(2008/02) Feb 2008 MTBs

genice,
the coffeeshop barley drink is the small pearled barley. big chinese barley is more liang but taste not so nice.
not sure how much to put. i normally agak agak.
too sweet then put more water loh.

yes, cannot boil too long. for small barley, normally boil till before it 'opens'. otherwise, the 'liang' power will not be there. (that's what my mum said).
 


Genice, big one is good for cooling. Yea don’t need to boil too long la. Because you use rock honey sugar so it’s not white?
 
FOOD
A eats quite a fair bit of outside food now. especially on weekends. usually i will order soup noodles for her, foodcourt will be fishball noodle, jap restaurant will be ramen/udon, chinese restaurant will be la mian. if we are going out for western food, then i will cook porridge for her.

now that she attends cc, she eats lunch at cc and my mil cooks her dinner which can be porridge or mian xian, occasionally other types of noodles.

re: CC
after she started attending cc, other than falling sick a lot, we find that she learnt a lot of new words and things. very pleased with her progress. today i left work early to pick her up. the teacher told me that she will hug other children when they cry. and when the teacher asked her "who is the prettiest", she replied loudly "me!". I found it so cute.
 
last weekend we went to applebee's at triple one somerset. Ordered burgers n wraps n my boy only wanted fries or bun! Then we ordered pasta n he doesnt like the fettucine that they cooked. *faintz

anywat whatever we ordered wasnt fantastic.
 
bx,
A is so cute!
happy.gif


Re: Food
S is pretty picky with food. Hates rice, but loves noodles and macaroni n cheese. He loves bread with nutella, although i am not sure if they can eat so much nutella at this age??! But no choice leh.
Veg is another problem-- anything that is dark green and leafy, he will not eat, but he loves corn! Crazy about fruits, and i have to control his fruit intake.
 
Hi mommies

SM was down with a cold, cough, runny nose..the works..keeps crying cos nose blocked, rejected milk. I was so damn stress last few days. like June, I want to runaway for a break!!! but I can't
sad.gif
Anyway, she seems better last night..only woke up at 12.30 am and 4.45 am for milk. *phew* hope this keeps up. But she pooped so much that the whole of her back romper was stained with poo until soak thru the swaddle. Don't I wish I have a maid now! ha! yeah right!!

MAID SAGA
You can't believe what a saga this has become. After my first maid A left, I got the G-string one. I fired G-String after 12 days. My agent asked her friend got any ready maids to pass to me. So the agent sent one Indon maid called Y to my house on Wed for "trial". So we thot ok, let's see how K takes to Y, see whether Y can cook or not, after all, it's a trial right?

Y comes for 1/2 day. Y says yes she wants to work for us. We say ok to Y. Tell agent's friend to bring Y back on Thurs.

Thurs morning, Y and agent friend fail to turn up. hb calls agent's friend. Agent's friend said just as she is about to leave the house, Y suddenly poured out something abt reading a diary in my house written by A (my first maid) that we didn't give her enough to eat, we caused her varicose veins because she has to iron standing up. We were like "WTF!!!!"

You know recently A sms-ed me abt her bonus right? We actually TT-ed to her $400 for her daughter's surgery.

Imagine how angry we are to hear that there is this diary that A kept and the new maid Y read it. But Y said she threw it away!! How can she throw away something that didn't belong to her right? How convenient.

So the agent called A last night to ask her is it true she has a diary like that. Of cos A denies it.

So you see, who to believe? Is it A who really wrote something like this? Is it Y who made up the story to get away from working for us? Is it agent's friend who wanted to keep Y for herself and send us other girls? Why would this kind of story come up?

Btw, we always have leftover food in our fridge because A always always overcooks. and Btw btw, she always sits down while ironing.

Sorry long post. I'm damn pissed by all these lies and deceit by the maids.

Iso
Playdays is set up by pp from JG - hence the price. My MIL wanted me to send K there.

