Trisha la la...

Truly celebrating one month

2012-01-11T11:44:00.010+08:00

During one of my massage sessions, my massage lady (she's fabulous btw! she speaks english and she doesn't use the smelly stuff) asked me if I knew the significance of celebrating a baby's full month (or full moon). To be honest, I hadn't really thought about it even though we did such a big do for John. It falls into the category of " just one of those things that you do because everyone else does it".

So she explained that many many years ago, the people in China didn't have the calendar like we do today, so they measured their months and days by looking at the moon. One cycle of the moon would approximately be about a month. Also, and the mortality rate of babies less than a month old in China was very high. And if the baby survives the whole cycle of the moon, there is a significantly higher chance he/she will live much longer.

So I thought that was an interesting piece of trivia to know, but then everything because terribly real when on New Year's Day, Sarah-Anne came down with a high fever. It was sudden and very high. We're talking 39 degrees for a new born baby. She was just 3 weeks old!

We got hold of her pediatrician Dr Ong and after examining her, he admitted her immediately. Fever in babies so small are considered dangerous so admission was necessary so she could be monitored throughout the day.

Within the hour of her admission, my poor baby had a needle stuck in her hand to draw blood and for the purpose of administering the IV antibiotics. It was terribly painful to see her cry and her hand bandaged up.

Her bandaged little hand - seeing it really broke my heart.

They did blood tests and cultures and while the reports showed that she had an infection, all the cultures came back negative. It wasn't a UTI and it wasn't a blood infection. So after a second blood test, and results showing the presence of an infection still (raised white blood cell count), Dr Ong decided to do a lumbar puncture (spinal tap) to rule out meningitis.

Personally, I wasn't given much time to react, but after speaking to him before the procedure, he told me that with such small babies, their margin of error was very small and that it was necessary to rule out any cause of the infection.

I began to cry as I lay her down on the table. She was just looking around unawares of what was about to happen. I prayed in my heart that God would guide Dr Ong's hands and that the procedure would be swift without any complications. I wasn't allowed to witness the procedure and my confinement nanny and I stood outside. We heard her scream possibly the most fearsome cry and that was possibly the most painful 10 minutes of my life.

When it was over, I held her so tightly in my arms and quickly nursed her to comfort her. Within minutes, she fell asleep. I thanked God that the everything went well and Dr Ong managed to extract a clean sample of her spinal fluid.

My little trooper the evening after her lumbar puncture

That night (Thursday, 4 Jan), the results came out and she was cleared of meningitis. I was so thankful. So Dr Ong discharged us on Friday morning after 4 nights in the hospital. The cause of the fever is still unknown but because her fever broke by Thursday morning, Dr Ong allowed us to go home. She had to be on a week's worth of oral antibiotics though, and while that was still not desirable, it was definitely better than staying in the hospital.

So when we celebrated her reaching one month on 10 January, it was truly a celebration because just a week before that, there was the possibility that she wasn't going to make it. We want to thank God for sustaining us through the ordeal. If I hadn't had Jesus, His presence and His Words of comfort, I don't know how much worse the experience would have been. I am also thankful for all the prayers and support from my husband, my family and friends.

Blessed one month Sarah-Anne! We love you so so much!

One month goodies

Hello Sarah-Anne

2012-01-11T10:22:00.002+08:00

On Sunday 11.12.11, we said hello to our little girl, Sarah-Anne Ch'ng En Xin. She arrived 9 days before her EDD at 4.05pm and weighed 2.99kg. We want to thank God for this gift He's given us and look forward to all the milestones and the birthdays and the pretty girl dress-ups in the years to come. :)

Fresh out of the oven!

Remembering my baby that was not to be

2011-09-01T15:08:00.001+08:00

About 8 months ago, I thought that on this day, 1 September 2011, I would be holding a baby in my arms. It was the EDD of my baby that was not to be.

James and I had been trying for a child for nearly a year and though it seemed long, I never had any doubt that I would be able to conceive. I trusted that God knew the right time and that He would bless us with a child in His own time.

