Welcome Baby Kristian!

Sat, 3 November 2012
I had this sudden crampy feeling in the abdomen and it felt exceptionally heavier than normal. But it wasn't really the feeling of contractions. So I called my cousin to check and she said that it could well be the start of it. So I decided to call the labour ward, only to be told that it's hard to tell over the phone (duh!) and to just head down to the hospital since it's number 3.

We headed over to Thomson and upon checking, I was indeed having contractions and was 2 cm dilated.

You know how everyone says that each baby will take a shorter time to come? And that there will be no time for epidural, so the pain will only last for a short while, so no need epidural? And how people tell you that even with the water bag burst or the start of contractions, you still have time?

I'm glad I decided not to heed all those and just went in super early and asked for epidural super early.

I admitted myself at 9pm, and Dr Tan came in at 10pm to burst the water bag. Epidural was admistered at about 930pm.

And then I was dilated at 2cm for the longest time la! And like before, the epidural was only working on the right side! At 1am, Dr Tan came in again, saw me in pain and asked if I wanted to redo the epidural. REDO? It's really quite painful you know. But she suggested that we redo it as I was still only 2cm dilated. So the epidural was redone at 2am, and thankfully, this time it worked fully.

At about slightly past 3am, the mid wife came to check and I asked her if it has progressed. And she said: "Ya. 9cm." Then she started preparing stuff and said that I can try to start pushing. "But you have to call Dr Tan first. What if the baby comes before she's here?"

9cm???

Thankfully Dr Tan arrived soon after and within about 6 pushes Baby Kristian came out.

And as of Nov 4 2012, we've officially become a family of 5. :)

Trick or Treating

Kieran had fun at Halloween last year.

So this year, I decided to open our house for trick or treating as well. Kaitlyn is also old enough to go round trick or treating. The neighbourhood committee had also arranged so Halloween activities for the residents.

So here's our decorated gate....

As expected, not all the households opened their place for trick or treating. Like last year, it was mainly the expats who did it. I guess Halloween is still quite an "ang mo" thing.

Check out some of the costumes that were donned by the kids and adults....

 This last one got my son scrambling and my daughter in tears! It actually is quite scary!!!

The main draw for my kids, really, was going round to the houses collecting their treats.

Happy Halloween everyone!

24 June, Sun - Day 9, Melbourne

Headed down to Flemington market with my aunt and cousin Steph. Bought a painting and some wooden craft stuff which we plan to put up at our new place. If they don't fade by the time our place is ready, that is. :)

Lunch was Hong Kong fare at Box Hill and then we headed off for last minute shopping at Target again.

After shopping, it was off to Steph's place for some tea. Check out Kieran enjoying his jam doughnuts....

Headed for a quick Thai dinner (notice we've been eating Asian food throughout. The Asian food here is really pretty decent), then it was back to pack all the shopping and head to the airport. Would have loved to pack one more thing in, but alas, I think it would have exploded in the plane.

Why don't they have Schweppes Agrum in Singapore???

23 June, Sat - Day 8, Melbourne

This morning, Uncle Jerry took us to Grants on Sherbrook so that the kids could feed birds - another activity they were looking forward to. We had gone on another day to another park but that particular park had stopped the bird feeding.

To my surprise, the 2 kiddos had no qualms about the Cuckatoos and Rosellas landing on their heads, shoulders and arms to feed!

Lunch was yum cha with my aunt, uncle and cousin-in-law James. Thereafter we headed to Costco - this giant hypermart that sells everything (almost everything) in bulk and humongous sizes. The thing is, at Costco, you need to be a member to shop there. Funny, right? Pretty fun place to shop. We bought a huge (I didn't take a picture, but believe me, it was huge!) pizza for dinner that cost us only A$14. It's so huge you can't fit it into a standard oven. We had to cut it in half! Also bought fresh oysters, as my aunt planned to make "orh lua" with them!

So dinner was another yummy affair of salad, pizza, orh lua, and of course, on the way back home, we had to buy Nandos!

22 June, Fri - Day 7, Melbourne

Today's plan was snow play at Lake Mountain. Lake Mountain was a 2 hour drive away, so we had wanted to start out early so that we could get back before it gets dark, which happens at about 5 plus.

But with such wonderful weather, the kids woke up late again and by the time we were ready to head out, it was already past noon.

By the time we got our rental snow gear and reached Lake Mountain, it was already 3pm! So we gave ourselves a maximum of an hour to play in the snow, return the gear and then head back home. Check out the scenery at Lake Mountain....just beautiful!



Making Ice Kachang



Dinner was pho yet again (we never get sick of it!). This time at Box Hill. Then it was off for dessert just down the road. Unfortunately, this place didn't serve iced desserts, cos as the waitress told us, "It's winter. It's too cold for iced desserts." We were like, "Huh???" Anyway their red bean pancakes and waffles pretty much made up for it.

21 June, Thur - Day 6, Melbourne

Another fun day for the kids.

Today's plan was to head to Chesterfield Farm where the kids could feed the animals and go on tractor rides. The weather was too cold again cos of the wind. But I think they had fun nonetheless.

Then it was back home for steamboat dinner prepared by Uncle Jerry! Steamboat is heavenly in temperatures of 6 degress celsius!

20 June, Wed - Day 5, Melbourne

Rain! And a long drawn one at that. Kept us in most of the day.

We had planned to go to Lake Mountain for some snow, but the weather did not permit. Ended up shopping at Knox City for some shopping at K Mart. Ended up buying things we didn't pick out. Didn't realise it till we unpacked the bags back home! Kaitlyn had picked out 2 extra tees! Then I recalled that she was having a whale of a time picking and putting things in the trolley. We initially pulled out the items she put in, but totally missed out on these 2!

When we got back, I was browsing through some catalogues that came in the mail. There was a sale at Target beginning tomorrow! Then my cousin Steph mentioned that the sale starts tonight actually. So we made plans to meet at Target, Knox City after dinner.

Dinner was at a Chinese noodle and dumpling restaurant at Bayswater. Then it was off to Target for more shopping! Kieran had already picked out what he wanted from the catalogue and was holding on to the catalogue all evening. So we eventually lugged this all the way back!

My husband thinks I'm mad. But Kieran gave up a Thomas tent for this! So he must really like it right? Kaitlyn enjoys it too! And with another one on the way, it's really the cost spread out by 3, no?