Monday, March 31, 2008

I Love You, You Love Me..

My favourite Barney's song! Glad Chloe loves it too :)

He cooked!

It was a lazy sunday, Lao Gong decided to stay home for dinner. I asked if we were gonna call for a delivery just like on Saturday. He shook his head and said, "Let's cook for tonight!"

I couldn't believe what i heard. It was the first time he cooked for me!
New chef in da house!

Though it was just a simple maggie mee soup with sotong ball n hotdogs, they were really filling and yummy! Thanks darling!

Chloe n I asking for more...

Please cook again next weekend :)

Friday, March 28, 2008

Demure Pose

Chloe loves Papa!

ps. Laogong, hope this cheers u up at work!

Drools

I reckon my baby drools too much..
Is it a sign of teething? Is she ready for solids?
Either way, I'm looking forward to it...

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

An Expensive Lesson - poor service from st. louis

Remember the poor service from st. louis furniture shop?

It was FINALLY all solved yesterday nite.

Hubby and I filed a complaint to the Small Claim Tribunal last 2 weeks. We talked to CASE beforehand and then realized SCT would be a better and firmer channel to proceed. We had our consultation session with a representative and a registrar from st. louis at the Subordinate court on tuesday.

I must say the registrar didn't side on my complaint much. He had to be fair to both parties. He didn't bother much to listen to my stories but only noting down the timelines of purchase and delivery procedures.

Final outcome we settled for was to accept refund (decided by the registrar) and return st. louis the damn sofa. How much is the refund, you must be wondering. A total $600 less than the original purchase. Damn that was a lot of deduction i thought! Loss on me!

But after giving it a deep thought. I think that refund is a better solution than to accept a replacement sofa from them, which:
  • who knows what are gonna happen again in the next delivery;
  • who knows which insane staff or boss we're facing in the future; and
  • what kind of warranty service i'd be getting should the recline mechanism break down?
Enough of nonsense from them.
不经一事,不长一智.

Endnote:
I couldn't help but think that it's not the first time st. louis faces such complaint. The representative that attended the consultation:
  • came with a bermuda and slippers (One of the rules set in the letter is to come in formal clothing!)
  • went into the chamber for consultation without the need of showing IC (The guard checked on my IC and compared the photograph with my current look!)
Well, well, last but not least, make sure you think twice before making a purchase at St. Louis Pte Ltd at The Furniture Mall, The Plaza. Who knows what services awaiting you, and oh, you might just get the sofa set i returned them. The delivery guy had the 2-seater fully wrapped with protection at every corner last nite before they left my house! High chance they'd just deliver it to another 'victim' for next order.

We wanted to have a good comfy sofa, but in return we had headache plus $600 less in our pocket. Haiz...

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Itsy Bitsy - Learning to Crawl








Monday, March 24, 2008

Yellow Puppy

思慧 与 奶奶



This video was taken when Chloe was 5 months and 6 days old.

Friday, March 21, 2008

Long Weekend: More Babies Meet Up

It's so fun to meet so many mummies and babies today at the EXPO. We got to meet Emily & baby Jayden too. After a few times meeting with Emily, we finally remember to take a photo together today!


***

Lastly, we met up with Carol & baby Anderson at the food court. Carol was busy with her lunch hence I gotta take pic with her super tall hubby! Ha.. the effects of the twins red bjorn were distorted..


It's supposed to be a kiss and make up session for Chloe and Anderson, but looked like they're still not talking to each other yet. Ziqian, a guy must make the first move ler... :)

Read here if you're curious about their first date...

Long Weekend: Oct Mummies Meet Up

We managed to have a short meet-up with Serene & baby Kelly; Eunice & baby Sean; Alice & baby Aralyn at the BabyCare Festival at EXPO.


See.. even the babies are having 'lil chat among themselves. Too bad seanboiboi was sleeping throughout the meet-up...

Til we meet again mummies!! :D

Interacting With Chloe: Video 6

This video was taken when Chloe was almost 5-mth-old.


Chatty Chloe from Dewi Prima on Vimeo.

And the outcome is: EXCELLENT
Chloe's reaction: SUPER KAYPO

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Long Weekend: She loves me

Later part, she did try to say, " I Love Mum!" Haha..

Note to laogong: Sorry hor she only got this shirt. Why don't u get something similar for her? muahaha

Long Weekend: Kangaroo Baby

How did i spend the day away? Having fun with Chloe of course. A lil irony that after i bought bjorn carrier, i can now handle sling better too.. >.<

See how much fun she had being wrapped up like a kangaroo :)

3rd dose of 5-in-1 vaccination

I'm on leave today to bring Chloe for her 3rd dose 5-in-1 jab. Dear baby is now weighing 7.5 kg. Head circumference at 43.1 cm.

