our beloved son left us for a better place last evening and i've created a blog to remember him forever....
Friday, November 06, 2009
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
strawberry milk, anyone?
warning: graphic post
i've always thought that bfing gets easier (& better) with subsequent children - because you are supposed to know what to do already!
unfortunately though, i am still dodged by the same problems 2nd time round... its largely because my li'l prince decides that night feeds are not important & me, being the 'lazy' one, choosing sleep over clearing the milk ducts... now i'm in so much pain that i'm close to shouting out my entire vocabulary of expletives at the top of my voice! doesn't help that dh doesn't appreciate nor empathise with me!
and oh, that's milk tinged with blood by the way & not strawberry milk! i had to use needles to poke and try to find the blocked ducts - that's the reason for the blood. no fun at all... i gave up after 15 mins w/o finding all the spots.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
back entries
sorry i've been so slack in posting entries - can't really find the time to do anything else amidst caring for 2 kids and getting enough sleep. i shall attempt to complete these back entries (not in chronological order) over the weekend... so check on back later!
- Chace's full month parties
- swimming playdate
- Jvel's birthday party
- Chace's full month parties
- swimming playdate
- Jvel's birthday party
- polliwog playdate
- swimming playdate @ the club
same same but different...
Are you very different from your other siblings? My two babies are as different as chalk and cheese! Both in appearance and in behavior… but why? from the same factory leh...
They may look identical but Claire is fair skinned, petite & lightweight whereas Chace is rather dark skinned at this point, tall, stout & heavyweight. In fact, Chace’s face is now almost as big as Claire’s (He is 6kg+ now @ 2 months’ old). As DH aptly put it – lucky the girl is thin and the boy is fat and not the other way around. We do want to marry Claire off some day!
Claire used to wake up every hour or so for milk in the initial months, thus totally disrupting my sleeping schedule. She is a ‘small-eater’ as she takes sips of milk each time she nurses whereas Chace tanks up each time he does. As a result, he is (almost) sleeping through the night from as early as a month ago, waking up only once or twice and its not even to feed – he won’t even open his mouth when I offer him milk – he just wants to look around and will easily drift back off to lala land. Sleep is apparently more important to this little boy – he remains in deep sleep even when I change his diaper. His willingness to sleep is much appreciated and I have managed to sleep for good 5 hours stretches, which in my opinion is fantastic with an infant around. Unfortunately though, he is rather noisy even asleep – making grunting noises when he stretches and I get awaken anyway because I’m such a light sleeper! The other ‘downside’ of him sleeping through – the ‘milk factory’ doesn’t get emptied and causes me to be really uncomfortable so I end up ‘reporting’ to the inanimate pump at the unearthly hour instead. Its difficult for me to understand why some mummies choose to pump instead of latching on since they want to breastfeed... I'm totally hate emptying my milk ducts using this method... not to mention having to get out of bed to wash & sterilise the bottles & pump parts half-asleep!
They may look identical but Claire is fair skinned, petite & lightweight whereas Chace is rather dark skinned at this point, tall, stout & heavyweight. In fact, Chace’s face is now almost as big as Claire’s (He is 6kg+ now @ 2 months’ old). As DH aptly put it – lucky the girl is thin and the boy is fat and not the other way around. We do want to marry Claire off some day!
Claire used to wake up every hour or so for milk in the initial months, thus totally disrupting my sleeping schedule. She is a ‘small-eater’ as she takes sips of milk each time she nurses whereas Chace tanks up each time he does. As a result, he is (almost) sleeping through the night from as early as a month ago, waking up only once or twice and its not even to feed – he won’t even open his mouth when I offer him milk – he just wants to look around and will easily drift back off to lala land. Sleep is apparently more important to this little boy – he remains in deep sleep even when I change his diaper. His willingness to sleep is much appreciated and I have managed to sleep for good 5 hours stretches, which in my opinion is fantastic with an infant around. Unfortunately though, he is rather noisy even asleep – making grunting noises when he stretches and I get awaken anyway because I’m such a light sleeper! The other ‘downside’ of him sleeping through – the ‘milk factory’ doesn’t get emptied and causes me to be really uncomfortable so I end up ‘reporting’ to the inanimate pump at the unearthly hour instead. Its difficult for me to understand why some mummies choose to pump instead of latching on since they want to breastfeed... I'm totally hate emptying my milk ducts using this method... not to mention having to get out of bed to wash & sterilise the bottles & pump parts half-asleep!
this morning's 'output'
Nursing is definitely easier the 2nd time round – without breaking a sweat, I pump out almost 200ml of milk in less than 10 mins and I do not even bother emptying the milk factory as I'm hoping my little prince (or princess) will wake up for a night snack.