XY
Yeah, we must do kegels more more!! After delivery, the prob will lessen. I also had that prob very bad when preggy with SM.

GEnice
K eats very little at CC too
sad.gif
no choice, let them snack through the day or feed more milk.
 
bkk,
omigod! can't believe all these horrible issues with maids. jia you ok? i'm sure u will find a good one soon.

re: #2 mummies
did u deliver earlier for the 2nd baby? and was it a shorter labour? still thinking abt when to start ML and whether I wan epidural this time round.
 
bkk
wow! that's drama indeed. wonder why Y would make up such stories, if true. you all so poor thing, one drama after another!

playdays - oh ok! what was your feel about it? i have only seen the place from the outside. after some discussion with hubby we might just put E into the same place as my nephew, so that after i deliver they can bring both home at the same time. otherwise more troublesome for them. but this place is $700+ for half day CC, and we'll probably only put him there for about 3 times a week :S

tongtong
got your link! any one have any suggestions for chinese books on pelangi? i can get hubby to read to E, but i really dunno what to buy, haha..

PCF
anyone been to PCF balloting before?? the one near my new place has balloting end of this month..
 
BKKgal, poor SM! Hopefully she recovers soon! She caught from kate? And hope you will get a better maid soon.

Yesterday I KO with son on the bed around 11 plus. And I suddenly jumped up from the bed, cuz I forgot to put on his bedtime diaper . Yeh, he really wetted the bed , on my bed! So unfortunate that I just took out the bedsheet protector to wash last few days. Aiks. Hopefully there’s no pee smell …

Iso, you cant read Chinese?
 
Hi bx,

A is so emphatic! Danica is also like this. Do you find that A also starts to look like she wants to cry if there is another child crying very pitifully?

Hi bkkgal,

Oh you poor thing! Hang in there. It is so easy to be overwhelmed when dealing with a new born not to say you also have a toddler. Perhaps ask your mum or MIL to stay overnight to help?

Sometimes it's really hard to know why maids do the things they do. I would look on the bright side: if Y is really lying then it is a good thing that she did not even start with you as you would have found out eventually and need to boot her out. Now no need to waste your time and effort to train her. :p And if A is lying, then it's a good thing you did not take her back?

Hi tongtong,

I also got your link. However, my HB may be getting his associate in JB to get the books for Danica. I need to confirm with him first okay? Sorry about this.
 
RE: PCF

I would like to check, are PCF pre-nurseries good? I am still deciding whether to put Danica in a PCF pre-nursery or private pre-nursery next year. Both are quite a distance (either take bus or LRT). Surprisingly, the PCF is more expensive then the private RC pre-nursery even though timing and hours are the same.
 
alo mummies !

bbkgal: oh no... calm down ok...hope the next maid would be a good one and no more maid saga for u. sheila came to "counsel" mine on tue. hope for the best..

iso: $700+ for 1/2 day ah ? after subsidy ? quite ex hor ?? f/more E only going for 3 days/week... but can try out and if he likes it, can go everyday ? how much is it for full day (after subsidy)?
 
oh mummies,

what gift should i get for #1 that is supposedly from #2 when they meet the 1st time ?

still cracking my head what to get !

still so lazy to pack my hospital bag.... havent wash bb clothes... hahah 2nd one abit bochap leh... :S
 
hi all...

internet was down yesterday..

Iso, my MIL stays at clementi west (near west coast plaza). hmm sunset way sounds a bit far by foot for her to pick up G after classes.

i would prefer pure playgroup vs. half day cc cos i think playgroup's ciriculum may be tigher, because it takes out all the admin time like lunch, bathing, etc... but yet to find suitable one.
actually all these names (PG, CC, pre-nursery, etc) are very confusing to me...i just call up the centres to ask "show me the class u have for 3 yo..."

bkkgal,
jiayou! hang on there...
I think it's Y telling lies lah. how come such 'co-incidence' that she can find a diary written and left behind by A in your house, which even you didn't know about? afterall she;s only been at your place for 1/2 how could she have explored every corner of the house and found the diary (presume if indeed the diary existed, it must be well-hidden)

mine...did a mini catch up with MIL re: maid's performance yesterday. said now sometimes will give black face when told off.
 