Round about Christmas 2010, I found out I was pregnant and was completely elated. But I was experiencing bleeding so I called my gynae and set up an appointment. The ultrasound showed a sac, though very small and it was confirmed that I was approx 5 weeks and 2 days pregnant. He sent me home with a stash of hormones and asked me to see him again in 2 weeks.

Even after taking the hormones, the bleeding didn’t stop. In fact, it got worse and at one point, I even bled out a clot with fresh blood. I confined myself to the bed for the next few days and after a week, the bleeding stopped. I took a pregnancy test again and it was again positive and the line was darker than before, so I breathed a sigh of relief.

At my scheduled appointment, 2 weeks after I first saw the sac, my gynae gave me bad news. The sac that we had seen earlier had disappeared and he said I had probably miscarried. He recommended that I take a blood test to confirm the outcome. Whilst I was upset at the news, there was a deep sense of peace. In my heart I somehow knew that God was still in control.

When the nurse called the day after she told me my hormone levels were still very high and that I was to go in the next day to take another blood test. So I went in on Saturday, did the blood test and while waiting for the results, James, John and I walked to Delifrance for breakfast.

Just as we were walking past the hospital admissions, I felt blood suddenly drain from me. My vision started to blur and I grabbed hold of James. As we were right in front of the hospital admissions, James got the staff there to help and they wheeled me into an exam room. They got my gynae to see me and after a very painful vaginal exam, he confirmed I had an ectopic pregnancy and the baby which was growing in my fallopian tube had grown too big that it had ruptured the tube. So I was wheeled into the operating theatre for an emergency laparotomy.

An hour later, I woke up to learn that I was ok and my gynae had to remove a portion of my fallopian tube and drain about a coke can of blood. Needless to say, the baby didn’t survive. The good news was that he didn’t remove my ovary as well and that in the future, I could consider reconstructing the fallopian tube.

So yes, we lost a baby. The date was 15 Jan 2011. But through it all, I knew God had a bigger purpose. In fact as I look back, I can only say that God was preparing me for the loss.

In the months before, I had been praying with many friends who were either having pregnancy complications or losses of their own and I believe through encouraging them, God was building up my own faith. I had also been wrestling with the issues of suffering, testing and having one’s character proven by God. I believe that at that time, God believed I was in a good place to undergo a test of my own and He allowed for the loss so I could grow in my faith.

Also I could see how God orchestrated everything around the situation. Like how I went for my second blood test on a Saturday so James was with me, and how the rupture happened right in front of hospital admissions so I could be treated immediately. In fact I believe I was supposed to rupture a few days before that as I felt the same pain and cramp while I was out with John alone at Parkway Parade. But God “postponed” it. I really thank God because I don’t know how John would have reacted if I had fainted while out with him alone.

The best part of it all is that I knew that God would bless us with another child. In fact I wrote in my journal about a week or so after coming home from the hospital that I believe God told me I was going to be a mother again by the end of the year.

As of today, 1 September 2011, I am almost 25 weeks pregnant with a baby girl and am due on the 20th of December. God keeps His promise and I am so thankful to have gone through what I did so I can testify of His goodness and mercy.

Happy Lunar New Year

2011-02-04T10:37:00.001+08:00

Amidst the CNY madness, we found some time to head out for some fresh air and some four-wheeled fun.

Hope everyone is having a good time. Blessed lunar new year to one and all!

YouTube Video

God loves trash

2011-01-28T00:52:00.002+08:00

My name is Trisha and sometimes people call me Trish for short. And very often friends address me as Trish in sms-es. The iPhone, however, has an auto-correct function that by default auto-corrects Trish to Trash. And on numerous occasions, I’ve been addressed as Trash in my sms-es. Usually these are followed by apologies and how they didn’t mean to but it was the phone’s fault etc…

To be honest I am not at all offended at being called Trash. Not that these were intentional, but the very first time I received such a message, I heard God tell me that He loved trash.

