Hopefully after tonight, I will no longer be tossing about in my bed. That’s because today we settled a major outstanding task off our ‘to-do’ list.

By God’s grace, we managed to confirm a domestic help which will be coming in within 2 weeks’ time! Hooray! And just when I was fretting on who would help me with baby clothes & items washing duties after the confinement lady leaves, this helper couldn’t have come at a better time.

The mil, Bo & I interviewed some 5 of them at the first agency – taking an interest to 2 out of the 5 (although their expectations in terms of job duties & salary were still quite high) and it was absolutely exhausting going through candidate after candidate (especially since I had to ask the same set of questions to each of them – new found respect to all recruiters & headhunters out there btw!). In the end we couldn’t come to a decision and needed more time to consider.

Thanks to the BR’s contact, we checked out agency #2 as well (since we were in the vincinity) which was run by her friend’s mom and upon meeting the first candidate, we knew that she was the closest fit so far. Felt comfortable communicating with her, plus friend’s mom aka. agent was really good in helping us suss out the helper’s capabilities/abilities and knew exactly what we were looking for in a helper without needing us to explain too much. She took the lead, gave us very useful tips and even offered to help us ‘train’ her as we wait for the paper work to process.

No doubt there will be some getting used to from both parties but with God’s continued guidance, I know He’ll see us through.

I’m so elated that the FDW is finally settled because this means we’re one step closer to being ready!

I absolutely love my BR. Because she’s the sort of bestie that makes you wish the world had more of, plus she’s going to be the chungkin’s godmama (which I know she’s darn stress about. Haha. Responsibilities, don’t they freak out the best in us at times?) in just a few days/weeks’ time.

We had a smashing good time catching up over some (delish) brunch at Baci Italian Cafe earlier this morning and a follow-up in the evening at my crib when she came over to help complete the finishing touches of ‘chungkin’s corner’. I did give her some ‘tough moments’ with the pasting of the decals initially, which I’d admit was not easy to do especially needing to ensure that everything was stuck as straight as possible; though kudos to BR that she managed to get the hang of it soon enough and did such a fantastic job!

Everything-chungkin looks so put together now despite the fact that we only have a corner to offer to our little bub at the moment, but just looking at it over and over again makes my heart smile so much. I know that baby chungkin is going to enjoy his little corner.

I’ve been in a bit of a mess.

One moment, I thought I was all done – the cot ready & assembled, all items on the to-buy list checked, the hospital bag packed, little man’s clothes washed and folded, car seat ready to be set-up…

And the next, I realized there’s still some outstanding tasks to complete: employing a FDW which means sourcing (done), interviewing (soon), getting the Bo to his EOP in order to obtain WP for the FDW (unfortunately most agencies are telling me supply is short), getting plastic pails for washing for bb clothes & confinement, a clothing rack for bb items because MIL agrees that washing in the backyard could mean the doggies fur & smell getting to BB’s clothes and….buying a set of new shelves/drawers for the MIL because the Bo & her had a little argument last weekend where she couldn’t keep her things neatly in one place instead of leaving it all over the living room and she told him to “deal with it, this was life” in addition to other remarks which really pissed the Bo off (there was even the thought of potentially moving out should she keep up with insisting on her ways only with the Bo). And with a bit of unforeseen cost involved – the chest alone costing us $1,600 after a discount which could go into the FDW’s budget, I’ve been telling the Bo that if we can get a FDW in soon, perhaps she can pick up after MIL’s mess and save us the additional cost of getting a shelf just for the living room area, plus no guarantees what MIL won’t be leaving her trail of paper and gadgets all over the place again even with new expensive storage in place.

(I can’t believe I just typed that mouthful above without taking a pause in between!)

What I am consoling myself about is that the outstanding stuff are mainly non-nesting/baby related although getting a neat/organized space settled before the newborn makes his appearance will definitely help to organize things a lot better. Am I turning into a neat freak suddenly? Or is this part of preparing for mama-hood?

Meanwhile, the Bo has been taking every possible moment to enjoy his ‘freedom’ before the parent title drops on him. And while I’m cool with it and sometimes secretly envious that he doesn’t have to bother with the nitty gritty preparations since to be fair, he’s the one bringing back the dough just so that we could finally have this baby, I’ve been having some innate freak-out moments of late. I can’t tell if it’s me putting too much pressure on myself to get things running like clockwork so that I won’t feel like a lousy mom come what unpreparedness, or if it’s just the people around me that are causing me to feel this way – i.e.: mil dropping little nuggets of ‘random bombs’ on us re. her last minute demands/request, the Bo feeling the financial stretch & not being able to communicate with his mom on reducing of the additional pocket money since she tends to walk out on conversation as such and me trying to find a means to an end with the fastest solution possible…are you observing a pattern here? I suppose the more people you live with, the more one’s got to deal / settle with. Though it’d be really nice if we can eventually have a nest to call our own (100%, not part of) though. Our space, our rules, our freedom. I know how much the Bo has been yearning for a cozy place each time he sees his peers all settling into one of their own…a blog entry for another day perhaps. Hopefully soon!

But till then, whatever it is I know that as long as I don’t put a limit on His blessings in my life, this year will continue to be one of unceasing fruitfulness and providence.

Keeping the faith.

NESTING.

or least that’s what my pre-natal yoga instructor told me what my sudden burst of energy was about. She said that my nesting instincts have probably kicked in when I mentioned to her during class today that I’ve been feeling very energized of late. Like how birds gather twigs preparing their nest just prior to giving birth, this burst was my body’s way of preparing for labour and baby’s arrival.

And I guess she was right because after yoga class today, me and some girlfriends went to do some baby shopping (at the taka baby fair & at paragon) and I ended purchasing lots of things on the to-buy list, suffice to say the only things that are outstanding are: more towels for bath because a gf chided me that 2 was not enough! and a clothes rack to hang the little one’s clothes. A productive day indeed!

Meanwhile, here’s a preview of the little one’s cot companions along with the new tidy purchased today. I was obviously bored, hence the arranging of animals. (p/s: The Bo has warned me not to expand our little zoo to a safari and that all 4 of them needs to clear out once little man claims his cot, which I will of course!)

While most kids & adults were preparing to head back to school & work after a long break yesterday, the Bo & I were busy running from megastore to another, purchasing flat-packed boxes and staying up all night till 1:03am to put together some new storage cabinets in the bedroom as part of our ‘room-improvement-for-baby-chungkin’ project, though I helplessly stood at a corner for most of the time, accompanying the husband and nursing a really bad cold & cough (my first nasty bug since pregnancy) every few seconds which has been bugging me for the past 2 days – probably an aftermath from late nights, continued feasting, lack of sleep and having lots of dust present with all that assembling & shifting in the room.

And as of this morning – pending one more dismantling of existing shelves to shift stuff into the new one – happy to report that our room is now officially IKEA-fied which means we now have an official space for b.chungkin & his things without having to call in a team of contractors and pay a hefty sum just to manage our storage & space management needs.

:)

I can’t wait for nesting phase 1 to be completed soon so that we can get started on phase 2 & 3 really soon. Time seems to be flying really quickly these days, and it’s all getting very exciting!!!