A New Life

Sometime in late April, I made my first ever obgyn visit. As with any newly married couple, we talked about when kids would come into the picture and for us, we agreed that we would enjoy our couplehood for a year before we started trying in earnest.

The 1 year mark came and we began our quest towards parenthood. I did not expect it to be easy, but as the months past with no luck, we began to wonder if there's something wrong with us, healthwise. So I decided that it was time for medical intervention.

We saw the Doc who proclaimed that I was in good health and even confirmed that my ovulation was late that month. She gave us advice on the best times to try that month and to give ourselves another 6 months of trying before coming back to her. What was important to me at that point, was knowing that I was ok and it was probably a matter of timing.

And so we went about our lives as usual.

Come mid-May, I felt this odd urge to do a HPT one morning and did a doubletake when the peestick showed a teeny tiny faint positive line. It felt unreal and we seem to have an unspoken agreement to hang on to the hope that it's true for now....

Dusting off the cobwebs

It's been a long time, so much so that I've almost forgotten the password to this account, but it's time to return to this blog. The place where I share my experiences in this marriage. It's been almost 2 years since we moved into the Burrow and so much has happened since then.

We're now happily settled into our own place. We're not the best housekeepers in the world, but we get by. Much improvements needed, but I'm sure we'll get there.

The reason why I've decided to revisit this blog is because something major has happened in my life and I needed an outlet where I could share my story anonymously.

I admit that I have a more active blog elsewhere, but I'm not ready to share the story openly coz it doesn't just concern me. It concerns my family too. So bear with me while I walk you through the past 2 months of my life.

The Burrow's Trials & Tribulations (Part I)

Life has just been one rollercoaster ride since my last entry two months ago. I had a tough time brushing away all the virtual cobwebs before finding my blog, buried under a mountain of abandoned websites.

Let's do a quick recap. In my last entry, I talked about our little ROM-moon and how we finally got the keys to our new home soon after.

Since then, we've named our home the Burrow, after our love for rabbits. The Burrow is slowly but surely shaping up. We started renovations on 28 October, right after Deepavali.

As with any big projects, hiccups are bound to happen. And we've had a couple of our own. There were little incidents like conflicts of ideas between our ID and us and slightly more serious issues which involved financials.

Perhaps you can learn from our experiences, so I'll give a summary of what happened.

Incident 1:
When the ID first presented his proposal, we came to realise that an ID is after all a designer. What do I mean by that? His first consideration is usually the form factor; whether something looks nice. But for us, besides having a home which looks good, we have to be practical as well. What looks good, may not be practical for everyday life.

For example, his proposed design had a long bench seating alongside a wall, but with a round dining table and 2 individual chairs on the opposite side. While it was nice to have bench seating, logically speaking, only one person could be seated comfortably on the bench and eat at the dining table. Anyone else sitting on either side of the person in the centre would not be able to reach the table without having to lean forward.

So we stood our ground and insisted on a rectangular dining table. Boring but at least it maximises our seating capacity.

Incident 2:
As a qualifying statement, I have to say that though we'ld love to save as much money as possible, we're not that hardworking, in the sense that we will not run all over the island, doing price comparisons for every single item in our shopping list, just so that we can get the cheapest possible price. We'ld do a cursory check just to get an idea of the going rate, and if we find that the item we want is reasonably priced, we'ld go for it.

I respect couples who'ld do their homework throughly and go all out to find the best bargains possible, but for us, it's just way too much effort and takes up too much time which we would rather spend more efficiently. For a couple who relies on public transport and have limited shopping time, this is the choice we've taken.

So, having said that, what happened was that our ID said that he'ld bring us to his recommended shop for our bathroom and kitchen accessories, promising us a reasonable price. But before our appointed date with him, we went off on our own, browsing at Sim Siang Choon to get an idea of the types of sinks we like and for a price review. To us, SSC might not be the cheapest place around but they do have a wide range of products and we get what we intended, a pricing benchmark against which we could gauge when we went shopping.

