Welcome baby Alyssa into this world!
🎉👏🏻🥂🍻🎇🎊🎈

She arrived on 25 May, just minutes before midnight! 

Heh this is her right after birth. The mother was unconscious and only got to see her the next morning :x

Family photo! And my hair is damn oily :x

Looking so smiley here!

OMG I had to cough and my wound hurts!!!!!!!! 辛苦辛苦辛苦

#celljourney

13th Gynae Visit / Contractions

4.31pm: how apt is this sticker?! Haha

Baby not here yet but looks like she's coming soon! Having contractions at abt 6min apart now! Trying to tong before we head down to the hospital!

Enjoying my last Macs breakfast before 1 month of confinement food

Stuff strapped to belly for CTG

Woohoo check out the peaks! At abt 7mins apart this morning

Had a bit of bloody show also when I woke up. Thought I was leaking pee initially!

Dr Choo checked for dilation and I'm only 1-2cm dilated! Still can afford to wait and ensure that these are regular contractions before checking in coz there are cases where contractions go away after a while.

Cell is 3.5kg today!!!! 😱😱😱 she's gonna be a big baby.

Yomenya Goemon for lunch. Could be my last good meal.

Anyway the half and half set is like sufficient for 2 pax!

Comes with a dessert

Hurhur my last bubble tea

Mucus plug also dropped after I came home! We did some last min packing and mundane chores and now I'm just monitoring.

#celljourney

5.07pm: having a contraction while trying to poop is like *]¥{¥+|=+¥{¥,£]*#_%!!!!!

I find a that a hot shower and being on all fours while rotating hips/cat & cow pose helps to relieve the pain a bit.

6pm: 😨😨😨

My water bag haven't break yet. Can't imagine how much more intense the contraction pains will be once it breaks 😱😰

Bun has been baking in the oven for 36 weeks!

Haven't felt any contractions or anything yet. Got a feeling she might be a late one!

Spending too much money on baby/mother related items!

Baby bottom balm, diaper cream, nipple cream, baby rompers, confinement shower gel, baby laundry liquid, fenugreek to boost breast milk supply... to name a few.

After joining this WhatsApp support group chat for mothers delivering in May, I have been bombarded with lots of info and messages! And now, baby pics coz some of them have started to give birth!

But when I look at the baby pics I feel nothing leh... I really think I'm not a very maternal person. Can only hope that I feel slightly more accepting towards my own child haha.

31 weeks and exactly 2 months away from my EDD of 23 May! :O Time is passing too quickly.

Suddenly I see a lot of airline deals and promotions but very sad, valid travel dates are usually in April/May/June which I probably cannot make it already.

There's the Labour Day long weekend which makes it a good opportunity for a short getaway but I'll be 36 weeks by then and I think most airlines won't let me fly.

Just got back from Bangkok and feeling like having another short holiday to recover from the holiday! Haha. There can never be enough holidays can there.

Lastly, thankful for the C+ that I got for my appraisal last year even though I'm probably the most undeserving candidate out there. God knows I could do with a bit more cash. Haha.

27 weeks pregnant and getting round and heavy!

Cell was kicking a lot last night when I was trying to fall asleep after naggy husband nagged again at my late sleeping hours. Not pleasant (the nagging, not the kicking). Maybe Cell doesn't like to listen to nagging too ha ha ha.

Late to the game! 2016 has come and gone and to keep with my tradition of a year end entry recapping the year (although I did feel some sort of inertia to even come up with this):

Top 9 memorable moments of 2016

     9. New friends and exercising

Paul and I don't have many friends that we know as a couple - all the friends that we hang out with were already in our lives before we met each other. This year we got to hang out more with the friends we made as a couple, namely from our Finland tour group!

Earlier in the year, we signed up for a trial month of KFit with 2 of them from the group and also got to try many new kinds of exercises and activities like bounce fit, calisthenics, crossfit, spinning, and I did some rock climbing on my own also. Pity we didn't get to try aqua aerobics!

Running wise, think I achieved one of my personal best timings for 10km at the Shape Run this year! Didn't run as much this year as I would have liked though. Can feel my stamina going down. Must try and make it a regular weekly habit again.

     8. The year of Descendants of the Sun

Haha DOTS was pretty much everywhere and similarly I was hooked onto the drama and chased episodes... come to think of it this year I caught quite a few Kdramas. No thanks to Channel U.

     7. The year of Pokemon Go

Pokemon Go became pretty much our choice of couple activity for the whole month of August and September hahahaha. And also for the rest of the nation too I believe. Even my parents, uncles and aunties were super on about it!

A bit crazy ah we all, travelling far and wide to catch Pokemon... including Far'fetched in Hong Kong hahaha.

