Is Japan Really more expensive??

Just recieved my Electricity bill for the month of July... with me turning on my airconditioning
almost every day and night, (both living room and bedroom)... the total amount for water and Electricity totalled ¥17,000... ~ $221 @ Yen/SGD rate of 0.013
( I did not add in gas bill )

Now I dun really know the value of things in japan, yet, but comparing it back with Singapore,
with me not traveling and at home and only turning on the living room A/c on some nights, bedroom a/c all nights, my Utility bills totalled $180 (I dun use g'arment gas)..

so comparing $221 in japan with $180 in singapore for Electricity and water, and bearing in mind, A/C was used almost every day for both living and bedroom day and night in japan compared with lesser usage in singapore... is Japan really an expensive city??

I believe that Singapore has become more expensive... even with the periodic subsidies that is given out. Don't think it will be long before Singapore is on par or overtakes japan as the more expensive City to live in.

Thank You Darling!!!

This is my Darling..

..he takes extra precaution for oncoming traffic for me and baby zayne to cross the roads safely.

..he sometimes surprise me by stocking up coke when he knows i crave for it...

..he walks in front me so that he can grab hold of me n baby in case i trip or lose balance when climbing staircases or on the escalator.

..he demands me to rest when he sees my panda eyebags even though he has "panda" too.

..he carries all my bags and stuffs all by himself so that i’m free from extra weights.

..he reminds me to drink water,take vitamins and says he loves me ALL THE TIME.

..he sacrifices his own leisure time to accompany a bored, emotionally-sensitive wife and end up doing nothing for the whole weekend..

..he always cooks my favourite dish and serves it with my favourite ice lemon tea..

..he brings me n baby out shopping even though he is so tired at work..

..whenever i lose my temper,he would kiss me and says he loves me..

Thank You Darling for loving me and baby Zayne..
U are a great husband to me,good father to Zayne,WE LOVE U TOO!!!

Cautious Parenting or Paranoia ?

We had a bit of a scare over the weekend....


Wifey noticed some very very minute trace of blood in zaynes poo... (thinner than sewing needle)

Maternal instinct kicked in immediately, she was definitely in panic mode..

being the usual logical me, I asked her to calm down and think through this logically...



If it was any major internal injuries, it will still be bleeding.. and it will not be just so minute..

(you really need to stare very hard to spot the blood trace..)... so I suggested that we monitor his next few "motions"... So Saturday, Both Wifey and me became CSI investigators...

please read it the Singaporean way.. CSI = "sai" investigators :P Peering intently at every diaper "poo Poo" change.



Glad to say that there was only the 2 times with blood trace and the rest of the weekend, Zayne was fine....



I think its definitely not easy to be parents, especially when your kid is ill... and both parents are definitely very anxious, and there is no doubt that we will gladly rush our baby to the hospital at the prick of a finger...



But communication and understanding between the parents here as well as both would most likely have very different way of handling the situation. In our case, wifey was on the brink of paranoia, and myself calm and logical. The only reason why there was no heated argument about me being indifferent to our son's situation, was because wifey trusted in me and has faith in my judgement.



I wouldn't say I know everything, but I try to be logical so that at least we both dun become "Kan Cheong" Spiders (singaporean way of saying "panicky").. But I have to say, that I will definitely rush Zayne to the hospital if the blood trace was anything more than 0.5 cm !!

Phew.... with that said, you really need to have a strong stomach and love your kid alot to be "CSI" investigators!!! ..

Can't Help it!!

hey..maybe u guys already sick of my 五連拍!! but how about 三連拍?? haha.. dont like that la..

Ah Ma ( grandma ) special request!!

Ah ma wanted to see more Zayne boy's Onsen Ojisan looks!!! so this is ojisan 五連拍!!!

Stripe again??

Just realized Zayne boy has all the stripe tops!! different colors.. long and short sleeves!! see! he is happy wearing them and has no complaint so far.. :) and his toy bear also in stripe lo!! keke..

A smiley Video

Zayne seems to know how to play, laugh and coo at 2 months...
here's a video we manage to take on one such occasion..



He wakes up aroud 6.30am - 7.00am now adays.. to match my waking time, so that he can play with me... its really a big motivation for to wake up...

2 Month Old

Today, Zayne boy is 2 months old. YEAH!... his aunty janet made this cute photo collage.

