Healthy Lifestyle I achieved in August

I started August with a controlled diet and a discipline gym regime. I couldn't stand my bulging tummy and weight that increased about 2kg over a short 6-9 months. I know its only 2 kg, but I seems having difficulty wearing my shoes due to the tummy that pressing onto my belt. I need to be healthy and be stronger before my babies arrives.

It was an overnight decision, I almost stopped taking a lot of food that I used to take all the time such as Mee Siam, Mee Rebus, Pig Organ Soup, Kuay Chap, Bak Tuk Teh, Chicken Rice, Nasi Lemak, Nasi Bryani, Kaya Toast, Mee Pok noodles, Rendang Mutton, Roti Prata, Chee Cheong Fun, etc... My usual diet becomes something like below:

Breakfast
DrOatCare Milk with quarker oats
2 slices or pieces of bread with 1 bottle Chicken Essence
1 small bowl of peanut porridge

Lunch / Dinner
Watercress Soup with brown rice
Soup Spoon soup with half wrap
Cold Storage Salad with toppings
6 pieces big Maki sushi
Subway sandwiches
Economical rice with 1 meat, 1 veg, 1 tofu with least oil and no gravy on rice

Snack
1 piece Honeydew or Papaya
1 banana milkshake
1 kopi o kosong with few Cashew nuts
1 quarker raisin snack bar

* Absolutely no sugar and minimum Carbo food at night.

I also went gym twice and at least a jog weekly. I never done anything like this before and I'm happy with it. I felt happier and more healthy. I am now more sensitive towards Fats, Sodium, Calories of all those unhealthy food after this one month of food awareness program. I hope to maintain such lifestyle for as long as possible.

Midnight Chocolate Milk Delivery

I took the last bus and reached home at 1:30am last night. When I opened the door, Felin called me. I was surprised because Felin normally will be sleeping very soundly at this hour.

Adrian: Dear, Why are you not sleeping yet?
Felin: I am still thinking about my work. I'm stressful.
Adrian: Oh no. My poor baby. Stop thinking. You got to rest at this hour already.
Felin: I'm trying not to think but still can't sleep.
Adrian: Do you need some milk so that you can sleep better?
Felin: Yes dear, I'm feeling hungry.
Adrian: Let me go make milk for you. (ready to go off)
Felin: I want chocolate milk!
Adrian: Chocolate Milk? I add some milo into the milk. Can?
Felin: No. It will taste different. I want it cold too.
Adrian: Cold? I add some ice for you. Can?
Felin: No. I don't want. I want "Cold Chocolate milk"!
Adrian: But where can I get cold Chocolate milk at this hour?
Felin: I'm hungry and can't sleep.
Adrian: You want me go buy for you?
Felin: Where you want go buy?
Adrian: I go now. Leave it to me...

There I am, went to buy Chocolate milk at 2am... First time Felin had a craving which need me go buy at midnight. She drank a full cup and had a good sleep after that...

2 tentative Christian names for my Babies

After knowing the gender of our babies, we are now able to think of their names more seriously. For the moment, we agreed that the babies shall be named "Joshua" and "Josiah" until God gave us any indication of other names. Joshua is first suggested by Felin and Josiah is from me.These 2 names are very common names but we have reasons for these selections because we want to tell them the story in future behind these names. Both names are prominent characters in the Bible and we love them for serving the Lord wholeheartedly. 

Joshua is the leader of the Israelite who led the conquest of the promised land after taking over Moses. He is one of the 12 spies that Moses sent to explore the land of Canaan and together with Caleb, they believe that God will guide them to defeat the enemies. In Joshua 10:12-14, it was written that Joshua asked God to stop the Sun and Moon in order that they can win the war.

********
Joshua 10:12-14

¹² At that time Joshua spoke to the Lord in the day when the Lord gave the Amorites over to the sons of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel,

“Sun, stand still at Gibeon,
    and moon, in the Valley of Aijalon.”
¹³ And the sun stood still, and the moon stopped,
    until the nation took vengeance on their enemies.

Is this not written in the Book of Jashar? The sun stopped in the midst of heaven and did not hurry to set for about a whole day. ¹⁴ There has been no day like it before or since, when the Lord heeded the voice of a man, for the Lord fought for Israel.

********

I want my son to be a wise and fearless leader like Joshua. He shall trust in the Lord wholeheartedly that even God will stop the movement of the Sun and moon for the victory of his people. 

As for Josiah, he is one of the best king of Judah after countless kings who worship Baal and all sort of idols. I remembered while I was reading the Bible in 2 Kings 22 & 23, he was like a hero to me who overturned all idolatry with gusto.
Josiah became king at the tender age of 8 and reigned for 31 years. His name was mentioned in 1 Kings 13:1-3, as early as 300 years before he was born. Despite being a king at such tender age, he ended up as one of the best Judah kings in history.

