A Work At Home Mom's Talk

First day at Infant Care

2008-08-25T00:44:00.000-07:00

Back-dated post
After seeking the infant care branch director's advice, we decided to send Rou to the infant care a week earlier before I start work. This is something like an orientation for her and also if anything happens, mommy is ready to pick her up any time.
Mommy has a sleepless night the day before sending Rou to infant care.

7.00 a.m. sharp - wake everyone up ( Yes I am the alarm clock in the family, can never count on hubby as he can switch off the alarm clock and continue his sleep)After checking all items are in the bag ( diapers, clothes, milk bottle, milk powder, pacifier....etc) and off we go...
Apparently we are the first few to arrive at the infant care. According to the teachers the toddlers normally come in after 8.00 am. (O, we the most cruel parent to wake the child up so early in the morning, but when I start work, this will be the actual timing, so we have to act real, right?)
Rou was still a bit blur on what is going on. Not to frighten her, the teacher led us to the infant care room. The room for infants is separated from the toddlers to minimize the risk of the infant catching the germs from the older kids.
At the beginning, Rou was a bit scared and just sit like a stone and observe what I was doing. I tried to amuse her with the toys and pointing her to some of her favourite cartoon features, Winnie the Pooh and Piglet but nothing seems to catch her interest. After a good 10 minutes, she started to explore around and started to play with the toys. Phew! Mommy relief a little...
The caregiver came in at 8.00 am and while we were talking, all of a sudden, Rou stopped playing with the toy and start crying. Was that because we mentioned the word " cry" in our conversation ?
Mommy then carried a crying baby and walked around trying every little trick to cheer her up and finally settled with a pool of balls in the play pen.
The care giver suggested to hand over Rou to her and we have to do it without saying good bye as not to make it too emotional. So I slipped off the room quietly and make a peep from the window. The caregiver fed her milk and she seemed to be quite ok with the caregiver. I can hardly hold my tears anymore and left the centre the moment my tears start rolling down my cheeks.
It was the longest hours in my life waiting to fetch her back from the infant care. Hubby was even worse, he was trying to speed as fast as he could to reach there.
My poor baby, she was wailing when we stepped out off the car and before I could reach her, hubby already "snatched" the baby into his arms...
That was the first day and I think there would be another few more days of crying before she could get use to it.

I've got the job !

2008-08-18T21:08:00.000-07:00

Just as blessed mum asked when will the result be out, I received a call from the HR manager this morning. Yippie ! I got the job. I was too excited and immediately accepted the offer without second thought. Yes, cannot deny the fact that I was too desperate for a job ! Anyway, there will be a long list of to-dos after this.
1. Collect the employment letter and go for medical check-up
2. Find an infant care centre for Rou (Already have a few in mind, just need to confirm if vacancy is available)
3. Shop for work clothes (Haha... thats what I have been waiting for)
4. Open an account ( Otherwise, how to get paid? )
5. Familiarize with driving in Singapore ( Last in the list but top priority)

No. 5 will be the most challenging ones for me as I really dread driving in Singapore. First of all, I have no sense of directions, imagine I can get lost in the wet market which my husband find it ridiculous..haha..thats me. Secondly, my parking skill is horrible. I banged my car to the lamp post once in my faculty where there was no other cars around in the car park. Since then, I have phobia doing reverse parking.
Hope there will still be time to blog a little, read a little and sleep a little...

Job Interview

2008-08-17T21:16:00.000-07:00

(This is an outdated post)

I was called for an interview on 6/8/08. How's the interview ? I was a bit nervous as I have not been attending interviews for a long time ! What's more there were 3 interviewers "interrogating" me which I did not expect so many of them. However, I think the chance of getting the job is high as my past experiences match most of their requirements and most importantly, I like the job very much.
It was fun though because all three were from different countries, i.e. a Singaporean, an American and an Indian. So I believe if I ever got recruited, I would have to learn people from all over as it was a regional office.
Took a quick snap from the meeting room while filing up the form. ( Can you see me in the photo?) I know I should not post this sort of photo in the 7th Month...but I only noticed that today. Just posting it for fun !

I am still alive !

2008-08-16T17:23:00.000-07:00

Have not been updating my blog for some time...sorry folks if you have been worrying if I am still alive ;P. For the past few weeks, life has been extremely busy with job hunting and interviews. Plus all the house-chores and a baby Rou, I have more than enough on my plate. Each time when the phone rings, my heart will pound faster, is it a call from the interviewer ? Or a call from the agency to do profiling with me, or is it a call to tell me, "Sorry we can't offer you the job !" I think I have a very weak heart now. Arrangement for interviews were even tougher as I have to check with both my husband and the interviewer for their schedules and at the same time make sure my husband has enough time to rush home to babysit Rou. I will be posting some out-dated posts which I only managed to edit lately.