I suspect their characters will also be opposite of each other but for that, only time will tell…
Friday, October 09, 2009
Claire turns 30 months – reflections...
The last two months was probably very trying for Claire as she adjusts to the addition of a new family member – heck, I think it was trying even for us!
Once the only child, she is now an elder sister. She has shown clear affection for her little brother – fussing over him (“mummy, didi is crying”), giving him heaps of hugs & kisses and even helping us take care of him (bringing wipes & diapers when he needs a change, drying his hair after his bath, etc) but having to share our attention ‘so suddenly’ is probably something she never really expected even though we made an effort to prepare her right from the start.
As a result of this ‘shared attention’ or maybe to her - ‘a lack of attention’, she suddenly turned into this annoying, attention seeking little gal who cries and whines over every little thing. We have lost our tempers at her numerous times because of this behavior and when that happens, I sometimes wonder if we expect too much from her? She is after all, just a little gal. I still do not believe in the terrible twos or terrible threes that everyone talks about and think that all she needs is a little time to adjust and accept that things have changed. When that happens, I’m sure my little angel will return.
She has grown leaps & bounds since the last time I wrote about her development. Physically, she is finally past the 10kg mark – although Chace’s arrival caused her to go on a food strike and she dropped below 10kg for 2 – 3 weeks.
Speech wise, she has been speaking in complete sentences for a while now – she can even narrate incidents to us. Often, we doubt what she tells us but so far, it has all been truths. E.g. one Saturday afternoon, she told me that ‘nai nai (paternal grandma) bang her car at the church!’ I thought she was just imagining and probed further… asking her where and when and what happened. On Sunday when I met my mom-in-law, I asked her about it and true enough, she really reversed into a pole at the church. On top of that, she has an extensive vocabulary (though not accurate pronunciation at times) because I never believe that any word is too difficult to be taught, even to a two-year old.
Mentally, she has a fantastic memory and really absorbs information – good & bad - like a sponge! This is truly the optimal age to introduce new concepts and I have made the effort to start teaching her to recognize Chinese words, starting with the objects around the house – I printed out names of things around the house (e.g. television, wardrobe, mirror, etc), laminated and stuck them on the various objects. I can see that she enjoys learning too as she will point to the different labels and ask me ‘What is this, Mummy?’ continuously! I hope to give her a good start to learning mandarin since we plan to send her to a school with a strong Chinese curriculum in the future.
Socially, we can see that she has started to play with other children, particularly those she sees frequently. She is also willing to share her food & toys with others. However, at the same time, she has started to become ‘wary’ of unfamiliar faces, often hiding behind us. I have to constantly remember (and remind dh) about not labeling her as ‘shy’ but rather encourage her to acknowledge the other person (or people) and say ‘hi!’ instead.
Unfortunately though, many of her little friends have started going to school or rather, playgroups… leaving her very little interaction opportunities. Dh does not believe that it is necessary for her to go to school until she is 5 since that is the age that our generation started ‘formal classes’ so I guess I will have to continuously seek out other mummies & their toddlers on the same wavelength to arrange play dates for Claire.
All in all, it has been a fabulous 30 months… I just hope that ‘acceptance’ will come soon and she will revert to our darling little angel.
May God continue to shower you with his blessings and keep you in good health always. May He guide you to become the gracious and loving big sister (and darling daughter) that we know you can be. We ask Him to also give us the strength and patience to help you along your learning journey and show us how to become better parents. We love you, our precious little angel – although we scream and shout at your nonsense sometimes. Happy 30 months old!
Once the only child, she is now an elder sister. She has shown clear affection for her little brother – fussing over him (“mummy, didi is crying”), giving him heaps of hugs & kisses and even helping us take care of him (bringing wipes & diapers when he needs a change, drying his hair after his bath, etc) but having to share our attention ‘so suddenly’ is probably something she never really expected even though we made an effort to prepare her right from the start.