********

1 Kings 13:1-3
13 By the word of the Lord a man of God came from Judah to Bethel, as Jeroboam was standing by the altar to make an offering. ² By the word of the Lord he cried out against the altar: “Altar, altar! This is what the Lord says: ‘A son named Josiah will be born to the house of David. On you he will sacrifice the priests of the high places who make offerings here, and human bones will be burned on you.’” ³ That same day the man of God gave a sign: “This is the sign the Lord has declared: The altar will be split apart and the ashes on it will be poured out.”

********

He is responsible for major reforms in Judah and cleansed the whole land from Idolatry. He fearlessly destroyed everything not of God and turned the whole country by 180 degrees. He also rebuilt the Lord's temple and found the "Book of Law" during his reign. The covenant of his people with God was renewed with the leadership of Josiah.

I want my son to be focused like Josiah and trust in the Lord with all his mind. He will also be a wise leader and will not be resistant to change when reform are needed.

Currently the baby on the Felin's left will be Joshua because he is more active and always move around during our scans. Josiah will be the one on the right. He moves lesser and seems to be a thinker.

The only thing I don't really like for both names now will be that the names are somehow a bit common and not so unique.

Hearing the heartbeats of my babies

Its finally time to meet our babies and to hear their heartbeats again. The wait in the clinic was longer today and it took about 2 hours before we can meet Dr Su. Mother in Law accompanied us to the clinic again today and as excited as us.

It is always a joy to know that the babies are doing well in Felin's womb. It was confirmed that the other baby is also a boy. He sat in a more obvious position this time compared to 3 weeks ago. When its finally our turn to consult Dr Su, I'm amazed with her patience as she really took her time to explain whatever we need to know and scanned the babies slowly for us to view. She kept asking if we have any further question. (Despite so many people are still waiting for her.)

We had also booked our Antenatal course to start from 20th September to 1st November. It cost both of us $214 for 8 classes. There was initially no more Sep slot but NUH squeezed it for us considering that the next class in November can be a bit too late for us. How nice of them. I pretty like the services in NUH actually.

Since the genders are confirmed, we will be in a better position to start looking out for items such as strollers and cots with the right colours. We may also start looking for baby clothing, etc... I think it will be shopping time over the next few months, with activities intensifying from October onward.

Our first visit to a Baby Fair

It was a relaxing Saturday morning as Felin and I had breakfast at Elias Mall. I proceeded for my appointment and Felin back home to sleep, I supposed.

I went to meet a ex-colleague who asked me about some insurance stuff. Previously, she did not do well in my company, switched to the bank as a relationship manager and managed to excel while in the new environment. I am really proud of her because I can see that she went through tough times to achieve her breakthrough in her career. During the meeting, she stressed the importance of right mentorship. Frankly, even if she was under me in the past, I don't think I am to guide her to this level.
I began to ponder upon my own capabilities on how I can help my 2 advisers to have a breakthrough as well. I personally haven't achieved such breakthrough myself, how can I help them do it?

After the meeting, I went back home to fetch Felin for lunch and to the Suntec Baby Fair. That was our first ever baby fair. I was never interested with such fairs in the past and never took a second glance with my friend's facebook when they posted on their loot. I was only interested with PC Show or the probably Electronic fairs.

I was pleasantly surprised that the crowd is just about the same as the PC Fairs. The booths are of wide varieties ranging from Baby's products such as Diapers, milk powder, clothings, accessories, cots, prams, etc... to Education, Enrichment classes. It also target mothers such as post maternal message, nutrients, breast pumps, etc... Fathers are also involved such as renovation on window grills, new cars, insurances, cord blood, etc... A lot of things are sold out within first 2 days such as Diapers and clothing items.

From this Fair, we gained more knowledge about items such baby strollers, cots, baby car seat, baby carrier, These are probably the bigger items which we will need to settle preferably by late November. My target is to complete my shopping list before 2nd week of December, when Felin is into her 34th week. Twin baby might come early, so better be prepared early.

We will definitely be going for the October Expo fair. That one, we will really need to stock up our stuffs and snatch the good stuffs with kiasu parents probably from the first day of the event. We have got another month plus to prepare our shopping list... Exciting times coming ahead...

Yeah. Its 18th week!!!

We are really counting every single week that passed. Each week seems to pass fast but mysteriously the number of weeks seems to be moving very slowly. Its 18th week today. I am certainly still not ready for the babies to arrive. I feel that I'm still taking things too easily and letting time passed too fast. I still haven't gone for my first toastmasters session and haven't started public speaking. I'm not persistent enough on my own sales and not doing much to enhance my business. I did not sign up for the ChFC module too.

I also are not ready to take care of babies yet as I'm totally untrained and still do not know what to expect when they arrives. Felin and I shall be signing up for the pre-natal course starting from September onwards over 6 weeks. My Saturdays will be burned for 6 weeks and probably not able to meet clients on Saturday during this period. I think this time sacrifice is crucial. I must learn well over that few weeks in order that I can be more confident and be more capable in taking care of the babies.