Treat you Haagen- Daz ice cream for not deleting my blog from your reading list ! =) muaks !

A happy baby again !

2008-07-30T23:13:00.000-07:00

The prune juice seems to work well for Rou. I have been giving her a tablespoon of prune juice after her first milk feed every day and now she passes motion at least once a day. The stool is not as hard as what she used to strain and push like a laboring mom and yes she is a happy baby again! Thanks for all mommies who has given me advice and suggestions. There is nothing more valuable than hearing from a mom who is always willing to share her own experience.
Here's a happy greeting from happy Rou :

Job hunting

2008-07-29T01:36:00.000-07:00

Over the past few weeks, I have been busy with updating my resume, contacting some of my former colleagues in Singapore to get them as my referees and of course, started to send in job applications as well. Hopefully I will receive calls for interviews soon !

Finding a job is easy, but finding a job that warrants you job satisfaction is not easy! While browsing through the job opportunities available, I notice there are a lot of IT jobs available in the market. I can see the growing needs of the IT professionals with more and more mega projects coming up in the country. I am lucky in the sense that I have been involved in a lot of IT projects which gave me plenty of learning opportunities.
In my previous job, I had done quite a fair bit of process automation with my self-studied programming language. It was really a job which gave me a lot of excitements and job satisfaction especially when the project has achieved its objective/ target and you were greeted with a heartfelt thanks from the users. All the projects that I have completed it inspired me to learn more about programming and even networking. I really hope I could get a job relating to the IT field. But reality is, I need some qualifications ! Perhaps I should consider getting some online courses like those offered by The Cisco Learning Network and obtain the Cisco certification. I hope it is not too late for me to start off a new chapter for a career in IT!

Updates

2008-07-29T00:49:00.001-07:00

Just got back from KL and it was really a long journey. We went back to KL last Wednesday evening after my husband finished work. Oh Gosh the queue at the Tuas checkpoint was horrible. We were stuck there for an hour plus and by the time we reached home it was already 11.30 p.m. Poor baby Rou had a sleepless night as she slept through the journey home.
As usual, we eat a lot, shop a lot ( btw, the Mega Sale just started. If you are planning a trip to Malaysia, it is a good time now) and do a lot of family visits.
There are a lot of things on my plate now including reading my long list of blog post which I subscribed to, clear my laundries, clean the house, reply to all my mails and catch up with my blog post and tags.So please bear with me ya.

Mom's recipe of sweet and sour pork

2008-07-22T09:04:00.000-07:00

I really missed my mom when I cooked this dish. Believe it or not, tears rolled down my cheeks when I got it done. Yes, I am home sick again !
What is so different with Mom's recipe. Haha..actually the only difference is there is no onion, no capsicum nor pineapple, just pickled cucumber. It goes well with the meat. Me and my two other siblings love this dish. Each time when mom cooked this dish, we will eat more rice as though we have been starving for years. It is very appetizing especially with the pickled cucumber.

Ingredients:
1 packet of sweet and sour pork meat
3 tablespoon of light soya sauce
1 teaspoon of sesame oil
2 tablespoon of corn flour
Sugar and salt to taste

Seasoning:
6 tablespoon of tomato sauce
3 tablespoon of chili sauce
1 tablespoon of white vineger
2 tablespoon of sugar

Steps:
1. Marinate the pork meat for about 15 minutes
2. Heat wok and fry the meat until the colour turned brownish
3. Mix the seasoning well and heat it up for about 3-4 minutes
4. Toss in all the meat and pickled cucumber, quick fry for 3-4 minutes
5. Ready to serve.

Note: Pickle cucumber is very easy to prepare. Just slice cucumber into equal thickness, rub with a bit of salt. Pour some water over it and drain well. Add in vinegar and sugar as per your taste and also some chili. Let it settle for half an hour, and it is ready to serve.

SocialSpark is great for mommy bloggers !

