Eat, drink and be married!

 

Not sure if anyone comes by anymore. But we're good! I wish Covid didn't happen and we had so much more we wanted to do - the countries, the experiences and memories we could have made together. 

We lost and gained relationships, the children are in a good place - 4 and 7 is definitely a fun age. They play well together, annoy the crap out of each other and we all want to send them back to school the moment we pick them up. 

When I started this blog I wish that it can be a space for me to store memories, but the way social media has become, the recent sharenting hooha has definitely made me rethink. If you know us, you'd definitely know where to find us..else stay tuned for my sporadic updates! Promise to be more regular. :)

Hope everyone is doing well this Year of the Rabbit - only good things!

 ~Review~

One of the must haves in my home is a purifier and thanks to all the years of haze, I have gotten acquainted with them. Infact, I already have two in my home and in such situations, the more the better so the whole house has cleaner air as opposed to selected areas. Especially with young children, we do what we can to minimise the chances of them falling ill - at any cost. 

 

We were sent the Cosmo Prime® Air Purifier + 3-in-1 HEPA filter and here's what worked for me:

It's SO quiet!

With just 20 dB. it's almost noiseless. There are ocassions I even forgot that it is actually busy clearning our air! 

Coverage Area: Up to 80m²

I cannot emphasise how important the capacity of the air purifier is. If I put an air purifier built for a small room into a much larger one, I am overworking it and it will not be able to effectively and efficiently filter air. This suits my living and dining area perfectly!  \

Sleek design

The design is so sleek and is built with an auto-adjusting fan function. Under the "Anion Mode", it releases negative ions to reduce stress and boost immunity! The rounded build edges help absorb particles from all over too! So much win here! 

True HEPA Filter (filters 99.97% of all particles) to filter PM2.5 and smaller particles

Note that a product is either HEPA or not HEPA, there should not be any “HEPA Type” and “HEPA Like” mention because these just means the product does not meet the High Efficiency Particulate Air standard.

The key purpose of having a HEPA filter is to be able to filter out 99.97% or more of all particles which are 0.3 microns (micrometers) in diameter. To put things in perspective, a human hair's diameter is approximately 50 micons and the human eye cannot see anything smaller than 40 microns. HEPA H13-H14 are within the highest tier of HEPA and are considered medical grade quality. HEPA H13 and H14 trap 99.95% and 99.995% of such particles, respectively.

Cosmo Prime® Air Purifier filters 99.97% of all airborne particles, allergens, dust, harmful chemicals, virus, hair, bacteria, dust mites, mould, skin flakes, pollen, spores, textile fibres, animal fur and volatile organic compounds. This list is as exhaustive as it can get - honestly, the more the merrier and I'm not complaining! 

 

Low Power Consumption

I love green appliances and since this is going to be turned on most of the day, if it does not conserve energy, the electricity bills will be high to maintain! 

The other service features that you can consider before getting one too!

20 Day Free Trial

I like this and it costs a reasonable amount of money so why not try and see if you like it else just return it! 

Free Same Day Delivery

Definitely loving this and the caveat is there is stock availability. At the height of haze most of the air purifiers were out of stock without a definite date for restocking and I was left with no choice but to just get any purifier available and still have to wait for an available delivery slot so this same day delivery is extra attractive.

5 Year Warranty

This is industry standard so it's good that they are honouring this 5 years too.  

Now, it's about sitting back and relaxing with cleaner air at home! 

12 Best Air Purifiers to Buy in Singapore

Best in Singapore:

Facebook | Instagram | Website

COSMO Air Purifiers:

Instagram | Website

 ~Review~

 

Thanks to parenthood, I have no problems falling asleep every night. And thanks to parenthood, every single special occasion dedicated to us amazing mothers, I wish for more sleep. While sleep is a luxury, I am more than thankful if I get quality sleep.

