Maternity Money no enough

Dear SG,

Although I’ve cross blog this with Karen’s baby blog, I didn’t forget that To SG with Love from NZ is still a blog for differentiating SG and NZ. (Not that there are a lot of similarities to begin with! Hee…)

But since we are on babies’ topics, I would like to take this opportunity to answer one of the most commonly asked questions by all my SG’s mom and girlfriends. How long is my maternity leave?

In SG, we are given 12 weeks of PAID maternity leave, 8 weeks by the company we are working for, and 4 weeks by the SG government. Certain conditions apply of course, for example, we had to be working in the organization for at least 180 days to qualify for it. And when I stress PAID leave, I mean paid as in the monthly gross rate of pay.

In NZ, the Pros are that the companies are obliged to provide the maternity leave for a maximum duration of one year. Now for the cons, the leaves are unpaid. Another pros, the NZ government will provide an allowance of approximately $400 a week for up to 14 weeks. And the cons again, we are taxed on that $400 which means it’s down to $300 a week (reminder, the tax in NZ is really high and cost of living is pretty high too).

In case you are wondering if $300 a week is sufficient, renting a house here would cost at least $200+ a week on the lower end of the scale, if there is a house mortgage to pay off, that will be at least 3 times the cost of renting which is at least $600+ a week and that’s also on the lower end of the scale. There’s always a silver lining though, with so many different welfare bodies in NZ, if “money no enough”, there’s always a welfare packages that might fulfill the basic needs.

Read on a friend’s blog that the new local movie, Money no enough 2 (钱不够用2) is pretty good. Anyone cares to send me the VCD? ;)

With love from NZ,

J

On becoming Babywise

Whenever I am faced with a problem, a challenge, a need to get some answers, I would always turn to 2 of my favorite source of information. The internet and books. Before the internet, I would borrowed heaps of books with topics that interests me or simply caught my eyes. Now with the world wide web at a click of a button plus over $80 of monthly broadband fees, I could have information at my finger tips.

I've been busy before Karen arrived hence I haven't been reading up as much as I could. With a baby that could only communicate by crying, I was desperate to get some help to set up a routine, and hopefully to get her to sleep longer at night (before I become a vampire). I turn to the library for help and requested for the book "Baby Whisperer" but I was put on a waiting list. While browsing, I came across this other book "On Becoming Baby Wise: Giving your infant the gift of Nighttime sleep" by Gary Ezzo and Robert Bucknam.

I recommend this book to the parents who would like the possibility of getting a little more sleep at night. So far, it has bagged us at least 3 full hours of sleep each interval (I really mean sleep, which doesn't include feeding and changing) and once in a while, 4 hours of sleep!!! The book actually suggest a possibility of 6 to 7 hours by the time she's 8 weeks old. Karen's only 3 weeks plus and I am pretty happy with the result.

But warning, you will need to get half way through the book before you get to the main point that explain how to establish the routine.

Oh, another warning, we have the advantage of formula feeding which actually last longer in between feeds. :p


Cross Post from Multiply "Karen's baby step"
http://joantohlau.multiply.com/

3 weeks old today

Karen is 3 weeks old today. It's the reason why i set up this blog in Multiply for her. 3 weeks have passed so quickly and I'm still trying to figure her out. Seriously, I've beginning to enjoy having her around especially during bedtime because she's so warm and it's winter here. This means I get to cuddle her to bed with me. She's like my little hot water bottle. The only problem with this tiny "water bottle" is the leaking... she isn't leaking urine if that's what you are wondering, she sweats furiously if I cover her with my blanket. This means I have to keep her cool while she keeps me warm. It's not an easy task.

As a mother of 3 weeks, I've learnt the following:
1. She can smile.
2. She has very strong neck
3. It's possible for her to almost sleep through the night
4. It's possible for her to wake up every hour too.
5. By 2 weeks plus, she could grab our teeshirt if we tried to put her down
6. She snores... (takes after the dad)



Cross Post from Multiply "Karen's baby step"
http://joantohlau.multiply.com/

Dummy for babies?

Dear SG,

Should we get a dummy for the baby? Now you must be wondering why would a baby need a dummy? But if I tell you dummy is just a pet name in NZ for the word "Pacifier", does it makes more sense now? ;)

with love from NZ,
j