~ diary of a mini mind ~

Daddy's little sweetheart

2011-05-12T23:11:00.000+08:00

Nowadays I make it a point to call Calvin on nights that he's on duty so that Gabby can have a chat with him. Here's part of tonight's chat...

...
Daddy: *Muack!
Gabby: Cannot....
Daddy: Why??
Gabby: Daddy come back... and kiss me...

Awwwww... how can that not melt anyone's heart?

What is Gong Gong's Name?

2011-04-29T06:42:00.001+08:00

We've been teaching Gabby our names.. And this was the conversation we had after dinner last night.

Me: Gabby, what is Daddy's name?
G: Cal-vin
M: What is Po Po's name?
G: Yo Yo (that's what the family calls her)
M: What is Mommy's name?
G: Mei (I actually taught her Huimin, but she hears my parents call me Mei everyday..)
M: What is Gong Gong's name?
G: Bless you..
M: *scratch head.. why bless you?
Calvin: because his name is "Ah Chew" mah..

OMG! My daughter is showing signs of lameness!! And no, Calvin didn't teach her that.. we only taught her to say "bless you" when someone sneezes! Only her lame Daddy can understand her...

Burping time

2011-02-27T22:02:00.002+08:00

Burping Alexa turns out to be rather enjoyable... I never liked having to burp babies. Most of the time, it takes forever to burp them. Sometimes, they regurgitate on you.

But lately, I'm beginning to treasure the time that I hold Alexa in my arms, over my shoulder burping her. I would slide her down and let her rest on my chest if she's fallen asleep. And that is one precious moment I'd love to keep. Sometimes I'd whisper how much I love her into her ears. Sometimes I'd lay my hand on her head and pray over her. Sometimes I'd just hug her tightly and simply enjoy our private quiet time.

Calvin and I have decided that we're stopping at two, unless God thinks otherwise. So I'm treasuring ever moment I have with my little precious infant. I'd probably not have another chance to hold a 1.5 month old baby so closely, smell her like I'm a pervert, kiss her all over and watch her as she quietly breathes in her sweet slumber.

As much as she tires me out and drains me dry, I know I'm gonna miss this stage of her life as she rapidly grows... Alexa, Mommy loves you so much! Thank God for blessing us with such a beautiful bundle of joy.

Can you come down and walk on your own please (#2)

2011-02-15T22:58:00.002+08:00

It was raining when Calvin went to pick Gabby up today. They had this conversation on their way home with Gabby in Calvin's arms.

Daddy: Gabby, can you come down and walk on your own please?
Gabby: No...
Daddy: Why?
Gabby: The floor wet wet...
Daddy: ....

The other hand... the other hand...

2011-02-14T23:01:00.001+08:00

I had my Hep B booster jab at Dr Ho's clinic earlier today and have a plaster on my right upper arm. When we went to pick Gabster up, she saw the plaster and said with a frown on her face, "Mommy pain pain.." And as we walked back, she wanted me to carry her bag for her. I extended my right arm to take the bag from her and she immediately exclaimed, "The other hand, the other hand..." with a very concerned look on her face.. She was worried that my right hand would be in pain if I carried her bag with it. Such a darling!!!

And as I was getting her to sleep, she wanted me to quickly take off the plaster because to her, that would mean that I'd no longer be in pain..

Awwww.. such simple thoughts but they warm my heart! My precious baby loves me so...

Happy Valentine's Day! (^__^)

Gabby, 你喜欢吃 apple 吗？

2011-01-25T22:54:00.000+08:00

One of our friends Dave started a new venture, a soup restaurant and the whole gang decided to meet for dinner at his restaurant a couple of weekends ago to support him. Audrey and Teri's parents and my parents went along as well.

After dinner, as we were chatting, Teri's mom decided to take Gabby for a walk around the foodcourt. Gabby has ALWAYS been a big fan of Auntie and Uncle. She has an incredible affinity with the both of them since she's a baby.

Today, I found out about this conversation through a FB post by Teri.

Can you come down and walk on your own please?

2011-01-16T22:45:00.005+08:00

This is the 2nd weekend of my confinement, which means Gabby hasn't gone out for 2 weekends (other than school). Her wonderful Daddy decided to bring her out for breakfast at McDonald's (alone! *applause) and also to the playground in the late afternoon. And of course our little darling had a blast!

On their way back home from the playground, the duo had a conversation while Calvin was carrying Gabby.

Daddy: Gabby, can you come down and walk on your own please? Daddy's very tired.
Gabby: No...
Daddy: Why?
Gabby: (after thinking for 3seconds) Gabby's tired..
Daddy: (laughing) ......

I'm sorry, Gabby...

2010-12-31T09:56:00.002+08:00

Mommy is sorry...
that we have to send you to another school;
that we have to take you away from so many teachers who love you so much;
that you have to miss your friends and teachers in LV;
that you have to start adapting to a new environment all over again...

The teachers in LV bought you a huge present today.
They are so gonna miss you...
They love it when you say "hello"...
They love it when you say "bye bye, see you"...
They love it when you participate cheerfully in all sing and dance sessions...
They love it when you wake up from your nap and do your rounds saying hi to all the teachers...
They love it when you get excited during mealtimes...
They love it when you embrace learning...
They love you being you...

We pray that you will have teachers who love you as much, or even more in your new school.
We pray that you will find great friends in your new classmates.
We pray that you will enjoy your new school environment and continue to enjoy learning.
We pray that you will like your new teachers as much as your previous ones.
We pray that God will bestow the same great favour that He has so blessed you with over the last 21 months in LV.

We want you to know how blessed and loved you have been in LV Grassroots Club.
We want you to know that no matter where you are, you are highly favoured, greatly blessed and deeply loved.
We want you to know that Daddy and Mommy love you very very much and we only want the best for you and we want you to be happy.
We want you to know that God loves you more than anything else in this world.

Still

2010-11-24T15:48:00.001+08:00

Hide me now under Your wings
Cover me within Your mighty hand

When the oceans rise and thunders roar
I will soar with You above the storm
Father, You are King over the flood
I will be still and know You are God

Find rest my soul in Christ alone
Know His power in quietness and trust

When the oceans rise and thunders roar
I will soar with You above the storm
Father, You are King over the flood
I will be still and know You are God

~ ~ ~

One of my favourite worship songs. Never fails to set my heart and mind at peace. Never fails to bring comfort to me. Never fails to remind me how BIG my Father God is. Thank You God! I will soar with You above the storm. I will be still and know YOU are GOD!

Gabby loves Po Po

2010-10-08T23:51:00.000+08:00

I was so touched and impressed by my precious little girl this evening. I got home after work just after Gabby's dinner. My dad had prepared dinner for my mom and I before he went out to work, and Calvin's on duty tonight. As expected, Gabby refused to let me go shower and insisted that I sit down with her. Even after I tried to distract her and lure her away so I can go take a shower, she insisted that I stay within her sight. Then I decided to use another tactic.

Me: Gabby, Po Po's hand pain pain. You go to the kitchen and help her take the bowls ok? If not, her hand pain cannot do it herself you know... You go and help her ok?
Gabby: *suddenly stopped insisting that I sit down with her, looked at Po Po, went over to hug Po Po and pointed to the kitchen.

Both my mom and I were dumbfounded... I can tell how pleased my mom was... she carried Gabby and walked towards to kitchen. Before they got to the kitchen, my mom turned around and told me in Mandarin, "she loves (dotes on) me..."

It was just a simple yet heartwarming gesture from a 20 month old. I'm so proud to be Gabby's Mommy!

My girl has an admirer...

2010-10-05T13:16:00.004+08:00

This morning when Gabby and I reached school, we took the lift with these 2 boys and their mom. The older one is probably 5-6 years old and the younger one is probably 3-4.

The older boy walked into the lift and exclaimed, "Baby! Mommy, this is the baby...". Then he signalled to his younger brother and asked him to say hi and play with Gabby. Then the mom asked the younger boy, "So this is the baby that you told me about?"

And the mom turned to me and told me, "My son told me that there's a very cute girl in school that he likes to play with..." All this while, the younger boy looked at Gabby shyly... and the older boy kept trying to encourage his brother...

So cute!!! My little girl has a little admirer!!!

4th day away from home, away from Gabby

2010-09-24T22:19:00.001+08:00

We've just arrived in Malmo, Sweden and we finally have free wifi to stay in touch in the online world.. as if we've been deprived from some basic necessities.. both Calvin and I are buried in our netbook and iPhone respectively..

Everything here is tagged with sky high prices.. we thought Copenhagen was expensive when we were there the last 3 days.. Malmo is equally expensive. We had lunch at Burger King at the train station before we headed for the hotel. Calvin's Angus Bacon and Cheese burger meal (similar to our BBQ bacon burger) costs an exorbitant S$16 and my Whopper Junior (just the burger) costs a whopping S$8!! Gosh...

Oh ya.. taking a pee in the public toilet in the train station costs S$2!!!!

But other than the price tags, we totally enjoy soaking in each other's company... teasing each other, acting silly, exploring the streets of the Scandinavian cities, imitating Gabby's actions, watching videos of her and missing her..

Now, it's time we stop giving attention to our little machines and get our butt out of the hotel to explore the city of Malmo!

Mobile blogging

2010-09-20T03:07:00.001+08:00

Getting ready to blog on the go... 

Doodle doodle

2010-09-19T23:26:00.001+08:00

I've been wanting to let Gabby scribble and doodle for quite a while. But we're usually out on weekends, or sometimes the lazy bug got the better of me.

Today, I decided to let Gabby do just that. I brought out some rough paper, and then realised I may not have suitable pens/ markers for her to use. I ended up finding some really old markers... so I lined the table with newspaper (if Gabby draws on the table accidentally with the markers, I'm so gonna get it from her Daddy... haha) and told Gabby excitedly that we're going to do some drawing!!

She couldn't wait as I lined the table...

Focused! As if she's taking a test... hahaha

I wonder what's on her mind....

She asked for a different colour... and when there's no more space on the paper, she said "excuse me.." Hilarious!!!

I need to go buy some child-friendly water soluble markers for my baby!

10 days without my cheekadee...

2010-09-14T23:57:00.003+08:00

I decided that I should be telling Gabby that Daddy and Mommy will be going away for a while. Calvin's on duty tonight and as I was lying in bed with Gabby getting her to sleep, I started telling her about our trip.

Me: Gabby... Daddy and Mommy will be going to another country to work and then for holidays. We won't be at home for 10 days, you know?

Gabby: *looking at me, puzzled (I was thinking she doesn't understand what I was saying, but I continued anyway)

M: So, when Daddy and Mommy are away, you sleep with Po Po at night and then Gong Gong will bring you to school in the morning ok?

Gabby: *nod her head (I think she understands this..)

M: You be a good girl, listen to Gong Gong and Po Po ok?

Gabby: *nod her head again, with a very sensible look

A few seconds later, she turned her whole body towards me and hugged me tightly. Tears welled up... I think she understood me the whole time!

I AM SO GONNA MISS YOU GABBY!!!

As much as we're excited and longed for this trip, our hearts ached to know that we'd be separated from Gabby for 10 days... ached even more to think that she'd be thinking of us, missing us.

Gabby, Daddy and Mommy love you very very much and we'd miss you more than you'd ever understand.

Share Share...

2010-09-11T23:07:00.000+08:00

Recently we've started reading consistently to Gabby. It took her a while to learn how to sit down patiently while we read the books to her.

This afternoon, I was reading "Thank You God" to her before her naptime. We came to this page that reads "Thank You for feeding me, day after day. And thank You for leading me along the right way." And I described the pictures to her. There were 5 children, 4 of whom had a slice of watermelon in their hands. There's a little girl who didn't have any. The next page shows one of the boys sharing his watermelon with the girl. So I took the chance to teach her about sharing... Sharing with Jie Jie and Gor Gor, and of course, with her soon-to-arrive Mei Mei...