2008-07-21T23:18:00.000-07:00

I started to blog few years back when I was pregnant. I just couldn't wait for another second to share my joy with the whole world the moment I knew I was pregnant and I started a blog in chinese by the name of 寻梦园. My blog grows with Rou and when Rou was almost one year old, I started another blog in English which is what you are reading now. This blog is to share a mother's life, a mother's thought, a mother's joy and tears of bringing up a baby. To-date, I have recorded most of her vital progress in both of my blogs and I really hope one day Rou will read her own growing story.
Blogging has brought me a lot of fun especially when I get to know my fellow blogging mommies in different culture, different race and different ways of parenting their kids. There are lots of sharing among mommies and to a new mommy like me has indeed learned most of the parenting tips from blogging. Those are the true experiences which one will never learn from any parenting books and these are the most valuable knowledge which you will never forget.
With the increasing popularity of BlogAdvertising, most mommy bloggers are getting a chance to work from home by writing sponsored post. If you follow my post closely, you would know that I just signed up for SocialSpark. And I have surprises today. Right after the first opportunity to write about SocialSpark, I was so surprise to receive another opportunity to write something about mommy bloggers. Wow, I really love this ! Unlike some of their competitors where you have to look out for opportunity like a hungry ghost, they did it in a more "civilized" way by putting you in a queue and you will be called when there is a slot for you. This is a great site for mommy bloggers who does not have the luxury of time to sit in front of the PC and wait!

I have signed up for SocialSpark !

2008-07-21T21:32:00.000-07:00

While job-hunting just started off a few weeks ago, I am also grabbing every single opportunity to earn some money to shop for some working attires for job interviews. I still believe that first impression is very important in job interviews. It might not guarantee a job but it surely will help in initiating a relationship. After dressing in T-shirts and hot pants every day for almost half a year, I hope I still have some fashion sense in choosing the right clothes in projecting myself a professional image.

Well, talking about earning money through blogging, I get to know this site called SocialSpark from one my blogging friend. It is quite similar to PPP but it has a big blogging community where you meet more blogging friends and you can even build your social network through this platform, this will eventually helps in driving traffics to your website.
Apart from writing sponsored post, you are also open to accept any blog sponsorship from SocialSpark whereby an advertiser will place an ad in your website for a period of time and pay you a daily fee.
As long as your website could demonstrate the following requirements, you are welcome to join them as a member and start earning through them.
-100% Audit-able In-Post Disclosure
-100% Transparency
-100% Real Opinions
-100% Search Engine Friendly

Why not give it a try. After all, there is nothing to lose !

Constipated Rou

2008-07-20T20:42:00.000-07:00

Poor baby Rou has been very constipated for the past few weeks ! We can see her straining so hard to push the stool out and the stool was really hard and dry. Brought her to the doctor last week. Rou was prescribed with a bottle of Dhactulose. For the past few days, she was on medication to loosen her stool. Initially it helps but after a few times, the stool went hard again. Worse thing is she is now holding back when she has the urge to poo. When she held back for too long, the stool will eventually become even harder and even tougher to push it out.

I have searched for remedies from the forums and some parents shared that prune juice is rich in fiber. So I am giving it a try. Bought a bottle of prune juice yesterday and I have given Rou 2 tablespoon of the juice diluted in 20 ML of water. She seems to like the juice probably because it is something new to her. Hopefully it will help her to poo easily. Mommies out there, do you have such problem before, mind sharing any tips ?

Flash back of Rou's story from birth (Month 5)

2008-07-15T20:17:00.000-07:00

Month 5

Rou loves posing for pictures. Whenever she sees us holding camera, she will put up a big smile or giggle, maybe we were just too funny. She began to recognize faces and started to develop stranger's anxiety. Whenever she sees strangers or someone she doesn't like, she will quickly turn away or even cried out loud. She doesn't like to see my brother and sister-in-law, no matter how they tempted her with her favourite food or toys she just don't buy it. Strange thing is, she loves to see my father in law, even though we only see each other like 3 months once or twice.
Sharing some of my favourite shots:

Sweet and Sour Chicken Drumette or 4-3-2-1

2008-07-14T19:05:00.000-07:00

This dish has a funny name given by the recipe owner, Ohbin, it is called "4-3-2-1". Any idea why ? Instead of pork rib, I have changed it to chicken drumette, as both my hubby and I don't have very strong teeth to rip off the meat. Chicken drumette is also very much cheaper than pork rib.

Ingredient:
1 packet of chicken drumette (usually contains 6 chicken drumettes)
4 tablespoon of light soy sauce
3 tablespoon of sugar
2 tablespoon of white vinegar
1 tablespoon of chinese cooking wine (花雕酒）

Steps:
1. Put chicken drumettes in boiling water for 2 minutes, drain well.
2. Mix all sauces.
3. Use a claypot and put in all chicken drumette and add in the sauces.
4. Cook for 15 minutes with cover on and stir until the gravy is thick enough to stick on the chicken drumette.
5. Ready to serve.

