Tuesday, April 15, 2008

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...

Sunday, April 13, 2008

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.

Thursday, April 10, 2008

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.

Tuesday, April 08, 2008

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...

Sunday, April 06, 2008

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.

Thursday, April 03, 2008

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....

Sunday, March 30, 2008

toilet training

We’ve started Joy-Anne’s potty training.

Actually we intended to start only around 3-4 months. This early start came about by accident when she was 2 weeks old. After feeding one morning, my mum gently rubbed her tummy downwards while making the “umm ummmmmm…” sounds and to our surprise, she poo-ed! We tried it again the next day, and the next…all with positive results.

When she turned 2 months old and could hold her head more steadily, we used the potty.


Joe looked at this and said, “big, medium, small”.

Hence Joy-Anne is a very clean baby. No soiled diapers, no bum rash and no diaper change thru the night.. When she starts walking, we will start training her to pee in the potty and then the toilet.

In comparison, Joseph poo-ed all the time, everywhere. I always kept at least 4 diapers in the bag every time we went out. He particularly liked to poo in church, There was a time when he poo-ed in church for four consecutive weeks and up to twice during a 2-hour celebration.

We started him on the potty when he was about 5 months old.

Now he routinely sits and boms every morning after his bottle of milk. It is a good habit.

He was off diapers at 23months old, in March 2007. Up till end of 2007, we still put on a diaper for him at night. But I always had to wait till he was sound asleep before putting it on for him because he insists that “big boy cannot wear diaper!”. He wet the diapers about once every 10 nights. Several times he actually woke up to say he wanted to shee shee. Eventually we took him to pee at about midnight before we went to bed, and again at about 4am when I got up to use the bathroom. Waking up in the middle of the night wasn’t a problem because Joy-Anne put so much pressure on my bladder.

We’ve saved tones of ringgit with Joe’s early potty training. My sister says that in the USA, some people wait till their kids are 3 or even 4 years old to start. In my opinion, that’s way too late. I’ve seen kids who are incredibly articulate, but still wearing diapers. Looks rather unsightly, if you ask me.

I believe Joe’s daytime bladder control was also made easier with our use of cloth diapers. Unlike disposables which can keep bums very dry for longer periods, cloth diapers need to be changed more frequently and baby feels the dampness. Even though the fleece keeps bums quite dry and diaper rash is non-existent, baby realizes something is happening when he passes urine. It made our task easier.

I’ve been told that girls achieve their toddlerhood milestones earlier than boys. If that is true, I’m hoping Joy-Anne can be free of diapers by 18-20 months. Oh well, time will tell!

Thursday, March 27, 2008

smiley at last

I finally managed to get some pictures of Joy-Anne smiling. When we review Joseph's baby photos, we find that his mouth is open (with a duhh kind of look) in almost each and every photo.
Unlike her brother, Joy-Anne keeps her mouth closed in most of her photos.



Wearing the pretty pink roses and butterfly outfit from Tua-Um.



Entertaining myself with my friends...



And trying to fit my fist into my mouth...Nope, it won't fit!

When papa has semester break..

...he takes leave to take me out.


Yesterday, we went to the KL Bird Park. Entrance fee was RM10 for papa (discount with my McD Kids Club card) and free for me (FOC for kids under 3). The timing was so chun because I turn 3 next month.


Here I am with the love birds, and my binoculars. We also had a picnic lunch of egg sandwiches and chocolate milk at the park, just like Higglytown Heroes.


This park is quite clean and big. Unlike the pathetic deer park nearby. I saw ostriches , flamingoes, hornbills and peacocks and many more. It's the world's largest covered aviary.


But I was quite afraid of the huge birds roaming free so papa had to carry me most of the time and that's why he couldn't take that many photos for yee yee to see.
We have to take photo like this.

This is the hatchery. It's for keeping the eggs warm so they hatch and out pop the little chicks.
I had a very educational and fun morning!

Sunday, March 23, 2008

another new outfit...


This is from Aunty Hui-Wearn.

smart talking

I was talking to Joe...

me : Do you want to go to Ikea tomorrow?
Joe: Ya... go to Ikea to buy toys.
me : Do you have money?
Joe: I buy. You pay money!!!

Thursday, March 20, 2008

photos of Joe for yee yee





"I make monkey face"


"I talk to Joy-Anne but she don't understand me"


Wednesday, March 19, 2008

for keepsake

Joy-Anne turned 2 months old yesterday. Since Joe had the privilege of getting his hand and foot prints done in the Keepsake Clay kit, I thought it only fair that Joy-Anne got hers too.

This costs RM84.90...
Trying to get it right...
Ah..finished product.

Friday, March 14, 2008

Almost 2 months

I'm so blessed! Mummy has yet to buy a single piece of clothing for me. Yet everyday is like a fashion show for me.

This white one is a gift from Tua Um.


And this is from Yee Yee...

I've still got several new outfits in my wardrobe....

Thursday, March 13, 2008

blessed to have and hold


Exactly a year ago today, I was reeling from the effects of having my womb sucked clean. They call it a D&C. What the doctor did was put me to sleep and then suck the dead fetus out of my womb. Horrible as it was, i'm thankful that today I have a perfectly healthy and beautiful 8-week old baby in my arms.


It's undeniably tiring and waking up every 2 hours at night to feed her is no walk in the park but I'm counting my blessings. I know there are many women who want to be in my shoes.

And I'm even more thankful for my superwoman mother who is making my life so much easier by helping me with my kids.

Monday, March 10, 2008

life with 2...

It's been a while since my last post. I've been busy. That, and blogging with dial-up is a real pain. After coming back to KL, Joy-Anne has still been feeing round the clock.


I estimate she's hooked on my breast up to 12 hours a day making it very difficult for me to even cut my nails, do big business, or take a proper bath. I do most things like eating and typing this with one hand.
It's difficult to spend time with Joe. I miss taking him out to Ikea and Midvalley.



Last weekend, we made an impromptu trip up to Penang. My cousin passed away at the age of 32 years and 3 months after battling an aggressive nasopharyngeal carcinoma for a year and a half. His cancer-ravaged body was hardly recognizable. We thank God that He is now Home, free of all pain and suffering.



Celebrating my mum's birthday just before we got the sad news.

Joe said, "I make funny face!"






In Penang, I started getting the flu. Then on the way back, Joseph started vomiting and had a fever. Two days later, Joy-Anne woke up in the morning with a fever. She has since recovered but Joe and I still have drippy noses. It's tough trying to recover when I can't get enough rest.


Hopefully, Joy-Anne will start sleeping longer at night or I'm gonna be a zombie dentist when I go back to work. Don't want to get sued for pulling out a wrong tooth now, do I?