After her nap, she was sitting on the floor with her book, while I was surfing the net... I caught her flipping to this page and heard her softly saying "share... share..." Boy, was I impressed!! I'm so happy she remembered what we talked about earlier. But everytime I ask her, "Who do you share with?" Her reply would be "Mommy!" ^_*

Blog... so I can look back and reminisce..

2010-09-11T22:07:00.000+08:00

It's been 5 months! So many things happened in those 5 months... I moved on to another company and got really busy with work... And the biggest thing that happened... we planned for No. 2 and God blessed us almost immediately with No. 2.

So having to cope with new job, new environment, new colleagues and the usual first trimester giddiness, nausea, tiredness, etc... I neglected this space.

I realised how I shouldn't have, as this space brings back lots of fond memories for me. Especially fond memories and special moments of Gabby's growth.

She's grown so much so fast... I'm glad I had some of these moments captured in photos. I also slacked quite a bit when it comes to taking photos of her during my first trimester... :( Now, I wanna blog again for myself and for Gabby.

Gabby's "shi xiong di" look

2010-06-10T21:07:00.000+08:00

My Gabby and I

2010-05-15T23:53:00.004+08:00

Gabby's first haircut

2010-05-09T23:31:00.051+08:00

Gabby had her first haircut 15.5 months after she's born... eerm... yes, she didn't have to cut or trim her hair at all for 15.5 months! :p

Gabby must be wondering where she is... what's that auntie holding in her hands...

"So, what are we doing here?"

"Why did they make Daddy put on this "robe"? And now I need to put it on too?"

"What is this auntie doing? Why is she combing my hair?"

"Hmmmm... interesting..."

"Oh no.. she's cutting my hair! I don't want..."

"Daddy... can you get this thing off me?"

Even the pacifier didn't quite pacify her...

Finally someone managed to distract her... can't remember how..

Done!

Very neat hair... Daddy is happy.. happy that his daughter had a neat haircut, and happy that the session is over!

Thank you auntie... although it's a bit expensive.. $5 for cutting those few strands of hair... :p

Taking a quick bath at Nai Nai's house after the haircut.
When I say I have the best hubby and Gabby has the best Daddy, I mean every ounce of it...

Happy Mommy's Day!

2010-05-09T13:00:00.006+08:00

Gabby's school organised a Mother's Day celebration on Friday and invited all the mommies for moving. Even though the infant class had little participation, I still wanted to join in, I wanted to spend time with my precious little baby, and I wanted her to experience the celebration... so we went and we had fun!

The older kids performed an item for the mommies present. There were booths set up around the school for various activities. Gabby walked into a classroom and played with her "ex-classmates"... I wonder if she really remembers them... haha

A big "I love you Mommy" poster... Nice job teachers!!

Gabby's teachers traced her hand on paper, cut them out and made them into flowers for the mommies. Gabby handed it to me when we went into the infant class after the celebration. *melt....

I'm a happy Mommy!

Happy Mommy's Day!

Our private affair on my birthday

2010-05-06T23:27:00.000+08:00

A few of weeks ago, Calvin got a call when we were chilling out at home and he sheepishly walked away to take the call. I overheard him say something about making reservations on 6 May. He was making reservations for my birthday dinner a month ahead! I was like, what's this place man? Need to make reservations so early??? He refused to reveal much about his conversation and his plans... and I decided I shouldn't spoil my own surprise... He read about it almost 6 months ago and he knew he wanted to bring me there on my birthday, and he kept mum about it for that long.

So today, on my birthday, we went to "this place" that he thoughtfully planned to me bring for a beautiful romantic dinner. "This place" is Private Affairs, a modern European fine dining restaurant tucked away from the city at Joo Chiat Place.

Private Affairs has got an interesting concept. You decide if you'd like to have a 4-couse, 6-course, 8-course or any number of courses for dinner. We went for a 5-course one. After deciding on that, we went through its menu and picked what we wanted for the 5 courses. We had 3 starters, 1 main and 1 dessert. You would normally associate fine dining with small portions of food beautifully presented on a big classy plate. Well, Private Affairs sort of does that too... except that those seemingly small portions fill your stomach and pamper your tastebuds beyond your imagination.

Chef Paul takes great care of his guests and almost immediately made us feel at home when he personally served Calvin's first course when the staff got his order wrong. I thought that was nice.

An unexpected classy restaurant along Joo Chiat Place.

Classy touch to an already classy ambience.

A little common chandelier, but still very nice.

An interesting way to serve the balsamic vinegar.

Their mini bread is served warm very regularly, whenever you want it, you have it.

Don't know if it's just me, or is the butter really tastier than the usual.

My first course: Duck Carpaccio. Gosh, as I'm typing, I'm missing it already....

Calvin's first course: Ocean Trout. This is VERY good!! Calvin's favourite of the night.

Our 2nd course: Hokkaido Scallops served under a bed of corn and corn noodles. Nothing too unpredicatable, but very fresh and yummy. The corn noodle... melts in your mouth!!

Our 3rd course: White Lobster Bisque. The green-white-black roll, is wrapped with yummy salmon and lobster! They served it without the bisque and the bisque is drizzled onto your plate right before your eyes.

Calvin's 4th course (main course): Wagyu Beef Cheek. It's braised for 12 long hours! Marvelicious!!!

My 4th course (main course): Pomfret. Very beautifully presented and very fresh!

Calvin's 5th course (dessert): Vanilla Bean Panna Cotta. VERY YUMMY!!!!! The raspberry marshmallow is superb too! I love this dessert!

My 5th course (dessert): Pistachio Cheese Sandwich. Chef Paul specially arranged for my dessert to be served with all lights off in the restaurant and with everyone singing me a birthday song. Sweet! The other little surprise is found within the cheesecake. As you nibble the yummy cheesy cake, you would discover a very refreshing passion fruit coulis right in the middle.

6th course, or what they call "thank you" course. Complimentary to all guests, I believe they serve something different everyday. You have Apple Cake (from the concept of carrot cake) and Chocolate with Nutella, and this is so super yummy! Bitter chocolate sweetened with nostalgic Nutella! Calvin's eyes literally brightened up the second the Choc got into his mouth.

The best part of the evening... it still has to be the quality time spent with this man. Thank you for the nice surprise... I love it!

PS: I wanna go back to Private Affairs again for their Sunday Brunch! Yum yum!!

Birthday Party in School

2010-04-23T23:26:00.007+08:00

Gabby's classmate and one of her best playmate, Alyssa had her birthday party in school today! The kids had yummy cakes for breakfast and tea. And Alyssa's parents also brought along some party favours!

Calvin got a mms from Teacher Tess today... Look at our Gabby! hahaha... Doesn't she make you wanna laugh?? hahahaha..

I LOVE YOU MY LITTLE PARTY BABE!!

Morning walks

2010-04-23T22:32:00.010+08:00

Gabby started going to infant care when she's about 3.5 months old. Then, my dad was still working and he would send us to the infant care centre (ICC) when he's not on morning shift. Other days, I would have to lug my bag and Gabby's bag and carry her in the sling and walk to the ICC. Now thinking about it, I really enjoy those walks, with her so close to me. I would sing to her, talk to her and pray over her along the way.

Some months back, my dad quit his job and became his princesses' chauffeur. I was so blessed with his daily ferrying. He would send us to ICC every morning and I never had to perspire early in the morning again. And he would wait patiently at the carpark while I settle Gabby in school. And then he would drive us to Bendemeer hawker centre to have the BEST fried bee hoon in the world for breakfast. And then he will send me to school. I was so pampered... Thank you Sok Sok!

Just a week ago, my dad sold off his car. And now, I'm back to the days of walking Gabby to school. Now that she's older (and bigger and heavier), we would put her in the daytripper instead of the sling. And we'd leave the daytripper in school so my parents can use it when they bring her home in the evening. I'm beginning to enjoy these walks again, although I do miss being ferried to work every morning and being able to knock out on the way to work...

Gabby enjoying a bit of beautiful morning sun while waiting to cross the road.

Gabby's mommy enjoying the walk with her precious daughter.

Where's Barney?

2010-04-16T22:10:00.022+08:00

Gabby was introduced to TV when she's about 11 months old. I read that watching TV is a form of training her attention span. TV or rather TV programs can be good for babies as long as they're not used as baby sitters.

She was never really interested in watching TV. I bought a few series of learning DVDs: colours, numbers, songs, etc. Nothing really caught her attention. I've heard tons about Barney and Hi-5... about how ALL kids get attracted to them naturally. Last Christmas, Gabby received a Barney DVD from Auntie Jasmine as one of her Christmas present.

I finally decided to give Barney a chance today. I don't know if it's because Gabby's older now and her attention span is also more developed, or is it really the powers of BARNEY... she sat down and watched continuously for a good 15 minutes! She swayed left and right while listening to the songs... She clapped her hands when they sang "If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands"... I'm amazed!

And then, she amused me even more when she stood up and walked to the side of the TV console and looked at the back of the TV... She was looking for Barney!!! She's so funny! I couldn't stop laughing when I saw that... So innocent!!!

Before kids say the darnest things, they do the darnest things! wahahaha...

The day before I start work. Again.

2010-04-11T11:19:00.002+08:00

After 11 wonderful days of brainless break, I'm still not quite ready to get back to work tomorrow. My to-do list is less than half checked. I've got so many things left undone. Go for morning swims, update my more-than-ultra-outdated blog, get my hands on some scrapbooking, pack the overflowing magazine shelves, bring Gabster for afternoon picnics, do God's work and so on and on and on...

Even Winnie said her 2 months break is not enough, let alone my 11 days. Well, better than none at all. Having no work related thoughts at the back of my head felt funny the first couple of days. Now, I'm so used to not having to think about work that I don't how to start my engine tomorrow.

It's gonna be a brand new work environment, brand new culture and brand new personalities that I'd be coming face to face with in less than 24 hours. Excited? Yes, kind of... Nervous? Hmmm... not really... God is with me!

Let me pray the blessings of Deuteronomy 28 over myself and I shall start my new endeavour with His blessings and guidance! Amen!

1 "Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the Lord your God will set you high above all nations of the earth.

2 "And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the Lord your God:

3 "Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the country.

4 "Blessing shall be the fruit of your body, the produce of your ground and the increase of your herds, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks.

5 "Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.

6 "Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.

7 "The Lord will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before your face; they shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways.

8 "The Lord will command the blessing on you in your storehouses and in all to which you set your hand, and He will bless you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you.

9 "The Lord will establish you as a holy people to Himself, just as He has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord you God and walk in His ways.

10 "Then all peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they shall be afraid of you.

11 "And the Lord will grant you plenty of goods, in the fruit of your body, in the increase of your livestock, and in the produce of your ground, in the land of which the Lord swore to your fathers to give you.

12 "The Lord will open to you His good treasure, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season, and to bless all the work of your hand. You shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow.

13 "And the Lord will make you the head and not the tail; you shall be above only, and not be beneath, if you heed the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, and are careful to observe them.

14 "So you shall not turn aside from any of the words which I command you this day, to the right hand or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.

AMEN!

How tall are you, Gabby?

2010-02-01T19:48:00.000+08:00

I'm as tall as the bottom of the dining table... (^.^)

2 steps

2010-01-31T22:38:00.003+08:00

It was just yesterday that I wondered if I'd get a chance to see you take your first unassisted step... And then you did just that when we were at Nai Nai's place just now. You were playing with Gor Gor's toys and Mommy was right behind you. You stood up and thinking that Mommy's holding on to your waist, you took a step... and another step... and as if you knew that Mommy wasn't exactly holding you, you sat down again. When I saw you take those 2 steps, tears almost welled up in my eyes. My baby is growing up so fast!

