of super backdated post and pacifiers...

This is a super backdated post…..
Actually I have been meaning to write this but scared of jinxing it.
I think when Ah Fie was about 1+ going to 2 she weaned herself off the pacifier. At that time we have not even think of planning to wean her but I guess she beat us to it.
I guess it’s a good thing that our little girl was a bit fussy. she is kinda fussy about her pacifier. If it does not feel right she will spit it out. Then she also have this habit of biting her pacifier. Then she also have this habit of biting her pacifier. So what happened was that she bit a small tear on one of her pacifier and started to rejected it. We got her a new one but she doesn’t like and that is how she decided that she don’t need it …
So I guess 2 seemingly bad habit (fussy about pacifier and biting it) can add up to be one good thing.

or stemlife and cryocord...

I think we have been taking things with our boy too lightly liao. It just hit me that wifey is about 1 month away from delivery and we still have a lot of things to prepare. Sometimes feel bad also because seems like oftentimes we were so busy with ah fie that we thought that we will have enough time and should not be an issue with ah boy. I mean we have gone thru the whole delivery thing before mah…
So last night we start to sort out the baby clothes to get them washed, make a list for wifey on what to pack and plan out the sleeping arrangements etc.
Then there is also this part about cord blood banking… and we are back to the decision between Stemlife and Cryocord. For ah fie, we used stemlife and thought that maybe we can use cryocord for ah boy to increase the variability. But then stem life have a very good discount when I called the sales agent 1.3K++ only….
Anyway, I have contacted the sales agent for both and sad to say, both are not really pleasant experience.
First one is stemlife. Somehow I feel like the sales agent is not very keen on getting me sign up. She like to rush when talking and keep correcting me. I have the same feeling when dealing with her when we had ah fie and to me service is a major consideration. Anyway, I told her I will call back, but at the back of my mind, even if I were to sign up with stemlife, I will probably sign up thru another agent.
Then next I try Cryocord. Since I do not have the contact number I called their hotline at their website. Definitely not a confidence inducing call… The girl (and I stress girl) that answered the call sound more like some admin in a tire workshop than someone who I will trust with something important. From the get go, she greeted and talked in market Cantonese (which I think not very professional laaa). When I asked about the packages and rates that they offer… she also don’t know… (I figured out later that maybe the hotline is for people who have already sign up and want to notify them that they are delivering so that cryocord people can come and collect the blood). But one right thing that she did is to take down my phone nmber and say that she will direct me to the sales people. Then later the same night, a guy called me. And from the get go he started to greet and spoke is a very rushed tone in Mandarin. Nothing wrong with mandarin, but maybe he might want to consider talking in a more professional manner. After all sales people are the front office of the company maaa. Anyway…. I think the hotline girl maybe took the wrong info and inform this guy that we are delivering now or something and that’s why he called immediately. After I clarified, I asked about the rate, and again the first thing this guy tell me is that he can’t tell. (talking about sales.) I am not a salesman, but I think it should be one of the 10 commandments of a salesman to be aware of what you are selling. Anyway, after I pushed a bit, he say that maybe not convenient to talk over the phone and he will pass me to another agent that covers the hospital that wife plans to deliver at…. I dunno laaa. Maybe I am being a bit of a ‘wet market auntie’ fussy, but I think as a sales person, it should be pretty basic that when a customer comes in, your objective is to make the sale.

So in summary, I think there is really a good opportunity for someone with the means and resource to set up a cord blood banking service. Because from the experience I have with these two supposedly major one, the sales people failed.
I think maybe I am being a bit nitpicky here but I think I have the right to be so as I will be spending a significant amount of money and entrusting someone with something precious.

Maybe in the end I might just as well get an airtight container and keep ah boy’s cord blood in my home fridge…

of rhymes and seven...

Ah Fie is now at this stage where she likes to talk. She can talk about whatever stuff and sometime she will recite rhymes.
So last ween when i was picking her from the babysitter's place...
Me: One Two...
Ah Fie: Buckle my shoes...
Me: Three Four...
Ah Fie: Shut the door...
Me: Five Six...
Ah Fie: Seven....

*aiyoyoyo*

of kiasu and two bottles of free beer...

