Cord Blood Banking

I mentioned in one of my earlier entry that I would do a cord blood banking post once I've gathered enough information. Above is a packshot of Cowboy's cord blood collection kit and obviously, I've decided to bank it privately with Cord Life mainly because it is the only private cord blood bank in Southeast Asia to be AABB accredited (though I heard stemcord is in the process of getting accreditation) and it has friendly and professional sales consultant. Being AABB accredited means that the company has to meet some of the highest standards in the cord blood banking industry and this gives great assurance to me.

It took me and Daddy a few months to decide if we should fork out money to bank it privately, donate to Singapore Cord Blood Bank or to discard it and pray that no misfortune will befall, in view of our family tree's clean bill of health. We just couldn't make up our mind.

At one point, we were almost decided on donating it to SCBB because there were claims that a person's own cord blood might not be the best source of stem cells for the treatment of many genetic disorders like metabolic diseases and leukaemia. That means, on top of money spent (futilely) banking it privately, we need to spend another bomb buying suitable cells from SCBB for transplants. Now, that sounds silly and totally unwise. As SCBB is a national reserve, so once we've made a donation, my bb's stem cells will belong to SCBB and available for public access, which means it might not be available to us in times of need! Urgh! This is a caught between tough situation.

My gynae recommended that if we are financially able, we really should consider banking it privately as there could be wider uses of stem cells for treatment of more diseases in the future once there are breakthrough in researches.

We procastinated till an advertisement in ST by cordlife came out, offering a HP mini laptop (SP. S$599) upon sign up. Of course, there were strings attached so after much haggling with the sales consultant, we committed a 10-year plan for $3100 (excl GST) using CDA account. It was a $650 direct discount.

We felt relieved and a load off our mind after this decision is made. Like many others, there is always a doubtful side of us on the uncertainty of what could happen in the future hence, to keep our mind at ease, we felt we should embark on this biological assurance least we regret in the future.

Visit to Singapore Flyer

It has been a while since we ventured into town with Rynae, so on this wonderful Saturday, our family decided to keep cool in the shopping centres in the bay area. GSS has kicked in but we haven't a shopping list in mind. Daddy suggested visiting Marina Barrage but the walking distance is unimaginable! So, we changed plan to visit the Singapore Flyer instead. Well, not to take a ride but to enjoy the breeze and scenery. It was rather relaxing and our gal loves strolling on the rocks and throwing leaves into the water.

Tennis Session

World no. 1 toddler tennis player (with some kungfu skills)

Mummy saw a set of toy tennis rackets that came with a rubber ball in Kiddy Palace and grabbed it at a 15% discount. From now onwards, besides bicycle riding in the evening, Rynae can also sweat it out in a game of tennis!

Vesak Day Holiday

In lieu of the Saturday Vesak Day PH, school was closed on Monday - a jolly good weekday for an outing to the zoo. It was my first attempt in bringing Rynae to the zoo by myself and I told her to give me her greatest cooperation. And she did! She was well-behaved and I was particularly proud of her when she patiently waited alone for my return when I queued up to buy food at KFC.

We caught the (boring) Elephants of Asia show at 11.30am and thereafter, I forked out $5 for a basket of bananas and carrots for our friend to feed the animals. We took 2 rounds of free ride on the tram before bidding farewell. We truly enjoyed each other's company today.

Pail Walkers

I came across a website (http://www.kydzedu.com/) sometime ago that claims to be a provider of high quality educational toys and learning resources to schools, preschools and learning facilities throughout Singapore. After looking through their catalogue, I do find some items interesting and therefore dropped them an email to find out about their pricing. Their response and customer service attitude was excellent and that gave me a positive impression of them.

As I hardly trust online product shots, I decided to make a trip to their outlet.The shop was choked with merchandises and there was hardly any walking space. Spotting me looking around aimlessly, the pronto boss came forth to offer help and showed me what I wanted. Thank god I came because some of these items looked so far-fetched from the pictures I saw online!

I shortlisted some montessori and some fun time toys, amongst them, a pail walker which I've been wanting to make/get for Rynae. I had this instinct that she'll like it and she really did! Seeing her playing with this walker brings back memory of my childhood cus I used to play with DIY condensed milk tin walkers when I was young too! What a nostalgia...