BTW, Mommy loves carrying you. I know that once you've learnt how to walk and run, you'd probably prefer that to being wrapped in Mommy's arms. But please remember to let Mommy carry you every now and then ok? You will never be too heavy for Mommy.

Another beautiful Sunday

2010-01-31T22:12:00.010+08:00

Bishan Park! Under lots of construction and wind-less, but we still had a great time there.

* * *

After our little stroll in Bishan Park, we headed off to Calvin's mom's for dinner. We haven't spent Sundays there for quite a few weeks now. We love having Nigel and Gabby spend time together. Just yesterday, Gabby got so excited and literally pounced on her Gor Gor when they were put together. The handsome little boy cried and refused to be near Gabby... haha... he kept patting his chest to show that he's scared when he sees her. It was damn funny.

Just now, he did that chest patting again when he came into the house seeing Gabby having dinner on his high chair. hahahaha... But it didn't take long for them to warm up to each other again.

That was the cue to separate them again! hahaha... Gabby has this habit of showing love by "stroking" people's face. And of course she has yet to understand the concept of stroking, so all she did was use her mighty strength to show her love! We separated them before Gabby scares her Gor Gor again. :p

Learning to walk

2010-01-30T00:03:00.002+08:00

Our little girl started to walk, or more like inch along the sofa since 3 months ago and lately she has gone into the advanced stage of learning how to walk. She has been able to stand up on her own steadily for quite a while already too. However, she hasn't seemed to find the courage to take her first step without assistance.

She walks excitedly while holding our hands.

She pushes her walker around the house happily.

In fact, she's amazingly good at maneuvering the walker. She knows how to pull the walker towards herself a little and then turn it a little to change the direction. Damn cute! (I wanted to post a video to show her doing that, but don't know how come can't post videos... why huh?)

The teachers are saying that she's actually quite steady already, but just lack the courage to take her first step. Will I get the chance to see her take that first virgin unassisted step? She did a lot of firsts in school, without me nor Calvin witnessing them. Gabby, take your first step with Mommy and Daddy ok? Wait for us to be around ok?

Gabby's adventurous Daddy

2010-01-24T22:10:00.010+08:00

A few days ago, Calvin's friend, Sean asked if he would like to partner him for SAFRA AVventura, as his original partner couldn't make it at the last minute. Gabby's adventurous Daddy, not even knowing what kind of a race it is, readily agreed! Actually, I was all for it too. I know he would enjoy it and he definitely is up to it.

He made some last minute preparations and off he went with Sean early this morning at 5am! We were to welcome him at the finishing line at Jurong SAFRA Club. However, we got there at the same time he got to the finising line (that's how "rubber" time can get when you have a little one in tow). So we missed their grand finishing.. :p

After 50km of hard work...

Packing up his gears...

Welcome back, Daddy!

Calvin and Sean

Well done, Daddy!

Cheeky girl peeping at Mommy...

Gabby having fun!

They have the same smile!!! OMG!

Gabby gets along very well with Uncle Sean

Getting along fine with Aunties Jean and some kids...

The finishers! Well done guys!

Lots of updates, too little time. I'll be back with some "old" updates soon!

All that matters at the end of the day

2010-01-21T22:21:00.002+08:00

Most of the time we don't get to pick you up from school. Most of the time when we get home, you're already sleeping.

When we do get to pick you up from school, you always make our hearts melt. When you hear our voices, your eyes light up and you start to flap your hands happily. And like getting to us in the shortest possible time is the only thing on your mind, you crawled like a champion towards us.

When we do get home early enough to catch you before your bedtime, you drop everything that you were doing (except when you were having your dinner...haha) and sprint towards us, hug our legs, grab our clothes and prepare to climb up into our embrace. You throw your arms around our necks and rest your head on our shoulders. You enjoy that precious moment as much as we do.

Gabby, this is all that matters at the end of every day.

Beautiful Sunday at ECP

2010-01-10T21:56:00.001+08:00

We rarely have my mom at home on Sundays as she works on weekends too. Since she wasn't working today, we made an impromptu plan in the late afternoon to go for a stroll at East Coast Park.

I'm so so glad we did that! It must have been ages since my parents went to East Coast Park. Plus it's Gabby's first! She was so intrigued by the surrounding... bicycles zooming by, people blading and jogging, doggies running around... She seemed to have enjoyed herself. And I think my parents did too. :)

Our Gabrielle

2009-12-05T11:44:00.003+08:00

We came back late last night from a short getaway to Sentosa for Calvin's birthday. Gabby hasn't seen us for 2 full days since we left for Sentosa on Monday morning. She was sleeping soundly when we reached home. So since we're back, we took back all the duties of caring for her from my mom. Calvin fed her during her last feed at 11pm+ last night while I watched her by their side.

She usually sleeps through the feed and wouldn't wake up at all. But last night, she seemed to know that we're back and she wanted to see us! She woke up during the feed and stayed awake throughout. When we put her in bed between us, she was wide awake. And we experienced one of the sweetest precious moments. She just laid quietly between us and she kept turning her head to look at Daddy and then Mommy, and then Daddy and then Mommy. And she was smiling sweetly all the way through. It was a smile that we've never seen before. We can see her happiness oozing out from those beautiful eyes. She was so so happy to see us again after 2 short days. Both Calvin and I were actually very very tired and sleepy. But just looking at her beautiful happy smile, our hearts melted.

Our Gabby loves us! Her love is so pure! Her needs are so simple!

Gabby, Daddy and Mommy loves you so much! Thank you for loving us and thank you for showing us that you love us.

CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-12-03T11:51:00.008+08:00

I've always wanted a Christmas tree at home. To me, my home has to be "dolled up" for Christmas. When I was young, my dad made it a tradition to decorate our home for Christmas. It's like an annual project for my dad, my bro and I. Of course, my dad was the chief project director. He would plan out the concept, the designs and who does what. I remember our fireplace project most vividly and I think it's the best ever decor anyone could have. Yes, we constructed our own fireplace in our cosy little 3-room flat! It was the most awesome Christmas project I ever had. We painted styrofoam boards to make them look like brickwalls. We installed flickering lights to create "fire" in the fireplace. We hung socks on the styrofoam "brick" boards for Santa Claus to put our presents in. We had so much fun. And every year, I look forward to Christmas projects with my dad and bro. Even until now, these times hold very special memories for me.

I want the same for Gabby. I want us to have a Christmas family tradition. One day, Calvin asked me when are we getting our Christmas tree and my eyes just lit up!! I was so happy that he initiated it (because he declined my requests to get a Christmas tree for 2 years already :p)

So now, we have a family tradition going. Every year on Calvin's birthday, 3rd Dec, that's when we will go to the nursery to choose a real Christmas tree. Gabby, you're gonna go choose the tree with us next year, ok? Mommy and Daddy want you to love Christmas like we do.

At Far East Flora - our first time at choosing Christmas trees.

Her new va va vroom

2009-11-29T22:48:00.000+08:00

Gabster has a new car! And she's in love with it!

Calvin's colleague John was spring cleaning and clearing out some of his son's toys. Lennon's a big boy now and he probably prefers real cars... haha. Thank you John!

When we collected the car from John's place this afternoon, Gabby already had her eyes fixed on it. She kept pointing to it. When we got home, we put her in and walked her around the house. She was so excited!!!

When Corinna brought Nigel over in the evening, Gabby sat in her car while Nigel played with the Around We Go Activity Station. We decided to swop them around after a while. Guess what? My usually generous daughter didn't quite like the sight of Nigel being in her va va vroom! She screamed as she watched Nigel go around the house in her car. She has never screamed when her toys are being shared. Haha...

God bless Gabby

2009-11-22T22:27:00.002+08:00

Gabby fell ill for the 2nd time in 2 weeks! We decided to start Gabby on formula milk a month ago (26 Oct to be exact). I figured I need to get her used to the taste soon before I slow down my milk supply. Started her off with NAN HA, I'm a Nestle believer.. because they're my clients! hahaha.. but seriously, I believe they have quality products because a lot of research have gone into product development.

Anyhow, Gabby refused to take FM initially. The teachers in school had to trick her, coax her, etc. In the end, they had to slowly introduce FM to my daughter... 10ml by 10ml increase by the day. But she really doesn't like FM. One fine day at home, I decided to taste NAN HA myself... and I HATE IT! It tastes really bitter! No wonder my food lover daughter doesn't like it.

So, we decided to give Similac a try. We heard that it is sweeter... She seemed to take it better than NAN HA. So maybe it's really the taste of the milk powder.

After introducing Similac for a few days, my darling girl developed fever. And then a week later, she started coughing and sneezing and developed fever again! I began to think if there's any truth when people say that Similac is more "heaty" than other brands.

Now, I don't what to do to get her to drink FM, or any other fluid like water. God, help me...

Gabby coughing....:(

Gabby's not well, but still cheeky! haha

Baby G is 10 months old!

2009-11-21T21:33:00.002+08:00

Our little girl is a fun-loving girl. All the teachers in school and a lot of parents commented that Gabby is a very cheerful baby! (^__^)

We had to pass by a "health check" station at the entrance of the school where the childcare teachers check every student from the childcare section for HFMD symptoms. Infant care "students" can go straight to the infant care room where temperature would be taken. And everyday, we had to stop by the health check station for the teachers to play with Gabby. They don't do this with other babies. And these childcare teachers would go into the infant care room to play with Gabby in the middle of the day. They love my baby! And I'm happy to have so many people in school loving her! At such a young age, God has blessed her with abundance of favour! Thank You God!

Gabby enjoying her throne: Fatboy

Gabby having a fun time with her Daddy at the airport when he came back from HK.

Our little girl loves to play with her Gong Gong. Eversince my dad stopped working in early Oct, he has been a lot more involved with Gabby. He can handle Gabby quite well now and Gabby loves him! She can sit at the playmat for a long time with Gong Gong. She will flash her million dollar smile at Gong Gong to greet him Good Morning! She will wave bye bye to Gong Gong when we reached school in the morning.

Gabby selecting TV channels for Gong Gong to watch.
This little girl will automatically turns to look at the TV, waiting for images to appear whenever she gets her hands onto the remote control. Thanks to my mom who always carries her on her lap while she checks her 4-D and Toto... haha

Gabby enjoying her stroll around her toy with Gong Gong.
My dad started letting Gabby hold his fingers while he walked her around the toy. Eversince then, she loved to do that with him and him only. She refused to hold any one of us for this activity. My dad is the assigned person for it. Very funny!

Our little girl loves bath time! It's so fun to bathe her now and it's so much easier now compared to her first few months. But it's also challenging in other ways. She loves to splash the water in the tub. She loves to snatch the hanky from you and then she'll suck the water from the hanky... yes, soapy water! haha.. She loves to play with dragonfly, the beetlebug, the flower and the lotus leave on the tub. She loves to stand up and look over my shoulder if my dad happens to be watching TV in his room.

We're loving every moment we spend with her - our 10 months old gem!

Rent-a-toy

2009-11-14T13:41:00.012+08:00

We never thought of renting toys when we first had Gabby. I always thought that renting toys would be "bo hua" cos it costs about $50 to rent an item for 1 month. Renting the toy for 3-4 months would already add up to the actual cost of that toy. Plus I always prefer to own than to loan. But when Corinna rented a rocking buggy for Nigel and he didn't like it, I knew why people would rent instead of buy. You never really knew if your kid would like the toy that you like. Imagine spending $200 on a toy, lug the bugger home, only to have your precious baby reject it.

So I decided to go to this website that Corinna highly recommended to check it out. They have a very extensive list of toys to choose from: jumperoos, slides, swings, playhouses, etc. I liked this Around We Go Activity Station the minute I saw it. And it's available for rental. This is it. I rented it and it was delivered within a couple of days, cleaned and disinfected.