iso, tute, pauline
haha...ya i am giving both A and myself a break esp since the kumon stuff doesn't seem age appropriate for her yet. i just super sim tia the books cos so pricey. now cold storage the rest till she is ready to appreciate them lor

books,
i think the usborne first reading series looks pretty good. buying a few from mama21.

lezy,
hehe...thanks for your update! i think ruth will enjoy PG v soon =) re alpha gym - i'm interested, but this weekend may be tough. my hb's fren helps out there too.

tong,
any recommendation for english books for pelangi spree. how to give you orders - email?

bkk,
jia you!! hope little SM gets well soon and keeps up the good sleeping hours at night. re your maid woes....horrors *gasp* i would be very fed up if i were you too. i agree with piglettail - think Y is spinning stories. was she supervised throughout her 1/2 day? if so, then even more suspicious. hope you get a good maid soon.

PG vs CC
i think depends on what you looking for - if you need relief for your caregivers, then definitely CC lor. cos it starts as early as 7am, and covers breakfast and lunch. like for A, she comes home at 12noon after lunch. mom only needs to shower and give her light snack / milk, and she takes her nap till 3+pm. so heavy duty care giving only starts after A wakes up till about 6+pm when we come home from work.

i also paying $750+ for half day. no choice, grandparents don't approve all the other cheaper options. hai....
 
Garfield, I don’t know which English books(story or academic?) for our kid’s age now leh, cuz I only get him the Chinese stories, which he really loves reading now. ok, not he reads, he listen to my reading LOL. You surf their web and check out their English series then. Can click on the image and see the content, then you can decide. Right now I’m not introducing English story first cuz he hasn’t even finished with his Chinese one. Oh, pls look under Pelangi spree 4 and post there ok. I’m getting the pic dictionary as it is actually quite good for them to master both language. Advantage for me for organizing this spree is that I got to see all books ordered by others hehe.
 
i very envious of those whose kids love to read/listen to you read.

my ruth also has billions of books at home...but little interest to read. once in awhile she will initiate and pick up a book. but mostly, she prefer her junior engineer toy, car, masak masak etc.

Sometimes i feel i have so much (toys and resources) but not really using them to the fullest potential.

Sigh, one hour at home passes so fast, goingback office soon.

BKK!! Oh the HORRORS! i can understand how draining it can all be and the worst is the struggle between believing (they are better than we'd like to believe!) and lashing out whatever you want. I think we'd like to think that they are just like us, hoping for a good employer and job environment etc. but it's really really hard to understand what goes on in their heads really.

I find that for many maids, their backgrounds are so vastly different the values/expectations etc are all very very very weird - to the extent we can never comprehend or anticipate. Sigh.

Hang in there. Hopefully will find a good helper soon!
 
tongtong
my chinese v bad! in fact, over the last few years improve already cos have to speak to MIL in chinese, haha..

diana, gar,
usu half day and full day CC the price difference is only like $50! the PG i'm looking at is 9 to 12 though, a bit longer, so not too bad. i actually only need from like 10-12, since hubby usu starts work late, and on some days he might not work, which is why we were thinking 3-4 days, but i think will have to go with the CC cos of logistics. then towards the end of the year might change to PCF when we move. so if $700+ also bo bian...

when my niece was born, i prepared some small gifts like cars, trucks, that i thought E would like, so he got gifts for the first 3-4 times he saw her. at first i think he was sure what the baby was, but slowly got used to her and now is v sweet, loves to smell her toes and if she cries he will always want to go and see her. i also prepared some gifts to give to her, but some of it was actually old clothes to give, haha. she won't know the difference!

