To the woman who sat in 28F on board AK707 this afternoon,

You’re a first-class bytch. I just have to say it.

Telling me what to do with my daughter so that she can “keep quiet” and then telling a complete stranger sarcastically (and within an earshot of me) that “it’s been a while since I’ve dealt with a baby” is hardly polite. Excuse me, but it REALLY has been a while since you last handled a baby. On top of that, your so-called advice isn’t even correct!

Sorry if my daughter’s loud wailing during the descent disturbed you, but if you must know, I had nursed her, given her my pinkie to suck on, distract her and so forth; all to no avail.

She is just four months old and even though it looks like we are new parents and inexperienced, on the contrary, we have flown with her before and during those times, she was a gem and hardly made a squeak irrespective of landing, take-off or through the flight. We surmised that it is partly the pilot’s fault; after all, we took longer than normal to descend and he was doing nothing about the air pressure in the cabins. Plus, she never made a sound during the take-off so surely we did something right then, no? Also, did you even hear her cry throughout the flight? No. She was happily playing so really, what is your problem?

Now, do you know anything about the effect of air pressure on our ears? If you don’t, I suggest you do a google search on the matter and read up on it. Basically, it just means that in adults, air pressure changes affects the ears and the Eustachian tube do the job of adjusting the air pressure in our ears when we yawn or swallow, causing them to “pop”. In children and babies, this tube is narrower and may not function effectively thus causing a lot of pain to a child as higher air pressure will push against the side of the eardrum.

Just closing the ears with your finger will not do the trick – in fact, it does absolutely nothing for adults, so what more babies? So really, I’d thank you to keep your comments and so-called well meaning advice to yourself, especially when you see that my husband and I are busy trying to comfort and settle our daugther, and not be more embarrassed about having to put people though an episode like this.

Also, what is this “keeping quiet” business? If your ears felt like they were exploding, wouldn’t you do something about it? Well, my daughter’s idea of doing something about it is to cry. If you find her cries unsettling, well, that’s just too bad because that’s what babies do – CRY. Telling her to keep quiet when she hurts is tantamount to me telling you to buy a Bell TV, and then watch it without any volume and crappy screen quality.

So really, you should have just minded your own business. I already feel bad enough as is it without you having to rub things in.

M.

ps: People reading this, if you’re a seasoned traveller and happened to have been in a flight with a crying baby/child, do take some time out to think about how the mother and baby/child feels. We don’t go all out to make your flight a miserable one, y’know, plus it’s very stressful for us to have to deal and watch our child suffer without having to be embarrassed plus made to feel useless.

…and Nil fired the Immigration officer at LCCT for taking his sweet time processing passengers. Really, does it take over 30 minutes to process 10 passengers?

I had my first bowl of pork ball noodles dry style in 21 months and went (window) shopping for baby stuff at Babyland SS2. Walked away with some Heinz Baby Rice cereal – no to Nestle because of its gluten, sugar, dairy and soy content in its rice cereals (WTH) – and a portable booster seat for her future dining needs.

Dad gave me a heads-up on a sale on mobile phones going on nearby but nah, I have no need for such things plus I don’t have the moolah for even a refurbished laptop, let alone a new mobile. Was pleasantly surprised to discover that my Motorola phone is still alive and working!

In the meantime, the weather is crazy hot so excuse me while I go down some water and chow down on some yummy mushroom with sea cucumber and (yes) chicken legs!

It’ll be my first trip back to Malaysia in nearly 2 years. Yes, am heading back to KL with Nil and Eva in tow later night by plane. Parents have a mini-gathering planned over the weekend for around 50 people (and I thought 10 was already quite large for a mini-gathering) and I hope Eva will take to her new environment well not to mention the trip. Well, I’m not all that fuss about her, honestly…

…just dreading the possibility of people bugging me about my personal choices in life like how I am not planning on working until next year, about when I’m going to have my 2nd child and more importantly, about my postpartum weight (funny how people love to comment about your weight but offer precious little advice other than to take JUNK like fat burner pills). Yeah, yeah, so I still have that postpartum weight on me but I’m losing it albeit slowly. I’m really hoping that the yoga which starts next Monday will help plus I’m looking forward to getting in some much needed exercise other than walk every day.

So yeah, hopefully this weekend will go smoothly and do pray that I don’t lose my cool and just walk off – or maybe I should. HAHAHAHA.

…yesterday was like the fourth or third fight I’ve witnessed since arriving in Singapore. And it keeps getting nearer and nearer. The first was quite far away and the last one I remember seeing was downstairs in front of the elevator as I was exiting with the stroller, thinking of assignments like the new Symbol LS2208 scanner and such.

Two old men trying to have a fist fight with a crowd of five elderly men trying to break them up. It travelled further for another 50 metres or so and went on for another 10 minutes. Again, since it was in Mandarin, I had no idea what was going on but it was clear that one of the men was goading the other into a fight as the crowd tried to break them up. And I thought it was too close for comfort…until yesterday.

I do wonder though – is it very normal for fights to occur in public here in Singapore? I hardly see any happening in KL near my home although I have heard of fights breaking out in Petaling Street among the stall owners and shoppers. In Switzerland, confrontations like this are quite rare and in the 1.5 years of us being there, we were privy to just one fight.

Is it the whole close proximity lifestyle coupled with city living which stresses people out the cause of all this mayhem?

…have done what I did?

Just moments ago, the cops came to our apartment. About 20 minutes earlier, we were happily watching TV when I heard some fighting going on. At first I ignored it because it sounded like any normal fight and then it got really loud and mind you, the apartment door was closed. Then I heard their door open and the shouting got louder and a woman was screaming. Now, I don’t speak Mandarin so I had no idea what they were saying; she could have been going on and on about best accredited online degrees and her son’s results for all I know but the tone was disturbing me and Nil so I went to take a peek. I opened the apartment door a little and saw two men having a go at each other and a woman’s arm trying to stop them.