That done, we met up with our ID who brought us to a non-descript HDB shop where we were recommended one standard no-brand sink for almost $200. I recall in SSC where we eyed a similiar sink, also non-branded, going for $130. But that wasn't the main issue. The problem was that the recommended sink was way too large. Our kitchen is rather small and our counter space was severely limited, thus we just wanted a sink which was less than 800mm wide. That was a challenge in itself coz that shop had a limited range. We were told to choose our ideal sink from a file of catalogues instead, but the pricing was in the range of $300-$400 which was out of our budget.

We didn't want to buy something just because we had to and E told our ID that we'ld like to shop on our own and find something that's really suitable. Guess what happened? Our ID got upset with us. Obviously he stands to gain if we had purchased what we need from that shop. We were sorry that he couldn't get his commission, but we had to stand our ground yet again. Their product range just didn't appeal to us. So risking our prior friendly relationship with the ID, we went ahead with our decision.

In the end, I did a bit of homework online and found a couple of shops which came highly recommended. These shops are located in Jalan Besar. We checked out Poh Joo but ended up buying our items from Eng Soon Huat, across the road from Poh Joo. The people there were wonderfully patient with us and gave us extremely warm service. We were there for hours and even till the end, the uncle and auntie there happily chatted with us and dug up dimension details of the sinks we bought coz we mentioned that we needed in-depth measurements for the ID's planning.

I will talk a little about other hiccups we encountered in the next entry. Hope you guys can learn from what I've shared so far :)

It's been a long time coming....

Oh wow, it's literally been months since my last update. Life has just been so fast-paced that I've had to put the blog aside. So many things have happened since the last entry.

2 of the more significant events are:
1)We're married! (Legally speaking); and
2)We're houseowners!

To expand on those 2 pieces of news, it's been about 2 weeks since our ROM. It was an intimate affair at My Secret Garden and was attended by our families and close friends. I was looking forward to holding our ceremony at the courtyard area, but the skies decided to sprinkle their blessings on us that afternoon, so we had to hold it indoors. But it was a minor setback, for it was the company of our loved ones and the significance of the day that really mattered.

We went on a mini honeymoon after the ROM. Didn't go very far, thanks to a fellow blogger, we found out about this beautiful little island called Pulau Rawa, off Mersing town in Malaysia. It's a really nice place to lie back and relax for a couple of days. Don't expect any fancy facilities. It's pretty back-to-basics. Not totally rough-and-tumble style, but it's a laidback little resort. The water is wonderfully clear and the air of laidback charm is all that I need. I wish I was back there now :(

Then when we came back, it was time for another significant day. We were finally able to collect the keys to our new home. Since then, we've been going to our new place regularly to check on defects and stuff. Just submitted the defects list yesterday.

More developments to come.....

Our day on the Hippo

So thanks to Nuffnang, I won tickets for a ride on the Hippo on the inaugural Family Day Out. With a total of 7 tickets in hand, I had a headache trying to gather people to join me and E for the ride. After a lot of hemming and hawing, finally E's sister accepted our invite. So for me, the first ever Family Day Out, turned out to be a day with my future family. E's sister & bro-in-law brought along 2 of their kids (she has 4 little angels) and E's cousin came along for the fun too.

This would be our first time on the Hippo and also to be at the Singapore Flyer. Naturally the little ones were the most excited about the ride and kept asking which bus would be the one that we'll be taking. And as it turns out, we got the white one, which our guide introduced as 'Snow White'. The kids were ultra tickled by its name and giggled non-stop. We were taken around the city district area, where we spotted a couple taking their wedding photos by the City Hall. We all cheered at them as our bus zoomed past and the bride seemed a tad embarassed by the attention. I bet they've been suffering this fate throughout their shoot as there was a constant line of Hippos looping around the area throughout the day.

We were taken to the spot where the brightly coloured DHL balloon is situated and the kids thought that we'ld be taking the balloon. They were unfortunately disappointed. Perhaps another time...