my plan this time round is to do the same, and if hubby brings E to hospital to see me, i'll ask him to call ahead so i make sure the baby is not in the room with me. one mummy told me that everytime her #1 came home, she made sure that she was not tending to #2 and had some moments of quality time with #1. my mum also told E that this #2 is a gift for him, so i think i will try to tell him that too!

piglet
agree w preferring PG! and yah, i think it wld be too far for them to go. the west coast community centre also got CC? if not Pat's is not too far also hor. How much is Pat's ah?
 
bkk,
your maid story sounds bad... yeah, you don't know who to believe right and wonders if the agent is really telling the truth. The story soudns very far fetched to me, particularly about getting rid of the evidence... i had some bad experience as well but it was with the supplier for my maid's agent. jia you ok and hopefully SM gets well soon !!
happy.gif


lezy,
role playing is good too - helps improve their creative thinking
happy.gif
C loves to make use of the big blocks as tracks for his cars and he will line them up etc... When i look at him, sometimes I just wonder what he is thinking when he is arranging his cars that way...
happy.gif
Oh, he only read books at night - hardly during the day, maybe because we make it a habit for him to read books before bed time :p

re:activities for tots,
one cheaper activity is to print out pics from websites like crayola for colorings rather than buying coloring books.
happy.gif
 
iso,
play days looks quite cool leh...

Pat's is about $1,100 for full day hence it works out to $800 for after subsidy FTWM like us. th difference between full day and half day is $150. Maybe my figures not exactly correct but i'm sure it's not below S$800 mark cos that what i had recorded in my 'budget submission' to hb. haha.

oh yes dun forget to include the one-time registration fee, uniform fee, insurance, ECA fee(there's swimming ECA at Pat's)...which adds up to abt $300 initially too.

now that u mentioned, i should check out west cost cc...have never been there myself!
 
Diana, i would buy something no. 1 always wanted but we hestitated to buy. For raeanne we bought her a hello kitty bubble making toy.
happy.gif


gar, I told hubby since raeanne's pg is so cheap n she is learning more, should invest in kumon books. Also because I dun know what to do with her from 12-1pm n 4-6pm so the books r great. We just need to do a few pages a day.
happy.gif
 
piglet
that's not too bad, playdays is get this, $2.1k if you want to send them 5 days a week, and that's only till 2pm!
proud.gif

half day session either 9 to 12 or 2 to 5, 5 days a week is $1,750.

wah piang!
 
QL,
oh yeah i got confused..it's Eton that has uniform fee.

i'm not very good with numbers...so always only remember the big numbers/figures that i need to clear with hb b4 purchase. anything else that i can afford i usually just buy/sign up den forget liao.

iso,
wow..finally i see something more ex than Eton ($14k per yr)...!
 
piglettail
yah! i didn't realise until i just checked it and calculated (cos they give the prices by per week).

insurance
any mummies got term hospitalisation for your tots? am shopping around for a good policy.
 
bkk
your experience with maids is really horrible. lots of people ask me to hire a maid to ease my mil's load. but, i rather work part time then hiring a maid. 'cos my experience with my parents' maid is bad, too.

bx
my labour hour for #2 is quite fast compared to #1. the 1st one, my labour hour is about 9 hr. for 2nd one, it's about 3 hr.`
 
Hi mummies, thanks e advice on the barley drink. Managed to cook my 1st pot of barley yester.
happy.gif


re: exchange shoes for 20 bucks less.
Not sure whether u all noe that kids style has this promo till end April. Can bring old shoes to exchange for $20 off new shoes. I just bought 2 pairs of osh kosh shoes for g for 23
each , very worth it, do check out k. They still have a lot of
boy designs, ger designs more at paragon outlet, viivo dun
have much except sandals but sandals only 10 off. Not worth.

Re: term hos plans
iso, i got hos plans for all my family members including g.
Paid using combination of medisave n cash for rider. It
covers down to 1st dollar for everthing that is normal n
customary inclusive of any ward and all hos (private). It is
basically an as charged plan. Also provides extra bed for
parents if they have to stay w e kids.