This morning, as Calvin was recovering from his late night work, I put Gabby into it. She was exploring with her eyes initially... and then her hands stretched out to explore every part of it. She slowly discovered that she can move around the toy! So inch by inch, she went around... She was having fun! Glad she liked it. I actually contemplated buying it over. But of course, Gabby's Daddy stopped me! wahaha...

He's home!!

2009-11-08T23:30:00.003+08:00

Today... my Daddy is coming home!!

2009-11-08T14:15:00.000+08:00

That's why it's a beautiful day...
That's why I'm so happy!

Shock!

2009-11-07T23:50:00.001+08:00

That's what my precious daughter gave me this afternoon! She woke up from her afternoon nap and I just happened to feel like peeing at that moment. I chatted with her for a while on the bed, carried her around a bit and then put her in her "poo-poo" chair, buckled her up while I went ahead to do my business. She was good, no noise while I was at it. So I decided to wash some dishes... but within seconds, I heard her fussing and I heard her pacifier drop. I was still contemplating if I should just leave her to fuss for a while. Thank God I decided not to.

I walked out to the living room and this is what I saw!!!

My 9.5 month old girl got out of her rocker and stood by the sofa next to it! I buckled her before I left her! I don't know how she did it! She didn't fall, she didn't knock onto anything... she just stood there, fussing and waiting for me to appear!

I ran over and carried her and hugged her! Thank God she wasn't hurt. I really have no idea how she managed to do this. Gosh... there's no where else I can leave her if I have to have her out of my sight!

Today... I played with Play Dough!

2009-11-05T23:21:00.001+08:00

The teachers in school will jot down my daily activities in this journal so that Daddy and Mommy know what and how I've been doing in school.

There's a section on my feeding, another on my poo-poo and wee-wee, and another on my napping. This section on activities I took part, is Daddy and Mommy's favourite section. They love to read about what I did in school and I love to share that with them. Because I wish they were there with me as I explore and explore...

Kids learn FAST!

2009-11-03T14:47:00.010+08:00

Kids really pick things up very very fast! They absorb concepts like a sponge! I remember months back, I was playing with Gabby and making her laugh by making the "boo boo" sounds with my lips. The next day, she did that to me! And I was so surprised she could do that!

* * *

Sometime in late September, I started playing "Hi-5" with her. I did it repeated to her one morning just before I brought her to school. Shortly after, when I raised my hands before her and said "Hi-5", she actually responded!

The weekend before I went to KL, Gabby "accidentally" managed to sit up on her own while she was playing on the mat. And when I got back from KL the next weekend, Calvin told me that Gabby can "officially" sit up on her own while I was away...

Everytime my dad drops us off at Gabby's school, she'd be totally distracted by the passing MRT or other children coming to school or the festive decorations in the building. She would ignore Gong Gong whenever he says bye-bye to her. On 22 Oct, both my dad and I were pleasantly surprised when she actually waved to him when he said bye-bye to her! In fact, just before we got to school that day, I suddenly noticed that she was waving vigorously in the car. I turned and saw that she was actually waving to the couple in the car next to ours. She probably got "addicted" to waving and that's why she responded to Gong Gong shortly after. haha... thanks to that couple who encouraged her unknowingly while playing with her.

3 days later, she spontaneously waved bye-bye to me as I was walking out of the infant care room! Even Teacher Sally was very surprised... It was the first time she waved bye-bye to me since we brought her to school 5.5 months ago!

My dad's really quite good at "training" babies. Sometime ago, he put her on the exercise ball to train her sense of balance. On 25 Oct, he put her on the sofa facing the back. She used the back of the sofa as a support and climbed up to stand on her own without much hesitation. My dad then used a toy to lure her to walk. And she did just that! Holding on to the back of the sofa, she slowly step by step inched towards the toy! Gosh.. I'm amazed! So we just kept letting her practise. To and fro, to and fro at the back of the sofa. And she seemed totally happy with this activity. :D

It was also on this day that Gabby learnt how to crawl on her knees and hands, with her tummy off the ground!

Time really flies!

Gabby made Mommy HAPPY!

2009-11-02T23:32:00.005+08:00

I knocked off at 6.30pm today and went straight home with dinner for my parents. When I got to the door, I heard my dad telling Gabby that Mommy's home. Then I was greeted by Gabby in my dad's arms... When she saw Mommy, she screamed with joy. As I walked towards them, my baby lunged herself forward towards me, screaming for me to carry her. She literally lunged forward precariously, as if nothing else matters other than getting into my arms! And when I carried her, she rested her head on my shoulders with her hands grabbing tightly to my shirt. No way is she letting go of her Mommy... and of course, the Mommy felt GOOD!! (^__^)

Gabby, Mommy loves you so much! More than you can imagine...

Today... I spent time with Mommy's friends

2009-11-01T22:54:00.008+08:00

Daddy, this is the 3rd Sunday in a row that you're at work. I miss you, and I know Mommy misses you too. Mommy got some of her friends over to spend the Sunday with us. We've got Auntie Teri, Auntie Ying and Auntie Joanne with us.

Auntie Ying was busy taking photos of us and Mommy actually forgot to take photos of them with me. Mommy, shall we invite them over again? I had fun with them!

My school gave me this doll in school uniform for Children's Day. Mommy kept wanting to take a photo of us together. But I still don't know how to appreciate this doll. Maybe when I grow older ok Mommy?

Auntie Teri put me into the Fatboy after lunch. It's my first time in it, and I'm lovin' it! So comfortable... Mom, how come you've never put me in it before?

So shiok! I feel like I'm sitting in my throne! :p

I crawled around the living room a lot today. Mommy and the aunties are worried that my knees will hurt. Don't worry ladies. I'm fine and I love to crawl around.

Mommy has always been very concerned about my oral health. She bought this toothpaste and toothbrush for me some time ago and she finally tried them on me. The toothpaste tastes yummy! I used to hate it when Mommy and Daddy tried to clean my tongue and my gums with the hanky during bath time. But this, I like!

Daddy, that's how I spent today while you were away. Can't wait for you to come home and play with me. God keep you safe and bless you, Daddy!

Gabby's Dinner

2009-10-31T22:51:00.000+08:00

I finally got down to doing it. I made and froze 2 different puree and they should last at least 2 weeks. Hope she likes them!

Missing Daddy

2009-10-31T22:03:00.011+08:00

Calvin set off for his 9-day HK trip this morning. This is his first time away from Gabby for so long. When I went KL for 3 days, I came back to a daughter who sticks to her Daddy all the time. Calvin was worried that Gabby may not want him after these 9 days... Well I really don't think that's gonna happen. Gabby loves her Daddy too much!

Gabby and I are counting down to the day that her Daddy comes home. We miss you!!!

What's for snacks today?

2009-10-25T20:23:00.000+08:00

We were worried that the taste of avocado may be too strong for our baby's liking. But we've been unduly worried. Calvin puree'd half an avocado for Gabby yesterday while I expressed. And we added some fresh breastmilk into the avocado puree for her.

She took her first mouthful and concentrated on tasting it. Within seconds, she smiled and opened her mouth wide for the next mouthful. She's enjoying it!

Today, I puree'd the whole fruit for her and she really enjoyed every mouthful of it. She almost finished everything! I tried it myself and eerrm... don't think I can enjoy it the way she does.

The fever, rash and teething discomfort disrupted her love for food the last few days. Now, I'm just glad that she's gotten back her appetite.

Dinner for my baby

2009-10-25T10:00:00.002+08:00

The teachers in school are suggesting we start giving Gabby a proper dinner meal. Her current feeding routine is such:

~7am: approx. 100ml of BM at home

~8am: Cereal Breakfast in school

11am-12noon: Porridge for lunch

~3pm: Puree snack (she LOVES apple puree)

~4pm: 180ml of BM

~7.30pm: 180ml of BM before she goes to bed

~11pm: 180ml of BM or however much she can drink in her half asleep mode

So we need to substitute the 7.30pm BM feed with a proper dinner meal. Then comes my headache. I'm still at work at that time. How to prepare dinner??!! My mom will only reach home from work at about 5pm+ and it's too tiring for her to have to rush home and cook and then go pick Gabby up from school. I need a solution!

Cynthia gave me this website some time ago and I've been quite a regular on it when I was planning to start Gabster on semi-solids. It's very comprehensive and it has abundance of recipes that I can rely on. And the recipes look so yummy, even I wanna try them myself.

A lot of these recipes are suitable for freezing. So my solution for now, prepare Gabster's dinner on weekends, freeze them so that my mom can thaw them and heat them up for her every evening without too much trouble. I'm so excited! The recipes are easy and seem fun to prepare. Grocery shopping time!

Baby G at 9 months

2009-10-20T20:38:00.008+08:00

We always call her cheeky baby, cheekadee, cheeky B.. that's because she's really cheeky. Cheeky B was down with fever yesterday and she developed rash all over her body today. We decided to bring her to the PD. Calvin was carrying her as we went down the stairs. Halfway down, I offered to carry her. My cheeky B actually turned away from me!! She didn't want me to carry her! I was quite shocked and a little sad at that instant. I told her that Mommy's sad and I turned away.

One flight of stairs later, I offered myself again. This time round, she turned away again, but with a cheeky grin on her face! She was teasing Mommy!!! Haha... it was really funny. I tried again and she did it again, with yet another cheeky grin. I think we tried that like 4-5 times and each time, she had that same cheeky grin. She seems to enjoy teasing Mommy. Finally, before we got to the void deck, she reciprocated with a wide happy smile.

The whole episode was just so amusing. That was our 9-month old cheeky B.

How we wish we can do this everyday!

2009-10-15T22:40:00.038+08:00

Fetching Gabby from school at the end of the day is the most joyous thing to do. My mom has been raving about how happy Gabby is when she sees Po Po walk into the room every evening. So since both Calvin and I aren't working today, we get to experience that for ourselves.

We hid behind the door to peep at her, to see what she's doing. Can you spot her?

She seemed to have noticed that someone has walked into the room...

And she realised it's her Daddy and Mommy!
This is what makes everything worthwhile after a shitty day at work!

She started her sprint towards us.

Her eyes were fixed on us! Oh what a great feeling!

Go go Gabby!

She's determined to get to us as fast as she can. And she's really crawling like a champion now, even though she hasn't learnt how to crawl on her knees.

Yes! Right into Daddy's arms!

Collecting her reward for the race... a kiss from Daddy!

We took a nice cool stroll home. And this stroll is so precious...

Halfway through the stroll, our precious gem fell asleep in Mommy's arms. Sweet...

Gabby got kissed!

2009-10-15T09:32:00.000+08:00

This boy is very cute... when we walked into the school this morning, he saw us and called out "baby....". Then he ran over to us. Teacher Belle was holding Gabby out to him and when she asked him to hug her, he did just that... and when Teacher Belle asked him to kiss her, he did just that too! Innocence...

Going home soon...

2009-10-10T01:31:00.000+08:00

I miss my baby's hearty laugh!

Where are you Mommy?

2009-10-08T01:58:00.002+08:00

Mommy is in KL for a client workshop... alone in the hotel room missing you and Daddy terribly. Can't wait to be home with you again... hug you, kiss you, carry you, feed you, play with you.. just spending quality time with you and Daddy, just the 3 of us.

Mommy loves you and Daddy will be kissing you extra everyday on my behalf.

Be good, be blessed and I love you.

And I love you too, Gabby's Daddy!

Broccoli Puree

2009-10-04T11:34:00.002+08:00

It already sounded yucky, doesn't it? I love broccoli, but in puree form?? hmmm... But Gabby can only take puree.

I tried doing it with my usual fruit juice blender. FAILED. Went to get a hand held blender and it's a blast. Easy and fast. With this, I can make a lot more puree variety for Gabby. Yeah! It's quite fun.

I tasted the puree and indeed it's yucky. But when I fed Gabby with it, she loved it! She was screaming for more!!! Well done girl!

