Ivan turns 2!

Our little guy turns 2 today! I wanted to say how time flies, but come to think of it, sometimes 1 day felt like 1 week....

2 years ago this day, my water broke at around 6am. We were really happy that finally it was time! Ivan was overdue for 2 weeks, and after daddy threatened to charge him "rental" for the tummy, he finally felt that it was time to start his journey. We called the delivery ward to ask for advice and were told to come in at 1pm, unless contraction came very frequently, then we have to go in immediately. So there I was sitting on the sofa, changing towel after towel - no contraction. So we went in at 1pm, unsure if Ivan would really make his appearance that day.

After strapping me onto the contraction monitoring machine, my contraction started! The midwife checked and informed that I was about 8cm open (for guys reading this - you need to be fully dilated at 10cm to be able to push the baby out, yeah - OUCH!), so she asked us to walk around which will speed up the dilating process. We decided to re-park our car at the carpark which is about 10mins walk and we barely made it to the door of the delivery ward when my contraction came really intensely and at an interval of 5 mins between. So we walked back again (I was almost crawling!) and called for the midwife and after checking, she happily informed that now the process begin!

Breathe innnnn...... breathe outttttttt...... I was really pushing and trying to focus on meeting our new baby instead of the tearing pain in my tummy. All this time, hubby was chatting happily with the midwife and her assistant about Wii and how popular it was..... After several pushes, the midwife said that she could see Ivan's head! I was motivated and after 2 more pushes, Ivan's head was out! "Are you ok?" asked the midwife. I turned my head, thinking that she was asking me. But she was asking hubby, because he had a funny look in his face. "Are you ok baby?" I asked, with Ivan's head still sticking out. "Huh, I'm fine." Hubby replied. (Later I found out that since this is the first time he saw a real birth, he didn't know that a baby looks so weird when it first came out.....) Finally, the midwife said, 1 more push and he would be out! She asked me to take a break and gather all my strength for the final push. Immediately after she said that, I had the weirdest feeling in the world, it felt like my tummy is filled up again! At the same time, I heard everyone else who were looking "down there" said, "Huh??" Ivan went back in!!!!! I wanted to just go home at that moment! After all the pushing!!! "Is this normal?!" asked hubby. The midwife joked that maybe Ivan is too comfy inside and it is not so common that the baby decided to go "home" like that. She encouraged me to gather all my strength and push really really hard. And finally at 18.40hr, Ivan was out....

Oh, he was screaming once he got out! Not so happy to be evicted, I guess. Weighing 3950g and 53cm long, he was a healthy and strong baby. We stayed 1 night in the hospital and went home to Jovan, Angel and my mother-in-law, who were really eager to meet the new member.

I was very worried about having a baby without my mom with me. She helped me with Jovan and Angel, and now I was left on my own. (Although I have my sweet hubby who is always ready to help, but this is his first time experiencing a small baby!) Ivan was suffering from colic in the first 2 months, so he was crying mostly at night. Hubby and I had to work in shifts, so that we can both get some sleep. He worked the night shift, while I worked the day shift. It was not fun but we managed to stay sane. We learnt how to take care of a small baby, one tiny step at a time.

Looking back now, I think we have both done a good job, so far. Ivan is now a healthy, active, playful, cheeky, sweet and very affectionate toddler. 2 years old is not really a milestone yet, but we tried our best to make it a special day for him. Here are some photos to share:

Birthday boy starting his birthday with a good breakfast.

Card from grandpa.

Drawing from Jovan.

Card from Angel.

It says, "Congrats on your birthday, Ivan. Congrats" from Angel.

I was trying to create some party mood!

It is hard to take a good picture of this guy....

This is the cake I baked for him, with his favorite cartoon character, Rorri - the racing car. It looks horrible but Ivan loves it!

Candy cars used as decoration, I'm so lousy in decoration! I had to make those "racing" flags because I can't pipe properly!

He was too fast in blowing the candle! Puff! And mommy missed it!

Totally focused in cutting the cake, with daddy's help of course!