Stylish eye-wear

2008-07-11T07:13:00.000-07:00

I hate wearing spectacles. Many years back when I was in school, I was being called all sorts of funny names and I dread checking my eye sight each year and get back the ugly goggles-like spectacles. It was big, heavy and it really made me an ugly duckling.
Right after I graduated from university,the first thing I did was prescribed myself a pair of contact lenses despite my parents were strongly against it. I have been wearing contact lenses for 5 years, recently I noticed my eyes get irritated easily, especially when I am not wearing contact lenses. I am now thinking of switching back to spectacles again since spectacles has become very stylish nowadays and I noticed some people even collect spectacles as part of their accessories. I was also surprise to know that spectacles can be prescribed online at zennioptical.com. I have checked out some of the designs and the one showed in the picture below really caught my eyes. Think I should get something like this to divert people's attention to the design and not the thickness of the glasses !

Flash back of Rou's story from birth (Month 4)

2008-07-10T08:54:00.000-07:00

Month 4

Things were getting better in month 4 probably because we had already get used to baby Rou's colic problem and accepted the fact that there was nothing else we could do but to cuddle her, put her on tummy, which we believed would reduce her pain. She started to hold her head up and smiled a lot when she heard our voices. She has very strong arms and legs. Whenever we hold her upright, she will attempt to stand .We love to bring her out shopping and our weekly outing with my parents resume.

Life gets back to the normal routine just like what we used to have before I gave birth to Rou.

Flash back of Rou's story from birth (Month 3)

2008-07-09T02:40:00.001-07:00

Month 3
This was the most challenging time throughout my life. Rou's colic problem started to emerge and getting worse day by day. We tried every single method on Rou, some method even make no sense at all like hanging daddy's trousers on the cradle, we consulted 4 pediatricians but nothing seemed to help. In fact when I made a search in the internet, there is nothing to cure as till today, there isn't any facts to support the cause of the problem and the most common advice is, they will grow out of it one day.....It was such an ironic yet sad "solution".
Each day,what we could do were to pray hard , hoping Rou will sleep through that particular period of time when the colic strike her. Most of the time if she was in her deep sleep, she would not feel the pain.
This was really a time which I don't really want to recall..Each time when I think back of the painful cries and helpless parents, I rather be the one who suffers.....

Cola Chicken

2008-07-08T00:16:00.000-07:00

This is a recipe shared by one of my blogger friend, Ohbin, must give credit to her. However, this is a cut down version as hubby doesn't like herbs and spices, so I took away the cinnamon stick and reduced the aniseed.

Ingredient:
2 chicken legs
1/2 bottle of cola
3 tablespoon of light soya sauce
1 tablespoon of dark soya sauce
Sliced ginger
1 aniseed

Steps:
1. Marinate chicken with a bit of cooking wine and some sliced ginger.
2. Put all ingredients into a claypot and cook until boiled.
3. Once boiled, cooked with medium fire for 30 minutes.
4. Ready to serve.

Flash back of Rou's Story from birth (Month 2)

2008-07-06T07:11:00.000-07:00

Month 2

That was the starting point of our nightmare. Both me and my husband were inexperience and we do not stay with parents. We had to figure out what's wrong with Rou each time when she cried. You can imagine 2 headless chicken running around the house. What make thing worst was my husband had to go overseas for 1 week. Though my mother offered to stay with me, but knowing that my mum's health condition was not that good, I insisted that I can handle. I guessed my parents were worried sick as they knew very well that was really the first time I handled a baby. (I have never even held a baby in my arms before.)
And true enough, on the third day after 3 sleepless days and nights when my mother called, I couldn't answer the phone as my mind was totally blank all I could say is "hello........hello....helllo....", I was nearly collapsed. Thank God, Rou was sleeping safely and soundly in her cot not realizing her mother almost made a trip to heaven.
Since then, my mother insisted to stay with me for the rest of the week until my husband returned. Throughout the month, I think I have slept not more than 4 hours per day. But I was lucky that my husband was very supportive and we worked out a shift every night. I would stayed up late and he would take care of the later shift (1.00 am - 5 am). And yes, we survived !

Flash back of Rou's Story from birth (Month 1)

2008-07-06T06:14:00.000-07:00

This is a post about Rou from the day she was born.I wanted to do this post long ago but have been delaying it. I think every parent has a story to tell and we are always proud of our children. Don't we ?
Day 1 - Rou was born on 37th weeks and 1 day, when she was born, she weighed 2.9 kg with 46cm in length.

This photo was taken right after she was born and she was kept in the warmer before she was brought to the nursing room.

Month 1

I was lucky enough to have found a good confinement lady by the name Irene. She was very good in handling new born babies. 30 days under her good hands, baby Rou has turned into a chubby baby with 4.9 kg in weight. It was a good confinement for me as I really took a good rest. Apart from milking myself and nursing Rou, I have nothing to worry about. All I have to do is do what I want to do. I finished watching all my favourite HK series during my confinement. I never get to do that when I was working.