Sometimes I feel bad also because I don’t write about our baby boy as much as I want to. Hope when he reads this he is in a good mood :D. Anyway, today we went for our appointment with Dr Tan again. This time we are as kiasu as kiasu can be J. We were already at the clinic at 8.15am (doctor only comes at 9am). Well we have good reasons. For the last appointment, we have to go to the clinic 3 times before be get to see Dr tan. First time was the actual appointment date but by the time we went the list was already full for the day (and it’s only 9.20am) so we went back on the next Saturday, but Dr Tan was not in for the day L. Eventually Wifey went by herself on a Monday.
So this time I think ok laaa to be a bit kiasu…

Anyway, according to dr tan, we are progressing well. This time he tried to taka a 4D photo of our boy, but ah boy was being shy and closed his face with his arm. So dr tan turn to the other ‘head’ and we were given the full view of ah boy’s pee pee. He even printed a photo for us :D. I think I will keep that photo in a safe place so that I can use it as blackmail material in case ah boy is naughty in the future.

Oh ya, on a separate note. This week must have been some lucky week for me. First, I won an ipod shuffle in Friday in some function at work, then later took wife and ah fie to Friday’s for dinner (to smoothen some bad news wifey had at work J) and won 2 beers in some toss up promotion thing. I wonder where can buy lottery ah :D.

of medicines and going against the grain...

I am not sure if this is normal or not but Ah Fie seem to have this fascination for medicine. No .. no .... not the interest in studying medicine type of fascination, but more to applying and eating them.
Dunno when it started but i suspect it could be from when she she was little and cauget fever or something. The medicine prescribed has a strawberry flavour and we think she might have associated medicine to strawberry syrup or something.
But the wierd thing is that it is not just limited to fever medicine, during her recent bout of cough and runny nose, we tried chinese medicine. You know those that the chinsese doc prescribe in powder form and has a strong herbal taste... Strangely our little giurl seemed to liked it too. She will run for it as though it is her hilight of the day when we ask her to take it... how to explain ah....
Then comes the part on creams and ointments. For some reason she also always asks for it. and she will be so happy when we apply it on her mosquito bites and scratches....

Kids are supposed to be scared and dislike medinines right... so how ah?? Ah Fie is going against the grain ah?


oh ya, on an unrelated topic. Wifey and I was talking about this article in the news paper about some folks who went cycling around the country and mention that when the kids have grown biggwer maybe we should do the New Zealand thing again but in caravans this time. Then she ask ah Fie if she wants to go to NZ, and that it's far far away and have to take plane to go there... and of all things Ah Fie say no she don't want to go. When asked whty, she say plane high high up and she scared will she will fall down... aiyooooo

of filems and digital...

i finally got my batch of B&W filems developed (Yay!!!). and here are some shots of Ah Fie. Somehow filems especially digital brings out somethign that i still can't get in digital. (or maybe i am just too cheap to jump into digital ...

Ah Fie have recently caught on this habit of doing the V sign thng when she senses someone is about to take photo.

hmmm... let's see what i want to watch... Barney. or Barney, or Barney or.... Barney...

Little girl and he box of crayons

doing the clap clap dance

of being equally clumsy and temper tantrums...

I think Ah Fie might be ambidextrous. You know, not right handed nor left handed, but both handed?

I noticed that when she eats she sometimes use her left hand to hold the spoon while at other times she uses her right hand and her motor skills when using either hand are pretty much matched. But then again, it could be just the case the she is equally clumsy with both hands. hmmmm.....

Recently her tantrums are getting a bit more liao. Whenever she wants something she will insist on it and will cry and cry until she gets it. I try to be patient but sometimes i also dunno what to do because obviously she's distressed, but to give in will only spoil her.

But one thing about her is that i thinks she knows that she pissed us off when she throw her tantrum because when she stops she will be talkative and try to look for things to talk about and become all manja and soppy...

i wonder how i can exploit this ... :D

of shoes and unaccounted outfit...

I get the feeling that our Ah Fie will grow up to be one of those shopping kaki women (in other words a normal woman).
I recalled one incident when we took her out shopping and end up at a sport shoe shop. Ah fie just took the kids shoes from the shelf and sat herself down. Then she started to take off her shoes and mumbled to her self "Try First, Try first" repeatedly.
then there was this other time when she was about 1 year +. We were buying some clothes for her at Tesco and she started to pick up clothes from the rack. Turns out that when we got home there was one outfir that was un accounted for. I had thought that wifey had chose it when i was paying but wifey said she did not.... must have been our little shopper girl.

of psp and dirty thoughts...