So whats at 18th week? Just read through the babycentre website:

************
Head to rump, your baby is about 5 1/2 inches (14cm) long, and he weighs almost 7 ounce (198gm). Her chest moves up and down to mimic breathing. Her blood vessels are visible through her thin skin, and her ears are now in their final position, although they're still standing out from her head a bit.

Soon you may get glimpse of all the things your baby is getting up in your uterus (womb). A mid-pregnancy ultrasound scan, called an anomaly scan, is usually done between 18 and 22 weeks. This assesses your baby's growth and development and checks whether the gestational age is accurate.

During this scan, you might see your baby kick, flex, reach, roll, or even suck her thumb. See if your partner can come along to share the thrilling sight of your baby, and ask if you can have images from the scan.

If you're having a girl, the vagina, uterus (womb), and fallopian tubes are in place. If it's a boy, his genitals will be distinct and recognisable.

From now on, when you lie down, it's best to lie on your side, or at least partly tilted to one side. When you lie flat on your back, your uterus can compress a major vein. This may make you feel dizzy because less blood can return to your heart. Try placing a pillow behind you or under your hip or upper leg for comfort.
*************
Its the size of a Sweet Potato now...

The two "First" toys for my babies

I have 2 toys which I considered as first toys for my babies. I purchased the Zebra while holidaying with Felin in South Africa February this year. I have no idea why I like that Zebra so much and still love it even today. It is innocent looking and always looks so sweet.

As for the Colourful bear, it was given by my Cell Group Leader, Angeline last year. She purchased and gave it to us before Felin conceived. She said that it will come handy very soon. True enough, all our prayers were heard and indeed, this bear will come in handy by January next year. Actually almost all my soft-toys have a name but I haven't give a name for it yet. Maybe I can call it "Colourful".

Both of them are currently sitting on my sofa everyday. Felin and I always have fun with them. We like to change their position on the sofa occasionally as if they are really alive while we are out at work. Eg. Few days ago, I placed them on the bed as if Colourful was riding on Zebra and yesterday Felin placed them on floor, by the door as if they were welcoming me home. (I forgot to take a picture). We also like to place notepads beside them as if they are talking to us.

I told Felin that they were playing horse riding

Felin told me that they were chit chatting by the doorway, waiting for me to wake up.

I'd told Colourful and Zebra that their job is to entertain the babies when they arrive. I'm sure the babies will love them just like we do...

Weekend always ends so fast

I had 2 meetings on Saturday but still managed to have lunch with Felin at Changi Village Jacob's cafe. I really treasure every of these quiet moments with her now because I know our life will be different once the baby comes. I sometime do have problem accepting that we are going to be parents of two soon and occasionally visualising all the logistics and psychological challenges ahead as well as how my work will be affected. I am always very busy at work and I'm pretty sure my sales will be affected with the arrival of the babies. The question mark by then will actually be "By how much?". I'll be lying if I am to say that I don't feel stressed at all with all the expenses that are coming up next year that coupled with the changes that are coming head-on to my industry from Jan 2015 onwards.

One of the meeting on Saturday was with an army friend who took up some insurance cover for his newborn son. His wife did not experience any pregnancy symptom over 10 months, had a very easy delivery, baby boy was very "Kuai" and did not disturb the parents much during confinement. Now the baby is in his 3rd month and he can already differentiate between day and night. He will play more during day and sleep more during night. His MIL was also there to help his wife and his daily work is almost not affected at all from the day his wife conceived. His wife actually commented that things seems so smooth. Just made me envious "Why some people so easy one?"

When I look at Felin, I felt that she seems to suffer more. Even till today, she is still vomiting and feeling sick and tired most of the time. She already have problem sleeping at night and often wake up in the middle of the night, unable to fall back to sleep. She is already feeling backache and her body posture had already changed. She seems to get all these "Not so good" symptoms from the day she conceived. I know she is suffering and doing her best but I really hope God can dispel all these things away from her and let her enjoy her pregnancy, at least for the next few weeks during this so call "Honeymoon Trimester". I will step up my prayers for her tomorrow onwards. I know I haven't been strong enough on my faith.

For today, it was our fortnightly cell meeting. Felin and I was in charge of food and worship today. 2 of the songs we prepared "Everytime I pray" and "Amazing Grace" did touch my heart today. I must trust God enough and believe in my own prayers. Felin and the Babies will just be fine and may God protect them well. We then watched the movie "Heaven is for Real" in the entertainment room today. Its about a boy's astounding story of his trip to Heaven and Back when he was 4 years old. It gives us a glimpse of what Heaven can possibly be. He was in Singapore last year and we also took a picture with him.

After Cell Group meeting, I went for a jog. I did 7.8km in about 50 minutes today. Good distance but a bit too slow. Still room to improve and I still have Gym training tomorrow too. This is the only area that I did I did better. Getting regular exercise and a more controlled diet. I'm still not on track on my seminar target and still looking far from it.