Gabby's 1st Children's Day

2009-10-03T23:47:00.010+08:00

It was Children's Day 2 days ago and Gabby received a present from her teachers in school - her first Children's Day present! We gave her the present today and she looked rather intrigued by it. She tried to figure out what it was and it was interesting to look at how she explored the box.

~ Hmmm... what is this? ~

~ Hey... there's another side to it! ~

~ Eh... there's something sticking out... ~

~ I gotta tear? ~

~ Tearing is FUN! ~

Another precious moment

2009-09-27T21:15:00.003+08:00

This weekend, you kept wanting Mommy to carry you. You would be crying until Mommy carried you. Looking out of the window seems to calm you down. We stood by the window, watching the birds fly by and hearing them sing.

As Mommy told you about what's going on outside our window, you relaxed and leaned your cheek against mine. So comfortable, so contented. We stood by the window, enjoying each other's company and wishing Daddy was here with us.

F1 Weekend

2009-09-27T20:38:00.000+08:00

This means that Calvin's working throughout the weekend and he'd only come home in the wee hours. :( This also means that I'd be alone with our darling throughout the weekend.

Gabby is extra sticky and clingy to me this weekend. Especially so when she's sleepy and when she's hungry. She would cry uncontrollably until I pick her up. This made it difficult for me to even prepare milk for her. I had to let her cry while I prepare her milk.

I remembered that Yuxiang wore Cheyenne while she goes about doing chores at home. So I decided to do the same this afternoon. I put Gabby into the hotsling and prepared her snack with her. It was fun! I froze some carrot puree 2 weeks ago and thawed it for Gabby's snack time today. The puree was frozen in a baby cube and as I brought it out from the fridge, I let Gabby hold the icy cold cube. She held on to it tight and when we got to the sink, I held out a bowl and asked her to put the cube into the bowl. It took her a while to let it go. I would like to think she understood my instructions. hahaha...

She was very inquisitive. She kept looking at what I was doing. Dispensing hot water into the bowl, putting the baby cube into the hot water, stirring the puree, testing the temperature, etc. Thank God for the hotsling - Gabby didn't have to scream for attention, and I didn't have to bear with those uncontrollable screams.

Teething Rusks

2009-09-26T20:12:00.020+08:00

I actually forgot to pen down the date those little bottom teeth broke through Gabby's gums! That was about a couple of weeks back. Last weekend, Gabby got back into the refusing milk phase, just like what happened when the bottom teeth were coming out. I think her top 2 are coming out soon...

I was grocery shopping after my haircut last Friday while waiting for Calvin to come pick me up. Found this Teething Rusks on the shelves and I decided to see if it'd help soothe Gabby's discomfort. Even if it doesn't, at least she's biting something edible! She's at this stage where anything that gets into her hands, gets into her mouth too... Everything!

I finally gave Gabby a stick today. I put her into the Bumbo and put on the table top. It's the first time I put the table top on and Gabby seems to know! She never had the table top on whenever we feed her cereal. She's in eager anticipation for something exciting.

When I first handed her the rusk, she didn't know what it was. She seems to be thinking, is this a toy or is this food?? She kept waving it in the air initially. But then, it didn't take long for her to bring it to her mouth.

Hmmmm... what is this thing? No taste one...

She seemed to have decided that it's a toy... haha... She was playing with it, biting both ends and waving it in the air.

I read an article that says if we eat together with our baby and show interest in food with her, she will learn to enjoy mealtimes. As I wanted to know what the rusks taste like, I decided to "eat" it with Gabby. I took a stick out for myself and showed her that I was eating it with her. She got so excited and so happy! It's the first time we "ate" together and she was extremely happy to have Mommy eat with her! I was very pleasantly surprised by her reaction. I didn't know it really could make such a big difference to my precious baby that I'm eating with her!

We placed an order for a high chair and it'd be delivered in 2 weeks. When it arrives, Gabby is gonna have her meals with us! Can't wait for that to happen.

20.09.2009

2009-09-20T21:12:00.002+08:00

Gabby can sit!

2009-09-19T21:02:00.007+08:00

Gabby hasn't learned how to sit up on her own but when we put her in a sitting position, she can sit quite steadily already. She's even learnt how to use her hands as support when she's losing balance. But there are times when she would stretch over to her sides for her toys and lose her balance. It's very cute to see her slowly leaning to the side and land on the floor.... haha... Don't worry.. she won't hurt herself as the mat's thick enough to cushion her.

Gabby's favourite teacher

2009-09-01T08:10:00.001+08:00

Teacher Agnes, the teacher who massaged Gabby on her first day in infant care; the teacher whom Gabby smiled to when she reached school on the 2nd day; the teacher who would put down whatever she's doing to carry Gabby whenever we get to school in the morning. She could be feeding another baby, but she would stop and take over Gabby from me, talk to her, play with her, kiss her. Gabby loves her!

At some point, I got jealous. My Gabby got jealous when Teacher Agnes carried another baby and not her. My Gabby screamed for Teacher Agnes' attention when she walked past without saying hi to her. My Gabby reached out for Teacher Agnes from my arms when I brought her to school. That was the ultimate incident that got to me. I've never seen her reach out for someone before and I never knew she already knew how to do that. But everyone reminded me how blessed I am to have such a wonderful teacher who dotes on my precious daughter. Because of Teacher Agnes, I was able to leave for work knowing that my Gabby is loved and well taken care of in school. Because of Teacher Agnes, my Gabby enjoys her days in school. Because of Teacher Agnes, I get to see pictures of my Gabby having fun in school. Because of Teacher Agnes, I get updated with my Gabby's progress in school.

So truthfully, even though I was jealous sometimes, I really thank God for Teacher Agnes. And I really appreciate all the love, care and concern that she's showered on our precious one over the last 4 months.

Then, last Friday, she told me that she's leaving the school. Her last day would be 2 September. My heart dropped. I felt really sad. And I know Gabby would be sad too when she doesn't get to see her favourite teacher in school anymore. When we got to school yesterday, Teacher Agnes said that her last day is brought forward and she would be leaving at 10.30am in the morning. Again, my heart dropped. I felt sad for Gabby. I'm sure she's gonna miss Teacher Agnes.

Teacher Agnes wrote in her FB that Gabby woke up just in time before she left. She hugged and kissed Gabby for a long time on her cheeks and Gabby looked at her, puzzled. My sweetie doesn't know that Teacher Agnes won't be in school anymore. I can imagine what's going on in her mind...

Baby, we will keep in touch with Teacher Agnes ok? I hope you would remember this lovely teacher who has taken great care of you when Mommy's at work.

Thank you, Teacher Agnes. Happy Teacher's Day!

Collecting Precious Moments

2009-08-16T22:16:00.001+08:00

We laid on the bed, just you and me as Daddy's at work. We just laid there, face to face. We were looking into each other's eyes, no words exchanged. Just enjoying each other's company. What a precious moment...

You would doze off for a while and then open your eyes again to look at Mommy. You would toss and turn a little as you try to fall asleep. But when you turn and face Mommy, you would cup your little hands on Mommy's cheeks. And as if holding on to security, you would settle down and doze off. What a wonderful feeling...

I continued lying by your side even as you fall into deep slumber. Watching you sleep is such a precious luxury. I love the way you look when you sleep. So sweet, so at peace, so beautiful.

I wish I could take a picture of this precious moment... just you and me, with your little hands on my cheeks, falling asleep. I figured the only other way to capture this moment is to write it down. Let's start collecting precious moments like this, in whatever way we can.

Gabby, Mommy loves you!

9th August

2009-08-09T15:45:00.000+08:00

The public holiday that Daddy has to work.

Gabby's 1st Vege Snack

2009-08-08T20:59:00.009+08:00

It's been 3 weeks since Gabby started on brown rice cereals. So I decided to introduce some vegetables to her this weekend since it's a long weekend... I have 3 days to get her used to a new taste.

I was deciding between giving her vegetables 1st or fruits 1st. I read on some websites that if you want to develop her liking for vegetables, start with that first. Then I had to decide what vegetables first... I think I think too much.. haha. In the end, I decided butternut squash would be it. Nice name too... haha.. well it's just a type of pumpkin.

So I went to Raffles City during lunchtime yesterday and bought half a butternut squash. Can't believe I was so excited about making vege puree for Gabby for the first time!

Bought this munchkin food grinder sometime back. Now it's put to good use. It's very easy and convenient to use. Just put the steamed squash into the chamber and grind... you get a nice textured puree thereafter. I tried it and it's YUMS!

Well, but what I think is yummy is not what my daughter thinks is yummy. Gabby took the first little teaspoon of the squash puree and immediately showed signs of skeptism. She was gagging as if she's gonna throw up... but right after she swallowed it, she opened her mouth and wanted to take another mouthful of it... hahahaha it was so funny. So I gave her another few teaspoons of it, and she reacted the same way every time. hahaha... let's see how it goes tomorrow.

Gabby's 1st Taste of Semi-Solids

2009-07-19T21:27:00.019+08:00

Gabby is reaching her big 6-month mark and we decided it's time to introduce her to semi-solids! It's an exciting time for us! We surfed and asked around on what brand to buy, what type to try.
Finally, we (or rather I) decided that we'll go with Healthy Times Brown Rice Cereals.

One of the teachers in school, Teacher Alice, suggested that instead of letting the teachers in school start her on cereals, we have to be the first ones to introduce her to semi-solids. She said that it's a priceless moment watching your baby take her first bite. It's one big milestone that we as parents have to experience. It has never crossed our mind that this is so important! Thank you Teacher Alice for sharing this with us. I would have regretted it if I allowed myself to miss this big milestone.

So on Sat, the big day, we had everything (or so we thought) ready... Bumbo, bibs, bowl, spoon... camera, video... Gabby seemed to be as excited as we were! She sat in the Bumbo as if waiting for something special to happen. Well, baby... it is really something special. Mommy's first at feeding and your first at eating!

It wasn't as simple as I thought. Feeding someone so small, someone who doesn't know how to respond to the spoon coming at her. Gabby didn't really know how to open her mouth and take in the food. I can imagine from her point of view... haha.. It is really quite an experience. Obviously, the scene was a little messy in the end. And we had to run to get a wet hanky to wipe her cereal-smeared face and had to get wet tissue to wipe the floor.

All in all, this was FUN! hahaha... Gabby, hope this was as fun for you as it was for me!

Cheeky Gabby halfway through the feed. She looks satisfied, doesn't she?

Wanna eat and wanna pose at the same time...

2nd try with Daddy the next day.
Gabby checking out the bowl that Daddy's holding while feeding her.

Gabby learning how to eat and learning how to appreciate it.

Curious Gabby staring at the spoon as Daddy was scooping the cereal from the bowl.

Today... I went swimming!

2009-07-12T21:21:00.007+08:00

Mommy and Daddy brought me to Uncle Kiong's apartment for a swim today. My first time ever in a pool!! Mommy bought me my first swimsuit yesterday... a pink floral one. It's so pretty, I love it!

This morning we went for McDonald's breakfast and a stroll in AMK park. The weather was a little gloomy then and we thought the swim would have to be postponed. Thank God the clouds cleared for me to go for my 1st swim! (^_^)

I was a little apprehensive when Daddy first soaked my feet in the pool... The water in the pool was icy cold... But I know I can trust Daddy. He will hold me tight and keep me safe. We played for a little while in the pool and not long after, I shivered... Mommy and Daddy were worried that I might catch a cold, so my 1st swim ended in less than 10min. But I had fun! I think I like swimming... We're gonna do this again sometime soon, right Daddy?

My cheekadee can sit!

2009-06-23T10:04:00.003+08:00

In a Bumbo that is...

I logged on to Facebook earlier and was surprised to see that Teacher Agnes added some pictures of Gabby. Clicked on the "Gabby" album and saw my baby sitting in a bumbo! Gosh! It's the first time I see her sitting up like that!