The Hunt for Cheap VOIP..

Before I hit the sack, just thought to ask if anyone has a great way to call from Singapore/malaysia to Japan Cheap?? or vice versa?? Other than Skype.. its great except our parents are Tech-Zero... and there is not SkypeIn number for Singapore nor Malaysia yet... SIGH..

was looking at at this Pfingo site yesterday and it looks pretty promising..
I actually get a Singapore phone number, so anyone, especially family in singapore can call my singapore number and pay local rates, but the call gets routed to where-ever I am and connects to my computer when I am plug in.... wonder has anyone heard or use this.... comments?

Preparing for Autumn...

2 weeks back, wifey aka alien_mummy was shopping and happen to looking at Osh-Kosh Baby stuff... as usual, its SALE... and being the kiasu mummy.. decided to buy this hooded vest.



So in order not to lose out to mummy, ME, while waiting for my turn to have my hair-cut was shopping around in the children's development toy section,.. and bought this pair of err.... miffy "X-trainers" and I thought it was a great way for Zayne to strengthen his leg muscles...


They slip on to the toes part and actually have bells in them.. so each time Zayne kicks or moves his legs, the bells tinkles. And he is actually quite amused with them. Mummy takes a step further, she will put them on once every day, and then Tells Zayne they are going "cycling" and then cycle pumps his legs, and create scenarios they are cycling up a hill or down hill or on level ground, as she varies the cycling speed of his legs.. really imaginative,.. got me laughing ...
and Zayne actually chuckles and laughs when mommy does that with him... Now you understand why I call them X-trainers?

As the Summer heat is still relentless... I thought to educate Zayne to blend in with the local culture. Well, basically dress as close to how the locals will do... so you all think he blends in well?


This next one, got Zayne a little piss-off coz he thinks its too sissy looking, ha haha and he made sure I know exactly his opinions.... sheeez...

yup.. he started crying... ha ha ha but I still thinks its KAWAII.. ha ha ha

that's it for this weekends update.... OH.. surprisingly, the temperature made a drastic dip today... from yesterday's 35 degrees Celsius, it dipped to 26 today... I really liked 26!!!!!!
its was like A/C outside... nice!!!

Added New Photos

HI.. just put up a very small photo album with some captions...
Hope you all will have a good laugh!

Cheers!

五連拍

這是我的處男五連拍哦！

double chin!!!

Yesterday during zayne boy tummy time.., we took a few photos of him, then we discovered his double chin!! and pui pui arm.. ( i am sure that is no muscle lo! )

Oh, God.. didn't know zayne boy has grown so much!! and he knows how to play with us, smile when we call his name, "AH!!!" when he needs us to clean his "sai"... and getting use to his own new world, he has mini micky to play with, little lion to sleep with.. those are his buddies now!

Errrr....ended up shopping :P

thought we had time as it was only 3pm.. so thought to go down to Roppongi to run an errand and at the same time show wifey Roppongi Hills.. she hasn't been there...

Summarizing the event trip...
Started off with us getting out at the wrong station ( Wrong line as well).. err I thought it was Namboku-line (Roppongi 1-chome station), .. but its suppose to be HIBIYA-line (Roppongi 7-chome Station) ..

Then walked the wrong way in blazing hot sun... and finally realizing its the wrong way, tracked back towards the right way... It has been several years since I last set foot in Roppongi!!!!
Strike 2.. Wifey's chin was scrapping the floor by now, plus Hungry Woman is an Angry woman..
So quickly dodged into a sushi restaurant to feed wifey and also to cool down.. then continue to walk another 5 minutes to reach where I want to go...

BUT by then I felt quite guilty.. .so decided to forget about that errand and just bring wifey and Zayne to Roppongi Hills... ... The minute we set foot into Roppongi Hills West Walk... our emperor needs to be fed and change again... and he really wants to be FED... so quickly ask the information counter where the Nursery room is .. and quick hand quick legs... went to the "Family Room"....

While Wifey was feeding our emperor... I stroke out and went out to KPO .. but something caught my eyes... SALE.. 70% off... hmmm then the shop name STOMPSTAMP... AHH..Baby stuff... Mai-TU-LIAO!!... so I was the only MAN in the shop... browsing through all the clothes like an auntie .. and picking up clothes for Zayne.. hahaha.. I think I probably had a few stares from the other mommies.. but hey ... i'm a new age daddy ok... I do shop for my kid!..

