It's that time of the year

It's that time if the year when half of the people living in Singapore are leaving it and the other half celebrates with their family.

It's that one time of the year when shops are closed.

It's that time if the year when there are less cars on the roads giving a strange feeling of quietness.

It's Chinese New Year in Singapore!

Happy year of the horse everyone!

Surprise delivery at work today

It came with a card:

Dear Mommy,

Have a great first day back at work.

Love you very much.

Oskar.

In case you wonder, I nearly cried.

Thank you Oskar for thinking of me today (I surely thought of you) and thank you to your Papa for helping with logistics.

Back to work

After four and a half months off, it's time to go back to work.

It sucks.

It sucks even more as now is when Oskar starts to really interact with people and the world around him vs. eating/pooping/sleeping from the beginning. I cannot help feeling I'm going to miss so much of him.

Yet, it's about time I get my brain back to hard work :)

Good Monday everyone!

4 pharmacies and no pills

Last week I visited Dr Tan for one last control and get a prescription for a pill. The fact that you cannot get pregnant while breastfeeding is another of those pregnancy related myths so better be safe. The doctor didn't have any mini pill at her clinic so she gave me a prescription and told me to get it from any pharmacy. She also mentioned that the pharmacist can provide all the information I may need.

It was Saturday January 18th. That same day I went to the nearest pharmacy, Guardian, to get the pills. They apologized because they didn't have it. They advised to try another pharmacy.

Which I did a few days later. This time, Unity. Same answer. No pill and even worse there was no pharmacist behind the counter. Just a useless shop assistant.

Tuesday I tried Watson's at Bishan with no better luck. She didn't have mini pills. She had regular pills but was concerned that it was different from the prescription. Really? There might be a reason why my doctor prescribed a mini pill. She advised me to try another Watson's on Orchard that has a bigger pharmacy. To be fair the pharmacy was merely a corner of the drugstore: a counter and a couple of cabinets filled with medication.

Saturday, I went to Orchard and to the bigger pharmacy. It was indeed bigger. The corner was larger with four cabinets instead of two. Still compare to what we are used to in Europe, you would not call this a pharmacy.

Without surprise they didn't have mini pills either. It seems getting medication in Singapore is not that straight forward. Better leave the doctor's office or the hospital with what you need because a pharmacy in Singapore won't be of any help. 

The tricky part is that for some mysterious reason, mini pills are not used frequently in Singapore thus pharmacies do not carry them. Why is that you could ask? I cannot believe I am the first nursing mother asking for birth control. But maybe I am wrong...

I was extremely annoyed and made it clear to the pharmacist. I guess she was insulted when I checked whether she was a pharmacist and not a shop assistant. I can understand that a shop assistant cannot advise on medication. I cannot accept it from someone who has been trained as a pharmacist. And after four pharmacies I cannot understand that none could provide me with something as simple as birth control.

She did try to explain that her system is design to search by brand and not by type of medication which meant she had to check whether the brand mentioned in the system was the right type separately. I naively assumed that as a pharmacist she would know that. Apparently I was wrong and she got even more annoyed by me and me with her. Interestingly she never lost her smile. It was clearly a fake smile because except for the lips that were smiling, the rest of the face was not showing happiness. Yet she never lost the smile I have to give her that.

After a good 10min of search she concluded that I had to go to a hospital pharmacy, preferably a women's hospital.  She called the pharmacy of KK hospital to check that they have some. That was nice of her. Of course this pharmacy is not open on the weekends. But it gave Wolfram the idea to check at the one from Thomson Medical Center. They didn't have it either. 

Tomorrow I'm calling back the doctor to ask where to go.

Had I known it would have been so difficult, I would have brought some from Europe. Maybe I could find it online :)

We could get used to it

Tonight Tess cooked for us. Menu: fried noodles, mango salad and chicken wings.

It was all very good and I can see ourselves getting used to someone preparing dinner for us. Especially if we can have green mango salad at home :)

We are totally spoiled.

Fun with Papa

4 month old!

Everyday Oskar is more aware of the world around him and interacts with it.

Everyday Oskar surprises us with new skills. He seems more interested in walking than in crawling. Probably following the big steps of his father.

Everyday Oskar welcomes us with a big smile that makes us forget everything else in the world. 