Just this morning, I was chatting with Teacher Agnes and Teacher Alice about how Gabby's gonna join the older infants for breakfast in the high chairs soon. And Teacher Alice mentioned that we can start letting her try to sit in a Bumbo. So that's exactly what the teachers did in school today. Thank you Teacher Agnes for taking a photo to share with us. It's really precious.

I got Calvin over to look at the pics and then all of a sudden, emotions overwhelmed me. I started tearing... suddenly I feel that my baby is growing up too fast. And I really don't wanna miss all this little milestones she's making.

Work has been creeping into my family time. I was working late almost every night ever since I got back to work after my maternity leave. And just last weekend, I was working through the weekend, which is the most precious time of the week. Precious time that I spend with Calvin and Gabby.

I know I had to do something about my work. But I'm not sure how. God, guide me in this. You know my heart's desire and You will find a way. You will not allow me to miss Gabby's precious growing up days. You will find a way. Amen!

I'm 33 and very happy

2009-05-09T23:54:00.004+08:00

...because I have the both of you.

Celebrated my birthday with some dear friends. (1) 1st May: Lunch at Dempsey Olio with Jasmine, Winnie, Kim Seng and little Reeann. Wish the MRT were there too. :p (2) 2nd May: Dinner at Balestier followed by drinks at United Square with TTC. (3) 9th May: Lunch at Spruce with Eunice and Dennis.

The month of April

2009-04-30T21:05:00.003+08:00

This blog is not dead.. it just went on sabbatical. :p

We had plans to start bringing Gabby to the nanny (or whatever babysitting option we eventually decide on) by the last week of April, so that she'd have about a month to get used to new environment and new lifestyle before I go back to work. Because of that, I decided that my focus will be entirely on my darling baby... I wanna spend all her awake times playing with her, talking to her and bonding with her. So, other than going online to check emails and shop for her, I really had no time to update this blog.

April turned out to be a month where we had to make major changes and decisions on Gabby's babysitting plans. Corinna's colleague highly recommended her babysitter who lives about 15mins away from our block. We went to visit her sometime early this month and realised that she smokes!! *faint... No way am I leaving Gabby in the care of a smoker! So there goes our original babysitter option. At this point, we had to quickly look for other options as we really don't have much time left.

A couple of options came by... (1) My aunt. We really wouldn't have to worry if we leave Gabby with my aunt. BUT since she stays in Yishun, we would have to leave her there overnight and only bring her home during the weekends. And this is one big minus point. (2) Another babysitter recommended by the coffeeshop auntie. She stays in the next block and she's considered rather young. She's only 47 and she has 3 grown up children. BUT she wants to take a break from babysitter (the baby she was babysitting just went to childcare) and she's quite particular about timing.

After some deliberation, we decided to go with option 1, my aunt. We would bring her there every Sunday evening and bring her home every Friday evening. The night that we made this decision, I cried while watching Gabby sleep. I can't imagine not having her around every night! I can't imagine not being able to wake up and see her every morning! But, that seems like the best option for us. So we decided to bring Gabby to my aunt from 26 April onwards and started buying extra everything for Gabby to be stocked up at my aunt's. But you know what... we can make all the plans we want, but if it's not God's plan, it's just not gonna materialise.

2 days before we're due to bring Gabby to my aunt, her sister-in-law passed away and she had to be there at the wake and funeral. So I was to bring Gabby only on 27 April. But, just before 27 April, my aunt started having a real bad back and complained about rheumatism. She said she might not be able to handle Gabby because of her back. At this point, we crashed! We were a week away from our short trip (yes, we're going away, just the 2 of us) and a month away from my return to work. We scrambled to look for other options.

First thing we did was to revisit option (2) above. We went to visit that babysitter and she told us she wanna consider if she still wants to babysit. So fine. We decided to give infant care centers a chance. I started calling up the infant care centers in AMK and made appointments for center tours today. To cut the long story short, we fell in love with Learning Vision at Grassroot Club. The teachers there are well-spoken, the center is clean, bright and fun... in short, it felt right. We were so much in peace when we made the decision to send Gabby to this infant care. I think it's God way of telling us, this is the plan I have for you.

So we started the month of April not knowing where to put Gabby when I return to work. And we ended the month with a peace of mind knowing that God is in charge. One of the nights, God spoke to me lovingly and said, "remember, when you're not there by Gabby's side, I am." I love You, God. Thank You for loving us!

First Flip

2009-04-24T20:38:00.004+08:00

Gabby... you flipped from your back to your tummy on your own today!! You're so active... you were kicking and tossing and then suddenly, you just flipped onto your tummy.

We were expecting you to have your first flip when you're about 4 months old. You're only 3 months and 4 days old now and you surprised us with your little flip. I think even you yourself were surprised! You seemed curious and deep in thought when you realised that you're up on your own... hehe... you're sooo cute... I wish I was able to take a video of that flip. But it all happened too fast. (^_*)

I'm a mommy

2009-04-21T22:40:00.004+08:00

It's Gabby's 3rd month vaccination today. We brought her to AMK polyclinic for her jab. She was a little cranky as we had to wake her up to take her vital stats. She was already crying before the nurse injected her. Just like her first jab 2 months ago, I was carrying a wailing baby when the nurse prepared the vaccine. And when the jab went in, she cried so hard and so loud it pains me. I guess one of the traits that she took on after me is this super low threshold for pain. The baby next door only cried for a few seconds when he took the jab, but my baby cried and cried even after the jab.

I guess she cried profusely also because she's really sleepy. She haven't slept much at all. So we quickly went home after the vaccination so that we can put her to bed asap. I carried her all the way home instead of putting her in the stroller as she was crying the whole time. Halfway through our journey home, she fell asleep in my arms. Even after we got home, she was so sound asleep I didn't have the heart to put her down on the bed in case she got stirred up. At that moment, when she's sound alseep in my arms, I feel so good as a mommy. I love you, Gabby... more than you'd ever know.

Our 1st Date after Gabby

2009-03-28T15:16:00.003+08:00

My mom's not working today and we decided to go on a date... our first after Gabby came along. For the past 2 over months, every second of our lives revolves around little Gabby. We loved it that she's here with us, but we kinda needed to spend some time together... just the 2 of us. So, mom agreed to babysit Gabby while we went out on a lunch date.

We bathed Gabby, got early lunch for my mom and off we went for our date. We made plans to come back within 3-4hours. So we went to Serangoon Gardens for lunch. There's this old skool Russian steakhouse that's been there for the longest time and we decided to give it a try. Nothing fantastic at all! Not yucky, but we definitely won't go back there a 2nd time. Shashlik at Far East Shopping Centre is better. I remember there was this building along one of the lanes where we can find cafes to chill out at. But when we got there, the building was in the process of demolition! So we gotta find another place to chill...

We ended up at Olio Dome in Bishan CC. Sat down, ordered his coffee, my iced chocolate and a piece of cheese cake (I've been craving for it...) and spent the rest of our date chatting about everything. I really missed times like these. Really had my mom to thank for babysitting Gabby so we can afford to spend time like that once again.

Holding Po Po's Hand

2009-03-27T22:48:00.002+08:00

My mom's not working today, so she's home helping me take care of Gabby. I was in the room, washing and sterilising my breastpump and Gabby's bottles. When I walked out, I saw this...

My mom was patting her to sleep and as she was falling asleep, she held on to my mom's hand... sometimes, she would hold on to our fingers when we're feeding her. So cute... and it feels good when she holds on to my fingers... :)

Today... Mommy gave me some tummy time

2009-03-26T23:04:00.002+08:00

They say tummy time is good for me... it trains my neck and prepares me for crawling... hehe I can't wait for that to happen! I kind of like being on my tummy... but only for a little while. I don't like to be in this position for too long. Because in this position, I can't do my kicks and punches in the air... :p

Daddy's Cheeky Little Girl

2009-03-26T22:07:00.006+08:00

I forgot which day exactly, but our little girl has started to become really responsive. She would smile sweetly at us when we talk to her and respond with her sweet coo-coo, as if she's chatting with us. Sometimes she will be really cheeky, especially with her Daddy. She loves to talk to her Po Po too, even though sometimes Po Po tend to be a bit lor-soh... haha

Today, I caught her in her cheeky acts. Earlier in the afternoon, she was taking her nap on her cot which is in our room. I popped in to check on her. As I walked near the cot, I saw that she's awake. When her eyes caught mine, she quickly shut them up and pretended to be sleeping... Then later in the afternoon when I was feeding her, she got cheeky again. I was watching TV while feeding her. She seemed to have stopped, so I wanted to check if she's asleep. She was actually watching me watch TV, but when she saw me turned down to look at her, she immediately shut her eyes and pretended to sleep again. hahaha... it was really cute.

I love watching her. Just one little grin from her melts my heart.

I bought this CK onesie for Gabby because it has her Daddy's name on it. Calvin even wanted to change it to "Calvin's baby"... so I did it in soft copy for him. haha

Gabby & Her Poo-Poo Chair

2009-03-26T17:38:00.008+08:00

A couple of weeks ago, we bought Gabby a Fisher Price rocker chair. I wanted to get her a rocker chair so that I can have her within my sight when I'm doing stuff around the house. Before the rocker chair, she can only be in the sarong or the cot. So I'm always paranoid about how is she and what she's up to when I can't see her.

We put her in the rocker chair that same evening we bought it. Guess what's the first thing she did when she sat in there? She POOED!!! And it was a major one. I even video-ed it. I've watched the video over and over again and it still never fails to make me laugh out loud. It was really funny! And for the next few days, she always poos whenever she sits in the chair. I guess the angle and posture is really conducive for her to do her big business. Because of that, we call the rocker chair her poo-poo chair.

Now, she does other things in the poo-poo chair too.

~ Gabby doing big business in her poo-poo chair, with her kek sai face ~
I love to see her kek sai face... I think it's really cute.. hehe

~ Gabby relaxing and kiao-ka-ing in her poo-poo chair ~

~ Gabby sleeping soundly in her poo-poo chair ~

~ Gabby getting bored and yawning in her poo-poo chair ~

~ Gabby listening attentively to Po Po in her poo-poo chair ~

Wearing Gabby

2009-03-25T20:44:00.002+08:00

I saw how convenient it was for Nicole when she put her Cheyenne into the hotsling. I wanna use a baby sling too. So that I can carry Gabby around the house and still have both my hands to do stuff. So that I can bring her downstairs to get lunch and still have both my hands to make payment and carry the food. And I think I absolutely need a baby sling to bring Gabby to the nanny when I get back to work. I need to be "hands-free"!

Fiona has kindly given me her Moms-in-Mind babysling as her boy doesn't like it. Then I asked Nicole for her recommendation since she has tried both. Her recommendation: Hotsling. I like! hehe... I was secretly hoping she would recommend the hotsling... cos the vainpot in me is at work. Hotslings look so so much better than the MIM one... hehe

So I ordered mine online through amazon together with other stuff and my dear friend Nicole has kindly helped me with the shipment. The parcel arrived quite some time ago but I couldn't find time to try it on. I finally did a few days back and today, I tried again. It wasn't easy to squeeze Gabby into it. It took a while, and of cos by then, my little baby is getting warm and agitated. Check out her face... she doesn't seem too happy to be in there. Dunno if it's cos she's agitated from the handling, or she's not properly placed in the sling, or she's feeling too warm in there, or she simply doesn't like it.

My conclusion: I'm gonna try again when she has better neck support. When that happens, I wouldn't have to put her cradle carry position and we can progress to the front carry position. And hopefully, she'll be more willing to be in the sling when she gets to look around.

In any case, I like my hotsling... it's red and it has flowers... hehe

Mittens No More

2009-03-19T15:42:00.003+08:00

They say we can start taking off their mittens from the 2nd month onwards. This is to start stimulating their sense of touch and train their motor skills. So, since I've learnt to cut her nails, I decided to give them a good file and take off her mittens yesterday.