I turned around and had this look on my face. That was when the women screamed even louder and louder – it was as if she was the one who was going to get hit or something. So Nil and I called the police.

Here’s the kicker – the moment he hung up, all went dead quiet next door. They closed the door and it was as if nothing happened. When the police came, I felt so mortified at having called them for nothing but part of me had this naggy feeling that it was right of me to call them anyway because of gut instinct.

I had the same experience before in Switzerland – my neighbours upstairs were fighting at 3am (this was when I was in my third trimester and about two weeks or so before the due date) and a woman was screaming, a man was shouting and things were getting thrown around; it was all going on in Spanish and we called the police. When they arrived, the couple was still having a go at each other. And you could hear them from the entrance of the apartment block. It was very dramatic.

Anyway, Nil kept going on and on about how he shouldn’t have called the cops but I kept telling him that we should have…who knows what it could have escalated into? But still…I guess the Asian part of me is wondering whether it was right/appropriate to get involved in such a situation considering that I live next door!!!!! You know how people are over here about “minding their business” (but funny how it never applies to things like asking people personal questions about their marriage, children, relationships, salary, etc!).

What do you guys think?

ps: I was even telling the police that I should have recorded the whole darn thing on my phone. Guess I wasn’t thinking all that quick then. :/

I hate to say it but I no longer am really bothered about showcasing what I cook. It’s not because I don’t cook; it’s just because I’m not really cooking per se. I know, it sounds weird but bear with me as I explain the whole story to you.

In Switzerland, cooking was something I do from scratch – blend chillis with spices and herbs, and so forth. There aren’t any premixes available except for things like pasta and Mexican food which you don’t really see me featuring UNLESS I’ve made it from scratch. It is easier as well to cook when you don’t have to worry about waking up your baby – I suspect in Switzerland, things would have been easier because Eva would be snoozing away in the room while I can work in the kitchen with the door close.

But not here in Singapore. Because her room faces the morning/early afternoon sun, she doesn’t like to nap there and thus, she takes her afternoon naps in front of the TV as a matter of speaking, that is – it’s turned off ALL the time, in case you’re wondering. And with the kitchen just a few steps away and no door, blending ingredients and so forth is sort of risky as she may end up stirring and if she’s in a foul mood, cry the whole apartment down.

So poor me has resorted to using premixes (*sigh*) and cooking simple every day fare that are really, honestly, uninteresting (because they are oh-so-easy and well, don’t involve much noise or work per se). On the days I do get to cook something “spectacular”, my camera battery always dies on me and the charging stations never seem to work properly these days. Annoying, really. Anyway, to me, cooking using premixes isn’t really cooking, and so I can’t really say 100% that I made these. Besides, how could anyone find things like stir fry veg or steamed egg with mince pork to be interesting? Thus, my food category has slowly been snoozing away…

Above is some kuey teow noodle soup that I made from scratch on the weekend and some cucumber & beef salad (Thai style) I cooked up during the week because we didn’t want anything super heavy or greasy. I should have gotten better beef as the beef I used was still a little on the tough side for me and my wisdom tooth is still giving me issues (anyone know where I can get great dental discounts in Singapore or should I just go back to M’sia?) but otherwise, both dishes turned out just nice. Still, I miss cooking like I did in Switzerland…

Note to self – definitely need to get an oven. Hai.

What am I doing up at 6am and online?

Well, blame that on a missed alarm (ARGH – need to find a better alarm “clock” as I sometimes miss my early morning feeds), followed by a pumping session because she was just too full to take more milk. By the time I was done, I just couldn’t sleep anymore. To add to that, my stomach was growling like there was no tomorrow and I was obsessed with finding the heel portion of the shoes I was sewing up. It turns out that the heel portion was already attached to the tops – talk about morning zombieness! How do people on graveyard shifts (eg, call centers and what-not) actually cope with the hours? Must be nuts!

So here I am, online and blogging randomly about a life that involves a baby, zombie-ness and wondering about how work is like in a call center. C’est ma vie!

…or at least it’s coming soon.

Looking back, time really flies by o-so-quickly. I sometimes can hardly believe that Eva will be turning 4 months old tomorrow! And I get reminders of it all the time. Shopping malls are decked with Christmas decorations, friends talking about putting up holiday trees, more shopping for gifts to be done, Christmas party invitations to send out OR receive, the list just never ends…

And here at home, it’s like time is going by without a rush – at least that’s how it feels if I don’t look at the clock. I start my mornings with breakfast with Nil before he leaves for work while Eva either snoozes in her crib or plays by herself. Then after Nil has left, it’s some housechores, email and surfing not to mention updating my blogs, checking up on the store and Eva? She’s still playing although by 8am plus, she’d have gone into one of her short naps for the day. After her 9am feed, I let her play in the bouncer or I’ll read to her and then we’ll head on out to run errands or grocery shopping or to buy some lunch. Lunch time is just before noon while she naps again and then it’s her bath time, feed and this is when the mad mayhem really slows down.

She takes her afternoon naps and boy o boy, sometimes I wish time would just stand still when I see her sleep. It’s utterly peaceful and calming. Looking at her now, I really don’t want her to grow up but then again, that would be such a crime. Of course we’re up again for another feed at 3pm and then she knocks out for another nap at around 5pm ish after playing in her swing – yes, she does sleep a lot, doesn’t she? For her, life is all about playing, eating and sleeping…how relaxing.

I guess you could say that while time goes by ultra fast for me, it’s just beginning for my little one.