I'm the sort who tests out the mattress and pillows before Covid-19 struck and thanks to the situation, being able to order my pillows online has to be the greatest blessing. No hassle no fuss and best of all, the germophobe in me is happy - testing mattresses is really quite a germy affair! Who knows if the person before me isn't a carrier of germs? 

 

Anyway, these Made in Germany Origin Superior Coolmax® Latex Pillows have been out of stock for the longest time. These highly popular latex foam pillows are denser than the usual memory foam or fibre. I love that it gets moulded to the shape of my head and gives such great sleep support. They claim that the pillow is able to hold its shape too for long!

 

Infused with their proprietary cooling gel formula, no more sweating on my pillows!

Another major plus point? The material is hypoallergenic, super important in these times especially.  

 

There is double protection too as this comes with a removable pillow cover and I drape another over for frivolous reasons like my pillow cases should match my mattress cover and comforter. 

There's loads more to love about Origin's pillows, there's a 7 day free return clause and comes with 2 years warranty. 

  

 Look who also loves these new pillows?

So with all these niceties about it, how did it survive the sleep test? The caveat is, I love my pillows softer, too firm pillows are not my thing and neither are downy pillows. So with that in mind, I had the best quality sleep in a darn long while. Slept like a baby, and possibly better than my babies. 

 

Still not sold, you really need to read up on the Best 8 Pillows in Singapore. 

Best in Singapore:

Facebook | Instagram | Website

 

Origin Mattress:

Facebook | Instagram | Website

 This is a sponsored review by YOON Salon. 

If one’s eyes are the windows to one’s soul, then one’s crowning glory would be the pride of any man.

I did not grow up with a pet dog and yearned very much for one so when Cyrus came along, I secretly hoped that he and our family dog will grow up together - except, deep down I knew time was finite. Our corgi was no longer a pup, neither a teen but an elder. When Cyrus was born, he was already 12 and truly, we were playing with time.

Cyrus' first fur friend and he took to him like a fish in water, from gesticulating excitedly to patting the glass door that separated them to wanting to feed him pellets and chasing him around the garden. July 2019 was his 14th birthday and we celebrated it as we always did over cake. Clearly there were ageing signs which we chose to ignore, it broke my heart when he could no longer run around or chase balls with the same enthusiasm as he could.

The decline there after was sharp and quick. He suddenly developed a lump on his hind paw, started limping to not walking, we had it surgically removed and he seemed fine and dandy. Then one day his ear infection started (AGAIN), sent him to the vet's and got him more meds. I guess he never got better from that and he preferred lying down mostly to sitting up and one day when he started heavily breathing, it was probably the beginning of the end. He had stopped eating and drinking, had sticky saliva and foamed at the mouth, lay flat and barely struggled when we lifted him to see the vet again - the second time in two days. He was immediately warded, blood test ran, put on the IV drip and we were given our options.

His kidneys were not functioning, there were kidney stones, arthritis was acting up and basically in a lot of pain. If we wanted to, we could consider daily dialysis when he was discharged. Euthanasia did cross our minds but it was a painful decision to make - how could we put down our fur brother? How could we?

From the time he was warded at 230pm to about 5, we received the call that he had left us. It was emotional. He chose to leave us and gained his angel wings 17 days after his 14th birthday.


 

We miss you, poppers. Your bird friends do too and so does Cyrus. He says you're in the hospital and never coming back...While we bade you farewell at the ward, seeing your lifeless body and frazzled hair, we know you fought hard, we've had our good years together. You were never quite a dog dog, more like a cat. I never had you run happily to me after school, nor snuggle up when I'm sad but you were special just like that. The closing of windows irritated you and you ran up and down the garden, you dropped out of training school in true hooligan fashion and never learned to pee and poo in designated areas...but you were our special first dog.

Fly high, run free...till we meet again. When we see a rainbow, that's you smiling back at us...right?

 


Dear Cyrus,

You are a big brother now...and this transition has been so tough for you. Mama knows and since blobbie's days you knew from day one that someone would be coming along and you already made it known to us you knew, in your little ways.