Thereafter, Felin and I went for dinner at Ikea Tampines. We had salmon and meatballs. She wasn't feeling well and vomited whatever we ate earlier and fell to sleep shortly. Hope she will be well tomorrow for the new challenges she going to face in the office.

Backache...

Felin complained that our bed is too soft and caused her to suffer backache recently. Backache is one of the pregnancy symptom but I think coming at 16+ week is a bit too early. I do worry that when she enters into her 3rd Trimester, it will probably be worse than current as a bigger tummy will add more pressure to her back. I tried encouraging her to strengthen her back muscles through exercise such as swimming or simply paddling in the water, etc... 

I also shown her some back strengthening exercises on the bed but she asked me "Who say pregnant woman can do all these exercise?" I said its Doctor Khiat. Actually these exercises are really simple exercises and I'm pretty sure they will not hurt her. Its really not easy to get her to exercise but if she don't do it now, I think it will be too late by 3rd Trimester. Prayer will probably be the best we can do now so that the backache can be healed and it will not come back in months ahead.

For the past 1 week, she have been sleeping on her new makeshift bed in the room. There are 2 layers of mattress with a bed-sheet and quilt over it. To make her sleep better, I will turn on the air purifier and the humidifier for about 3-4 hours while she is sleeping. I will then turn on some classical music on my handphone and tap her to sleep. She said that the moment on this bed at night is the best moment of the whole day and she looks forward so much towards this nightly moment every day. We jokingly named the bed "安乐窝".

With this bed, Felin's back condition did improve. But the next challenge will be whether she can get up from the floor by the time comes 3rd Trimester. It can be too tiring for her.

Well.... No point worry so many things. Weekend is coming and its time to wind down from the stress that was gained over the weekdays. I unfortunately need to work on Saturday and its Church cum Cell Group meeting on Sunday. Hence, I will also need to do some housework on Saturday to prepare for Sunday's CG.

Not much chance for us to go out for shopping this week but we shall reserve our energy for the trade fair at Suntec City next week. Its time we look into what we need to buy to prepare for the arrival of the babies soon... More exciting things coming ahead...

Its our Babies 17th week...

Time really flies since I started this blog and two and a half month just passed like this. I told Felin about this blog last night and she was very touched to see this. She has to be the first person to view it before I officially tell others about it. Initially intended to tell her after her 2nd trimester but I think I have enough content to keep her occupied.

It was strange that even though I haven't told others about it, my webpage had hit about 1,350 pageviews over the past 2.5 months. It currently averages about 20 a day. I have no idea where these traffic came from and what word they searched that they found me. I just find this interesting.

Most of them found me through iphones and Windows but very few came from the Android system. Most of them came from Singapore too. The numbers may increase soon because I may be announcing to all my friends once Felin is ready. I will also be posting at "Twins SG" facebook to share with parents and parents to be. As for personal friends, Felin is not ready for me to announce it via facebook yet. However, I already thought of my way to announce this news when the time is ripe.

Our Babies are now in their 17th weeks. I think if I didn't started a blog like this, we probably may not remember the number of weeks by now. We are often so caught up with our work that we forget all these small details.

So what is happening to our babies at 17th week. From BabyCentre.com, it was written as follows:
Your baby's skeleton is changing from soft cartilage to bone, and the umbilical cord — her lifeline to the placenta — is growing stronger and thicker. Your baby weighs 5 ounces now (about as much as a turnip), and she's around 5 inches long from head to bottom. She can move her joints, and her sweat glands are starting to develop.
(5 ounces is about 141gm and 5 inches is about 12.7cm)
So Felin is carrying 2 Turnips and should weight extra 280gm with our twins now...

And from another website "Whattoexpect.com", I also read that pregnancy symptoms are gradually changing to increased appetite, occasional headache, backache, stretchmarks, etc...
With these, I think my responsibilities will be increased too. I need to remind Felin not to eat uncontrollably because this will make her gain too much weight unnecessarily and probably aggravates stretch mark on her body. I need to remind her to eat more meals but healthily and with chance permitting, to cook good food for her. I will need to help apply stretch mark cream on her belly and legs more often so that her skin will looks good. Of course, I also have to ensure housework are properly done so that she will have a clean and happy environment to live in, etc...

Will our babies be at Grandma's birthday next year?

It was another busy day back in office today with a manager's meeting from 12noon to 5pm today. I was assigned to do a project for the branch and I am determined to do a good job, though back of my mind, I know there are still so much of other work that I need to do. Time is always an issue and I know I'm not making full use of it. I'm probably been spending too much time in facebook and in this blog of mine that I enjoyed writing almost daily. I have to be more disciplined and cut down on my facebook and stop kpo'ing everywhere in it.

