Its Hard To Find A New Place

I've been watching the property boards like a hawk over the past year.  It's become a regular ritual to check every morning. We are trying to move close to my in-laws so there are only a paltry 3 blocks we are eyeing. These are point block units in an old town so they are either over-priced or the reasonably priced ones are pretty scarce and snapped up very quickly. So I set my search criteria and bookmarked the page in hopes I'll chance on a good unit.

Before last week, we had viewed 3 units in the vicinity. The first one was what prompted us to put up our current home for sale. Its on a high 20th floor with unblocked North-East orientation. Meimei liked it very much but its priced at a steep 680k while in a condition which needed a 60-70k overhaul to move in. We were unsure if we could afford it and the unit has been on the market for more than 6 months due to the pricing. So I took a risk and decided on a wait and see approach.

We were ready to take up a 100k delta so we put up ours for sale at 580k. However it was evident early on that we would not be able to get such an offer unless a miracle happens. A few months into our sale, our agent updated us that a 32 year old single mainland Chinese had bought the unit. It seems his rich parents are buying it for him, else he wouldn't be able to qualify to buy given he is single and yet to reach 35. Meimei was extremely disappointed on hearing the news.

We had a viewing for the 2nd unit just as we were told about the first. Its on the 8th floor with South-West orientation. Since the 20th floor unit is sold we took a hard look at the unit. It's first owner condition ... and given that the flats are 35 years old, you can imagine the state they are in. Meimei wasn't really keen on it at the asking price of 615k but we didn't really have a choice. We made an offer of 590k to test the owner's base price but it was a no-go. It seems the owners are staying at a condo and they had been renting out the unit previously. Now that the prices are good they are putting it up for sale and in no hurry to sell.

A fortnight after the 8th floor unit, another unit came on the market. It's on the 12th floor with North-West orientation. Although the owners were calling a ridiculous 680k asking price, we went down to have a look anyways. The condition is just as bad as the previous 2 ... and it's bathrooms are still the traditional squat toilets! At this price, we might as well have bought the 20th floor one. Prices are getting crazier and crazier by the day.

On the same day as we were going to see the 12th floor unit I noticed that the advertisement for the same 8th floor unit now had a 625k starting price. It looks like someone has met the asking price of 615k and yet the owner is attempting to fish for a higher price. Meimei and I were highly irritated on seeing this blatant price gouging. But ... there wasn't a thing we could do. The units here are in very high demand, if we can't come up with the cash someone else would surely do. Meimei was adamant that she would not offer anything higher than 600k. I, on the other hand, was prepared to offer 630k as coincidently we had received a firm offer of 520k for our place. And given the rapidly escalating prices of our target units, the sooner we secure one the better.

I called up our agent and ask her to check with the seller agent on the pricing, with the intention to see if we can make a 620k offer. Oddly enough the seller agent refused to reply and our agent advised us to look for another unit. She has a gut feel that the place is already sold and offered her opinion. "At this price it really makes no sense. I would not advise you to offer anything above 600k. Anyways my colleague tells me that the owners for the unit directly above this 8th floor one is looking to sell too."

I was disappointed to hear that we missed the 8th floor unit. But at the same time we were excited that the 9th floor one may be available. Imagine buying over the 8th floor unit, renovated it and then have to suffer through a bout of renovation on the floor above. That thought gave us a little relief about losing the 8th floor one. The caveat to this is that the 9th floor sale is uncertain. The owner has a tenant staying till May but am thinking of selling due to tenant issues. Hence the earliest we might start the offer is in early June.

So we are now patiently waiting for the 9th floor unit to come onto the market. Hopefully prices have not sky rocket till levels we can no longer afford in the coming months.

The Simple Things - Standing Without Support

It happened so fast that we couldn't whip out our phones in time to capture the moment. She did it again couple of times at random, getting braver each time. We tried to coax her into showcasing her new found skill but she wasn't to be persuaded.

It always exciting to see a development moment, especially when you know you are catching the very first attempt. Very soon she will be walking unassisted, whilst we follow her closely in case she falls. I can imagine how tiring that is gonna be, yet am eagerly waiting for it to happen.

Driving Into A Bicycle

Before anyone gets the idea that I ran into a cyclist with my vehicle, I loudly pronounce that I did not. In fact its the other way around. A bicycle ran into me on my way home from work. It was an unfortunate accident. 