He was very interested in playing with the small Rorri which I put on his cake, after some coaxing from Jovan and Angel, he finally turned his attention to his real present.

It's the talking Rorri!
After 5 mins of "Turn left" "Turn right", hubby and I started to regret our choice...

He really enjoys the cake! I'm happy!

Happy Birthday sweet baby! Mommy hopes that you will continue to stay happy and healthy!

34 Weeks' Pre-Natal Checkup

We went for our pre-natal checkup this morning. As usual Baby Strömbäck is doing well and is at a good size (I wish the same can be said about mommy though - mommy's size is way TOOOOO good!).

Our midwife, Marie, felt around to determine his position. She said that his head is down and he has already lodged himself into position and is really to go! That explains why I have been feeling like the baby is falling out when I walk, that's because he is pushing downwards, getting into position for the journey of his life. Marie also said that I will be getting minor contraction pains from now onwards, which should go away after 1 hour or so. However, if it gets extremely painful and happens in close intervals (every 15 mins), that means I'm in labour. So we should call the hospital to inform that we're coming in.

I told her I've been experiencing contraction pain already and the reason why we have our bag packed, was because I was in quite a lot of pain the other night. While I was sitting on the sofa waiting for the pain to pass, hubby was running around like a headless chicken with a bag in his hand asking,"So what do we need?! Baby clothes - in! Socks - in! Which underwear do you want to bring? Ok, you like this one, we'll bring this one...." When the contraction has passed, our bag was almost packed!

Hubby got a little nervous when he heard that the baby is in position. "Is it normal for him to get into position so early? We have 4 more weeks left!" Marie explained that it is normal and he may decides to come 1 week later or 4 weeks later, so basically he is ready and may decides to show up anytime. "But if he decides to wait 4 more weeks, won't it be uncomfortable for him to get his head stuck like that for 4 weeks?" Marie patiently explained that it is getting too cramp inside the tummy for the baby to do anymore flipping around, but generally, the baby is happy and warm inside.

When we left the midwife's clinic to get our car in the carpark, hubby said,"I think his head will have a funny shape when he comes out." "Why is that?" "Coz, he has been stuck for weeks. Poor thing." "You mean he's gonna look like an alien?!"

Well, we'll see. The waiting continues...

Special Delivery from Singapore!

I received a note from the Post Office that I have a parcel to pick up, and I had been really curious and looking forward to Saturday for hubby to drive me there to pick it up. Today I woke up having headache which changed to giddiness in the late morning and aches all over my body, so hubby stayed home to help take care of Ivan and me! And to make me happy, since I'm sick, he went to pick up my parcel and bought me chocolate...

And this is what I got all the way from Singapore from my superbest friend - Diane!

A keychain and Japanese name stamp with my name!

I think these are cookies.

These are for Angel!

Nail stickers, nail polish and a pretty Hello Kitty pouch! She went crazy over these!

A cute magnetic bookmark!

Delicious wasabi pistachios! These are 100% better than the usual wasabi green peas, I'm not so keen in peas...

2 storage bags - Hello Kitty and Precious Moments!

And the main highlight of them all are..... Pocky!!! My favorite snack of all time!!!

Ivan insisted that I open the Hello Kitty one to taste, which of course I gladly obliged! Even the plastic wrapper is cute!

I was over the moon as I was going through all the gifts. And I thought I could smell the familiar air of Singapore as well.... which seems to smell like shoes... Just kidding, the box smells of lotsa thought and love and all these are miraculously packed in this small shoe box!

Thank you so very much Diane for sending these and paying the expensive postage! They really brighten my day during this gloomy autumn! Now I'm looking forward to enjoy the Pocky!

Finally A Reply From CMPB!

My days of waiting are over after sending out the email regarding Jovan's passport and military service issues. I finally got a reply from the Army which helped to ease our anxiety a little.

The lady who replied me was from the National Service Registration & Enlistment Centre (NSREC). She told me that the passport control for National Service (NS) liable Singapore males has been removed since Aug 2006. Prior to Aug 2006, NS-liable Singapore males were issued with passports of limited validity. With the introduction of biometric passports on 15 Aug 2006, all passports will be given full validity. Those who are applying for new Singapore passports will be given full validity of 5 years. The “Immigration Overseas Scheme for male citizens between 11 and 16.5 years old” for extension of passport has already been removed. Hurray!