Its another busy day for Felin too. She was busy with the Hong Kong Audit yesterday, Malaysia Audit today and will be the Singapore Audit over the next 2 days. Thereafter, her system migration will start next week which will end probably late October. She complained about the stress at work and worry that it will be bad for the babies. I consoled her its good that all these came at her 2nd trimester. If they come during 3rd Trimester, she probably will not have enough sleep and feels more lethargic to accomplish her tasks.

Its Grandma's 91st birthday today and its a once a year occasion where we celebrate as a big family. Its only this time of the year whereby almost everyone in the big extended family will come together. She still looks strong and is hearing well. Aunt told me that she gets emotional nowadays and cry quite easily when she talks. She had stopped frying Hokkien Mee but simply helping out peeling prawns in the morning. It was a long time since I last took picture with her and I decided that I must take this chance today.

I do hope that when the babies arrives, both of them will have the opportunity to take picture with Grandma and let her have some fun with them. Of course I will pray for her good health and hopefully my babies will be able to attend her birthday next year. (If it comes true, my babies will be 7th month old by then. I can't visualize how we will be able to handle them in such restaurant setting. lol... Certainly a challenge...)

Is Mozart Music good for Babies?

Felin had been complaining about stress at work and she told me that she will apologies occasionally to the babies for the mood that might have passed to them. When she is stressed, she will vomit non stop in office and have no appetite. When she feels like eating, she will be likely eating junk food with little nutrients. There are nothing much I can do for her job and we certainly fear about financial issues if she decide to stop work. The thing I can do is probably to encourage her to have more nutrient food and to provide her more support back at home and help her feel more relaxed.

Her daily consolation is to return home to her comfy bed which is currently a mattress on the floor with the quilt on it. She has been sleeping on it for the past few days because she complained that our bed is too soft and her backache is getting bad. She rather sleep on the floor and commented that her backache is getting better... Hence currently, I have the big bed all by my own...

To make her sleep better on her mattress, I'll turn on the air purifier as well as the humidifier with aromatherapy. I will on Mozart music from Youtube for her to get into sleep. We often heard about the Mozart effect which we hope can potentially stimulate the brain of our babies at this stage. I think we are going to listen to classical music for quite a while, probably till the babies' birth and throughout the infancy days.

When I surf thru the internet, I realised that there are no correlation between the babies intelligence and listening to classical music but learning to play an instrument and practicing it will actually increase their IQ by at least 3 points. (May consider letting them learn some music in future). For the moment, just play the music, we never know how God will work on our babies.

A typical lazy Sunday

It was a relaxing day at home this Sunday. We slept till 9+am and decided to go for 2nd service for the day. As we were singing worship songs, I was particularly happy that the babies are probably listening to the songs as well.

When I was looking at the 2 worship leaders on stage today, I started visualizing that the 2 of them are like my sons in future. Young and talented and God loving.
When I shared this with Felin, she told me, "You sure? Both of us are not musically inclined leh. Our children can play music meh?" She said, "If my children are like Alec's children, it will be good. Alec is one of our previous cell group member and their children are both very intelligent, currently training doctors and are also God loving. Then I said, "You sure? Alec PhD one leh and very intelligent. Both of us like half bucket graduate." So bad, it seems like both of us are restricting how smart our children will be in future. Lol...

We had Thai food for lunch at one of our usual frequent spot "Basil Inn". After lunch, I insisted going to NTUC Fairprice to buy food for tonight's dinner. I'm determined to cook Salmon for Felin. After lunch, Felin went back to take her nap as I did my gardening and wrote on my blog.

At 18:30, I started preparing dinner. It was quite a messy job but I think the food was still not that bad. I had my salmon steamed while Felin's one pan fried. The skin is quite crispy for her. I had also baked red-skin potatoes, broccoli and a fried egg to go along with the dinner.

Pretty satisfied with the dinner and hope the goodness from the food is able to reach the babies. After dinner, we watched TV for a while before going down for a stroll. We were sitting by the poolside and discussing what to name for our kids again. This time round, we thought of Josiah, Joshua and Jotham. I also went through the bible verses that wrote about Josiah and I shared that Josiah is one of the Judah king that I like most when I read the Old Testament. Felin is gradually liking the name too.
One consideration will be that Josiah seems a bit hard for Mum and Dad to pronounce and Josiah-Joshua combination seems a bit too close to be called as in short, people may simply call both of them "Jo". We also thought of a new chinese name "阙宇恒" which sounds like rhyming. Well, we are still in our infancy stage of naming our babies. For the moment, they will still be called "Baby A and Baby B" or simply "Babies".

Well, a new week is coming and may God bless both of us fully to face the challenges coming this week and the babies continue to grow well.

National Day Weekend

Its National Day weekend. Felin and I decided to visit the new Kallang Stadium. The weather was good and I told Felin that 9th Aug is always a sunny or cloudy day. Our 9 religious leaders will always pray for good weather and believe it or not, their prayers always come true. Felin responded with "Really?"

