Personal shopper

I am not a fashionista. Most of my clothes are in black or solid colours. Due to the infection last month, I decided to pamper myself (on daddy M’s account) and booked a session with the personal shopper in Top Shop, Knightsbridge outlet in Orchard.  My original objective was to add some long sleeves tops to cover the wounds, but it turned out to be a great experience. I was over the moon!! My wardrobe has since been coloured!

Coincide with my birthday month, I treated myself again to maximize the 20% discount recently.

I was greeted by the beautiful and friendly personal shopper, Melaine and her assistant Nud.  I had the whole fitting suite (read, not fitting room) to myself- no crowd, no queue.  Daddy M sat comfortably on the sofa and watched me parade. He was also served with a delicious platter of desserts prepared for my birthday!

Before I started changing, Melanie went through an array of clothes, probably more than 30 outfits on two rails split by different categories and key trends for the season - dresses, formal, casual, work, fun. A lot of the clothes that looked good one me belonged to the category “I wouldn’t pick this up if I was alone shopping”. Case in point – I am not a fashionista.

Each outfit was paired with the necessary accessories- belts, necklace, shoes. There was no need to worry about sizes as Nud would dash out of the room to grab if I didn't fit into any.

For first timers, you would have been asked of your preference, likes and dislikes when you book for an appointment. There are a few "services" that one can book, including The Miracle Worker - 2 Hours. The Mother and Daughter - 1 Hour, The Big Wow - 1 Hour. For that big night out, Group Retail and etc…

Did I mention that this whole service is FREE?! And there is no minimum spending! But realistically, be prepared to spend because you will love most of the outfit they prepare! They are professionals after all.

I hope to drag along some girl friends the next time I go…end of year, perhaps (after a big hole in the pocket)!

Two are better than one

On the eve of our 5th wedding anniversary, we had a fight. We said things that we didn’t mean.

The next day, we ‘celebrated’ by attending a friend’s wedding. A lot of flash back on our wedding day but more importantly I was trying to find some revelations on our marriage . A timely reminder surfaced - that Jesus is the secret to a marriage. If we can put Jesus as the centre and love through His eyes, fights get resolved fast (He didn’t say life is fuss free), irritating habits get ignored  (He did say we are imperfect), more respects between each other, more love and more submissions. After all, the Bible did say “wives submit to your husbands, as to the Lord …. Husbands love your wives,  just as Christ also love the church…”.

But very often, I forget to ask Jesus to be the centre of my marriage. I know Jesus is there but I just take things for granted and forget to involve Him, asking for wisdom to be a submissive wife and a proverbs 31 woman. I forget to thank Him that He has given me a husband that I longed for all of my life ie, a man of God (I started praying for a Christian husband from secondary school).  A man who puts Jesus first in his life.  A man who is wise whom I can cling on.  He may not be perfect (hence need Jesus), but he is surely my rock.

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

⁹ Two are better than one,
because they have a good return for their labour:
¹⁰ If either of them falls down,
one can help the other up.
But pity anyone who falls
and has no one to help them up.
¹¹ Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm.
But how can one keep warm alone?
¹² Though one may be overpowered,
two can defend themselves.
A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.

Babe, Happy 5!!!

Smooth operation

We rewarded her with a Dora sticker book for not having milk on night one. She went to bed with the sticker book next to her and only woke up at 6.15am. Praise the Lord. Things are looking up! 

Sleep battle -reset

I lost count of when we started giving in to night feeds. S would wake up at least once in the middle of the night requesting for milk. I believe this could stem from the fact that she is a picky eater, belonging to the 10th lowest percentile of kids her age plus the frequency of falling sick. Last night we decided to restart the sleep training. We prepped her before bedtime that "there would be no milk tonight", and that only babies drink milk at night, not big girl like her, and she said yes. As expected it was an empty promise.

She did her usual routine and woke up at about 2 or 3am. After being refused of milk, she cried pitifully requesting me to sleep with her on the mattress – failed attempts. The bargaining lasted for about an hour with occasional cries and hallucinations – “Mommy there’s a dragon there! (pointing at the wall). I don’t want dragon (cry)” followed by :"Argh.. I don’t want dogs, no dogs!!”.

We kinda won because she got tired and gave up in the end (no more dragons, no more dogs). We are determined to put an end to this interrupted sleep cycle.

I don't wanna grow up

It's the June holidays for Singapore schools, so the cousin and god-sister took turn to stay over in the past week. We had a lot more fun and NOISE at home! There’s no stopping when it comes to play. Play sessions started from the time eyes were opened until bedtime (exhausted)! Mommy and daddy took a back seat, as we became the second choices.

S was emotional (for a little while) on the first morning after they have left. I was a little sad to see her disappointed face. She still occasionally asks for them now but has learnt to accept that the play mates have gone home. Well, this is part and parcel of growing up darling.

About the house... and the pond

 

I'm still hopeful to stick to the dateline of end-June to move into our new home. We are now at the 85% stage of renovation. Key outstanding work is to give the fish pond a new look. Yes, the house came with a pond with 20 Kois. We had wanted to kill the pond for safety reason, plus I am not a fish person. Having 20 fishes seemed like a huge responsibility. So after much thought and debate between daddy M and I, we decided to give away the Kois.

But life would not be interesting if I don't frequently pull my 'doing the sk thing' stunts. After 10 Kois were given away, I CHANGED MY MIND. I was convinced by daddy M and the designer that it's cheaper to keep the pond. My sibblings also played a part in selling the story that having a pond could bring additional joy to the kids.

So the pond is staying. But with the construction work going on, two Kois died. Last week, we sent these 8 remaining lives to a temporary fish 'hotel' while the makeover take place. I pray that all 8 will return safely. God bless them.

2012 birthday

What I want to remember of this year's birthday:-

- My prayer for a friend whose husband was diagnosed of bladder tumor. I’m standing in faith with her that tumor will be gone in Jesus name.
- My first personal shopping experience with daddy M – will blog more about this next time.
- A revelation learnt from the orange Prada pouch from Sher and Shir - enjoy the PRESENT moment. Don’t keep the beautiful things that I have till they have no value in use. Use them TODAY. This warrants another post too!
- Maiden birthday song from S to me - last year this time, she was younger and not able to.
- Decorating a birthday cake in a group is bliss.

Fever fighting – day 5

For the first time, we see temperature shot up to 40’C. For the first time, she said NO to potato chips. And for the first time, we used the suppository.  We know this episode is at its tail-end because we have seen the doc three times and almost admitted her to the hospital out of desperation. Our statistics shows that she usually recovers after the third visit to the doc). We also know that it should end very soon because we have not slept well for a long long while…

Ice ice baby

 

"You are a standard case", said the doctor who tried to console me that S falling sick every other week is a norm as she attends school. Be it a 3-hour play group or full day child care, a child takes 6-12 months to build his/her immunity system when he/she starts to attend school. Therefore parents should be prepared to visit the doc every 3-4 weeks!

Sponge baths are round the clock while Ipad and TV are constantly on standby.
Two things that I am thankful for - daddy M gets to claim all of her medical bills and I am not travelling!