To be honest, most plans by all major insurers are very competitive already, pretty similar in terms of premiums n terms. If u and ur Hubby are existing aviva plan members, u may want to get from aviva as ur kids can be covered for free.

If ur Hubby is tied to civil service, may want to consider AIA as they have linkups w public service, can get some disc.Most impt dun buy medical plans over phone, shld buy from someone u always talk to or relatively close. There are many claims that can be done, for eg. Endoscopy can be claimed, day surgery can be claimed . Quite a no. Of stuffs can be claimed .
happy.gif
Its better to get as charged plan w riders for kids as they are quite prone to being admitted to hosp btwn age of 0-5. Just my 2 cents worth.
 
bkkgal, aiyoh, I tend to believe that the trial maid is lying. She got nothing to lose by lying since she is on trial anyway...

sunny, so good. I wanted to work part time too but my boss was not receptive to the idea.

Genice, where is kids style? I'm so suaku. :p

Yup, you reminded me, I told hubby to get hospitalisation policy from the gals with riders but not sure if he did that cos they are quite costly. :p
 
Pauline, they have a few branches, can google . I only noe raffles city has one, paragon 5th floor n vivo 2nd floor also have. I think u shld check out paragon. Sure raeanne got some old shoes that can exchange for Mei Mei n hers.
happy.gif


Pauline ,I think u got AIa agent rite, can check w him. It cost
abt 201 per yr in cash for each of ur ger , some pp may find it ex but honestly speaking 1 hos stay is already more that most of the time. at least hosp bill will not be ur concern if anything happens,1 worry down.
happy.gif
I already tabulate in as part of my expenses for e yr. it's better to be able to buy in now rather than when u need it u can't have it. A lot of diabetes n high cholesterol pp can't buy hos plans. My co. Have rejected quite a few of my cases because of their existing problems. Paiseh, not preaching here k or selling '高药' just sharing what I noe
 
Bkkgal, i agree w the rest leh. How can Y find a diary so easily when she only worked for a day? I dun think she got chance to touch all corners of ur Hse.

At least now u noe both maids got problem , just hope that the next one is not like them. Till u find the next one, hang on there k!
 
Pauline:

Kidstyle normally sells brands like Osh Kosh, carters, Levis and Addidas kids and Looney Tunes.I think u can call and ask whther they have gers sizes left, raeanne shld be wearing abt size 7-8, not sure abt RL cna get smaller size if u intend to keep. Cause u are not staying near, it will be a wasted trip if they dun have raeann's sizes.

You can refer to the following website for more info. The advert was last yr's one:

http://tualobang.blogspot.com/2009/03/kidstyle-shoe-promotion.html

Reena,

can i ask you what blender you are using that can even blend ice? saw in ur blog.
happy.gif
i thot most blenders cant blend ice.
 
Re: Blenders
Oooh, genice, i am so glad u asked this. I need to get a blender too. Want to blend chilli paste and make smoothie, but think probly not a gd idea to use the same blender for both purposes lah hor?
 
pauline
part time might not be good if your boss does not cut your workload by half. it will end up getting lesser pay, lesser time but doing the same qty of work. i am still adjusting. luckily my boss cuts down my workload. maybe i am still career minded, so when i see my project for this year, i really have mixed feeling. and ask myself if it's really worth converting to part time for the sake of the kids. :p
 
Genice, impulse buy today. Just bought RaeAnne a pair of Pediped flex shoes from Fox baby cos it was old design on clearance but still costs $58++ (UP: $89.90). :p My agent is from Prudential. I think she earned a lot of $$ from us so far. :p

Sunny, true true. But well, at least you have the option unlike me. :p

Blender - I think most glass based blenders can blend ice.
happy.gif
 
iso/pauline
i bought my kids H&S plan from GE. Got the plans when they were less than 1 yo as it's best to get insured when there's no medical records or whatsoever. Heard that GE coverage is one of the best and undoubtedly cost is one of the highest too. i didn't bother to switch to other insurance coy as i believe what we pay is what we get. aviva is good for pple with kids since kids' coverage is free till xx yrs.