She also mentioned in her email that "In addition, your son will be affected by the exit permit requirements when he reaches the age of 13 years old. Under the exit control policy, a young male aged 13 to 16.5 years is required to apply for an exit permit if he intends to travel or remain outside Singapore for 3 months or longer. If he is remaining outside Singapore for 2 years or longer, his parents will also need to furnish a bond of minimum S$75,000/- or 50% of the combined annual gross income of both parents for the preceding year, whichever is higher. The bond is usually in the form of a banker’s guarantee issued by a bank in Singapore. However, for boys who are accompanying parents on overseas employment, they may be eligible for bond by deed (personal guarantee) with 2 sureties. An exit permit will be issued after the bond has been furnished to MINDEF. Under the Enlistment Act, all male Singapore Citizens and Permanent Residents who are liable for full-time National Service (NS) are enlisted at the earliest opportunity after reaching the age of 18 years. They will be enlisted after completion of high school education (GCE ‘A’ level or Polytechnic Diploma equivalent). No deferment will be granted for university studies."

Which means to say that if we choose to renew Jovan's passport next year, he'll be granted a 5-year one and we do not need to about his exit permit till he's 13, which gives us about 4 years to review and see how things go.

She stated that these prevailing policies are periodically under review, so it'll be good for us to check every now and again. She has also given me some phone numbers to call if I need more clarification and attached some documents to clarify and advise on the requirement and conditions for the bond.

Now we have 4 years before we need to think about this issue again and probably by then, Lars's business would have brought us back to Singapore again, we'll see!

Hubby's Shopping Mishaps

I have to say that autumn is the season that I like the least, it is gloomy, rainy, cold, windy and muddy shoes. Hubby mentioned last night that it is time to bring out our "bunny shoes" - fluffy and warm indoor slippers which we usually wear from late autumn to early spring. I told him that mine had 1 missing sole, so I would really like to have new ones this year.

He said,"I bought them for you last year and now they're broken? Don't you like them?" "I do like them baby, I'll like them more if they're the same size." I replied. That kicked off a discussion of all my hubby's shopping mishap which made us laughed so hard, we almost woke up the neighbours!

I've always know that hubby really can't be bothered with shopping, his idea of shopping is to dash into a shop, grab whatever he needs and dash out - all done within 5 mins or less, if possible. His incompetence in shopping was really magnified when the family moved to Sweden 3 years ago. Some are minor ones like wrong brand or wrong quantity, others are just so ridiculously off that he got teased to no end by us!

When we just moved here, I told him to pick up shower cream for kiddos and reminded him that he needed to get one for sensitive skin because Jovan's skin was easily irritated by chemicals and weather (after living here for half a year, his skin and asthma problem just disappeared! Maybe it was because of the air quality, it is less polluted here than in Singapore). He came home with a bottle of shower cream, or so we thought... For several days after that, kiddos were complaining that the new "shower cream" wasn't good, it didn't produce any bubbles. We thought that kiddos were just complaining since they like to play with bubbles in the shower. Then I decided to just take a closer look at the bottle to make sure that we don't buy the same brand the next time. Hubby got it right by picking one for sensitive skin, but it wasn't shower cream he bought, it was MOISTURIZER! No wonder Angel was saying that she was oily after the shower!

During Christmas, I think was 2 years ago, he bought me a very cool, white Nike hooded sweater. I was really happy that he spent time to shop for clothes for me. When I pulled the sweater out from the wrapping paper, I was thinking,"Hmmm... looks kinda small...". When I tried it on later, the sleeves reached about 5cm away from my wrists and sweater stopped about 3 cm above my belly button... ok, I thought maybe he got the wrong size, I can just go back to change it. So I check the tag to see what size he bought... it was size M for JUNIORS!! I know I was slim (much slimmer than now!) then but was I sooooooo small in his eyes?! I decided to not change it because I had to pay much more for adult size. So that sweater became Jovan's present the following year instead and it fits him perfectly...