I was immediately reminded of the call of Matthew in Matt 9:9-12. He was not a good man… a tax collector and one who fellowshipped with sinners. The Pharisees didn’t think tax collectors and sinners were people worthy to even have a meal with… in essence, trash. Yet Jesus hand-picked Matthew to be one of his 12 disciples. The thing is… Jesus didn’t choose Matthew for what he was at that time, but what He saw Matthew could become. The Pharisees saw trash but He saw potential. Of course we know that Matthew answered the call and stuck with Jesus. He was there at the big events like the feeding of the 5,000. He was sent out to heal the sick and performed miracles like the rest of the disciples. After Jesus ascended, He was there in the upper room on the day of Pentecost. He was there witnessing God’s plan of salvation first-hand and even wrote the Gospel which now opens the New Testament. How’s that for potential! Who would have thought this tax collector or trash would do all that? Only God knew… only God saw.

Apart from God, all of us are, to put it bluntly, trash… sinners, rebellious and unrighteous. But God, even before we were born, already had a plan to save us through His Son Jesus Christ. In His omniscience, He looks beyond and sees only the potential of what we can become, even when we don’t see it ourselves.

Since I gave my life to the Lord, I became a new creation in Christ; the old has passed and all things have become new (2 Cor 5:17). But I appreciate every sms addressing me as trash, because it is a gentle reminder that God loves me and sees potential in me.

Vroom vroom...

2011-01-25T08:48:00.003+08:00

John's a really loved kid. REALLY loved. Not only by his parents and family but even mummy's colleagues and friends. There is one person in particular who i'd like to make mention of.. and that's the caretaker in our Church, Uncle Henry. He often buys things for John and hardly anything for himself. And he refuses to take any money from us for the items he's bought.

One such example is this motorbike he bought for John some time back. We came to the office one day and it was right there... staring at us. John was excited of course but at that time, the loud motor scared him a bit. But now... he loves the ride. He even knows how to switch it to reverse-mode and turn sharp corners.

Just yesterday, we brought the motorbike home cos John doesn't come to work with me now that he attends school in the morning. And he's having a great time riding it at home.. Kids nowadays are really fortunate eh.

YouTube Video

Babies' Prom

2010-11-23T21:53:00.007+08:00

In my opinion, John's always been a relatively musical child. He loves music, singing and dancing. Even now, he sings more than he speaks sometimes and he can sing whole songs in both English and mandarin - in tune as well (much to mummy's relief). John loves to dance too and when any form of music comes on, he does anything from a little jig to a full on dance. And he's very much in time too.

I guess for John, it's a matter of having been exposed to contemporary worship even when he was in the womb. And every Sunday, he watches mummy involved in worship.

So classical music was not something I thought John would like, but when Steph (Victoria's mummy) asked if I'd like to go for the SSO's Babies' Prom, I thought why not. To be honest, I had my doubts if he'd sit through or enjoy it, so I brought his bag of toys and snacks just in case.

And I was very VERY surprised (in a good way) that John was engaged and loved the show. He even got his buzz lightyear toy to join in! Haha. Kudos to the SSO for making it so relevant to the young ones and engaging them throughout. I was highly highly impressed. We'll definitely go again next year.

Here are some pics:

Conductor Peter Moore was fabulous

Quietly listening

During the part they played the "scary music".

During the part the music was relatively louder and with much percussion.

This is a short video of the segment of the show i really enjoyed - they got some kids to go up to conduct the orchestra. Very funny...

YouTube Video

-- Post From My iPhone

How deep the Father's love for us

2010-11-21T13:29:00.003+08:00

During communion today, we sang this song "How deep the Father's love for us" by Stuart Townend. It's a beautiful song with wonderful lyrics and as we sang it today, I felt myself choking up and tears in my eyes. The realisation once again of the greatness of God's love and how Jesus suffered tremendously as He paid the price for us was almost too hard to bear.

The second verse was especially moving for me:

Behold the Man upon a cross,
My sin upon His shoulders
Ashamed I hear my mocing voice,
Call out among the scoffers

It was my sin that held Him there
Until it was accomplished
His dying breath has brought me life
I know that it is finished

The bible tells us that there is no one righteous... not one (Romans 3:10) and that we as sinners deserve nothing less than death (Rom 6:23). Today, as we sang that song, I felt the full extent of my wretchedness - and it was ugly. My lack of patience, my lack of self-control sometimes, my pride, my unfounded anger... Why would God have died for me??