This morning, she was sleeping soundly when I went by her cot to look at her. She stirred a bit and as I calmed her down, she held on to my finger.... BLISS! (^_^)

Muffins & Bento with love from Chef Esther

2009-03-06T22:40:00.003+08:00

Esther and Joeel came by to see Gabby 2 days ago and brought along her yummy blueberry and banana muffins. They were yummy snacks for the hungry mommy... hehe...

Esther messaged me after she visited that day and offered to bring me dinner today... and look what she prepared for me!! Calvin's training program changed and he's at home today too. So Chef Esther prepared 1 more bento set for him. I LOVE THE PRAWNS!!! Very yummy!!! Thank you sooooooo much Esther. MUACKS MUACKS!!!!!!

Yawn...

2009-03-05T22:35:00.004+08:00

Today is one of the most challenging days for me. Home alone with an overtired baby who can't get to sleep. My Gabby seems to have difficulty falling asleep today. She kept yawning and rubbing her eyes... I tried putting her in her cot, in her sarong, in her rocker, on the sofa... but none of it works. The one that works best was the sarong. At least she'd be able to doze off for a longer duration But, the minute I stop rocking her, she stirs and wakes up and gets frustrated. So she was only able to sleep for a max of like 15min. I could do nothing at all today. Most of my time was spent rocking her in the sarong.

I ordered McDelivery for lunch and had to eat my burger while rocking her. My milk expressing session was extremely delayed. I wasn't able to sit down at the pump to express my milk... until about 6 hours after the previous session, I suddenly remembered that Calvin's sister passed me another handheld breast pump! I just had to put batteries in and I can rock her while I express. YES! What a relief for my twin peaks!! Thank God!

I was extremely exhausted by the time my mom came home at about 5plus in the afternoon. And by that time, my Gabby was also extremely exhausted and she finally succumb to her own fatigue and fell asleep. So good to see her finally sleeping...

Today... Mommy cut my fingernails

2009-03-02T17:02:00.002+08:00

Mommy finally mustered enough courage today to cut my fingernails... hehe.. She has 3 different types of nail clipper/ scissors to choose from. Daddy and Mommy bought 1 that has a magnifying glass, Auntie Noi and Uncle Randy bought a grooming set for me for Christmas and Auntie Nicole bought this pair of scissors for me.

Mommy chose to use this pair of scissors and she says it's actually very easy to cut my nails! YEAH... I've have nicely manicured nails from now on.

Errrm... looks like Mommy needs a manicure too! :p

Shopping with Gabby

2009-03-01T21:01:00.006+08:00

We had plans to go shopping yesterday but since our little girl was cranky the whole night through the night before, we postponed our shopping trip to today.

Xifen, Jo and Fei came over last weekend after attending Hoi's baby Remy's full-month party (my Gabby would have her full-month party on the same day if she had one.. :p). Jo was telling me about her breastfeeding experience, how she handles her pump and expressed milk now that she's back at work. And she showed me her Fridge-to-go. This is exactly what I need.

As my baby doesn't latch on to me for her feeds, I had to feed her with formula milk whenever we went out. With a fridge-to-go, I can feed my baby with breastmilk! So we went to Taka as there's a fair for household stuff and Fridge-to-go had a booth there.

Gabby has been a very good, or should I say sleepy girl today. We put her in the car seat initially. She sat there quietly for a while and then started to fidget and get cranky. Think she doesn't like to be in there. So I picked her up and carried her. She fell asleep in my arms in no time.

~ Gabby in her car seat (hand-me-down from Uncle Vincent) ~

She continued sleeping when we put her in her stroller. And we thought she's gonna wake up within the next half an hour so we quickly went into Crystal Jade for lunch before she starts stirring. Lesson learnt here: DO NOT order porridge when you bring along a baby. We kept thinking that she'd be waking up soon so we had to eat quickly. How to eat a piping hot bowl of porridge??!! In the end, our baby slept through our lunchtime.

She slept and slept as we shopped through the household fair at Taka Square. And she slept and slept as we shopped for a rocker chair at Taka's children's department. And she slept and slept as we strolled to Wisma for a coffee break. By this time, we decided that she has to have her feed soon. So we walked back to the nursery in Taka. When we stepped into the nursery, both Calvin and I wowed at their facilities. They've got more than enough changing stations, they've got a sofa and some chairs for bottle-feeding parents, they've got a breastfeeding room and they've also got a hot water dispenser and a sink for washing. This is the first baby room in a shopping mall that I've been to and I must say I'm quite impressed. I wonder if any other shopping mall has such good and comfortable facilities.

~ Calvin feeding Gabby in Taka's nursery ~

It's almost 5 hours since we've been out and I need to go home... go home and be a cow! Gabby, oh Gabby, why won't you latch on to Mommy? Then we can hang out longer...

Pea Pod Wrap

2009-03-01T17:29:00.003+08:00

My brother got us this very very pretty, practical and easy to use wrap. It's so convenient compared to wrapping her up in muslin wraps. All you have to do is to put her into the pants-like pouch. When it gets cold, you can wrap her up with the 2 flaps at the sides. The hood is also easily pulled up to cover her head. When she's fully wrapped up, she looks like a little pea pod... soooo cute!!! (^__^) Now we call this wrap the pea-pod-wrap.

*you can get the pea-pod-wrap in Robinsons and the brand is Baby Safe. I highly recommend it.

Visiting Gabby's Yi Po

2009-02-28T22:05:00.004+08:00

It was supposed to be a rather activities-packed day today. We made plans to go shopping in the late morning, come home after lunch, rest and then go over to Yi Ma's house for dinner. But our little girl can't get to sleep the whole night and that made her mommy extremely exhausted. So we skipped the day plans and only went to Yi Ma's house for dinner.

My dear Yi Ma prepared a confinement feast for me! Did I mention I LOVE confinement food? I can eat confinement food everyday and I wouldn't get sick of it... haha... Yi Ma prepared 3 variations of sesame oil chicken today using 2 whole chickens! All 3 are equally yummy...* slurp slurp

~ our little princess sleeping soundly on Yi Po's bed ~
I think Gabby likes her Yi Po just as much as I do... she stopped crying immediately after Yi Po carries her...

New life, new role...

2009-02-26T11:17:00.006+08:00

I'm finally getting the hang of my new life, new role, new routines... And I'm gonna start finding a bit of time everyday to back-date and blog about the days after Gabby came into our lives. There are so many things that I'd love to read over again with Gabby years later. (^_^)

*scroll down for back-dated posts... I'll be updating them s-l-o-w-l-y...

Vaccination @ 1 mth

2009-02-24T18:12:00.002+08:00

Gabby had her vaccination today. We went to the polyclinic to get it done. Teri and gang came by last evening to deliver their wonderful gift for Gabby... a Capella stroller. Just in time for us to bring Gabby to the polyclinic today. Thank you TTC! Gabby's really comfortable in it.

At the polyclinic, just as I was about to bring Gabby in for her jab, she starting crying for milk, even though we had just fed her before we went out. So we quickly prepared a bottle of formula milk since it's faster to prepare than warming up the bottle of breastmilk that we brought along. Only 1 parent is allowed to go into the room with Gabby, so I went in with her. I was feeding her while the nurse keyed her data into the computer. When the nurse was done, I had to interrupt Gabby's mealtime for the nurse to take her weight and length. Of course, we ended up having a not-so-happy baby...

I mentioned that Gabby has been having blocked nose so the nurse referred us to see the doctor first so that he can determine if Gabby's good to take her jab today. All's well and according to the doctor, it's common for babies to have blocked nose and it's very normal. So we were sent back to the immunisation room for the jab. It was done on her right thigh. When the nurse pierced Gabby's thigh with the needle, she went into a thunderous scream... she was wailing so bad it hurts me... Calvin could hear her from outside too. I held her so close and I feel like crying. She calmed down a couple minutes later.

I wonder if we had gone to a private PD to get her vaccination, would the nurse be more gentle and nice, would the jab be less painful for Gabby. Well, that's her 1st month vaccination experience. Next one will be in April... she'd be 3 months old then.

Bath Time with Daddy

2009-02-22T11:37:00.002+08:00

Calvin has been the one bathing Gabby on days when we had no help.
He's quite good at it... Well done!

Let's go "gai gai"

2009-02-21T18:52:00.005+08:00

Confinement's over! That means we can go "gai gai" already... So today, we brought Gabby out for lunch. We went to one of our favourite jap restaurant at Casuarina. She was sound asleep after her feed when we left home. When we put her into the car seat, we realised that she seems too small for it. Or maybe we didn't put her in properly. The plan was to put her in the car seat while we have our lunch. But she was in such an uncomfortable position that we decided to carry her and take turns to have lunch. After lunch, we brought her to visit her granny (Calvin's mom)...

It was only a short trip out, but it was great! Looking forward to more outings with our little darling.

~ Gabby and her playful Daddy ~

Today... I'm ONE month old...

2009-02-20T23:30:00.005+08:00

Daddy's on duty today and I gave Mommy a big "present"... my work of art on the wall! hehe

~ my masterpiece ~

~ the crime scene ~

I poo-ed halfway through my feed just now and started crying. So Mommy brought me to the room to change me out of the soiled diaper. She tried to help me finish my poo by making the "ng ng" sound... but I didn't feel like poo-ing anymore at that time. So Mommy started cleaning me up. Just as she was pulling out another piece of wet wipes, I decided to continue my "business"... And this last part of my business was a major one. Together with the wind in my stomach, I let them all out. haha... I ended up covering all the stuff on my cot with my poo and also stained the wall and floor. hahaha... and Mommy spent the next hour cleaning up my mess! :p

"Paternity" leave is over for Calvin

2009-02-16T21:19:00.005+08:00

Calvin went back to work today after 4 long weeks of leave. With the confinement lady gone as well, we were quite concerned whether I'd be able to cope on my own. So we got my mom to take leave and be with me today. Over the last 4 weeks, Calvin did everything he could to make sure I was well taken care of, he tired himself out to take care of Gabby, he encouraged me unceasingly and assured me of his support and love. I know I'm gonna miss him so much when he's back at work.

He had night training today so he reported for work after lunch. So he volunteered to bathe Gabby since I'm supposed to minimise my contact with water. He has been the one bathing Gabby whenever we didn't any help from the confinement ladies. Look at our nice-smelling contented little baby.

I was feeding Gabby when it suddenly poured and my mom had gone to the supermarket. We haven't seen rain in weeks! God is so good. He made light travel faster than sound so that we can be warned of loud thunders by the lightning that comes before them. The lightning prompted me to hold Gabby closer to me before the thunder roared. She wasn't bothered by the loud thunder, she just continued her focus on her bottle of milk.

When another round of loud thunder came, all electrical appliances at home suddenly went off. The fan went off, the lights went out... Damn!! What good timing! Gabby's halfway through her feed, mom's not around and Calvin just went back to work today! I didn't know if the whole block was affected or was it just our unit. I can only check it out when Gabby finishes her feed.

Just as Gabby finished her milk, my mom came home. I opened the door and saw our neighbour's TV working just fine. So it's just our unit! And the distribution board is perfectly hidden behind our beautiful floor-to-ceiling painting! I'm not sure if I'm able to move it aside so that I can get the electricity back on again. So I called my bro for help, and he immediately said he'll come over to help me. After he hung up, I tried moving the painting so I didn't have to trouble him. God gave me strength! I moved it enough for my short hands to stretch behind to the distribution board and I managed to turn the electricity back on! Praise God!

Things have to go wrong when Calvin is not around... guess I'm really too dependent on him. But thank God for God! When Calvin is not around, God gives me strength, wisdom and independence to stand on my own. Thank You for loving me, God.

