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A couple of years ago, the thought of us engaging the services of a domestic helper did cross our minds, but we always ended up debating (one time too many) whether or not we *really* needed one. At that time, we only had Misha to look after. Although we weren’t financially tied down, we figured we could still work it out ourselves. (‘It’ being the day-to-day household chores and running of errands.)
As our family grew bigger, we enliven the idea once more but only to shove it aside again due to our growing financial commitment that came along with it. As working parents, we admit that it can get tough at times. Our home is not always spick and span. Our kitchen stove is not always lit for cooking up nice sumptuous meals. Our dinner consumption is mostly at my parents’ abode, or otherwise, food packed from nearby eateries.
Recently, we are considering the option (of having a helper) again. Why? Three reasons.
(1) We are not superhuman. Our body capabilities have had reached their limits. Coming home from work to a disorderly home everyday is a big turn-off, and having to rectify it right then is an even bigger letdown – especially after a tiring day at work.
(2) We need someone to assist us with the day-to-day things, for instance, keep an eye on the kids while we run off to the bank, or help us with the laundry or mopping while we cook or bathe the kids. It will save us a lot of time.
(3) We want someone to babysit Anaqi while we’re out to work (when his siblings are in childcare), or while we go on our well-deserved date. I know Mom has done a good job in taking care of the little bub at these times, but lately her health has taken a big toll on her. She tires easily and at times looks lethargic. Her cough hasn’t gotten any better since years after she was diagnosed with hypertension, and recently it seems to have worsen. We feel it’s only right that we relieve her from her babysitting duties to lessen her burden.
When I discussed with P regarding this, he seems to share my sentiments and agree to my proposal – which made me glad. This time we’re 97% sure we’re going to make it happen. May not be so soon, but eventually, insyallah.
Eight months ago, when I laid out my objectives for the year, things seemed to look pretty much achievable. Somehow I managed to keep them on track to a certain extent. Now, looking at my list again, it really saddens me that the things I had aimed for to get done (or at least still be doing) have not somehow materialized.
Let’s recap:
- I hope to better manage my monies as compared to previous years – FAIL! Cashflow management has been my biggest challenge so far this year. It has always been "my money is our money but never mine".
- I plan to cook more at home and try out new recipes/dishes, and probably try baking as well – again FAIL! How to, when the husband is more geared up to do so more than you? At least I did buy an electric oven. But no mixer machine, how to bake?
- I want to enrol Mika to the same childcare centre as his sister (towards end of the year) – A-ha! SUCCESS! This is more like "I better enrol him, by hook or by crook, or else…" Wouldn’t want to add more burden to my mum now that I have a third child, now would I?
- I would like to get new lenses for my digital slr, and explore outdoor photography during my free time – What…? Free time? Outdoor? Come again? FAIL! (also inter-related with first point on getting new lenses)
- I would like to have more family-bonding times – To a certain extent, SUCCESS! But we really have yet to go out together as a family after having given birth to Anaqi. With that I meant like to the beach for picnic, or to the zoo, etc…not to Giant supermarket to get groceries.
- I plan to improve my wadrobe (really! I think I’ve been wearing the same old clothes every week!) – somewhat FAIL! Again this is inter-related to point #1, but I do make it a point to sneak in some online purchases. Meh.
- And lastly, I really, really hope and pray that I will still have a job in 2009. – Okay, this one I really need to touch wood big time! In relation to first point, I cannot afford to *not* have a job at this stage. Also, I heard (while still on my maternity leave) from some of my colleagues that there has been some re-org happening at my workplace that’s affecting my team. I pray that I’m not too badly affected by it. Hence this one – IN PROGRESS!
So what would I make of that? 30% success, 10% In Progress and 60% FAILURE! Overall, FAIL WHALE!
I’ve decided to open up a Tumblr account where I can post random day-to-day events and short little thoughts (which may be too short to be posted on a blog like LJ, me thinks). This is after being seduced by its easy-to-use Dashboard with nice little control panels for posting Text, Photos, Videos, Quotes, Links, etc and also read other Tumble-logs (people you "follow") on a single page. Furthermore, integrating with daily tweets has never been easier!
If you’d like to follow me on Tumblr, here’s the add: http://aprima.tumblr.com
I’ve also created separate Tumble-logs for Misha, Mika’il and Anaqi respectively. You can follow them here if you like:
Misha – http://mismyra.tumblr.com
Mika’il – http://kaylz.tumblr.com
Anaqi – http://naqee.tumblr.com
Today I have found a pretty decent Tumblr application for Blackberry device, which I’ve installed and works nicely on my BB Bold. There is still room for improvement though, but for now, it fits my need for a straight-forward post directly to Tumblr.
