He has grown up so much!

After so much shopping for my lil girl, I realized I haven’t really pre-wash those clothes, bed sheet, pillow cases etc for her, so I did yesterday…Since I also bought some new clothes for the elder boy, I’ve included them in the washer.

While I was hanging those clothes, I realized my boy has grown up so much! When I compare those clothes I bought for my baby girl with those for my boy, hanging them side by side, I realized my boy is no longer a baby, like how I always call him…Soon he will be a big brother to the lil baby sister!

Now as daddy & I get ready for baby girl to arrive, we probably have to do something to help our boy to be ready too, for his new sibling! Of cause we have been educating him about his lil sister’s existence & her arrival soon, but are these sufficient? Maybe we should have brought him to some of the gynae appointments, so he can see from the ultrasound screen that there’s a real baby in mummy’s tummy, but then again, will he really understand it?

I took an online quiz today on whether my boy is ready for a new sibling. My score was 21, which says: “It sounds like you have a nice balance of involvement with your child and your pregnancy. Be sure to answer any questions he may have, but be brief and don't go into more detail than is age-appropriate.” So I guess we are more or less there, but need to do more in preparing my boy…

Anyone has any good suggestions for me?

Preparing for her arrival

I've been so busy lately that I think I've neglected the pregnancy, or rather neglected my dear daughter...I was busy with projects one after another in April & May, not giving me space to even breath. Then in June, it was all about mum, PLUS work...So I felt so exhausted!

Finally last 2 weeks, I had some time for myself and I realized both hubby and I are not really prepared and ready for our baby girl's arrival as yet. And u know what? We are now left with ONLY two more months to go before my expected due date!

Firstly we have not decided on her name, both English & Chinese name...so that's one headache for me. Been looking through the names-dictionary which we got it as a Christmas gift when we got married, but nothing excites me as yet though we have short-listed a few...

As part of the preparation, shopping is definitely not avoidable! In the last 2 weeks, we have been shopping quite a bit for our baby girl, including getting her bedding, clothing and other new born essentials ready.

In preparation for labour, I've also started to do more exercises & reading. Since we did not opt for antenatal class refresher, I took out all the notes from previous antenatal class to read too.

Somehow I still feel that we have not done enough to prepare for our baby girl's arrival...Or maybe that's how it is when u have a second baby?

Taming Tantrums

If u have a baby or toddler, u would probably be able to give me some good advice…

Somehow recently, my 19th month lil toddler has been throwing tantrums...Most recent being one of the nights earlier this week, when he was about to sleep at night and suddenly papa’s phone rang and papa went out of the room and he got curious & woke up straight away. And when papa was done with the phone call, my lil boy was already sulking…then soon enough followed by crying and throwing tantrums all over, and both me & hubby were not sure of what he really wanted that time. Our guess : it was some 30 mins passed his bed time, he was sleepy & tired, but yet didn’t feel like going to sleep?

And the worse part was….He didn’t want both papa and mama to hug or cuddle him, and he just went on sitting on his bed & crying & crying... And before I could think of any attractive good tricks to calm him, he vomited! Now…he created a whole mess and I got really mad…Ofcoz I didn’t scold him or whatever, just went on cleaning & changing him, then calm him to bed…

I did get some advice from those baby websites, but I felt most of them are very “theory”-based, ie : Model good behavior, Set good expectations, Establish rules, Be consistent and supportive, Eliminate temptation, and Avoid tantrums of your own, etc. Many of these are what we have already been doing today, but practically I must say not all of them can be done easily, ie. Avoid my own tantrums (for someone hot tempered like me)…Nevertheless, am still trying my best…

So do u have any better advice?

Baby in my tummy...

My usual gynae check-up is dued today, so as usual hubby & I went to doc's clinic after lunch. The wait today was extra long because somehow the queue was not arranged well by the nurse, so I got a lil frustrated after 1.5 hours of waiting...

But guess what? I was truely delighted after the check-up! Why?


We did a very thorough scan today and doc spent a lot of time with us on the scan somehow (maybe she knew I was upset for the long wait). So we saw baby's head, the heart, the bladder, the spine, the tummy, the hands, the legs, etc. Gynae confirmed that the baby is now 17 weeks old, growing well and the structure is formed well too....Best part was : she confirmed that I'm having a BABY GIRL!!!

I was so extremely happy and first thing I said was : Thank God for answering my prayer!

I was indeed praying for a baby girl way before I was pregnant, while hubby & I were planning for our 2nd baby. Coz I read in this book called "Supernatural Childbirth" that if you are wishing to have certain baby gender, u gotta commit that to God way before u conceive so then God can do something about it! haha...Once u'r pregnant, though u may not know the gender of your baby as yet, but it's already formed. The gender was decided while the sperm found the egg, so it's probably too late to pray for certain gender after that...