     6. Learning new things

Attended watercolour calligraphy and painting, flower arrangement and bread baking workshops this year! Oh yes and doing wakeboarding. I think that's all?

     5. Getting tongue herpes

That was quite terrible coz it was so uncomfortable and I couldn't talk or eat properly with like 20 or 30 over tiny ulcers on my tongue. It flared up again when I was preggers and I hope I don't pass it on to Cell!

But at least I finally got to put a name to this mysterious ailment that I've always been suffering from! And also knowing that there is a proper way to treat it or rather, control it with medication is reassuring in a way.

     4. Moving house... twice

First to my sister's house which was a temporary arrangement, and 9 months later to the in-laws which would be a semi-permanent arrangement till our BTO is ready. And it also looks like I have no more place left in my parents' home :(

Moving house is a real hassle - the packing, the unpacking, the cleaning, the shifting... zzz
Comfort-wise, of course living in Punggol is much better. I'm familiar with the estate and my family is nearby.

Living in the west has taken me a little while to get used to. The unsavoury conditions of the house too. And having to share the flat with strangers. Still, definitely missing the comfort of my own home and having a clean home to go home to. Too much work go into maintaining a home! Hate household chores :(

     3. Weddings - lots of 'em

Travelled overseas to attend 2 weddings and attended many more locally. Very happy to be there at close friends' weddings of course - even if they're half a globe away! But I hope for less weddings next year! Very bad for the bank account leh!

     2. Travelling to new places

This year we went to USA and visited Atlanta, Niagara Falls and New York! All places that I've never been to. Was a really nice trip. I like USA! Love the shopping and all.

Other than that we also visited Bangkok and Hong Kong and Jakarta. Glad to still have the opportunity to travel!

     1. Getting pregnant

Of course the most epic and life changing event of 2016 - considering how it will drastically alter my life forever. Next year This year I'm going to have to give birth and have a daughter and get upgraded to be a MOM. It's such a heavy responsibility! :O And I'm not sure if I'll be able to cope well with this new role. :(

Still preparing myself mentally while my body copes with all the physical changes. Thankful that it has been a relatively smooth journey so far - even though I was plagued by bloatedness and indigestion and nausea it didn't last that long. I think some other mothers-to-be experience worse than that!

Belly has also started to show and get rounder but I haven't got any seat on the train yet hahaha. Maybe also coz I haven't been taking much public transport recently.

I think that more or less wraps up my 2016. Turning 31 was a quiet affair and I didn't even post anything on my blog about it haha. Breaking my blog tradition again. I think 2017 will be all about my struggle to take care of a kid. Sigh!

4th Gynae Visit: Detailed Scan

3.17am: hello! This is Cell reporting here for the first time!

*waves* 

Can you see my little hands? 👋🏻

As of today, I'm

 19 weeks + 3 days old 

And I weigh exactly 301g! 😊

Anyway I don't know why my mom and dad call me Cell when it's quite obvious that I'm much bigger than a cell. 😒

This morning, I was dozing off happily in a swirl of liquid when I felt something poking me! 

Turns out that it's the sonographer trying to check out my brain, heart, and other vital organs.

Pleased to report that I'm developing well in here! ✌🏻

Other than hands I have...

Feet!

Eyes and face!

I look quite scary here huh

That's the top of my head and the pointy things at the side of my head are my ears!

Spine

And that's me sleeping!

I heard my parents telling me to be a gynaecologist because I can earn $100 in just 5 mins. Oh no I feel stressed already!

#celljourney #pregnancy

10.23pm: it's the last day of 2016! Certainly didn't feel like it to me haha I dunno why.

Boring old married couple here staying at home and playing candy crush and waiting for the countdown show on TV 😅

It's true - when you're in your 30s you will just stay at home and nua lol 

I can't even remember what I did last year on NYE!

Had our own little steamboat for 2 at home to celebrate NYE!

Haven't eaten so much ever since I got pregnant! Wah think I overate. Super full and was quite uncomfortable with the expanded tummy, growing cell and squashed internal organs!

We actually planned to go for thanksgiving mass but after an exploding meal and chores I felt really lazy :x

Vegetating on the couch in the same position with our bears while waiting for the countdown to start heh

My belly suddenly grew really round in the past 2 weeks 😱😨

But this is a food baby + a real baby so it's slightly bigger than usual haha

And Paul's is just a food baby of course haha. Comparable to mine?

18 weeks pregnant today! Is it almost halfway through? That's fast!

I seem to be starting to pack on the pounds. Belly is also starting to get round!

While I am not really looking forward to the idea of raising a kid (oh the tantrums! the crying! the defiance!) I actually feel quite excited about it coming lol. Does it make sense? It sounds very conflicting.