Reluctant Introduction Part II

2009-02-15T17:23:00.001+08:00

Yesterday, I carried Gabby for a good 4-5 hours! She would be sleeping soundly in my arms... but the minute I put her down on her cot, her eyes will be wide open, staring at me... and soon after, she'd be starting to cry...

So we relented once again to something we promised not to cave in to... sigh... But this sarong has been a life-saver since last night.

Happy Valentine's Day

2009-02-14T22:33:00.002+08:00

My V-Day present from my handsome valentine..
Now we have a pair of qing lu handphone (^_*)

The number 3

2009-02-07T18:35:00.012+08:00

Earlier on, I was filling up an online survey. One of the demographic questions was on household size. (A) 1-2, (B) 3-4, etc... I checked (B) !! There's 3 of us now!! (^__^)

Calvin + Me + God's beautiful and wonderful gift to us, our precious baby girl, Gabrielle.

Our baby Gabby was born on 20 Jan 2009, 1012 hours. Loads of stories and drama from then until now. I'll find time to tell these stories soon.

For now, I'm lovin' the number 3... (*_^)

Today... I wore socks!

2009-02-03T17:05:00.002+08:00

All my mittens and booties are too big for me... Jiu Mu suggested that Mommy sew up the opening of the mittens and booties so that they fit me better. Mommy did that a few days ago and I no longer have to accidentally scratch my pretty face when the mittens drop or have chilly feet when the booties come off.

Last Friday, Auntie Nicole brought Cheyenne Jie Jie to see me and she bought me some goodies. Look at this pair of blue socks! It's easy for Mommy to put them on for me, and they don't come off easily...

Thank you, Auntie Nicole! I love them! (*_^)

Reluctant Introduction

2009-01-31T20:50:00.001+08:00

We told ourselves that we'd try our very best not to give her the pacifier. But we bought a couple of them just in case. True enough... we had to resort to this.. So today, we reluctantly introduced the pacifier to our little Gabby.

She had just finished her feed and she's still uncontented. I decided to latch her on as it's gonna take a while to warm up the refrigerated breastmilk. The second her tiny mouth found my nipple, she fell asleep!! We concluded that she only wanted to suckle something for comfort sake. So we decided to try the pacifier the next time she fusses after a feed. And it really works!

The pacifier looks big on her little face... :p

Gabby's home!

2009-01-23T22:33:00.001+08:00

Gabby's jaundice level went back to normal and we can bring her home today! On our way home, an amazing gush of happiness and thankfulness filled both Calvin and I. And we both cried and thanked God for the lovely baby that I hold in my arms.

We got home and brought her to her room. She was sleeping soundly as we put her down. We just looked at her, took pictures of her and we were soaked in sweet happiness...

Then...within minutes, she broke into uncontrollable wails. We were both lost... we didn't know what to do!! Fed her, carried her... We were really clueless. We immediately called for help and thank God my mom came by after work to help us take care of Gabby.

The real challenge starts NOW!

Days in Mount Alvernia

2009-01-22T17:25:00.001+08:00

We had opted for a single room at the time of admission. But we were told that there are A LOT of deliveries these few days.. Everyone's rushing to give birth before CNY. So we were given a double room the first night. As there wasn't another patient on the other bed, Calvin decided to stay for the night to keep me company. But he was asked to leave soon after the nurse found him sleeping in the visitor's chair in the wee hours... :( hate being left alone...

Good thing my little Gabby was pushed in every few hours for her feeds... It was like lesson time for both of us. I need to learn how to breastfeed her and she needs to learn how to latch on to me. It wasn't as painful as some friends were telling. But getting her to latch on wasn't easy. We were both first timers and we needed a whole lot of practice.

We were transferred to a deluxe suite on the 2nd day. How luxurious! They still didn't have a normal single room. And I'm really not comfortable sharing rooms with someone else, so we took the deluxe suite.

We received a lot of gifts and hampers. Some of them came with cute little soft toys. Calvin used them to decorate the little cot that our baby Gabby was in. So pretty... (^_^)

This morning, the PD came to say that Gabby has very slight jaundice and she recommended that we stay for another night so that Gabby can be put on phototherapy. We did. As she wasn't able to latch on well, I expressed my milk and got the nurses to spoon-feed her (to avoid nipple confusion).

Earlier in the afternoon, while Calvin left to bring some stuff home, I brought my bottle of expressed milk to the nursery and to take a look at my little baby. She was almost naked and only had diapers on. Her eyes were strapped on with a cover to protect them from the rays. The minute I walked close to her, she started wailing... And it broke my heart!! I called out to her and tried to calm her and comfort her with my voice... but she just kept crying and there's nothing I could do! I stood next to her feeling totally helpless. The nurses told me that she was quiet the whole time until I stepped in. It's as if she's complaining to me and asking me to hold her... The nurse suggested that I nurse her... and I tried. She suckled only for a while. She hasn't been able to suckle for long. So the nurse spoon-fed her with my expressed milk. She calmed down after the feed. But I was still sobbing... Looking at her being put under the light really wasn't easy for me, and Calvin wasn't around. Thank God that her jaundice level is actually very very mild. The PD only wanted to be safe. And guess what? About 3/4 of the babies in the nursery are on phototherapy.

The arrival of Gabrielle

2009-01-20T21:14:00.011+08:00

My loooong labour story...

I had taken leave from 19 Jan onwards (a few days before my EDD) so that I can have some ME time before 小B arrives. And Calvin's leave only starts on 22 Jan. I had plans to go some places, do some things on my own... BUT... seems like my daughter didn't like the idea. :P Calvin was just joking and asking 小B to arrive on 19 Jan so he can skip what's happening at work... Guess my daughter really listens to her daddy!

For the last couple of weeks, I was asking around and reading up on the different signs of labour. I think my first sign of labour happened as we were lying in bed trying to go to sleep on Sun (18 Jan) night. Suddenly I was engulfed with an emotion that I can't explain. I turned to Calvin, hugged him and told him that our "er ren shi jie" is coming to an end... and I started crying...

At about 2.30am, I woke up to go to the toilet. As I cleaned up after pee-ing, I noticed a bit of blood... I never had any spotting throughout the course of my pregnancy and the little bit of blood probably means that I'm due to deliver very soon! GOSH... I felt really nervous at that time. Calvin happened to wake up as well, and I told him that this could be the day! The 2 of us had a sleepless night thereafter.

I woke up again at about 3.30am and the same thing happened. This time, there was more blood. I ignored it as I had zero contractions and I tried to go back to sleep. When Calvin went to work at 6am, I went to pee again and this time, the blood came in a lump. I was getting a bit concerned. Told my mom who was staying over that night... She told my brother, who then called me frantically with my sis-in-law at the background, urging me to get myself admitted into the hospital immediately. I was thinking, "but I don't have any contractions!" How silly right?? Having a bloody show is actually one of the signs of labour!

I decided to give Dr Ho's clinic a call and see what they say. The nurse told me to pack my bags and go to the clinic to have Dr Ho check me. So, I called Calvin immediately and asked him to come home...

We saw Dr Ho at about 11am. He had me checked and said I was 1cm dilated. I had 2 options: go home and wait (and the wait could last a few days) or I could be induced. Dr Ho's recommendation: induce! He's gonna go on his CNY holiday on Fri and he wanted to be the one to deliver my baby. So, induced I was. That was 11.40am.

With that, we went for a quick lunch. After lunch, back at the clinic, I was strapped onto a heartbeat tracker for 1 whole hour to monitor 小B's heartbeat. Once they determined everything is fine, we then went to the delivery ward and registered for admission. At this time, I still had zero contractions. Once I was admitted into the waiting ward, Calvin went home to get some stuff ready - prepare my red date drink, make 小B's bed, get ready the bottle steriliser, airpot, etc etc.

When Calvin came back to the hospital, it was about 5pm. I was beginning to feel mild contractions. Nothing too painful, but my back was really aching. I was then transferred to the delivery room. By 6pm, the contractions started to really hurt. I kept walking around the delivery room to aid the dilation. When the nurse came to check me, guess how dilated I was?? 1.5cm!!!! For almost 6hours, I was only dilated another 0.5cm! And the pain is becoming unbearable!! I read that if I was tensed because of the contractions, the dilation may be slowed down. At that point, Calvin and I were discussing whether I should take the epidural. We had prayed and wanted to be drug-free. But the pain was really too much for me to take. So we decided to take it. And then, the nurses said it's too early for me to take it... I had to wait till I was 3cm dilated. GOSH... how long more is that gonna be??!!

My contractions were very irregular at this stage. But every time it comes, I would curl like a worm and groan in pain. I was given the laughing gas but it didn't help me at all. I was so angry that it didn't work and I almost threw it on the floor. The nurse came in to check me again at about 12am. I was finally 3cm dilated. I signed the documents for the epidural and waited for them to administer it to me. While waiting, I felt I was gonna die. So painful!!! I remember telling Calvin, if they still don't give it to me, it could be too late cos I definitely wouldn't be able to tahan and stay still for the injection.

I was finally given the shot at about 12.30am. I was taking in soooo much laughing gas I feel I was in an episode of ER. I hear all the voices getting more and more distant... they were all talking to me, giving me instructions... Because I took in so much of the gas, I didn't feel the pain of the injection at all. Immediately after the epidural was administered, I shivered furiously. I was shaking so bad, it scared me. Calvin then came back into the room and I think he was very shocked and worried when he saw his wife shaking so badly. The shivered went on for about 5-10min I think... After that, I was not in pain anymore but I experienced the other side effect of epidural too - vomitting.

I didn't sleep much at all. The nurse came in to check me again at about 3am. I was 6cm dilated at that time. 4cm more to go!! *faint

The next check was at about 6am+. I was about 8-9cm dilated already. So the nurse told me to get them in when I feel a very strong pressure below as if I was gonna poo. Think I started feeling the pressure at about 8am. Dr Ho came by at about 8.30am to check on me. By 8.40am, he said I was ready to push. So he left us with the nurses and I was to start pushing when the contractions come.

8.40am: I started pushing and pushing.
9.00am: Still pushing and pushing
9.30am: Still pushing and pushing. The nurses then called Dr Ho to update him. He then said he'll come over to assist me in the delivery.
9.45am: Still pushing and pushing. The whole time from 8.30am, Calvin was right beside me, giving me encouragement and pushing with me. After almost 1 hour of pushing, he couldn't contain his urge any longer. He had to go take a dump! Just at the same time, Dr Ho came and was preparing to "assist" me. That is, using the vacuum. The nurses frantically searched for the husband! He can't miss this moment after all these hours!! haha... He finally came back just as Dr Ho was gonna start work.

When I saw the vacuum he held in his hands, I freaked out!!! I thought to myself, he's not gonna shove that thing into me, is he???!!! It looked like what you would use to clear your choked sink or toilet bowl!! GOSH!!! I really freaked out.

I kinda lost this part of my memory... all I remembered was me pushing and SCREAMING... I screamed so loud I think the whole delivery ward can hear me! So embarrassing!! Dr Ho then asked the nurses to give me the laughing gas... Finally I felt 小B beginning to emerge... I pushed real hard again... after a few more pushes, she finally came out! It felt as if you've been constipated with one mega humongous piece of shit and when it finally came out, you felt that huge sense of relief. That's exactly how I felt. When 小B finally came out, I felt like something really huge just exited my tummy. The whole tummy suddenly sank. That was 10.12am.

When they handed 小B to me and put her on my chest, nothing else matters... NOTHING!! Whatever else they were doing to me, I didn't care. I looked at my baby in my arms, looked at my husband next to me... I thanked God! Calvin cried when he saw 小B... I requested to be "skin-to-skin" with 小B. The moment they placed naked 小B on my naked chest, she stopped crying. I felt soooo good... I felt like a mommy!!! That was an incredibly amazing moment!