Last year, he surprised me with a new pair of bunny shoes since my old ones were so worn out and "holey". He brought Angel along since she is considered the next good shopper after me. They came home with a pair of nice looking, black wool slippers with embroidered flowers. My shoe size is 36 and one look at those slippers I knew they had gotten the wrong size, but it didn't matter since I was just having them indoor. When I tried them on I realized that the left one was size 38 and the right one was size 40... So I was wearing those really wrong-sized slippers and flopping around with them so much, the sole of the size 40 one finally came off, so what was left between my sole and the floor was a thin piece of wool...

Early this year, hubby and I decided to spring a big surprise on the kids by upgrading their Xbox to Xbox 360 and get them a Guitar Hero World Tour set. Kiddos were so excited when they saw 2 huge presents and they couldn't wait to tear off the wrapping paper. They were both dancing around when they found out what we had bought for them. Then Jovan said, "Daddy, the Guitar Hero is for Playstation 3." Daddy replied coolly, "Hmm....don't open it then, I'll go get it change to the right one."

I don't think he'll ever change (well, I don't think he feels the need to), so it will continue to be a interesting, hilarious and sometimes, worrying surprise when he's out shopping!

Kiddos' Night Talk

Jovan, being the big brother, has told Angel that whenever she wakes up from a nightmare and feels scared, she can wake him up and he can talk to her a little. I know, that is so sweet of Jovan and he himself wakes up from nightmares crying and will always look for mommy or daddy. However, it is very good that he shows that he's willing to be there for his little sister. So last night, Angel woke up in the middle of her sleep (and she didn't get a nightmare). This was the conversation they had:

Angel: "Jovan..."

Jovan: "Hmm... did you have a nightmare?"

Angel: "Hmm..."

Jovan: "Do you want to come up and lie with me for awhile?" (Jovan sleeps on top of a double-decked bed)

Angel: "No..."

Jovan: "Do you want to read a little?"

Angel: "No..."

Jovan: "Do you need to go toilet?"

Angel: "No..."

Then there was some rustling and Jovan found out that Angel has went out of the room. 3 minutes later, she re-opened the door of their bedroom. Jovan sat up and looked at her. She stood at the doorway, looking back.

Angel: "What?"

Jovan: "Did you go to the toilet?"

Angel: "Yeah."

Jovan: "Didn't I just asked you if you need to go? Then you said you didn't need to. Then now, you went. So why did you say no when you actually did need to go?" *nagging nagging*

Angel: (already in her bed and getting comfy) "....hmmm....."

Jovan: "Angel...Good night..."

Angel: "Good night..."

Jovan and Angel Made Dinner!

I have been feeling drained these few weeks and am really getting lazy in making dinner. Thank God for sending me 2 little angels who, with suggestion from daddy, volunteered to make dinner tonight!

So what's on the menu tonight? Macaroni and meatballs!

They had also set the table and tried to make it look nice. "Best mommy"

"Best daddy"
Ivan enjoying dinner.

Our 2 young chefs! Well done kids!

Our "Piffi Allkrydda" (All Spice) boys!

Piffi Allkrydda is a seasoning which claims to enhance the flavor of almost everything, chicken, eggs, vegetable... Jovan and Lars even started discussing what they can add the seasoning to, and they came to the conclusion that it covers almost everything except cakes, water (like put it in water and drink it, YUCK!), and probably ice cream... I don't like this seasoning at all, I don't use it and have been trying to discourage the family to add this to their food, which apparently is not working so well...

Tonight's dinner is simple fare but it was made by my 2 kids, so I was truly happy and enjoyed it. Never underestimate what a child can do, they just need to be given a chance to try. I'm proud of Jovan and Angel. Mommy loves you all sooooo much!

They ARE growing up fast and I have mixed feelings about it. Some days I wish they will stop growing and never reach teenage years, but on days like this, I'm glad they are growing up and maturing well so far.

Hopefully they will continue to mature to be responsible and sensible young adults, will keep my fingers and toes crossed!