But maybe after it comes I'll feel damn sian. Paul thinks I will just flick my wrist but I think people like me who are wildly resistant to children may end up even more upset after giving birth. But I dunno. Need to re-evaluate 5 months later.

OMG IT IS 5 MONTHS LATER ONLY!!!! How terrifying!

(See, conflicting emotions again.)

Not sure what to write here.

Recently experiencing some body changes and need to wait to see the doctor to confirm. After hearing about how some people can still experience pregnancy symptoms but the foetus actually has no more heartbeat, I have been mentally preparing myself for this possibility. Because the line on my 2nd test was fainter than my 1st test. Does this mean the hCG hormone levels are dropping?

Our December holiday plans are hence in limbo because of this.

IF this pregnancy is successful, it is probably going to be pretty life changing. Anyone who knows me well knows that I hate kids! Now I'm gonna have to be stuck with one for life. Not looking forward.

IF this pregnancy for some reason is not successful, it is also probably going to be life changing. But maybe on a smaller magnitude. Maybe it will make me realize that I do want to have a kid of my own after all and re-evaluate how I look at them.

Either way, KIDS ARE LIFE CHANGING (and noisy and troublesome and blah blah). That's why I don't like them.

And oh, our wedding anniversary is coming up! So fast!

And we moved house! To a low cost budget hostel... haha well it does seem like it's a low cost budget hostel to me. That's another story for another day.

My life has been taken over by Pokemon Go!

Still in a funk at work.

The previous post has been removed due to sensitive content, at the request of le husband!

Doing office duty today on a declared school holiday. Hai regretting it the moment I woke up coz it's such a nice rainy day to sleep in.

History in the making - UK has exited the European Union. Is it a good time to visit London this year? 1 British Pound is 1.87 SGD now!

In two minds about taking another long holiday in December. On one hand I would really like to, but on the other, we have really limited resources, plus travelling can get quite tiring. Given my limited number of days of leave, I doubt there's really sufficient time to have a real leisurely trip to take in the sights and sounds.

Met up with our independent financial advisor yesterday too and planning to get an early critical illness policy by the end of this year, so that would mean my entire AWS will go to the premium, and not to holidays.

Sigh! All these grown up responsibilities suck. I've always been quite YOLO, so while I try to save, my savings are probably way way lesser than those of my peers. Coz all my money usually goes to holidays and materialistic things. So it's really a bummer that I can't even get to enjoy my money after working hard for one year coz it's got to go into paying insurance premiums.

I just realized people are drawing salaries of 7-8K at my age. If like that then I'm possibly a super underachiever! I thought my husband's salary is already buay pai (1.5x of mine) but he is probably earning the least among all his friends omg.

Also maybe growing older = wanting to stay rooted and losing that spirit of adventure, getting more lethargic, getting more jaded, and that sense of wonderment at new things or even life in general? Practically non-existent. I think it takes a lot more for me to feel amazed and excited about things now.

The post-holiday blues are REAL.

Shrouded by a sense of doom and gloom once I stepped into office. The last time I felt this way was when I returned after a 3 week long honeymoon. Back then I felt very overwhelmed by work and had a crazy urge to quit my job.

For 10 days, I forgot that I even had a job. Life was so carefree! After 10 days, I feel that same sense of dread and gloom. 

Maybe longer holidays aren't such a good idea now. I should aim for shorter breaks maybe? Less taxing on the bank account too.

The lucky thing is I'm not as jetlagged as I imagine! In fact I was functioning pretty well despite arriving at 5am in the morning after a red-eye flight from Incheon.

Hello June.

Slightly more than a week to Gillian's wedding!

And also I would like to say that 1st June is not the halfway mark of the year.

Sorry I cannot. I think people who say that 1st June is the halfway mark cannot count and I secretly judge them for that. Hah!

Restless.

How exactly does one find drive and motivation at work?

I don't like my job and the people that much but at the same time I can't guarantee that I'll find something else that's better.

Heard there's another resignation today.

My boss is quite an interesting character. She has lofty dreams of striking Toto and has it all planned - use half a million to start a company and she said she will then employ us to work at her company (not sure if that's in jest).

She has described her plans to us at least twice - once during the CNY angbao draw and once yesterday. LOL. And they are fairly consistent plans.

I think she and Paul will hit it off quite well! Paul likes to dream of striking the lottery too. Hahaha.

Also I'm getting old and I can't remember dates well. So is Paul actually. Haha.

We both couldn't remember how many years it's been since we met and started dating.

Long long ago I would remember dates religiously and prepare special cards or do some fancy mancy stuff. I think it was the novelty of it all. Haha. Never dated before the effort was 100%!