Darn nurse didn't wanna measure her length, said they don't measure at the 5th month?! I guess this is one of the setbacks if you let your baby to have vaccinations in the polyclinic. Nobody is ever going to tell you which percentile your baby is in. Not everytime you are required to see the doctor before jabs.. (only 2 times so far out of 4 jabs at the polyclinic) Even if u did, the doc will only spend 5 mins max to check on baby.. Not a single word mentioned if you didn't ask any.

I think they are simply inexperienced. I still remember I once asked the lady doctor on Chloe's hernia matter, and she just said, "it's OK one..." Where as the private PD i consulted after which gave me detailed explanation on the matter.

Haiz.. If given an option, I'd certainly go for private clinics for baby's vaccinations.

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

And we also got her...

A new hippo pacifier from Avent. (for 6-18 months)
The pacifier she had before had become too small for her, it dropped everytime she bite it hard.
Cute looking hippo

***

Also an ABC-123 (black/white/red) softbook. Seems a bit too late to buy.. No wonder she didn't show much interest to it..

"Wow.. I've got new toy!"


"Why it has only 3 colour! So wasted!"


"But it does feel good on my gum!"


"Oh No! Mama caught me biting on the toy!"


"Haha.. I better act blur~~"

Safe n Sound

Finally we got Chloe her very own car seat from Taka baby fair. Luckily she enjoyed it and didn't fuss being buckled inside. The Britax Royale is indeed looking good and all cushiony, like a ROYAL chair for baby. Top recommendation for those who wanna get convertible car seat for their babies. From newborn til 18 kg.

ps. We also heard her snore during the ride. My 'lil piggie...

Interacting With Chloe: Video 5

I took another video on the same night, before putting her to sleep.

This video was taken when Chloe was 4 and 1/2-mth-old.


And the outcome is: NOT VERY GOOD
Chloe's reaction: IMPATIENT & ASKED TO BE CARRIED

Interacting With Chloe: Video 4

Hubby took this while he babysit Chloe. Yes, he obviously didn't listen when i asked him not to take video vertically~~

This video was taken when Chloe was 4 and 1/2-mth-old.


And the outcome is: GOOD
Chloe's reaction: SHOUTING & COMPLAINING

Interacting With Chloe: Video 3

This was taken when she's playing with her gym. Ended up she talked to the fish instead of me.

This video was taken when Chloe was 4-mth-old.


And the outcome is: OK, but she could have talked more to me!
Chloe's reaction: ENJOYING & VERY MUCH INTO HER GYM AND FISH ONLY

Interacting With Chloe: Video 2

Chloe had a little chat with 外婆 when she's in town to accompany me during hubby's overseas trip.

This video was taken when Chloe was 3-mth-old.


And the outcome is: PRETTY GOOD
Chloe's reaction: BABBLING & LIL' SMILE

Interacting With Chloe: Video 1

I'm compiling and uploading Chloe's videos starting today. This shall serve as the 1st video. Yes, hubby made the mistake by taping vertically~~

I love this one cos she looks so chubby :) You can tell that we're trying very hard to ask her to interact with us.

This video was taken when she's about 2 and 1/2-mth-old.


And the outcome is: IGNORANT.
Chloe's reaction: YAWNING & UNINTERESTED

Monday, March 17, 2008

Chloe and Valencia @ The green room

It was a nice meet up yesterday with a new mummy friend V, whom i get to know thru facebook. Moreover, we have a lot of things in common.

See this list below posted by V's hubby:
1. Chloe is one day older than Valencia (V's baby)
2. Both are delivered at Thomson Medical Centre
3. Me and Val were actually next door in the Hospital
4. We are both from Medan
5. Both hubbies drive the Honda Stream
6. Both cars are Red colour!
I think I have a few more to add:
7. Both babies look like the father!
8. The parents love Man Utd. (err.. V needs to convince her hubby more)
9. Last but not least, both Chloe and Val are loud!


Me and Chloe + V and Valencia

Pretty in Pink

What?!

Chloe is 5-mth-old!

Friday, March 14, 2008

Papa and Chloe

Before i sign off for the day, here's something that I've always wanted to share..

Enjoy your weekend people!

Interacting With Our World

IWOW: Social Studies publication that is..
This was the main project that I was in charge of last year at work. Total 4 coursebooks and 4 activity books for the series.

It was rather a meaningful project to me as these were all done when I had Chloe. Yup i was even rushing this project when the contraction kicked in the morning. The initial deadline was the exact expected delivery date for Chloe too, 25th Oct. I guess Chloe knew Mama had enough of it and tried to ease my stress by coming out early at 16th Oct.