As a result of this ‘shared attention’ or maybe to her - ‘a lack of attention’, she suddenly turned into this annoying, attention seeking little gal who cries and whines over every little thing. We have lost our tempers at her numerous times because of this behavior and when that happens, I sometimes wonder if we expect too much from her? She is after all, just a little gal. I still do not believe in the terrible twos or terrible threes that everyone talks about and think that all she needs is a little time to adjust and accept that things have changed. When that happens, I’m sure my little angel will return.
She has grown leaps & bounds since the last time I wrote about her development. Physically, she is finally past the 10kg mark – although Chace’s arrival caused her to go on a food strike and she dropped below 10kg for 2 – 3 weeks.
Speech wise, she has been speaking in complete sentences for a while now – she can even narrate incidents to us. Often, we doubt what she tells us but so far, it has all been truths. E.g. one Saturday afternoon, she told me that ‘nai nai (paternal grandma) bang her car at the church!’ I thought she was just imagining and probed further… asking her where and when and what happened. On Sunday when I met my mom-in-law, I asked her about it and true enough, she really reversed into a pole at the church. On top of that, she has an extensive vocabulary (though not accurate pronunciation at times) because I never believe that any word is too difficult to be taught, even to a two-year old.
Mentally, she has a fantastic memory and really absorbs information – good & bad - like a sponge! This is truly the optimal age to introduce new concepts and I have made the effort to start teaching her to recognize Chinese words, starting with the objects around the house – I printed out names of things around the house (e.g. television, wardrobe, mirror, etc), laminated and stuck them on the various objects. I can see that she enjoys learning too as she will point to the different labels and ask me ‘What is this, Mummy?’ continuously! I hope to give her a good start to learning mandarin since we plan to send her to a school with a strong Chinese curriculum in the future.
Socially, we can see that she has started to play with other children, particularly those she sees frequently. She is also willing to share her food & toys with others. However, at the same time, she has started to become ‘wary’ of unfamiliar faces, often hiding behind us. I have to constantly remember (and remind dh) about not labeling her as ‘shy’ but rather encourage her to acknowledge the other person (or people) and say ‘hi!’ instead.
Unfortunately though, many of her little friends have started going to school or rather, playgroups… leaving her very little interaction opportunities. Dh does not believe that it is necessary for her to go to school until she is 5 since that is the age that our generation started ‘formal classes’ so I guess I will have to continuously seek out other mummies & their toddlers on the same wavelength to arrange play dates for Claire.
All in all, it has been a fabulous 30 months… I just hope that ‘acceptance’ will come soon and she will revert to our darling little angel.
May God continue to shower you with his blessings and keep you in good health always. May He guide you to become the gracious and loving big sister (and darling daughter) that we know you can be. We ask Him to also give us the strength and patience to help you along your learning journey and show us how to become better parents. We love you, our precious little angel – although we scream and shout at your nonsense sometimes. Happy 30 months old!
Thursday, October 08, 2009
deja vu
many years ago, a little girl got bitten on the face because she disturbed her sister's poodle...
NO PHOTOS AVAILABLE
twenty four years later... her daughter gets bitten on the face because she disturbed the family shih-tzu...
immediately after being bitten (slightly bruised on the cheek)
two days later (visible teeth marks - bruised cheeks)
yes, the little girl was me... moral of the story, never disturb dogs (no matter what breed)! don't call animal control, the human was at fault. fortunately, Chewy didn't bite down hard and Claire didn't bleed. dh is of the opinion that Chewy should be castrated because of his recent aggressive behavior but I'm not so sure...Monday, September 28, 2009
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Saturday, September 26, 2009
mid-autumn festival
our group of mummy friends finally managed another meet up after a REALLY long time - our 'excuse' this time? to celebrate mid-autumn festival together again (its another week away actually). our li'l ones have grown tremendously since last year & its great to see everyone again... and some of our families have grown larger too! let's hope we can continue to do this many more years!
last year
this year
went through my old entries (and photos) and realised that i didn't write about this last year (neither did i take any pictures!) - wonder why?? anyway, we had a pot-luck session like last year and everyone contributed yummy food - unfortunately, the satay/otah/muffins did not make their 'appearance' coz two families did not turn up the last min!
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