Soon he'll want a car and will leave the house for college. Time is passing by so fast.

Bright colors attract butterflies

A butterfly has landed on the orange fake butterfly from Oskar's playing mat.

It's been sitting there for half an hour now.

When Papa is not feeding fast enough...

Better take care of the bottle yourself.

Our little boy is growing so fast...

Progress

Oskar is full speed on developing new skills these days. He's more and more aware of the world around him. He surely shows a passion for exercising his legs (he might walk very early like his papa did).

And today he grabbed Sophie and hold her for a little while. Soon he will figure out how to squeeze the giraffe.

Obviously parents are extremely proud :)

And Tess helps a lot by helping him to practice.

Frustrating visit at the pediatrician

Today we had an appointment with the pediatrician.
Tess and I took Oskar to the hospital. We arrived there a bit before 2pm to ensure we would not have to wait too long. We were #3 in line. Despite that good position we had to wait for more than 30min. It probably has to do with the fact that the doctor only arrived at 2:15pm.
Today's visit was frustrating because the doctor barely took 5min for us. She focused on getting the shot done, barely checked out Oskar, decided that he had a stiff neck and needed physiotherapy and rushed us out. I had to insist so she would check the lungs as we wanted to make sure his cold was fully gone. When I asked about introducing solid food, she handed me a brochure telling me not before next month while a nurse was already giving her the file of the next patient. When I raised the point of teething, she just stated not before 6 months without looking at Oskar.
I can understand that she wanted to catch up time and that there are many other little patients waiting. I can imagine that most of the questions I have are obvious and she heard them a million times. But as the pediatrician of Oskar, when I ask something about him, giving me a brochure is not satisfying. Telling me to ask the physiotherapist to explain to me what is wrong with Oskar's neck while the physiotherapist does not really know why she is asked to look at Oskar is not filling me with confidence.
We did learn the exercises to stretch his neck that we will diligently execute in the coming three weeks.
We did confirm that he is growing well: 62cm and 6.475kg.
Yet I got out of the hospital with a lot of frustration and wondering whether we should find someone else. Someone who will take the time to show some interest in our son. Someone more like Dr Tan, our gynecologist.

They did it again

I challenge you not to cry (or at least have tears in your eyes) after seeing this ad.

Moment of bliss

Killing a mosquito right before it gets to you.

Vengeance!!!!! 

A step closer to luxury lifestyle

The morning after we arrived from France, we welcome Tess. Tess is our live-in helper. This means she will live with us and will take care of Oskar while we are at work and of the house when she is not busy with our little guy.

While her first two days where focused on getting her settled and furnishing her tiny room, she already positively impressed us. Basically she does not stand still. She helped removing the mould from the furniture, she helped assembling the furniture for her room, she cleaned the kitchen, the oven, started on the windows, reorganized neatly the cutlery drawers, and even asked what we wanted for breakfast. Basically we are now being totally spoiled with someone at home who will take care of all the household chores. If that's not luxury?

Her first interactions with Oskar went well. It is funny how big he looks compare to her. As of today, she will start talking care of Oskar together with me. Hopefully by the time I go back to work everything will be fine between the two.

And who knows I might get some rest and time for myself in the coming weeks. Now that's going to be weird :)

It's everywhere

One of our biggest worry when we leave the house closed for many weeks is mould. In Singapore it can virtually grow on everything. 

Last night when we arrived we found some on the tv furniture and the sofa. We quickly cleaned it hoping that would be all.

This morning as the sun brought more light to the place, we discovered it's pretty much everywhere: the dining table, the book shelves, the coffee table, the shoes, and probably even more places we haven't discovered yet.

So on top of unpacking, filling up the fridge, welcoming Tess (our helper), sorting the mail, etc. we will have to clean up the whole place and get rid of mould.

It's going to be a long day.

Frequent flyer

Oskar has spent more time in the air than on the roads since he was born. Consequently he flies like a charm, sleeping most of the time to the delight (and relief) of his parents.

We are all happily back in Singapore.

Happy New Year!

All the best to all of you!

Wherever you are we are thinking of you and wishing you tons of good things for the new year.

In case you wonder, we have completed the yearly family puzzle in 12hours. We are super efficient altogether :)