It was a pretty quick ride, we'ld have loved it to be a longer ride. But nevertheless, the kids loved it and it was definitely a good opportunity to spend a bit of time with E's family.

Interior design for the uninitiated

I wish this entry could be about tips for all those who have gotten their house and are starting to plan for the ID but no, I'm sorry coz I'm totally clueless myself. So what I'm going to do here is to talk about what we've been doing, grasping in the dark aimlessly. Opinions are strictly my own and it could be totally off-track, so follow at your own risk ;)

We've started reading local ID mags. I know most people default to Home & Decor, at least it seems to be the case for the people around us but I personally like Square Rooms better. And if you know people who have renovated their homes or are in the midst of doing so, talk to them and maybe share the mags around. By flipping through magazines, u start to get an idea of the colours and themes u like, and sometimes u spot an idea or two from those featured home which you could incorporate into your very own homes.

I thought we could get some inspirations by visiting Ikea, which we did over the weekend, but maybe it was the crowds, coz nothing really struck my fancy. But it could be a good starting place for some. Nothing beats seeing things in real life right?

Next step for us is to contact ID companies. I didn't know this at all coz the only time I've moved to a new home was 20 years ago, but apparently u can bring your layout to them and request for a quotation. So that's what we're going to do next. And perhaps from there, we can get a better idea of what we want.

I really think we need professional help by the way, coz I'm so sick and tired of seeing all those homes in different combinations of black, white, brown, beige and red. Everyone goes for either minimalistic, retro or resort. I'm so lost. I want something different, but I don't know what I want. (Pardon me if this is what you like though, no offence to u, it is nice, I just want something different from that :) )

My favourite family routine

As E and I inch towards the creation of our own little family, there's one thing I'm really going to miss with mine. On a day to day basis, we get so caught up with our own lives that it's not easy to spend quality time together, dad has his work, bro has his studies, while I have my 'happening' social life (NOT!), mum has always been the pillar of support at home, so I try to make it home for dinner on weekdays, so that she has company, even if the boys aren't home.

However, nothing beats having the whole family together right? That's why sundays have unofficially been recognised as family day. The one day where everyone would be at home. We'ld all laze around doing our own thing until dad gives us the signal that it's time to head out for breakfast/lunch/brunch, then we'ld all rush around like mad.

Once everyone is ready, we'ld all huddle into the car and as dad drives out of the house, the unavoidable question pops up. "Where to eat?" And the standard response would be, "Errr, where ah", "Anywhere", "What you want to eat?" And at random, we'ld mention places that have long disappeared, like Compass Rose, Coachman Inn and whatnots.

Sometimes we'ld head for our standard faves like the Beach Road Prawn Mee shop at Upper East Coast Road, Cafe Cartel or even Ikea. But once in a while, inspiration strikes and we'ld go on a little adventure, heading for places such as Clementi West or Holland Drive for fish/crab bee hoon.

On Mother's Day, inspired dad drove to Botanic Gardens, we were flabbergasted. Were we heading for the atas type places in the gardens? That didn't really sound like dad. Our routine leaned towards the more relaxed and casual. Then it conspired that we were going to the new Taman Serasi food garden. I had no idea that it had reopened, so this came as a big surprise to me.

We headed straight the murtabak stall where dad ordered like we've been starved for days. Two murtabaks (chicken/seafood), 1 curry fish head and the extremely sinful sup tulang. I could practically feel my arteries clogging up but hey, we only live once right?

Later, our tummies filled, we took a stroll around the gardens. Believe it anot, it's our first time there as a family. I've been there a couple of times with E but the parents and bro have not. So it was pretty fun, doing the touristy thing, walking around, pointing out squirrels and examining the flora around us. It was pretty much family bonding time, so much so that we started acting silly, playing around. Even the parents got into the act.

It's days like this that I'll really miss once I'm married. I know we'll still be living near them but things will still be different. But you know what? Instead of dwelling on what might be, I'll just bask in the present and enjoy family time with dad and mum now.