I really really felt grateful to have God answered this prayer of mine. U know...having blessed with another baby according to our family plan (ofcoz we submitted the plan to God too) is already great, but having blessed with a baby girl is just marvelous! It's beyong words how God has blessed me and my family...

Praise the Lord!!! for He is good, ALL THE TIME!

My Pregnancy so far...

Just came back from the hospital for my first(second) check-up after we confirmed the pregnancy during the last check.

Baby is developing well, now 10 weeks old and we even saw the hands & legs! The baby's heart is very actively pumping too! Here's the photo of it, and trust me, this is the best I could load as the doc doesnt know how to transfer the file as image to my thumbdrive, I used the camera to take a pic of the hardcopy doc gave me....haha!

Comparing with the previous pregnancy, this one is truely different, like many have told me that each pregnancy will be different...For the past few weeks I suffered on evening sickness & nausea, though not as serious as many other mummies, it's bad enough for me to cope since I've never experienced this for my last pregnancy. I also lost appetide and lost weight!

Well I guess the "bad" time is soon coming to an end...I prayed about this alot, and nausea has more or less gone from me now. Only thing is....I still dont have much appetide for dinners, but I guess this will soon improve too (I hope)!

Apart from slight nausea & evening sickness, I'm just feeling very tired everyday...But that should be the way according to my gynae. She said :"My dear, can u imagine ur whole body strength & all energy has been used to BUILD another human inside u? Ofcoz u'll feel tired!" Haha...how true!

Hubby & Baby's new toy!

The past weekend was really a wonderful one....

Infact hubby has been talking about buying a bike since we now stay in a very very environmental friendly neighbourhood where there are huge parks around for cycling, jogging & all. Also when we were in Europe, we saw many parents riding bicycles with their kids at the back-seat (with special baby seat for bikes).

So finally last weekend, we went to checkout some bike shops coz hubby came back home with the baby-bike-seat on Friday night already! haha! Apparently he found this baby-seat in the area he was in for work last Friday and the price was reasonable, so he bought it (before we even have the bike)!

Now here's the "expensive" but very stylish Rockbike and other photos of the bike with the baby seat & lastly the baby-helmet we got for baby to wear whenever he's on the bike...and I tell u, baby looks soooooo fantastically CUTE when he wears the helmet and sits on the baby-bike-seat! And I truely enjoyed looking at the lovely "papa" riding the stylish bike with happy baby at the back going around the park....

Baby's first few steps...

It's just so wonderful to see your baby started walking "freehand", and not cruising along the furniture anymore!

Actually my baby started to walk few steps a time few days before he fell sick, and he was still "walking" while he was admitted in the hospital, but "walking" on the baby bed which was quite a big court for him...

Last weekend, I put the new pair of sandles on him and we brought him down to the park to "practice" his walking. AMAZING! He was walking & walking, ofcoz few steps at a time, but tirelessly walking! Hubby & I were laughing and we were soooo happy that baby was enjoying this learning. And finally I felt much better now since baby was discharged from the hospital as we watched him having fun!

I guess this is the sweet part of parenthood. The joy within me when I saw baby walking those few steps by himself is beyond description. This is a huge milestone for both baby and us as parents!

Soon baby is going to call me "mommy"...I cant wait for that moment!

*somehow my baby is still talking those "nonsense" at 13th month, but I guess that's ok...his time will come!*

Oh...my poor lil baby!

Last Sat after the medication given by ER on friday nite, baby's fever subsided, cough & flu got slightly better. But on Sunday afternoon onwards, the fever came back, cough & flu seemed to be getting worse...Baby cant seemed to be able to sleep well, and he vomited in the middle of night too, suffering from nose-block and bad cough...

Monday morning 7am we went to the hospital to see the paediatrician, but her appointments were really full and we had to wait in the queue. At 11.30am, finally it was our turn! Doc checked lil baby and said he has got pneumonia, commonly known as lungs infection. Now baby needs to be hospitalized to get the right treatment and x-ray done. My heart fell down to the ground! But doc said this is not something REALLY serious, and as long as treated well, it will be alright.

After all the admission processes, we got in to the single room at 3pm. First treatment started thereafter - Nebulizer, where the liquid medicine will help to "soften" the phlegm. This will not cause any pain but baby was just sooo affraid and he was screaming, crying & struggling throughout the 5 mins of treatment. Me? I cried with him helplessly...

