All About A Mad Saturday

Expected to have a long day yesterday, but didn't expect it to have been so tiring. Went to bed late the night before, discussing about kitchen designs etc because we were going to meet the contractor. Woke up a lil' late for an early appointment, but thank God it was delayed by an hour. Brought Abby over to Sharon's (my secondary school best friend) place. She's about 33wks and counting. :) She's expecting a boy, and experiencing occasional Braxton Hicks. So exciting!! :D So far I'm the only breastfeeding advocating friend that she has. Everyone else around her who's given birth failed to breastfeed, so somehow she's expecting less than satisfactory success rates. On the other hand, the people all around me have been breastfeeding so successfully, I think I was one of those who stopped rather early! :( I didn't have the persistence to stop Abby from biting, also, NIE was a pain when it came to pumping and storage in school. I have no idea why, but I spend up to 45min per session pumping in the toilet. It was really long, so my lunch breaks and breaks between tutorials were usually spent in the loo. How exciting. :( Also, I was pretty anal about cleaning the pump well, so I'd take about 5mins just to wash all the pump parts thoroughly. Maybe this time round, I'll bring the Medela Pump In Style and leave it in school instead of using the Avent Isis Manual. Bummer that Avent stopped producing the liner bags. BRING THEM BACK, AVENT! YOU HEAR ME? :( (Don't think they did...)

Abby was pretty shy when she first arrived at Sharon's place, but warmed up after about half an hour later. She was really attached to me. Thankfully Sharon was pretty understanding and then slowly helped Abby to warm up. :) Anyway, when we were about to leave, Abby finally started playing with Sharon although it was way past her nap time. :P

So as we left and was on the way home, Abby kept looking at her thumb (now the hard skin is peeling and kept pressing it. It hurts coz whenever we ask her, "Where's pain-pain/painful?" She'll either show us her thumb or press it. She's been trying to take the other thumb but it doesn't seem she likes it a lot. Anyway, dropped her at home and picked Ben up. Ben was rushing and forgot to take along the kitchen cabinet samples from the contractor. :P Anyway meeting the contractor again today.

Had lunch and went to source for kitchen appliances. Went to a small shop opposite our place. Although nothing fancy, the prices aren't very low. Ben then called his buddy and we headed down the bud's recommendation opposite Eminent Plaza. Gave a much better discount and got our 3-burner hob, hood, kitchen sink and tap (mixer, it's called. Mixes hot & cold water... sounds funky eh?) from there. Wanted to get the built-in oven also, but will KIV that for now.

Headed down to our new place and met the contractor H. Surprisingly young guy, about Ben's age. We'll seen his work at our aunt's place, very satisfied with it. Came to take the kitchen measurements while his colleague E (a sub-contractor) focused on floorworks. H quoted us a rather high price which we have no idea HOW TO BARGAIN. HELP!! :P And E quoted us a beyond expectation price for hacking kitchen wall tiles and overlaying of floor tiles. Later we heard from my aunt that it's actually negotiable. BUT HOW TO NEGOTIATE?? *sob* I dun like bargaining...

Meeting H later to look at kitchen samples, but feel so sore that we have to pay a high price, unless we can bargain. We've seen other contractors, and the workmanship is really something we're quite particular about. The first one we saw, K, was ultra-condescending and rather chee-ko-pek kind... not towards women, but towards money. We went to one of the almost completed flats, and that fella kept saying that because that family was of a particular race, therefore blah blah blah. Then as he was talking like towkay, I saw that the cabinet door was uneven, the laminates were also poorly done (while he kept boasting about how his design was changed (because this family was of this particular race. HUH???) and the island with built-in oven was not properly seated on the base (a bit off-centre) and as a result, the corner that was jutting out from the base already had a chip in it. Very strange layout, even had the clothes dryer suspended in the kitchen cabinet. Well, since his layout so fantastic, then he can go charm his 'fantastic' customers. He kept saying that this family had a tight budget, so he could only do so much.

When I finally asked him about the budget size, he said $20k. That was when we confirmed within ourselves (or rather myself) that I wasn't going to use him. If he sees his customers according to their budget size, then we how? Only doing kitchen leh. Sure kena suan/slammed like mad. Dowan. He was also very condescending towards women, about how women don't understand measurements, dimensions etc. And a whole lot of other nonsense lah. Sigh.

Some men really use the wrong head to think.

Anyway, back to mad saturday. Bumped into my aunt and her family at Bedok South and updated her on the events with H. Later she called and told us that we could actually bargain... and even offered to sponsor us partially for the reno!! :P She's been a great help to us - helping us source for contractors, and keeping an eye out for us regarding this new place. :) She's really been a blessing!

