up.

 

 

Along with my favourite shampoo from iherb!

 

I love this shampoo. Cleans and lathers well, and makes my hair really soft.

 

Had an urge to pop by Sun Moulin at Isetan Scotts to buy some cheese mochi to fix my cheesey cravings. However, it pains me to pay $2.80 for 3 pieces and so I went online and researched for a recipe, got some cheese and decided to attempt to replicate the famous cheese mochi.

 

Turns out, it was so so easy! No need to pay ridiculous amount for cheese mochi anymore!!

 

 

My beautiful babies in the oven

One whole plate of cheese mochi just for me!

I'm soo happy with my first attempt! Hubby took a bite and gave me a thumbs up. This will be a good snack to serve my guests this Sunday for our housewarming party. :)

More goodies from abroad enroute to me! Will share more when they arrive!

Disposables

$350 worth of disposables were delivered to my house over the weekend.

Talk about storing up for winter.

Well-stocked for the next 3 months!

 

Freebies!

The only thing comforting me was the discount and the freebies that came with it. This makes me very appreciative of baby fairs and nice sales aunties. Am not sure how Huggies will agree with the little one, but I bought some PetPet to test the sensitivity of his bottom to see if we can save some moolah in the future.

It's funny how your priorities change when you are becoming a parent. I profited some money from the market recently and was talking to my client about it. He mentioned something about earning "kopi lui" and I shook my head and corrected him saying, "No, not kopi lui, diaper money." (not for coffee funds but diaper funds).

Man... Never thought this will happen to me.

I'm really happy to see Christmas merchandise popping up in stores. I love love loveee Christmas and even though I'll be spending it at home with the little one, Hubby promises that since I can't go out for Christmas, he'll be bringing Christmas to me! I wonder how he's gonna pull that off...

"Jingle bells, diapers smells, baby pooped again..."