Still no sign of Baby Tam yet...

Only 4 days until my big D-Day, but still no sign of Baby Tam yet. Since I've never been a big fan of having a holiday baby, I told him not to come out on the 4th of July and that he can come out anytime AFTER Independence day. Well, 10 days have passed and I think he's still taking my words to heart and is refusing to come out! Both Ed and I are now telling him on a regular basis to "come out to play". Hopefully, he'll listen and do just that VERY SOON!

All in a day's work

My car has been in dire need of a car wash for a loooooong while now. So after our papa's day lunch at Super Buffer, Ed was super sweet enough to wash my car. While Ed was cleaning my car, my uber cute nephew, Alan wanted in on the action. The only problem was he would still sponge down the car even AFTER the car had been rinsed and was ready for drying!

(Disclaimer - in case this reaches the hands of the child protection agency, technically Alan didn't really clean the car, but it was cute seeing him attempt to help out!)

A chat with Chow Yun-Fat

One of my aunts in England recently opened a small Vietnamese restaurant in London and was surprised by a very special visit by none other than the legendary actor -- Chow Yun-Fat. Filled with overjoyment, my aunt called my mum to tell her about the presence of the famous actor sitting in her restaurant. My aunt then decided to pass the phone to Chow Yun-Fat so that he and my mum could converse. Apparently, Chow Yun-Fat enjoyed the food -- crab, banh xeo (vietnamese crepe) etc. so much that he not only devoured everything on his plate, he also proclaimed that he'll be returning again for another meal!

I hope this will be the start of a very successful restaurant for my aunt and her family!

Our Baby Shower

Ed and I had our co-ed baby shower this past Saturday, which was a lot of fun! Since most of our guests were Asians, we mistakenly thought that they'll arrive on "Asian Time". Interestingly enough, our guests were very punctual and one-by-one -- individuals, couples and families started to pour in. We were a little embarrassed for not being more prepared for our guests. For the next 20 minutes, our wonderful helpers -- Christine, Nicole and Ed's parents rushed around preparing the fruit salad and getting all of the hot food items into the chafing dish. Thankfully, food was served not too long after! Whew!

We would like to thank all of our friends and family for spending a beautiful Saturday afternoon with us and for their wonderful gifts (plus those that are still in transit). Baby Tam now has all of the essentials waiting for him when he decides to make his grand entrance!

We're also extremely gracious to all of our helpers (you know who you are) for all of your help and support at this special event. Thank you!!!

(Full screen)

No mas Baby Crib!

We found out that the awesome baby crib that we had registered for Baby Tam is no longer available on our Babies R Us registry today. Eagered to find out what had happened, I called our local Babies R Us store and was told that the manufacturer had placed a STOP SALE on the Jardine line and to have the product removed from the sales floor until further notice. The kind gentlemen tried to comfort me by saying that the situation could've been worse and that there could've been a product recall issued for the crib instead! He then provided me with a 1-800 number to inquire for further details.

I dialed the 1-800 number and was told by the rep that it was NOT they (the manufacturer) that had issued the STOP SALE, but Babies R Us headquarters themselves for a "inventory line production safety overview". Unfortunately, that was all the information he could provide and advised that I call Babies R Us myself.

Determined to get to the bottom of this mess, I googled for a number to Babies R Us headquarters and was placed on hold. Finally,

after talking to the operator, I was transferred to the voicemail box of a lady in the Babies R Us division where I left a voice message for her to call back. [Note: it has been 7+ hours since I left the VM and I have yet to receive a call back]

My experience have taught me not to wait for a call back, so I googled for some more numbers at Babies R Us. This time, this rep denied that Babies R Us was responsible for the STOP SALE and that it was the manufacturer who had issued it. What a bunch of he said / she said!!! Anyhow, he provided with another number to call for further information.

I dialed the new number and instead of being placed on hold, I was actually on the line with a live person!!! Woohoo! Unfortunately, the rep was unable to provide any further information other than the fact that this is a normal practice and that products are periodically pulled from the sales floor for safety investigations, which may last anywhere from 2 to 6 weeks! I explained my predicament to her -- the fact that we had already purchased the diaper changing table and threw away the box, but needed to purchase the matching crib to complete the nursery! -- and not to mention that I'm only 7 weeks shy of my D-DAY!!! The rep was sympathetic towards my situation and suggested that I keep my receipt for the diaper changing table and that I may want to consider looking for a different crib instead! Yuck!!!!

Granted, that we will become "elite" members of the Babies R Us "club" in the months/years to come, I'm really not looking forward to shopping around for another crib/diaper changing set after spending months to find a set that we both really liked!

And the winner is...

The Volvo XC-90!

This weekend, we were lured into Smythe Volvo due to a special weekend promotion that they had on the XC-90 models. While the price was somewhat appealing, it lacked all of the extra features that Ed and I were looking for. After many hours of reviewing the different features available in the various packages and a second test drive, the offer presented wasn't quite sweet enough for us to buckle down and drop the benjamins.

Having skipped breakfast and lunch, Ed and I left to grab some food when the salesperson called to try to sweeten the deal that was left on the table, we politely responded that we would consider it knowing full well that it still didn't quite cut it for us. Our next stop of the day was to load up on goodies at Costco where we received yet another call from the salesperson, this time Ed and I were too busy to talk and offered to call him back at which point we presented the package that would allow him to cinch the deal. That salesperson, of course had to check with his manager if he could succumb to our deal, but instead of politely declining to meet our expectation, he went off on us on how he had attempted to meet us in the middle and that there is a baseline where he can't continue to negotiate. He also added that he can't continue to "play" like this AND not to expect a phone call from them! How rude! Although, we had decided that we were going to purchase an SUV for our new bundle of joy, Baby Tam isn't expected to make his grand entrance until a few more months. We certainly weren't in a hurry to purchase the SUV and could afford to wait until a better deal came along...

Well, 5 minutes later, the phone rang again and this time, it was the salesperson's manager who called to say that the deal was ours if we wish to take it.

Although we didn't appreciate the rude comments from the salesperson, we realized that the deal was too good to walk away from.

Baby Tam is certainly costing his mummy and daddy a few arms and legs even before his special arrival!

Test Driving

After visiting a crappy granite store, we stopped by Piercey Toyota to test drive the Toyota Highlander Hybrid Limited. The gas mileage is nice, about 25mpg, but it just wasn't very stylish or luxurious on the inside. The ride was just so-so also. There wasn't much cargo space for strollers and groceries if we have the third row bench up.

We also visited the Volvo dealership near our house. The XC90 was a much nicer car, better ride, more cargo space, but only 17mpg or so. Ugh, gas will cost a fortune in this thing.

Next step is to test drive the MDX, X5 and RX400h...