I feel a little contrite that I don't seem to be putting much effort into this relationship when it comes to things like this. It shouldn't be the way coz constant effort is needed to maintain the relationship!

Guess it doesn't help that our love languages are also quite different. Mine is probably acts of service, but his is physical touch. -_-"

So anyway! Reminder to self to be more touchy feely when it comes to le husband. LOL!

If you haven't already known (read here), I was diagnosed with herpes recently. *insert horror face emoji*

It's tongue herpes, a viral disease caused by the herpes simplex virus and I believe it's also the reason for all those long suffering years of recurrent tongue/mouth ulcers.

Rather unfortunate, and to put it simply - there is no cure. I can only prevent it from developing into full blown ulcers when I feel it coming by taking medication.

But it's also some sort of a relief to finally put a finger on this weird condition that I've been having. At least it's nothing too serious! I won't die from it.

After taking the prescribed medicine for a couple of days, my ulcers are clearing up! It's getting better, lesser and not so painful. At least now I can eat and talk comfortably.

Hm I hope I won't spread it to other people though! :x I don't exactly know how contagious this is.

Recently committed myself to a pilates package at Upside Motion also. Really super expensive, and painful to part with so much money at one go. But I need to tone up and I hope this will help me achieve that! Kinda stopped going for sessions with Corinne also so I hope pilates coupled with my weekly jogs and occasional swims will help me lose some weight.

Haha unbelievable, reading the blog of this girl who said she won't get any laundry done during the week when her mother is away on a work trip.

Not like she very young leh, 25 or 26 already?

How hard is it to throw clothes into the washing machine?

Aiyo is this the new generation that our society is breeding?

Sorry I am totally judging you now! Please don't be so dependent on your parents!!!!

Today at work I also heard a lot about how the kids nowadays find inference difficult coz they don't even observe any more. They are just glued to the phone all the time.

Hence they don't observe, can't think, can't infer.

Wah very sad like that. I don't know what to think of the 草莓族. I think I will die if I work with them.

And the sad thing is, I'll probably still be slogging and have to work with them when they enter the workforce.

Anyway if you haven't watched Descendants of the Sun already (are u hiding in a cave?!), please watch coz I think it's one of the better Korean dramas I've watched recently!

Popping by to say HELLO! I'm still alive and kicking!

Another new month!

Getting increasingly tongue-tied (finger-tied?) when it comes to coming up with blog posts. Should I cease blogging?

Mundane things that I do in my daily life seem far too trivial for this platform (there's always Dayre for such content). Plus it's quite inconvenient to actually post photos.

Blogs seem more suitable for "heavier" content which to be honest, my brain is not capable of producing at this life stage. Nothing "heavy" going on in my life now also ahaha. Which I should be grateful for.

Too much of my life experiences contained in this URL. A bit of a pity also la.

Anyway I would like to add that initially I thought I would get a comfortable sum of money for my PB this year to replenish my starving bank account... but then after allocating money for insurance savings, trips, and possible home rental, and paying off all my credit card bills and debts, I have about zero left. Yikes! I have about $20 left in my DBS account now #truestory so the vicious cycle of perpetually being penniless continues....

I wonder how people actually manage to stash tens of thousands of dollars away?! I can never seem to grow my cash!

Down with my usual sensitive airways cough (bye money) at this time of the year which is unusual... usually I get it after I come back from a cold country. I suspect it's coz I went to jog last week when it was terribly hazy in the evening.

Also getting itchy butt syndrome!

Just back from a short trip to Bangkok over the March hols. Can't decide if I like long trips better or short trips. Short trips feel a little too short to feel well rested (and it passes in a flash), but long trips can be quite draggy! And nothing is more sian than coming back to work after a long trip. Hah. Actually as long as I get a holiday, I shouldn't be complaining eh? #firstworldproblems

The trip was good, but wish I had more stomachs to do more eating. The shopping at the markets was not too bad, but it was so crowded and SO HOT! Goodness. I would rather just stay in air-con comfort now. Like my idea of a chillax holiday is hang around in air-con places in the day, sip tea and eat cake at a cafe or go cafehopping, hunt for food, go for a massage and eat some street food at night lol.

Haha unfortunately my husband thinks spending money on cafe food is a waste of money and he would rather eat real Thai food. But I don't mind real Thai food too! I have sooooo many food places on my list that we didn't get to go to due to the lack of time, like SabX2 wanton mee!

I think I need another trip back to Bangkok soon. Haha my last trip to Bangkok was in 2007 I think and I don't even remember much about that trip, it was like as if I've never been there before! Nothing looked familiar lol. And I had foot massages every day it was so shiok.

Need more annual leave please! :(