This photo was taken after one full month under the good hands of Irene - my confinement lady.
Everyone said they want ed so much to pinch her cheeks when they first met Rou.

I have signed up for PPP !

2008-07-06T00:24:00.001-07:00

Blogging is nothing new today to most people and the blogging community today consist of people from all walks of life at all age. If you read my earlier post, you will not be surprise that I have signed up for PPP ( It stands for PayPerPost if you are wondering what PPP is) to do blog reviews to earn some pocket money. I know there are a lot of such providers in the market now but I am very cautious in selecting them as I know some are them are actually scams. I have selected PayPerPost simply because it has been in the market for quite some time and it is quite reputable in terms of their payment process.
To start my first paid post, I have chosen this topic to write about get paid to blog. For those who are new to paid-posting let me explain the concept in my simple language. In the past, I believe you may have written some reviews, opinions of some websites, products etc which you like and would like to share with others voluntarily in your blog. Did you realize that with your "free advertisement" you made in your blog, you might have helped generated sales for that particular product. In view of the popularity of blogging and the internet as a powerful tool in info sharing, Blog Advertising has been a new model of Advertising. PPP is one of the service provider who bridge advertisers and bloggers. The bloggers helped to spread the good words of the advertisers' products and in return the advertisers pay the blogger with a fee. It is that simple.
Are you interested too ? Just take a tour to the PPP website and it will guide you through the process.

I have made up my mind !

2008-07-06T00:03:00.000-07:00

After much thoughts and considerations, I have made up my mind to discontinue my journey as a full time mommy soon and continue my journey as a working mum. I am glad to have had this opportunity to enjoy every precious moment with my beloved baby Rou ever since I quit my job and do something I always like to do, i.e. blogging, blog hopping, reading...etc.
Why do I made this decision :
a. Realistically, it is hard to support the family with single income in longer term. I believe with the oil price hike, the impact will be felt very soon.
b. It is time for baby Rou to interact with the outside world. She need to start communicate with others rather than staying at home with me all the time.
c. I need some "ME" time to socialize with my friends. I have lost touch with them ever since I gave birth to Rou.
d. I still have my dreams to climb up the corporate ladder.

The reasons above are good enough to support my decision to go back to work. So, job hunting will kick off soon. Meanwhile, I am planning to try my luck doing some sponsored post to earn some pocket money for my working attire. So folks, please don't abandon me if you see me doing sponsored post yeah..I need your support. =)

Double Awards

2008-07-05T01:18:00.000-07:00

Thanks blessed mum for giving me this award. This is my first time receiving an award since I started blogging. Is a big surprise to me because I don't really blog every day...a bit "pai seh" to receive the award. But I am really glad that I get to know more friends here and make me feel more homely now.

Thank you for reading my blog and I will cherish our friendship. I am passing this award to the following:

1. Beverly

2. KK & WS

3. Chinnee

4. Charlotte's mommy

(Names are not in particular order)

What is on my dining table today ?

2008-07-04T07:44:00.000-07:00

Ta...ta....presenting you my new dish - Nestum chicken. I have never cook this before but in my simple mind, it seems to be a dish which is quite easy to prepare. The dish turned up to be quite disappointing because the nestum did not stick to the meat and the meat was a bit dry. Will try again next time.

Stir-fried broccoli

2008-07-03T21:35:00.000-07:00

At times when there is nothing much left in my fridge, I will do simple dish. Most of the time I will end up with broccoli because they have a longest life in my fridge - I only do marketing once a week..=)
Nothing much to share on preparing this dish, what you need is only a clove of garlic, some slices of ginger. To make it taste better, I add in an egg and a teaspoon of anchovy powder.

Stir-fried lady's fingers in Chili

2008-07-01T23:50:00.000-07:00

This is another favourite dish in my "can-do" list. However, it is a cut down version of the ordinary dish with sambal belacan. I am not a fan of sambal belacan, so I only used chili and shallots.

Ingredients:
1 packet of lady's fingers (choose the one with lighter green)
3 red chili
6 shallots
1 clove of garlic (optional)
3 teaspoon of sugar
0.5 teaspoon of salt

Steps:
1. Grind chili, shallots and garlic until texture is fine
2. Heat up wok, put in some oil.
3. Fry the mixture of chili, shallots and garlic until fragrant
4. Add in lady's fingers and add in half a bowl of water
5. Cover the wok for 5 minutes
6. Add in salt and sugar to taste
7. Once the lady's fingers are soft, it is ready to serve.