Kallang Stadium is a pretty good place for children and toddlers. The place is big and windy. There are definitely enough space for children to run around and its not too hot. The view along Kallang River is stunning as well. There are enough food and place for shopping at the Kallang Wave Mall. I think this will be one of the place we will bring our kids in future to laze our day away.

There was a carnival going on to promote sports and the stadium is opened for the next few weeks before official events start there. There was a nostalgia feel for the both of us, remembering the last time we came Kallang Stadium for National Day Preview about 6 years ago. Picture wasn't well taken though as resolution of phone camera wasn't that good back then.

After the visit, we went home to view the National Day Parade on TV. I again started explaining to Felin the role of the Parade Commander, Parade RSM, the commands, the flags, etc... as the contingents started marching in. Its a time to boast my little knowledge to her.

We then proceeded to Sister's place for dinner. Her TV was spoilt and hence we did not watch the National Day Parade in full this year. However because of the "No TV", we had more interactions this time. We started to talk about old days such as how we helped mum with the bearings, how we got punished by parents back then, etc... We also exchanged experiences about pregnancy and parenting during the dinner. It was quite rare that we have an interactive family dinner like this.

My Champedak Prayer...

Lord. Right in my hands are the Champedaks that Dad had purchased for me. Please bless these Champedak that they shall not cause any sore throat or coughing for me. Bless my health as well that I will have good resistance against coughing. Thank you Lord and I trust in you...

In Jesus name I pray... Amen...

Learning about parenting while at work

I paid for my off-peak car day license today as I had several appointments to go at quite remote places. Early in the morning, I drove Felin to work. Traffic was okay and she reached office within 45 minutes. I went for breakfast before going to meet my client for a discussion over her baby boy's insurances. This client of mine is a full-time mother and I shared about my twins who are arriving. She gave me assurance that things will just be fine and told me about her friend who recently had a twins too and she had also managed to get the babies keep to a schedule. She also proudly show me her "Remote Monitor" which she use to check on her baby while doing her own work and her timetable where she keeps for her baby.

I was quite impressed with that. She even trained her domestic worker on what food she should cook for her hubby and kids for every meal with a food schedule, etc...

After this meeting, I rushed to Beach Road Keypoint for another meeting and subsequently to Shenton Way office for Training, then for haircut at Bugis Junction before going to guym for a 35 minutes of Cardio workout and Ab Crutches before finally going for work in office to settle some stuffs.

At 8:15pm, I proceeded to another meeting in Punggol to deliver an insurance policy. It was supposed to be a very quick meeting for policy deliveries appt but once we started talking about taking care of kids and again me sharing about my twins, the conversation got extended. My client even gave me a lesson on how to carry babies. I seldom carry babies my whole life as I always afraid I will drop the baby.

The baby just woke up and looks very blur. He simply stare at me when I talk to him but when it comes to phototaking, he is vert coorperative. When I said 1-2-3, his head turned over to face his father. He is so cute and I just feel like kissing him. haha...

My client then taught me about baby stroller, play pen, cordlife, etc... His wife also passed me some namecards where I can get cheap and good baby items as well as updating me about all the up and coming baby fairs, especially the one in October. Well, I think I might need to stock up my diapers and get the baby stuffs ready by then. Good timing indeed...

My initial thought of a 15-20 minutes meeting ended up to be slightly more than an hour and my mind was feeling uneasy at the half an hour point because I had parked my car temporarily at the HDB loading bay. I was too lazy to drive up the multi-storey carpark thinking that it will be a very quick meeting anyway. So end of the day, I am rewarded with this...

Of course I feel sad having to pay that fine but its a lesson learnt that when parents start talking about children, there are bound to be a lot of things to discuss and its better to park my car properly with a longer carpark coupon...

Reached home within 15 minutes from Punggol and I started to love driving as it can saves me so much time and be home early with Felin. Felin felt very tired today with overtime till like 9pm. She shared about her dinner at Starbucks where the staffs were surprised that she order 2 sandwiches. She also shared about how funny she felt about herself because of her craving for Sushi lately that she went Suntec City to have them alone. Of course, she chose all those cooked sushi and nothing raw at that time.

We were so tired for the day that we fall asleep while chatting and here I am posting yesterday stuffs only this morning. Its another day passed and its our babies 16th week today. Thank God for all these...

The mystery is partially (90%) revealed

We woke up at 7am today with great anticipation of our gynae appointment. We were excited because it is the day to meet our babies after a long 4 weeks wait and a day where we will know their gender. It is also our first appointment with Dr Su Lin Lin. Mother in Law specially came in from Malaysia and waited in NUH in the morning to see our babies too.

We reached NUH at 8:50am and was told that Dr Su was doing her rounds and may take 45 minutes to arrive. The nurse even told us that if she was needed to do delivery, we may need to wait much longer. Fortunately, she arrived within half an hour to meet us. We were the first that she met when she arrived at the woman's clinic.