Having missed Ria’s baby shower a couple of weeks ago, I thought it would be great if we could meet up before either one of us ‘pops’ (or gets to heavy to walk and waddle get out of the house). I texted both Ria and Farah (my heavily-preggers pals from secondary school), and was delighted that they were able to make it for Sunday lunch on April 19th, followed by a bit of shopping for baby items. We decided to go to Parkway since it’s not too far away from our homes (with less crowd) and it has a couple of baby stores conveniently placed on the same floor.
The Buncits….Lunch @ Kartini’s…
I thought my tummy was the smallest amongst the three despite the fact that I’m due in just a month’s time. What are the chances of best school pals being pregnant all at the same time? Not very likely, don’t you think?
Nope, this has nothing to do with Helene Klodawsky’s film documentary. It’s just that for the past two weekends, my time was spent mostly in shopping malls. Not that I was out there with any intention of shopping (okay, maybe just a bit of window shopping), but I was there merely to hang out with pals and check out the place (especially the new mall which just opened on April 9th, and it is only a few blocks away from where I stay).
On April 12th, my family and I had decided to meet up with the Nasirs to check out the new Tampines1. We hear there is a great deal of stores there, with more than 20 brands opening their first suburban stores. There is no longer any need to drive to the city to go for international fashion brands like Dorothy Perkins, Diva, Promod, Springfield, Topshop, Topman, and the much buzzed about Uniqlo. Plus, it even has Sushi Tei (being sushi lovers, this is definitely a plus point for my hubby and I).
Being a new mall, it is bound to have many visitors (especially those with retail therapy urges) since we went on the very first weekend of its opening. The crowd there was simply madness! People had to go up escalators in batches (thanks to the crowd controllers).
We took a short break at Teadot for some drinks. Their drinks are mostly made out of green tea, reinvented with unconventional flavour combinations, but many in the menu are still not yet available (maybe they would expand their drinks variety in future). But they do have nice cakes specially sourced from a five-star hotel (I think we ordered about 5 servings in all).
Ipul & Misha enjoying their chocolate cake.
Having a break…
We then headed to United Kids store, and ultimately bought a few Thomas’ and friends toys for Mika, before we strolled down to Tampines Mall next door for dinner at Swensens’.
It’s darling hubby’s birthday today, so we both took a day off from work to have a small birthday affair without the kids in tow. Seeing that P has a great obsession with food, especially sushi, I decided to give him a treat and indulged ourselves with great sushi for lunch before we catch yet another movie at Vivo.
Our hot spicy wasabi
Our Salmon with Cod roe – F.A.B.U.L.O.U.S.!
To darling hubby, Age is simply a number, stay forever young always…Happy Birthday, dear! …xoxo…
Ahh, a great day spent – just the two of us. Without the kids in tow. We needed the time off. Thanks Mom and Dad for looking after them while we go on our date (hehe).
We had afternoon dessert and then watched Valkyrie (not the most romantic of movies, I know, but…I love it nonetheless).
Strawberry and Mango Mocktail Nutty Choc Mudpie (yummy!)
We ought to do this again sometime.
I had finally bought my pc parts from sim lim square last weekend, but I’ve been procrastinating to put them together. they’re still in boxes unopened. i’ve been browsing the internet looking for good, cheap pc parts, and finally gotten a good deal from a store on the fifth floor.
the trip to sim lim proved to be undesirable. aside from the weekend crowd, our beloved car was greeted by an unexpected mishap just when we’re about to leave.
a van had reversed itself and parked in that manner. all this happen while we were shopping for the pc goods. thankfully, it was just a small dent. we’ve been trying to trace the owner of the van, but to no avail (even with the help of building management and security).
forget my fried pc for the moment. this has been what i’ve been waiting for for months.
Just when you thought you had saved enough to get that brand new camera you dreamt of, your desktop computer just had to die on you. Attempts to salvage it from any further damage proved useless. Even after a full format of my harddisk partition, reinstallation of the operating system could not be completed due to errors. I guess it’s really time its life came to an end. Thankfully my files are residing in a different harddisk partition, so hopefully when I get a brand new computer up and running I could copy them over for safekeeping. For the time being, I had to rely on my laptop computer.
I had just spent the whole morning looking for computer parts online, and compared specs and prices, for DIY assembly. It has been many years since I last did this. Parts and gadgets have changed and improved over the years, and for a person like me who hasn’t been updated with the latest information on hardware technology, it takes quite a while to research what I feel is good to have and what not.
I just hope I could get something good within budget.