Tight deadlines and complicated approval issues were the main challenges during the project. Though i complained and ranted a lot about the project, quite an irony that i actually miss it right now. Teammates joked that this series is my baby too.

Oh, not to mention I had a great time working with the teammates. Too bad some had quit and some had transferred.. You know who you are, I miss you guys..

Below sharing a few screenshots from the package...

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Poor service from st. louis furniture shop

We bought a 3 + 2 seater sofa from St. Louis on 1st January 2008. The design we chose was the exact same one at their showroom at Furniture Mall, The Plaza.

When the sofa was delivered on the 24th Jan, the 3-seater design was actually different from its 2-seater. The back rest should have a vertical stitch design and the 3-seater didn't come with that. Blur me actually spotted it a week after its delivery. So i called them up again to check on it.

The moment the sales girl heard my complaint, she just laughed and implied, "Oh, so it's you who has THE other half?" Yup, they actually swapped these sofa set with other customer. The other customer had called to complain before me.

She asked me to wait for their office/customer service to call up the following week as their office was still closed for CNY. That was the start of the wait..

After a week they finally contacted me, saying they were taking back the 3-seater from me to FIX.
I asked how long? 2 weeks she replied.
So long? How are u fixing it? We're gonna re-construct a new 3-seater for u.
Ok good! But in between this period, can u do something about it? Ok, we'll loan u a sofa.

After they took back the 3-seater in Feb 20th, I waited for 2 long weeks to hear from them again. And they set Mar 11th to deliver back my FIXED 3-seater. That summed up to total 3 weeks of FIXING. It'd better be perfect this time!

So last tues hubby and I happy jolly took off again to receive our 3-seater.
My oh my! Not only the 3-seater was dusty all over, it was 'extra decorated' with lots of black patches all over it. The leather wasn't as bright as the 2-seater that's sitting on my living room. Lastly, The cushion was firmer, i never once asked for extra firm!

I took the initiative to wipe the leather. Yes, there was evidence of dust on the wet cloth. But the black patches were still there. It's hard not to think that it wasn't a new set at all.

Unhappy and totally disappointed to the max, we called to the office again and requested an explanation. One of the staff took my hubby's feedback professionally and promised to call us back ASAP. The delivery guy took back the 3-seater and the dirty old loan sofa, did i mention? It was frustrating..

4 hours later, a lady called us back. She started off by asking what was the problem? As she didn't see any flaw to the sofa. Eventually she admitted that we must use a certain wax to clean up the patches. Duh!

Then hubby conveyed the message on how unhappy we were with their services. We've made the purchase for 2 months plus and up til now we haven't got to enjoy the products. She mentioned that as her staff cleaned up the sofa, they realised that the back of the sofa was torn. I was surprised that a brand new sofa would be so dusty and was torn! "Therefore, I cant send it to you now." she replied. "When then?" my hubby asked "I dun know! was her reply.

Why is your new sofa so dusty and your new leather is torn?

She flared up and started accusing us for being too picky. Picky about their products. Talk about consumer rights! Hubby was pissed and asked to speak to her manager. Guess what she shouted,"I'm the boss! Too bad, u can't complain to anyone else!" How rude and unprofessional was that!! She hang up!

That was the last time we heard from st. louis. Up til this very moment, no one has actually called us up to apologize or follow up on my outstanding 3 seater.

In a country that highlights tip top quality services, actually exists a poor-attitude, sleazy-management like them! So people, I'm warning everyone to think twice before making any purchase from st. louis.

I regretted big time..

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Transformer Baby

A couple of days ago, my colleague showed me a baby girl photo she took during her first month.


I almost couldn't recognise her. It's my Chloe.. :)

I'm so fascinated on how baby could change so fast. Chloe is turning 5-mth-old this sunday. Well, again, time flies... She doesn't have any new milestone since she last flipped. In fact, i find that she's been too lazy to flip. What she does is only turning 180˚ from her original position. -____-


Anyway, this is Chloe saying Hi to everyone.
Pic taken last week when she was about 4.5-month-old :)

Monday, March 10, 2008

Active baby bjorn

Finally.. An active bjorn baby carrier! After much consideration, we decided to try it out at mothercare last Saturday. And i loved it! Laogong loved it too. At least he's willing to help out with the carrying next time, compared with the sling..

Here are the evidences on how much we lurrrveeeee the carrier :)


And of course, the happy baby!


Bonus to her is that she gets a teether available all the time. Bad for me cos i need to dry up that part after every outing, using a hair-dryer!!

Friday, March 7, 2008

Lookalike Part II

This is certainly gonna make hubby jumping up and down... *bite*


Ok I give up. Chloe resembles you...

ps. Does it mean i get to buy baby bjorn carrier? lol