I know you feel lost, bewildered and all feelings of negativity no matter how hard we try to reassure you that nothing changes - we love you the same if not more, nobody's going anywhere but routines had to change.

You acted up before Celeste came along, actually the weeks leading up to her arrival and we all hoped this would pass faster than we know. The day she was born, you cried buckets when Popo showed you her first video and then developed a fever later that day. The first night she came back you cried so hard for Popo and Gong Gong, I cried along with you. We hugged each other to sleep but that did not stop you waking and screaming your head off. If only you knew, you knew how much it hurt me to see you cry...

You were less of yourself in school and the teachers all knew. :( Even at your combined birthday celebration with your friends you were mostly quiet, totally unlike the you that the aunties and uncles know. We prayed so hard that there'll be acceptance in your heart, slowly and surely my cheeky little boy will be back in action.

As much as mama wants a sibling for you to play and grow up with, I hope these intentions never get misconstrued.  You will always be our first born, that special individual who will not be judged because you're more mischievous, more cheeky...Routines may change, the order of doing things may change...our tone towards you may change but please always remember, we still love you like we did the day we discovered we are finally pregnant, we still love you like we never had children before....we still want to witness your every milestone the same way Mama documented those first 365 days with a photo everyday.

Two weeks on, we are definitely in a better place than when we started...baby steps all the way! It warms my heart when you ask for meimei the minute you reach home and while you expect her to be up and playing with you now, she will soon!

Love you more than you can comprehend and ever know,
Mama.

It took me almost a year to get Speckie's birth story out and I resolved not to let the same happen to XLB, here's hers.

I always have grand plans every weekend and even with the EDD drawing to a near, I did not want to concede defeat to the belly nor compromise on our weekend plans. 2 June came and I woke up feeling not so great - disrupted sleep is one and well it just did not feel right. We headed for soccer class, back for a nap and then headed for the Act 3i festival that I bought tickets way earlier and was definitely taking a chance on my own participation since Speckie arrived earlier than I intended.

After the play, I felt slight discomfort at the belly, ignored it and even went for a spot of shopping - oops, the cramps got more intermittent and I informed the Hubba we could be celebrating XLB's birthday today. Made our way home, showered, took my bumpfies, timed the contractions...even sat through dinner with the contractions coming in waves. Damn, my mom had my favourite chye poh kuay teow on the table and I barely ate. I even insisted on taking my last family photos before making our way to NUH.

The moment I sat in the car the contractions were irregular - chey! By the time we reached around 730pm, I was wheeled to the delivery suite (again, remember the false alarm) and then strapped on to monitor yet another 30-45 minutes for contractions and for the gynae to decide if I were really in labour and for the antibiotics drip to be administered.

It was ETERNITY in pain and thank god for my gynae who did the cervix check (and not some random MO like the last pregnancy). I kept repeating I wanted my epidural and when I got it, the relief was temporal. I could still feel the contractions not entirely but it was helluva painful. Asked to double the dose and even THEN, I was wincing in pain (argh). The last shot at this was when the anaesthesist warned that upping it further would mean I cannot feel a thing and it would be the equivalent of going for a csect kind of numb.

Turns out because of her position, the epidural probably could not numb my entire belly - boo! Now back to Strep B and the antibiotics drip I needed to administer for 4 hours so XLB would be protected whilst coming down the birth canal. The labour progressed too fast after epidural was administered, the waves of contraction were so close, there was no way (absolustely no way) I would have not taken epidural.

Gynae was called in sometime 3 hours later and moments before she entered, my waterbag burst with a 'pop' and a gush of water was felt. First time experiencing it actually and I barely needed to push, XLB crowned on her own with minimal tearing.

There endeth my second birth story, nothing dramatic but I wish she needn't be subject to all the jabs because the antibiotics were not administered enough.



 


Welcome to the world, little one. You complete us and to God be all glory, over and over and over again.