Dr Su is very patient and explained throughly on our Oscar scan that was done weeks ago. I was pleasantly surprised that our ratio on the scan are really good. Its like 1:3000+ type of number. She talks quite slowly and did not rush us. I'm quite happy so far with her explanation and service. But for Felin, she feels that she does not seems assertive enough and not sure if she can make decision at critical points. Well, I think its too early to gauge on this "Assertive" statement at this stage.

The above are the scans that was done today. First thing Dr Su did is to listen for heartbeats and I was really happy to hear that they were doing just fine. The next thing is to scan for abnormalities. Baby A is on the left and Baby B on the right. Baby A lies with his legs wide open and its obvious that its a boy. When I heard that its a boy, I was quietly relieved and thank God that I have a boy. As Dr Su was scanning on Baby B, I was praying and hoping that she will say that its a girl. She tried all different angle and told us that Baby B was lying by the side and its not easy to identify whether its a boy or girl but after quite a while of scanning, she saw that Baby B seems to reveal something to show the he is also a boy but she was not 100% sure.

Felin seemed slightly disappointed that its 2 boys. What went through my mind was seeing 2 boys running around and 2 baby boys crying at the top of their voice, etc... making me crazy and I was telling myself "OMG!"... Of course, regardless boy or girl, we are still happy and love them equally. We are just hoping that Baby B might be a girl. Dr Su is not sure yet and we may need to wait till the next scan to "Double Confirm".

Anyway, for the next few weeks, we can be sure of thinking for Baby A's name. He seems less active and always in a position where we can see him completely. He don't seems to be shy. As for Baby B, he or she seems to move a bit more and probably more shy to openly show himself.

Well. My guess for a baby girl is not completely wrong yet... Till our next scan 3 weeks later...

Boy or Girl likely to be known tomorrow...

We will be visiting our gynae, Su Lin Lin at NUH tomorrow and we are feeling really excited. Its is our first time visiting her and we should be seeing our babies after nearly 4 weeks break and probably knowing the gender this time. Honestly, I really hope it will be a boy and a girl. Its so perfect if it is true.
My next preferred combination will be 2 boys as I always thought I can communicate better with man than with woman, especially when they gets older. My family also did not have a baby boy yet and my parents will definitely be very happy if there is a boy in the family. I will also hope my "Khiat" surname can continue in the next generation. As for having 2 baby girls, I'm of course okay too because they are nevertheless still my children and I always love to play with girls especially while they are young when they are always looks so adorable. I will hope to be their daddy's girls forever. I think I will spoil my daughters very easily as compared to boy where I think I might be more firm with them. Girls always be able to melt my heart.

Well, my guess at this moment is that there will definitely be girls because after reading the internet, there are 2 symptoms which may point to feminine gender.
1) Pregnancy Symptoms continue through 2nd Trimester
2) Usually radiant skin and hair
There are just 2 of my guesses after reading all those grandmother's myths and people's experiences.

After tomorrow, it will be clearer on things like what colour clothes to buy for babies, what are the 4 names to think of, how to decorate the baby room, etc... How exciting!!!

First Day of Gym training

Today was my first of gym training and Rei is my trainer. He had made it easy for me today by asking me to carry very light weights to wake up my muscles. I was really so weak that most of the weights I carried were like peanuts and yet my body were already shaking so badly. I kept telling myself that I am training for my babies. I must have the strength to carry them and take care of their mummy. I want to be healthier and fitter so that I have energy to deal with challenges ahead of me.

In fact, the training was seemingly so easy and yet I vomitted after the session ended. I must have used so much energy as this had not happened to me for a long long time. Rei commented that after so many years of my Gym membership, I had wasted all my money because I only run on the threadmill and do some simple machines.half-heartedly all these years and without a schedule and discipline. I can't agree less with him and I know I must put in full effort over the next 10 weeks in my diet and in my workout before my membership ends on 19th Oct. This is one of the resolution I had set myself to do and I hope to achieve it.

Nothing beats spending time with family

Felin is always full of smile whenever she goes back to Malaysia. Her parents will bring us to nice makan places, to shop or to some coffee house lazing our day away. We sometimes will just sit in their cozy living room watching TV or to use it as a platform share endless stories on our pregnancy journey. It is really funny that we are in such an infant stage of parenthood and yet our stories seems endless. I am always happy to see the radiant smile from Felin. She is always so beautiful to me.

Our lunch was really yummy as we ate their 干捞面 where the noodle was really spongy and firm. After lunch, we went back for a short nap before going out shopping at Aeon (Jusco) where Felin managed to purchase a few pregnancy dresses which can be worn up to 3rd Trimester. I think she really need to stock up these dresses as I suspect her tummy will gets really big soon. We came back to watch Commonwealth games badminton matches before its time for dinner. No doubt, the dinner was so yummy too. Its home cooked food by Father in law, assisted by mother in law. FIW food is always so nice and I really love it. After dinner, we then chatted at the Living room for another hour or so before its time for bed.

