Everyday should be Mother's Day

This morning a special delivery came for my mum.

Indeed, everyday should be Mother's Day.

Danny is my soon-to-be brother-in-law.
Everything I know about mothering, I learnt it from my mum. She's still teaching. I'm still learning.

I thank God that at 61, my mum is still strong, healthy and attractive!

She has a 28-inch waist and looks good in most clothes.

Good genes passed down...

New record

Yesterday Joy-Anne broke her record of 6oz. She drank 8oz of milk + 1oz water in one go.

Burrrpppp.....

Then she slept for 3 hours straight.

I'm growing, smiling!

This outfit is from Yee Yee...bought before even the gynae saw the 'hamburger'.

My happy baby!

I was trying to take Joy-Anne's picture. Joe wanted to busy-body.

My mouth...
My ear...

My foot!

Silly pics

Playing with my nursing pillow

New birthday present...his current favourite toy (from Aunty Joanne). He enjoys filling the pipes with water.

My hat. This is how I brush my teeth.

Eating papadam at Curry Leaf Restaurant Seremban

Look I've got sticks growing out of my ears!

Messing about on Ah Kong's bed

Now Ah Kong's tummy so small...

Now so big. And Joe told Ah Kong, "Make even bigger...Bigger...BIGGER!!!"

3 months and rolled over

We spent the weekend in Seremban. It was our first time back post-confinement. Joy-Anne rolled over by herself for the first time....and I missed it! I was taking a bath when she decided to roll over. Edwin saw it. She was exactly 3 months and 1 day old.

Holding on tight...





Enjoying her bath...

Looking cute...

with Kor Kor...

friendship for keeps

Two Sundays ago, we had a lazy Sunday afternoon lunch with some friends. Lazy to go out mah... so we tar-pau-ed and had them come over.

Adeline, Yvonne and I go a long way back to when I first moved to Penang and joined them in MGS Primary. This is us in the choir club in Form 5.

At FES Conference during our university days.

Adeline and I each had a son in April 2005. Joseph and Nathaniel were born 2 days apart.


Yvonne had a daughter a year later in April 2006.
April babies...

Last year, Adeline and I found ourselves pregnant again. Abigail and Joy-Anne were both born in January 2008, 11 days apart.



It's amazing how we've 'multiplied'. This is us now...





And our husbands...

Joseph's 3rd birthday

Joe is 3 years old tomorrow - 14 April 2008. We celebrated it tonight. His grandparents came from Seremban and Penang while Ah Ku came from Nilai.

His cake - Chocolate Indulgence from Secret Recipe. The strawberries were added on our own - special request by Joe.

The deco was a huge disappointment. I would have expected something of higher standards from a well-known, established company like Secret Recipe.

I actually ordered the cake 10 days in advance, and brought along this photo to show them exactly what I wanted. I said that instead of the number '2' to make a number '3'.

This was his birthday cake last year from Jenni's (Bangunan Axis, Pulau Tikus, Penang). It cost merely RM63. Belgian Choc. Certainly the best by far in terms of taste, cost, deco, service and variety.

At Secrept Recipe, the deco was done on-the-spot when Edwin went to collect the cake. The words look like some pathetic scribbling. I did some 'repair' work and it looked like this after the repairs. I had to take a piece of leftover near the tail of the 'y' from Happy and put it at the end of the first leg of the 'H' to make it look more legible.

I also specified that I wanted the words in white cream because I do not like coloured icing. Common sense would tell you that if the words are gonna be white, then the cake should NOT be white, right? Seems they lack some common sense at SR.

Nevertheless, there was a lot of food for just 8 adults. We had a feast with plenty of leftovers for the next few days.

Here's Joe with his cake, some presents and our chocolate fondue.

Joe with NaNa and Kong Kong.

Joe with Ah Mah and Ah Kong.

With Ah Ku and aunty Joanne.

Joe with his parents and Joy-Anne.

Joe eating strawberry with chocolate fondue. Joy-Anne breastfeeding.

Playing with his new favourite toy - present from aunty Joanne.

only one me

...not enough to go around.