sunny
agree part time not worth is workload is not cut. your part time arrangement sounds good. lucky you!

genice
i've a blender than can blend ice too. used it to make mango pomelo before and it worked well. the brand is called u-life or something. it's sold at departmental stores via promoter (OG, isetan, taka, john little expo sale, etC)
 
pauline
i also hv a prudential agent. i usually 'patronise' her once a year and invest the min required. last year she wanted to intro a plan to me (those pay for 10 or 15 years, policy continues to run for another 5 years type). i happened to know that banks are offering the same plan (with gifts thrown in) and casually asked her "how can independant prudential agents compare with those stationed at the bank? I mean customers are paying the same premium for the same plan, yet if buy thru bank, one can get quite attractive gifts?". then she said she can give me vouchers which I told her it's not my intention of bringing up the matter. i honestly asked as I felt that independant agents tend to loose out if one knows of the bank's offer. the gifts are quite good, ranging from netbook to ipod touch, depending on amt and quantum (gifts change periodically). then after that, she left me alone to make the decision. of cos i didn't offer to buy lor cos when i buy from her, it's really buying out of goodwill kind. so if she doesn't ask, i won't buy loh. :p
 
qingling,
during my ML, A will sleep with MIL in her room. #2 will sleep with me bah coz bf. when i start work, should be the same arrangement. see how it goes.
 
qingling
haha..yalor, that's why i say very unhealthy. sometimes he'll bunk in with us when weather is hot (cos the kids' room sort of kana afternoon sun and can be quite hot at nite. so will switch on aircon most of the time).
 
qingling
during maternity leave when my mum stayed with me. #1 & 2 sleeps with her while i sleep in my own room with hubby.
 
genice, pauline, sunny,
i think the conclusion is Y is a really good liar. My agent told her if dun wanna work for us, no need to make up such a story and she still maintained there is such a note (Her story keeps changing, first a diary, then a piece of paper found in a book and then a note).

So tired of looking at maid bios. ALL LIES I BET! Every one of them is "Polite, obedient, hardworking". When you talk to them, everyone says "yes ma'am", "no off day ma'am", "dun want hp ma'am", "dun know anyone in spore ma'am". When they come, it'll be complete opposite.

Qingling
Currently, #2 sleeps in our room and K sleeps in her room. Either mom/mil or hb will sleep with K. Sometimes no mom/mil, she sleeps alone but we have the monitor on.
 
Things to do on weekends

Hb took K on the Duck Tour yesterday. She super enjoyed it - calls it a swimming boat
happy.gif
It's only $2 for kids under 3yo. For Sporeans, there's a 30% discount for adult ticket (NP: $33). She was much much happier after the tour and kept playing with her duck bill, it's this quacking toy. PArt of the fun of the tour is travelling on land and then going on the water. It's both a bus ride and a boat ride rolled in 1 - K was so chuffed riding it!
happy.gif


Has anyone brt your tots to USS? Any rides there suitable for 2 yos?

Coping with a sibling
Poor K - I think we are so consumed by the stressed of having SM and being maidless that we neglected having fun with her. She started to show rebelliousness and throw tantrums more and more recently. Also became super clingy to my mother. I think because she is insecure that me and hb spends alot of time pacifying mei mei (who has been sick since HFMD until now).
 


bkk,
hang in there! I am quite sure that eventhough we find quite a lot of maids who lie in their bio but there are some good ones out there who indeed just want to make some more money and work. Think positively ok? If we start of the relationship with negative thoughts about our maid we will end up mentally tiring ourselves with lots of worries... Eventhough difficult, we need to give them a bit of benefit of the doubt but at the same time need to remain vigilant as well for bad behaviours...

re:scissors for kids,
can't remember who asked this but i found that there are indeed scissors for kids ! it's made from plastics, just bought one for C at MPH but haven't tried it yet to see if it can do the work
happy.gif
 
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