Yet God, in His lovingkindness and mercy, assured me of the work of the cross, that He took all that wretchedness upon Himself when He died that day... and as a result I have eternal life. He has paid my ransom and I am saved. How awesome!

Fully convicted once again of what Jesus has done, I could only respond with deep heartfelt gratitude and the rededication of my life to Him. The first part of the final verse says it clearly for me: I will not boast in anything. No gifts, no power, no wisdom. But I will boast in Jesus Christ. His death and resurrection.

Thank you Lord for you love. May each day I lead be worthy of the price you paid on the cross. Amen.

Sleepless in Singapore

2010-10-04T18:17:00.003+08:00

Yaaaaaaaaaawn. Our alarm clock (aka John) rang at 5.40am this morning. And despite my best efforts to put him on snooze mode for another hour, he was awake for the day.

Ever since giving birth, I've never had to set an alarm clock and I dont think I'd need to for a long time to come. Yes, I'm saying that in faith and no, I'm not pregnant yet.

But the lack of sleep has probably got to be the hardest thing about being a mother. I don't think I've had a full 8 hours sleep since John was born. Actually even before that cos of the frequent waking to go to the loo when you're pregnant.

But I love my sleep and not being able to have it has been awfully awfully tough for me. Give me breastfeeding pains, John's clingy-ness and no social life anytime. I really want more sleep because I'm so dog tired.

Having said that, I was reminded yesterday that I need to have the right perspectives. I have a son who is healthy and loves me. When he wakes up he calls for mummy and yes that's better than any real alarm clock.

I'm still thanking God for this opportunity to even be a mother knowing some can't even conceive. Yes, given a chance to do this all over again, I'd do some things differently like sleep train much earlier on. But I've learnt and when the next one comes, I'll be better equipped to handle the sleep issues.

But... Still... It would be lovely to have one full night's sleep. Zzzzzzzzzzz

-- Post From My iPhone

And he sings!

2010-09-20T12:17:00.002+08:00

After class today there was a long wait to get out of the Evans Lodge carpark. And the little one was in his singing mood so I managed to video him singing "twinkle twinkle little star".

There's a twist at the end where he replaces the final line with one line of the Chinese version of "head and shoulders". Oh, please be warned that it sounds vaguely vulgar because he can't pronounce the Chinese words properly yet.

Enjoy!!!

YouTube Video

-- Post From My iPhone

Tyke on trike!

2010-09-16T08:37:00.002+08:00

Ok, it's not really a tricycle, but it's a training bicycle. With the success he's had on his scooter, we thought we'd promote the little one. And waddayaknow... He's a natural! *grin*

YouTube Video

We got his wheels from a bicycle shop in Joo Chiat and it came with a basket (John insists on ferrying his animal friends) and a bell. And it was a hit with the little one right from the start. He literally rode the bike out of the shop!

Now he insists on going to the park to ride and we're happy to oblige. :)

-- Post From My iPhone

Then and Now - Part 2

2010-09-05T23:26:00.002+08:00

I'm constantly amazed at the speed at which John grows and it's fun comparing pictures and seeing the differences. I really need to take more of such similar pictures. :)

John and his Nemo sofa: 1 year old

John and his Nemo sofa: 2 years old

John really looks quite different and his legs are significantly longer. Also, you can see how much heavier he is just by looking at the sofa.

Ahhhh, they grow up so fast!

Youth Olympic Games

2010-09-05T22:38:00.005+08:00

Last month, Steph and I brought Victoria and John to watch the Youth Olympic Games Equestrian Event. I must say that if not for Steph, I wouldn't have even thought about attending a YOG event at all. But having gone for this one, I feel slightly sad that I hadn't really embraced the games all that much. Sure, I watched the token football game and read about it in the news, but still, my support contribution was almost zilch.