About an hour later, another treatment in place - physiotherapy, to help clear the phlegm. This is the WORST treatment! They wrapped baby and insert the long thin tube into his nose & throat to "suck" those phlegm out by a machine! Baby was screaming out his lungs and crying helplessly. The physio therapist told me to wait outside the room and only daddy was in there. I cant describe how painful it was to me to hear baby's shouting from inside the room...This took about 20 mins and imagine, baby crying & shouting for 20 mins and u cant do anything to help!

Besides, they did the x-ray for baby's chest, took his blood for tests and japped his buttock with antibiotic on top of the oral antibiotic dose. And for each of these, he cried & screamed. Towards Monday night, he was so exhausted and his eyes were swollen.

After 4 days in the hospital, gone through those "suffering" time, I must say : My lil baby is really a tough boy! I'm so proud of him! BRAVO BABY! *star for u* Everyday 3-4 times of nebulizer treatments, 1 physio, 1 jab a day for first 2 days, oral medication, etc....YET he's a happy boy smilling and playing when there's no treatment going on for the past few days. And this is really heart-warming and encouraging for me. Finally today, he can be discharged! As usual, he's back to be a cheerful boy!

I cant really describe how despairing it was to see my lil baby suffered the past few days. The hurt to see your pitiful baby going through the fearful treatment is heart-tearing and beyond words...I'm glad that this is all over now and baby will just need to be on medication for few more days and return for check-up next week...

Baby fell sick :(

Baby was having cough & flu since yesterday, so I brought him to the clinic yesterday morning. After some medication, he looked OK and so I didn't bring him to the hospital since hubby was not back from outstation as yet.

Got a call from hubby today at around 7.30pm while I finished dinner and was about to go home...telling me that baby is crying since 7pm, looked like he was looking for me, so asking me to come home quickly.

The moment I got home, looking at my poor lil boy crying there, immediately I hugged him and I felt the heat on his forehead. He's got fever! Hubby & I quickly pack the bag and off we went to the hospital's emergency room. He vomited in the car while we almost reached there...poor baby...

Thank God we didnt need to wait in a queue! Immediately when we arrived, the nurse came by and checked him in the room, then wrote down all necessary details and then an MO came to check on baby. He said :" This is viral fever , and there's also oral infection. If the fever doesnt subside in 3days, please come back to do a blood test." Baby cried like mad when he was checked by this Indian MO and he vomited again...
Then there was this nurse who came and inserted the medication into baby's rectum. She also took a small pale of warm water in and sponged baby to help release those heat from his body... At last we collected the medicine and baby fell asleep as we drove home....

My heart broke when I saw baby crying in discomfort. He has never fall sick like this and at his 13th month now, this is the first time. I believe he himself doesnt know how to cope with this. He refused to take milk and he vomited each time when he cried & coughed. He couldnt sleep coz his nose is blocked but he's exhausted. Poor baby...

As I cuddled him all night long, I wished I could take the discomfort, the fever, the phlem & flu all away from him, so he could just rest and sleep well...And I really hope the medication will help him fast...

Our lil bundle of Joy!

It took me a while to decide which should I post here at my very first blog...and finally i decided on this one - about my 1 year old lil cute baby....

Some people may think & say :
sigh, this new mum, is gonna just write & write about how cute her baby is, nothing new lar!

Guess what? I may surprise u! haha!

Infact, having to write about this, it's also to remind myself of the joyous moment in my life! When my lil baby boy was born Sept last year, he weighed 3.6kg and he was born without epidural (a type of painkiller for those men out there who may not know, hehe!). I was proud of myself and ofcoz my hubby was proud of me too! The type of joy when baby came out from my womb was just "undescripable" and i'm sure those of you out there who are parents will know what i mean...

Like a blink of an eye, the experience of giving birth is still so fresh to me and yet baby is already almost one year old now! Time flies...

I must say...being a working mom, it's never easy for me to juggle the busy schedule and yet spend enough quality time with my lil baby, plus breast-feeding during the first 6 months! And I've shared with many many new mothers that this is worth the effort! Infact I feel like I can start a breast-feeding consulting business since I've consulted sooooo many friends, friends' wives, hubby's friends, hubby's friends wives and colleagues on this matter! hahaha! Some came to me asking about the feeding, some asked me about juggling work & feeding the baby, some asked me about traveling for work while nursing, some asked me about handling breastmilk, etc, and I must say, this mode of exchanging notes is so important and encouraging!

Now that baby is turning one, seeing him with some lil cute teeth and the lovely smile each day, I realised that the joyous moment did not just stop at the moment he was born, but has been with me and my hubby and our whole family throughout the last 11+ months...