Time

When Wolfram asked me what I wanted for my birthday, I said: Time. Time to rest, time to exercise, time to do nothing. Between work and Oskar, life is busy and sometimes I wish I could have a bit of time for me to relax.

With that brief, Wolfram could have got me a watch but he did not.
This morning I woke up and found the TV on playing "Time" in different languages, shower gel bottles and a board on the table and envelopes hanging from the light fitting.

I asked for time and received time.

Time for massage x2.

Time for nails.

Time for hot chocolate and cake.

Time for anything I want with the peace of mind that Wolfram is taking care of everything in my absence.

I could not dream of a better gift for my birthday this year.
THANK YOU best husband of the year!

PS: Oskar woke us up at 6am today to make sure I enjoy my birthday from sunrise :)

Where is my Frappucino?

0-0

This time I put the alarm at 5am to watch the second half of the France-Ecuador game.

Of course because I made the effort to wake up it was a draw. Not even one goal to make the effort worth it. 

At least we are through to the next phase of the tournament.

More importantly, last night we killed the night feed and our little boy slept through. All the way from 7:30pm until 7am!

Seems this time he's ready to sleep through without food. Well, we will fully rejoice once he does that three nights in a row. Until then, keep your fingers crossed. We are on our way to sleeping longer night again!

Smart toothbrush

I used to have a toothbrush. A manual one. I would put the toothpaste and used it.
It was very simple.

Many years ago I abandoned the manual toothbrush for an electrical one.
It stayed simple: put the toothpaste, push the button and use. Just one extra button to push and it would automatically stop after two minutes.
Easy.

Last Thursday I acquired a new electrical toothbrush. There was a charity sale at work and they were selling Oral B electrical toothbrushes for only 20$. It was a Japanese model which meant we had to either buy a transformer (15$) or a new charger at the right voltage (45$). Even with a new charger, it remains a bargain. So while I was getting one for Wolfram, I decided to get one for me too.

Now I have a smart toothbrush.
It comes with a separate device with a screen that communicates with me. It shows time. It shows what side I should be brushing. It says if I'm brushing to hard thanks to sensors. It says which mode I am using... Yes, there are different modes: normal, sensitive, whitening, deep cleaning... you name it.
For the first time in my life since my parents taught me how to brush my teeth, I feel like I need a full training to understand how to use my fancy smart toothbrush.

I just hope that when I push the button tonight, I will manage to brush my teeth without having to read the manual to figure out how to do so.
After all, it's just a toothbrush - a smart one, but still a toothbrush.

Une pensée pour Yann

While eating eggs benedicte today at brunch.

With Serano ham and hollandaise sauce.

Trop bon!

Sick again

It's becoming a pattern.

We go to the pediatrician for vaccination with a healthy baby.

We leave the pediatrician office with the illusion of a healthy baby.

3 to 5 days later, baby is sick waking you up at night coughing and with fever. 

Twice this happened.

Twice I'm sure Oskar got something in the waiting area there - from the other sick kids, from the toys, from the staff...

Twice I had to go back with a sick baby, waste two hours queuing and leave with a full pharmacy of syrups.

Next month, this will not happened. I've already bought extra cough and cold syrups so we can give them to him from day 1 and kill the bug right there before it does more damages. 

In this war, I shall not be defeated!!!

Another weekend has passed

Another weekend has passed and I seriously wonder where does the time disappear?

True we've been busy: dentist which took two hours no less for the two of us, grocery shopping, interviewing a candidate to replace Tess (definitely not the right girl for us... So shy it was hard to hear the few words she eventually spoke and no recent experience with babies), exercise (still desesperatly trying to get back in shape), visiting one apartment which turned out to be a waste of time as the place was too old, playing with Oskar and walking along as our little boy is very keen to be mobile....

Yet Oskar woke us up at 4:40am today so that's a lot of extra time that somehow disappeared.

As often lately I find myself on Sunday night wondering what happened to my weekend and whether I will ever get the chance to rest or even better: do nothing!

But that will have to wait until Oskar goes to university. Until then weekends will be packed.

Hyper-sensitivity

Today was the day of my annual dentist check. I'm not a fan of dentists because inevitably they find something and it becomes painful and expensive. But, if I don't go regularly it's worse.

Today was no exception to the rule.

It was painful.

After a so-so experience last year with one dentist, I made an appointment with another one near the office this time. I thought in case we need to go back, might be easier instead of wasting our Saturdays visiting the dentist.

Dentist was a friendly yet firm woman who quickly checked my teeth, took x-ray and started the cleaning process. So far nothing special to report. 

Except while cleaning she got to a couple if my teeth that are a bit sensitive. I say a bit because the only moment I feel them is when toothpaste ends up on them directly. Rest of the time, everything is fine. I can drink cold and hot beverages, I can eat whatever I want, I never feel anything. But today, as she cleaned near the gum, it got pretty painful. Once she applied cold water on it, I thought I would jump out of the chair. X-Ray did not show any cavity (yeah!!!) so it's purely sensitivity due to my gum being in regression. She suggested new toothpaste and mouthwash with fluoride to deal with this.  And to kick off the process she had me soak my teeth in a fluoride solution for one minute. One tiny minute that felt the longest ever. I had so much pain I found myself doing breathing exercises. Not that I believe that they can work but at least it helps to focus on something. Dentist said she had never seen someone reacting so strongly to this treatment. She asked how bad was the pain? Whether it was a 10 on 10? Realistically it was not the worst pain I've ever felt but it did belong my top 3, somewhere after labour pain and bad days back pain.

She called it hyper-sensitivity and said it had to be taken care of now. I did say she was friendly BUT firm.

I had so much pain I agreed to do whatever it takes to avoid this to happen again.

She gave me three months to fix it.

And...

It will be expensive as apparently I need to get a couple if crowns on my molars at the back. Luckily this will wait until my hyper-sensitivity is solved.

I can only do this in Asia

Asia is a step ahead of the rest of the world when it comes to nail art. Japan being clearly even further ahead with 3D nail art.

This month I decided to treat myself with a more sophisticated nail art vs. the usual flowers or butterflies. I'm also trying black as a color which I never did before.

And it turns out really great. I have to say it makes me want to do this everything month (but then my brain reminds me of the cost so maybe a couple of times in the year only). 

There are advantages in living in Singapore. Great weather is one. Nail art is another one. At least for me.