Early next morning 6:30am, we got ready to go Kota Tinggi for the Famous Bak Tuk Teh. Its about 45 minutes drive to the place. Looks good right? The soup really thick and flavorful and the whole place was packed.

After breakfast we drove down further to get some fruits and we just have fun looking through the fruits and taking photos.

Well this is how Felin looks like at about 16 weeks. I posted this picture on facebook and she was queried whether she was preggy by her ex-colleagues. I think it took someone sharp to notice that she is preggy from the photo.

Dad suddenly told us that the Tim Sum and 流沙包 nearby was good too and we decided to drive a bit further for it. I think the food was indeed good for me already though they commented that they were so so. Look at the bun! Yummy, right?

We went home shortly for a break and in no time, its time for lunch again! Its really like continuously eating with the family for the whole day. So much fun actually. This time we ate 果条仔 (kway teow kia).

I actually tried controlling the amount of food to consume as my diet had already started since 1st Aug. I reported what I ate to my trainer and only to get a lashing, "These Food will make you Fat! You need to control!" Luckily, we don't go back every week or else I will really grow fat in no time...

Forgetfulness - Pregnancy Symptom of 2nd Trimester

We left home at 8am in the morning, excited of our trip back to Malaysia. I passed my passport to Felin in the living room so that she can hold both passports together while I drove through the customs. As we were reaching the CIQ, I asked Felin to take out the passports. She suddenly looked at me and asked, "I did not hold your passport!". "Yes! I passed it to you!" I replied. She quickly searched through all the bags and my passport are nowhere to be found. She repeatedly said that she had no impression that she took my passport. I knew it was too late to argue and choose to stay calm and cheerful... There was no way I can turn back at that point as we were already near the immigration point.

When its finally our turn to chop the passports, I apologetically told the immigration officer that I had forgotten to bring my passport. He then directed the traffic away from my lane and put a stopper behind my car. He told me that I have to leave my car behind and will be escorted to the immigration office.

About 5 minutes later, 2 policeman in uniform asked me to step out of the car and bring my belongings along. I thought me and my car need to be searched as if we were some suspected criminals. They seemed quite serious about people forgetting passport and the escorting policemen were not smiling. Many people were probably observing why 2 civilians were walking through the customs on foot. Don't really have a good feeling while walking over.

Fortunately, we were just asked a few questions at the immigration office and we eventually went back to our car and was escorted back to Woodlands via a double gated special route. What an experience! We went back home only to find that my passport was placed on the Sofa, near to where Felin took out all her stuffs from her handbag before we left home. We even had fun re-enacting what could had happened that led to her forgetting it.
We were lucky that its the first weekend that Malaysia had imposed a RM16.80 levy and not many cars are entering JB that day and hence traffic was exceptionally good. We eventually still reached JB at about 11am.

The next day, prior returning back to Singapore, we checked whatever items possible after experiencing yesterday's saga. We were confident that nothing could have left behind this time and left JB. The traffic was unusually smooth today and its probably the best over my 10 years experience travelling in and out of Malaysia. How I wish traffic can be like this in future. I'm quite willing to pay that RM$16.80 for such traffic. We left Felin's parents place at about 6:15pm and reached Singapore at about 7:30pm. That inclusive of our time at the petrol kiosk.

While unpacking the stuffs back at home, Felin asked me to search for her spectacles. She told me that she was sure that she had brought it back. We cleared everything but its nowhere to be found. What likely happened was that she only brought the case back and the spectacles were still in JB. She was unhappy as of why she was so forgetful and went for shower. After shower, she forgot something again! Well, what was the thing that she forget shall be between both of us only. Not sure if she will remember it when she gets to see this blog in future. Something to test her memory...

Steve Jobs: Live Each Day As If It Was Your Last

During our company's "Professional Development" Day yesterday, I learnt something from the late Steve Job. He said something which impressed upon me...

"When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, some day you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "no" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something. ~Stanford University, 2005"

Because of this quote, I made a stand to go gym for a good workout today and registered myself for 20 sessions of gym workouts with Rei, my ex-trainer with Bugis California Gym. He was so much fitter now as compared to nearly 5 years ago and I am fatter instead. I am going to monitor what I eat daily from today onwards too. I must control my diet.

He is going to be a father in September too and I congratulated him. I will start my training next Monday. I promise to train hard to be fit and strong so that I can be more energized to take care of my babies by January next year. My hands will feel less tired by carrying the babies by then.

I had also messaged the Elias Toastmasters Person-in-charge that I'll be attending their meeting this month. I may consider going for the meeting on 2nd Monday of August at Tampines West CC too. I must start training to be a good speaker. I had also looked through the SCI website about the ChFC Module 6 exam schedule as well. I may take up the the October examination.

Its 1st August and I must be more time conscious. Watch less TV and surfing too much in facebook. It will be a good start and I have 5 months ahead to prepare for the "Big" day... I must live each day of these next 5 months as if its will be my last!!!
JIA YOU!!! ADRIAN!!!!!!