This is another backdated post. Wifey and I went to see Dr Tan two weeks ago. As usual his place is packed, but then again, it’s a Saturday, so probably that is the busiest day. After so many visits, I think we are pretty equipped. Got our newspaper and PSP to keep us occupied for the 1-2 hours of wait :). There is this this thing about Dr Tan. Even though the wait is long, sometimes it seems bear able because when you go and see him, he will greet you with his booming voice and make you feel welcomed.
Anyway, cut story short and before long, it’s out turn. Dr Tan did the usual stuff. Scan thru everything, then he flick here flick there and then stopped at one spot at baby’s crotch :D.
And even before he asked I kinda get the feeling oredi. Then he asked wifey if we wanted to know the sex of the baby. We of course said yes. Then he goes to explained the spot there as the ‘bird’ (yeah, that’s the term he used :D)
I wonder if that’s how it is supposed to look like but the little birdie seems very obvious, some bright spot and like just standing there. Not sure if baby was thinking of something dirty but the little fella was pointing straight up :D. I guess he really wanted us to know that he is a boy.

So, now… have to go back and separate all the clothes that ah fie can pass down to his brother and it seems like we might have to buy some more new clothes. I mean it’s either that or we will have to raise our second one as a cross dressing boy…..

of emails and DUN...

As much as possible i always try to keep this blog about my family and try to avoid other stuff like politics etc. But this time i think i'll make a small exception. It has been some time since we elected so called people to serve us. Speaking specifically the MP and DUN for our respective areas. So i thought of doing an experiment here.

Actually calling it an experiment is overstating it. Basically i just want to see if i am able to get the DUN from my area to respond to a small issue that i request him to resolve. So what i did is to search for the email of my DUN and then wrte him an email. The request i make will be a simple one which i think should be simple enough that a solution is possible.
Then i will track the time it takes for him to at least respond either in email or in visible actions to the issue i raise.

So today i sent 2 emails. One to the DUN for my area and another to the DUN to the area adjacent to mine (on another issue).

So now, just sit and wait and see when they will respond (if they do).

oh ya, just to ensure that this experiment don't last forever, i think i will set checkpoints at 1 week. and maybe another one at 1 month.

wish me luck

ei... bt the way, anyone know if gmail can have an option to track if my email is opened and read? i know that MS outlook can, but can't find it in gmail.

update 19th feb: Day 1. No reply from both DUN. Maybe they are busy. I mean they don't sit in front of the computer they whole day waiting for emails to come in.

update 20th feb: Day 2. Still tarak reply. Maybe they are usy la. and maybe they only cumulate their mails and respond on the weekend....

update 25th feb: Day 8. So now can consider 1 full week already and i still do not see any replies. Maybe they are busy la... Yeah , right. We put them to where they are ant they are suppose to represent us and serve us. So, in my opinion they should listen to the people ma. anyway, i think i can easily strike off "very good and prompt response" if i were to grade these two guys. On a side note, i wonder if i will get a faster response if i were to put "Gambar gambar Skandal Ahli politik" or something like that.

update 2nd Mar: Day 13. Yay, finally got a reply. But not from the ADUN in my area, but from the adjacent one. Anyway, he asked me to call the police and gave the police phone number in response to the traffic issue. "Highly paid messenger" but at least he replied. :) Oh ya, his reply was on 28thFeb. so technically only 11 days to reply.

update 5th Mar: Day 15. Yay again... got the mail from the ADUN from my area. Finally. So in terms of replying mails, it hink quite OK la. but.....
just look at what he replied...
"
Dear Mr. *something something* (Actually he reply to my real name la i paiseh to show ma)
Thanks for your email.
We are looking into the matter.
Hope to get more feedback from you.
Thanks.
"
that's all.... so I think some things never change...

of letters and 2 years...

Dear Sophie,
Today you celebrated your 2nd birthday. It seems like such a long time ago on the day you were born. I guess the natural instinct is to say how time flies and it just seem like yesterday, but somehow i kinda felt a bit differently. Seems like that day you were born was such a long time ago. I huess probably it's because the last 2 years were so packed such good times that you have brought to us. Some sad, some frustrating, some heart warming, but mostly funny memories of your kooky antics.

As i am writing this, you were already asleep. We went to dinner with Ah mah, Ah Kong, Yeh Yeh and Ma Ma + all your aunties and uncles. And i think somehow you kind of knew that youare the star tonite judging by the way you run around and act cutesey with everyone. Dinner was a riot with all the kids running around but you are really blessed with Sam Sam who is there to look after and entertain you. If not ah... your papa sure will be more Botak-ker liao.

I guess now you are also entering your terrible two years and i think it is begining to show. I just hope that you grow out of it soon but i will try to be there to comfort and soothe you when the tantrums come ok.

lastly, thanks for the 2 wonderful years that you have given me and i can't wait for the many more wonderful years ahead.

love,
daddieeee...