Renovation Journey

It's 4am now and I cannot sleep because I cannot make peace with myself on how things turned out for the renovation of my 1st home ! 

1. Semi-Veener Door 

Siong Door has an ongoing promotion of a full solid door for $250 per door but I thought why not just let my ID earn a bit more from me ($330 per door x 3 doors) and it turns out to be a bad move. 

 

I have problems with my bedroom door not being sound proof especially if you have guests outside and a light sleeping child. 

When you knock on the door, it's hollow inside and you can tell it's cheap quality stuff.

And check out the workmanship. All the doors did not fit the hinges properly leaving a gap around it. 

It's a pity I have bad blood with the quality because I do LOVE the colour of it. 

 2. Glass Bathroom Door 

When the monster daddy wants the Bathroom door to be glass, I reluctantly agreed. I was worried about safety with a child running around the house but deep inside I know how pretty it's gonna turn out. 

At the pre-renovation stage when we decide on the shower kerb, I remember asking my ID if the glass door will hit the kerb and he said NO. 

Oh well, it turns out otherwise. I am going to make the monster daddy speak to him since his words weigh more. 

I may nick pick but I feel if I am paying a premium price, I deserve a premium quality. 

Collection of Keys

Finally after 3 years of waiting, we finally gotten our keys to our new flat !

During this period of waiting, we visited countless number of new BTOs, studying their structure, criticizing the workmanship etc. It gave us an activity that we can do together and gave us inspirations and heads up on what we want or avoid at the new house.

We arrived at HDB Hub an hour before the appointment time and sign up for fire insurance and open an account with PUB before key collection. 

So for the traditional Chinese families, there are some rituals that needs to be done to bring "good luck" to the family. Although we are not superstitious, we thought why not just do it for the sake of doing it !

We prepared Pineapple (Wealth), Salt (Spirits), Rice (Food) and Green Bean (Growth)

1. Roll the pineapple to the middle of the house and shout "发啊“

2. Throw salt and rice to every corner of the house 

3. Plant green beans in the house 

*PS: Do not scatter the rice and salt if your house doesn't have any flooring unless you don't mind laying your tiles over it. 

We then proceeded to look for defects in the house and submitted the defects list within a week later.

Week 23: Passing of Mr Lee Kuan Yew

23 March 2015: Passing of Mr Lee Kuan Yew

Jayden did not have the honor of meeting this well respected minister nor was he old enough now to understand his contributions to Singapore. But at least we managed to brace the heavy rain and  was honored to send  him off in his last journey.

Dear son, in summary this is what Mr Lee had done for us. Be thankful, be grateful. 

Week 22: Holding out

On day 2 this week, the monster is starting to choose people to carry him. On this day he stretched out his arms, crying into my eyes asking me to carry him.

Week 20: Frustrations

Motherhood is such a complex and tiring process. Do you know how it feels like ? On call for 24 hours. It's super frustrating when your child is fussy after you became all cranky from the lack of sleep for the past few months. It's especially annoying when you are one of the two people in the house that can make your child sleep. It's worst when you are try to get a light sleeper baby to sleep and others are just not sensitive enough to minimize their noise as they carry on with their activities.

I cannot remember when was the last time I had a peaceful sleep through the night. Having to wake up feeling fresh and recharged. I could not focus at work, my memory fails me and I feel so lethargic at work. I am just so sick and tired of having mother duties.



Yes, I am lucky that my in-law has a helper that is willing to help us take care while I worked. I thank God for her.

No I don't  hate my baby, I am just being very frustrated having to become a mother. I love my baby.

Week 18: Crawling

Little Jayden is starting to crawl. Although the movement is barely an inch. Seeing him learn to crawl reminds me of a worm moving. How their butt arch up before the arm helps them move forward.

Week 3: Horrible Colic

It's my birthday week ! But unfortunately my father in law passed away this week. The family has been busy with the preparation of the 5 days funeral and receiving guests. So its mostly the nanny and myself with the baby.

After the funeral was over, there comes the terrible part. The big C. Colic. 

Its really no joke when a baby cries for no apparent reason. Diapers checked. Milk checked. Sleep checked. Temperature checked. It's non stop crying/ screaming that can drive you nuts.