Yesterday Joseph showed his first signs of jealousy, or rather resentment towards his sister. I was spending time with Joe playing games on the computer when Joy-Anne came back from her morning pool-side walk with my mom and wanted to nurse. So I latched Joy-Anne on and was going to continue with Joe. Yup...multi-tasking.

But Joe wanted me all to himself. He started to cry, "No, I don't want Joy-Anne. Put Joy-Anne down."

Eventually my mom distracted him with some balloons.

Going crazy yet

I think I'm on the verge of insanity. Lack of sleep....or broken sleep can make a person crazy. Certainly if that person is me.

Joseph has not been very well these past couple of days. He's been coughing and having a runny nose. In fact, 2 nights ago, he choked on his saliva and phelgm in his sleep and suddenly woke up and vomitted. My motherly instinct quickly carried him to the edge of the bed and shouted for Edwin to bring the potty, saving the bed from being soaked in smelly vomit.

Last night, he didn't want to eat dinner. So I asked him if he would like to eat medicine or go straight to bed. He chose the latter and was asleep by 7.30pm.

After patting him to sleep, I fed Joy-Anne and she then fell asleep at 8pm plus. My mum carried her while I went to eat dinner, wash bottles, do some chores and bathe.

I fed her again at 11.30pm. She fell asleep at about 12.15am. At 1.30am, she woke again to feed. After feeding, I put her in her cot at about 2am. At 3.40am, she woke...again! So I fed her again and put her down at 4.15am. At 4.50am, she woke yet again!!!

Gosh...she can't possibly be hungry again so soon. So I picked her up and started to rock her back to sleep. At first she kept quiet. But soon she started to peck at my shoulder and hunt for my breast. Unable to pacify her, I fed her again at 5.15am. After feeding, she refuses to go back to sleep. Instead she regurgitates and soaks her shirt and hair. I change her and leave her in the cot while I lie down on my bed. She's not happy....and starts to cry. At this point my mom is awake and she rocks Joy-Anne. She finally sleeps again at 6am.

By now, Joseph is awaken by all the crying.

me : Do you want to shee shee? (while trying to pat him back to sleep)

Joe : Well, no thanks.

me : You want some water?

Joe : No thanks. I think I need nen nen.

So I got up to go to the kitchen. Joe climbs on my back to piggy-back and says, "I think I need to come with you".

Back in the room with the bottle of milk, he picks out the "Little Red Hen" book and lies down to drink his milk. (He has never held his own bottle. He holds the book. I hold the bottle.) After he finishes his milk, he wants me to read the book.

So at 6.40am, I find myself reading the Little Red Hen to Joe. When we're done, he's now fully awake and doesn't want to go back to sleep. Thankfully his dad is now awake and at my prompting, takes Joe down for a walk to get some fresh air and see the sun rise.

Another day dawns...

At dinner last night...

...we were having beef rendang which my mother-in-law lovingly cooked.

Joe took one look at it....and said, "sai". Better not let Ah Mah know about this.

Back to work and other stuff

April is here and my 3-month maternity leave is over. Got back to work on 1st April. Nope, no April Fool's joke. I found this in the clinic on my first day back at work.

So sweet and thoughtful of my dear husband. He's been such a great help at home....doing the dishes, hanging the laundry, sweeping and mopping the floor etc etc and never complaining when I snap at him. What to do...sleepy = grumpy.

I feel a wee bit liberated to be out of the house for a while. But I can't help but wonder how the 2 kids are doing back home, bullying Nana. I wonder whether Joy-Anne has enough milk to drink. I wonder whether Joe is napping or jumping on my bed.

He's so cheeky these days. And such a drama king.

When Nana has to work to do, Joe will be busy with the tv.

And Joy-Anne has to entertain herself.

I also found this (wrapped up) in clinic on tuesday. It's a gift from all the clinic staff. To ensure Joe doesn't feel left out, I imprinted both their hands and I'll be inserting photos of them taken together.

I hope they grow up loving each other. I was talking to Joe last night...

me : Joe, when Joy-Anne grow big and she takes your toy to play, what will you do?

Joe : (he thinks for a while...) Ermm....I take another toy.

me : What if Joy-Anne wants to drive your car? (He's got 2 toy cars)

Joe : I drive the other car.

I hope he remembers this when the time comes....