Went S'Expo to pick Abby up from her grandparents. They were there for some family expo thingey. Super crowded. When I first saw Abby in the stroller, I felt she looked super angelic! There was this sweet radiance about her. Just sitting sweetly in the stroller in a pretty white dress. Looked like she had much fun! Seems she wasn't afraid of the 'tall man'. It seems my MIL is expecting her to be afraid of everything and keeps emphasising it whenever she shows dislike for certain stuff, then keep lamenting why she also so afraid. Gosh. If her dislikes are so enthusiastically perceived as fears, then she'll have A LOT OF FEARS, MY DEAR. So irritating. Even Abby's picking the perception up. Sigh. And MIL keeps complaining that her grandson's also very fearful. Hullo. Stop encouraging them to be fearful and they won't. So using fear motivation with them and they won't be as fearful. Granted that they'll have their fears, but we don't have to encourage them to cultivate more fears! Argh. Oh, while I'm at it, stop saying, "If you do this, I won't love you anymore!" Sheesh... how bold can someone get with that kinda words in their faces all the time? Yah, I know, different mindsets, different perspectives. But keep doing something the same way, you'll get the same results isn't it?

Oh, while I'm still at it, I was just wondering. 'Traditional' (I won't use 'Chinese') LOVE to use hurting words to 'motivate' their children to 'do better' - like calling them stupid, useless, fearful or simply comparing them with other kids, saying how clever other kids are, so that their own kids will feel charged up to do better and prove their parents wrong (in the process, 'improve'.) THEN THESE SAME PARENTS COMPLAIN THAT THEIR KIDS ARE DISOBEDIENT AND REBELLIOUS AND REFUSE TO LISTEN TO THEM. They really don't realise the values they are inculcating in their children. Don't they realise they are TRAINING their kids to be disobedient and rebellious and 'forcing' the kids not to listen to them? ARGH. It builds a very wrong heart attitude. Very very wrong. Imagine your husband saying, "Oh, look at Lucy, her breasts so big. How come your breasts not as big as hers?" How motivated will you be to enhance your physical appearances? Perhaps to a certain extent, because of a fear of losing your husband, rather than being motivated because of a genuine love for each other. (Don't you also think the husband ought to be smacked?) Instead, if a wise husband knows how to affirm his wife, the wife would be motivated to take better self-care to satisfy the husband better (I'm not advocating breast enhancement, but a reinforced commitment to eating healthful foods and regular exercise) instead of shooting of his mouth.

Back to frantic Saturday. Went for evening service and Ps Hoo spoke about listening genuinely. Message noted. Most importantly, listening to the voice of God intently, rather than just being busy (super-guilty of that!) Was in the nursery with Abby, Vic and Tina. Vic's already running around the whole place! She's becoming more endearing, and she's willing to let me carry her! Hahaha... :D Went off to Lao Hokkien for Granny's birthday dinner. Didn't eat enough while the other table was complaining there was too much food. Poor distribution of eaters. Poor Ben was still rather hungry. :P We didn't take Lina along, so Ben took care of Abby while I was trying not to faint from low sugar and hunger. (Trying to keep my sugar level in check. Rude shock with my last glucose home-test I did the night before. The colour was beyond the darkest shade. Must have been the Milo & Egg Prata supper.) Abby warmed up to Uncle Tuan and charmed her great-grandma with her 'Ah-Ma' birthday song:

Me (singing): Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to...
Abby: Ah-Mah!
Me: Happy birthday to you!

(That's the only edition she knows, by the way.)

She melted Tai-ma's heart.

Later, I gave her an ang-pow to pass to her great-grandma. Walked from outside the restaurant all the way in, heading for the birthday girl. Tai-Ma (Greatgrandma) was so impressed coz Abby knew who to give it to! Then we left. :)

Had updates about one another - saw Mattie's photos. Gosh. He's so grown up now! (By the way, I dreamt that I bought a ticket to Sydney. Six weeks. Solo though. With Abby. I was alone. As usual. In my dreams lah.) Miss them so much. :'(

Persis' having her A Levels now, seems she's pushing herself quite hard. Auntie Chong Keng kept asking me how I was coping, one baby, one more on the way, plus studies. I think despite my complaints etc I am super blessed with in-laws who love Abby to bits and a good helper. She's reliable though she can't really stand my MIL. :( Pity. Otherwise she's really a great help. Though influenced by my MIL's helper who openly 'stabs' (verbally) my MIL in front of me. Gosh. The tales she carries to me. Awful.

Val & Vanessa are attending Uncle Wee's church now; Uncle Phillip was surprised by my pregnancy. Commented that we are very productive. Yup. Most definitely. Ben caught up with Uncle Tuan. Glad he wasn't there quiet and all. Talked to each other about food catering etc. Quite interesting conversation.

Day ended with Abby learning a couple of new words, Ta (for thanks), Mien-mien (for pain-pain), cow (courtesy of Bumblebee) and accompanied "How much is that doggie in the window?" with Wow-wow (we had a 'mini-argument' regarding whether it was wow wow or mao-mao "cat"). It was so cute!! Hehe. She didn't want to sleep, was more confident in climbing off the bed and even up the bed - assisted of course. Watched a bit of Bumble-Bee, her favourite and before she dozed off between us (we had to cuddle closer coz she kept shuttling between lying with Ben & lying with me), she hugged me, said Bao-bao (for hug/carry), got up kissed Ben & myself a couple of times on her own accord (!) and then went back to lie down and dozed off almost immediately. :)

Long day, sweet ending. :) Praise God for His faithfulness and provision. WIth what I've almost tore down with my hands, God has restored abundantly and even blessed me with more than I could have even imagine. I must be more thankful and more appreciative, instead of being so critical. :P