I'm thankful I instinctively swerve to the right ... else I would have ran over his legs. He was bleeding on his arms and legs as he broke his fall. Other than being shaken by the whole incident he was pretty much ok.

As for me, there are dents and large scratches on my bonnet. I highly doubt any cyclist would have 3rd party insurance so there was nothing more I could do but shrug it off. The cyclist apologised so I wasn't going to bring it any further. I'm just glad both of us walked away from it fine.

11 Months - Almost To A Year

She continues to be a handful. She doesn't sleep much so everyone has to keep her entertained constantly.

Hi~!!

My Pirate Look ... Arghhh!

Can I have another one?

Eating is Hard Work!

Do I look like Girl-Girl now?

Maybe I'll be a Pianist with I grow up

The Staring Incident

Emily stares. I don't think she does it intentionally but rather more as a concentrated look to catch every detail of what's going on. I like that she knows how to catch a person's eye but the prolonged gaze can sometimes be uncomfortable.

We were at Coffee Bean today for breakfast. It's Chinese New Year's eve and everywhere else was packed. We found a spot close to the far side where there was only an uncle at the sofa playing with his phone. We didn't want her calls to distract others from their leisurely day. Plus we had brought porridge so we wanted to keep the mess away from the crowds.

Initially it was just a casual look to her back. Then she caught the uncle staring intently at his phone. And then for the next 20-30 minutes she just stared constantly at him. We didn't give much attention to it as we were busy with our own breakfast and maid was feeding Emily.

The next thing that happen was a shock ... in a embarrassing and funny way. The uncle that Emily was staring at the last half hour actually came over and handed out an Ang Pow to her! Hahahahaha he must have caught Emily's eyes  whenever he looked up from his phone. I guess she must have made him uneasy ... you know, the feeling when someone just hold their gaze at you perpetually. It was a good thing he took it in the right way and offer Emily a gift instead.

We tried to stop him but he was having none of it. He handed Emily the Ang Pow, which she happily grabbed, and walked off while Meimei and I keep saying "No sir you don't have to". We couldn't help but laugh at the whole situation hahaha. I hope she doesn't get into any more trouble with the staring ... the next time might not end as good as this.

CNY 2015 - Reunion Dinner

Mother-In-Law cooked up a feast. Better than eating at any restaurant.

She Bit Me

I was putting Emily into the car seat. I felt a suddenly piercing pain on my palm.  She was biting me. I shake my arm a little to try to break free. Thankfully she didn't persist. I was dumbfounded.

How can my little princess be so violent? What if she does this when we start putting her into nursery? Is this how she displays her anger and resentment?

A lot of questions flowed through my mind as I grimaced in pain. Gosh ... I really hope this is a passing phase. No one likes a biting baby.

Continuing The Fun At Work

I started a job with a lot of what I was looking for in an ideal job a year ago today.

1) Individual contributor role
Being a manager is an easy job. Being a good one takes serious work, commitment and sacrifices. After many years of managing teams, I like the change of pace. Focusing on just your own work without worrying about the performance of others takes a lot off the pressure and stress since outcomes are purely down to your own efforts. It's an even bigger plus when they give you the same pay grade as a manager ;-)

2) Pure systems implementation with zero operational responsibilities
Ahhh finally after years of working ridiculous hours during month end, this job's crazy hours is no longer pegged to the calendar days but on stages of the project. I think I was put into the role as the existing lead couldn't handle all the project activities. So because I wasn't the main focal lead for the implementation I had the luxury of better hours since I'm nothing more than a supporting role to the lead.

3) Proximity to home
I go home for lunch everyday. That's enough reason for envy for most folks. Nothing beats having home cooked food, even if most of the time it's just the leftovers. And I get to play with Emily when I'm home so that's another big plus.

4) Nice colleagues
I think I mentioned this in an earlier post. It's a factory plant so I suppose folks are more cordial here than in a corporate office. Also my boss has kids so she is more understanding when I have to work from home on some days when I pull an all nighter watching over Emily.

The contract was for a year because the original plan was to roll out the 2 Singapore in 2015. However due to a total meltdown in an earlier rollout in Hungary, they froze all rollouts in 2015 and we are now rescheduled for Aug 2016. So they offered me a year and half extension to Jun 2017.

It's nice that they wanted me to stay but I am also realistic as to how long this tenure will be. As with all projects, things can go south pretty quickly, e.g. change in project priorities, change in operating climate and restrictions on budget etc. They can release me any time with a month's notice. But until then I am pretty comfortable here. The work is fun and manageable. So I just stay put as long as I can and enjoy the ride.