Just when I am getting high from shopping.. got a call from Wifey asking me to go back to the nusery to help her... zayne is giving her a difficult time.. Hung up the phone and wanted to purchase what I had in hand first... OMG... my money is in wifey's bag... AAAHHH.... hmm.
the SINGAPOREAN in me kicked in ... quickly hanged the clothes I wanted in an obscure corner on the shop... and run to wifey's aid..

Once Done... hurried pauline and told her about the shop.... and she too got excited.. .. actually she got very excited... coz she took over the shopping spree ... and she almost didn't want to LEAVE!!! anyway... there were still tons to buy, BUT.. only a few pieces fit Zayne lah... luckily we were still logical .. :P so bought about 5 pieces ... all in about 12,500 which we thought was really worthed it. .. now time was 6pm.... looking at the "insatiable" look in wifey's eyes... I just
turn to her and said.. lets continue shopping and walk around lah..... Fireworks got plenty of chance to see lah...

with that.. we walk around somemore, had dinner and wifey wanted to go back to STOMPSTAMP... but I told her we already bought what can be bought... :) ..

The good thing is, we actually caught the fireworks display at our area from Roppongi.. :) he he he but, we only stood around for 10mins to watch... then quickly hopped into a cab to get home.... EMPEROR was really grouchy and crying... SIGH... bo bian..

Tokyo Bay Fireworks Today!!

Summer has lots of festivals and Fireworks (Hanabi) here in japan...
and today, there is one at Tokyo Bay.. that is the closest one to us..
and we can actually see it from where we stay...

http://www.enjoytokyo.jp/OD004Detail.html?EVENT_ID=147523

which is a good thing actually... coz can't possibly bring Zayne to the spot ...
the thundering blast would scared the siht out of him... yes.. my little emperor is a little "tender" .. ha ha ha... he is even afraid of the dark.. sigh... have to sleep with lights on every night... .. so Keeping fingers cross that tonight will have fantastic weather... if not fireworks will be cancelled without postphonement...

Will post some Pics of the fireworks if I can catch a few good shots...
till tonight.. Mata ne!

Our life Saver arrived!!!!

The last 2 weeks of continuous sleepless nights, plus with zayne's demand to be carried and rocked/walked to sleep... has really taken its toll on wifey....

desperation has droved us to almost air-frieghting a sarong hammock from singapore... Logic set in when we did the calculation... $260 for the hammock set, and $260 for airfrieght.. total $520.. OUCH!!

Desperation also improved my Japanese reading tremendously.... found a site that distribute AMBY Baby Hammock in Japan... http://www.hammock-life.com/amby.html
Found the this website around midnight 5 Aug.. Price was 29,800 Yen ~= $396 tax n delivery inclusive.

Made the internet order around 10am on 6 Aug and best of all COD was allowed!!
Confirmation email from hammock-life was recieved same day 5pm with notification that
they have already despatched it out... OMG... best of all, I had a tracking number to check when I will get my package.

Between 6pm & 9pm was the time I specified for delivery time... 7 Aug, 7.30pm Our Life saver arrived...

First time in 7 weeks, Zayne slept without tantrum and without breaking our backs...
Many thanks to the good people running the online site.. from order to delivery, it took only 35 hours...



Ahhhh..... the last 4 hours, was the first time wifey and myself had time to watch TV and surf the web in peace... so Keep your fingers cross for us .. k!

Package from 藤田さん...ええー、 誰？

Recieved a Packaged from the above person... hmmmm...
luckily Cindy warned me before hand that I will be getting a packaged from
some unknown person...

THANKS Cin n your hubby... your gift arrived.. we really love it.. cute!! the tops will be great for coming Autumn n Winter. We were planning to get Zayne his Autumn wear end of the month... but guess you beat us to it.

Will take pictures of him in the clothes after we have them washed...
Thanks!! and thank your Colleague for borrowing her name :p

How do I know who is visiting my blog??

Wifey complained the other day that seems like no one is visiting out blog...
she says, recently there are no comments ....

Hmmmmm.... I also wonder.. coz I dun know how to know if ppl are visiting...
think I have to go hunt for those stats counter ... or something...

Anyone has any idea?