A Prize For Walking

Walked enough to redeem the 1st tier prize for National Steps Challenge. 

Bird-Bird

I think every parents dreams of that moment when their little ones looks at them lovingly and calls out Papa or Mama. Meimei and I are no different and have been waiting eagerly for the day to come.

We read in the books that babies will start saying Papa or Mama indiscriminately to both parents at about 8-9 months. Then at about 10 months they would be conscious of who they are calling out to. So you can imagine our excitement when Emily first started going "Mum-mum-mum-mum" a month ago.

However soon we realised that she does "Mum-mum-mum-mum" randomly and is not even attempting to call either one of us. I'm sure she recognises us because she would let out the most tender loving smile when she sees us and even wave or point in our direction.

She does say a word knowingly though. Meimei and I have resigned to the fact that her first cognitive words may not be Papa or Mama ... but rather of an animal that has been a bane of Meimei's life ... Birds. I'm not sure how it started but we came to realise that she notices birds as she will actively seek them out. Whenever she sees them she will let out a cry, point and sometimes wave to them. 

And bless Meimei for being the ever loving Mama ... she actually bites through her paralysing fear and brings Emily towards the birds so she can have a closer look. I suppose this may be destiny, to have Emily not be fearful of birds so she can chase them away for Mama when she grows older.

But before that happens ... we are still looking forward to the greetings of Papa and Mama :-)

Morning Joys － 喝不完的奶

躲猫猫～

哦，被你们发现了！

我喝不完，给你！

Fun At The Pool

Today's Emily's first time at the pool. Meimei's friend invited us to her condominum so we didn't have to brave the public pools for her first attempt. 

As much as she loves bathing and playing in the baby tub, I think the big pool scared her and she cried when Meimei tried to lower her into the water. It took some coaxing to get her warmed up and sitting at the steps. But once she was in the water she was fearless, she kept going to the deeper steps so we had to keep constant watch.

We bought a float at a recent baby fair and Emily finally had the opportunity to try it on. I think she wasn't too keen to be floating around, the sensation of kicking water instead of the solid ground seemed to shock her.

I'm pretty sure a couple more outings to the pool will put her at greater ease and she might enjoy the experience more. 

Looking To Move

Since the arrival of baby, I've started exploring if we could move into a place closer to my In-Laws. Its very tiring for Mama to travel to our place daily with groceries and likewise tough for baby to go to my In-laws in the wee hours of the morning when Meimei starts going back to office.

We put up our place for sale a couple of months ago and there were strangers walking into our home every weekend since. It's inconvenient to have to rush back to home every weekend to open our doors but it was a necessary evil to gauge how far we can stretch our finances to buy a dream home close to my In-Laws. And because of these, our weekends are pretty much limited to quick runs for grocery or meals and nothing much else.

It was evident early on that we were not going to fetch the same prices as the ones we are looking to buy. My In-laws stay in an old town where the prices for apartments have always been steep. The thing that gets me is that the flats there are 10 to 15 years older than the one we are staying now, yet they cost 100-150k more. And add the smaller floor space, 126 sqm versus 119 sqm, it really took me a long time to come to terms with this choice.

But oh well, there are many benefits to moving. There are more facilities nearby, a swimming pool, library, wet market, hawker centres. You name it they have it ... such is the allure of old towns. New towns are so 'planned' that you are restricted to very limited spots for any notable facilities.

Ok, enough about the new place we are looking at. The point of this post is to share that as much as I want to move, there is much I've fallen in love with in our first home. I am going to document as much as I can of the place before we sell it, to keep as a remembrance of our first humble abode. Our kids may never get to experience the goodness of the place so I hope that keeping commentaries on the blog for it can at least give them a sense of how comfortable this place is.

Meimei's Drawings

Meimei started attending drawing classes with her friends. She has talent.

10 months ... She Is Going To Be A Handful

I keep hearing about Terrible 2. Why am I already seeing it at 10 months?! She's going to be a handful ... I need to enjoy whatever niceness she gives now. Because she may give me lesser smiles once I start being sterner and discipline her more. I hope she realises it is for her own good. The best case I can hope for is that she grows out of it early and becomes obedient.

Do I look like a girl now?

样子够坏吧

Melon very nice wor~

This is how you say Love!

You want your car key? Let's talk terms ...

I ... Can ... Reach ... It .......

Are your talking about me?

Look at my silly look~!