Having said that, I'm glad we managed to get tickets to go for at least one game and apart from the nightmarish trip to and from the event grounds itself (we parked at the turf club, which was taxi fare $5.90 away from the actual event venue, which had no parking spaces at all) we actually quite enjoyed it. Good company makes all the difference!

John and Victoria were both absolutely glued to the horses for a good half and hour before getting a little more fidgety. Even I myself couldn't really take my eyes off the beautiful horses that navigated smoothly through the course. Took me a while to really understand the scoring system and country codes (yes, I'm really NOT a sports person), but I was really awed by how these teenagers were composed enough to steer the course and make it through. I forget sometimes that some of these kids may have just hit puberty and yet they have the maturity and are skilled enough for competition on the world stage.

Steph and I were chatting later and we realised we both felt slightly sad that whilst we were kind of good at a lot of things, we didn't actually excel in single thing. Sort of like a jack of all trades, master of none. Thinking of John now, I want to really encourage something he's interested in, be it a sport, music, art etc. I have to remind myself not to quench an interest he might have (unless it's contrary to our faith of course) and to support him in that.

Here are some photos of our little YOG experience:

The lovely Victoria trying to get John's attention.

Victoria absolutely loves horses. After a while she was up standing on the seat and applauding like a proper little lady after each competitor had finished the course. Mummy Steph was beaming with pride!

The course

My little man and I :)

Playing with mummy's sunnies (photo courtesy of Aunty Steph).

Trying to take a picture by the "Singapore 2010" banner. (photo courtesy of Aunty Steph)

Sentences... finally!

2010-09-03T21:07:00.004+08:00

So we've been trying to teach the little one how to say full sentences and as of today, he can clearly say 2. Actually, he can say more, but the sentences tend to revolve around these two (especially the second one). They are *drumroll*

1) Dear Jesus, please bless our food, amen.

2) Mummy, can I have some kiwi (or soup, juice, tv etc) please?

And yes... Although a little slow on the speech front, I'm still beaming with pride each time he says anything I really understand.

Here's a video of John saying #2:

YouTube Video

-- Post From My iPhone

End of term 3

2010-09-03T10:22:00.002+08:00

It was the end of term 3 yesterday and the week after next, it will be the last term of the year, and our last term with Julia Gabriel.

When I think about it, the feeling is definitely bitter-sweet. The school has been very much part of our lives for the last year or so and John's learnt so much. Even I have had a mandarin refresher and at least I now coverse and SMS with John's Chinese teacher without feeling spastic or retarded.

We've also made some great friends, both John and I and though the bubs go to different schools next year, I'm sure we'll keep in touch.

Here are some pics from yesterday's "graduation" party.

The theme for the term was "Under the Sea", and this week's word was Zhang Yu (Octopus). As you can see, John was more interested in the dinosaurs.

During playground time, John kept going to the side to peep at the PlayNursery class next door. An indication he's ready for school perhaps? :)

Massive group photo. All the adults in funny costumes are the teachers. I must say the chinese teachers are VERY sporting and creative that way and are not afraid to dress up for the kids.

Here's a video of John going up to collect his certificate:

YouTube Video

Come next term, we're going to cherish every class, every interaction and every chance to bond with everyone there.

Next year, John will be attending Chiltern House at Mountbatten. More about that soon.

-- Post From My iPhone

ECP with mummy

2010-08-25T11:13:00.005+08:00

Last Saturday Daddy was busy so John and I headed to ECP for a couple of hours. It was a nice day... Lovely sunshine and lovely people roller blading and running.

John got to use his "scooter" ( is that what you call it?) and I'm always amazed at how quickly he learns. His Gong Gong got it for him a few months back and though he was rather tentative at the beginning, he soon got the hang of it once he got to use experiment in bigger open spaces.

*grin*

Here's a video of the little one riding. Notice he's got an ambulance in his hand? He just refused to put it down. Nevertheless, he still managed without difficulty. :)

After that we went to the beach. John absolutely loves sand and getting dirty. He also loves finding new things like shells, twigs and dried leaves. I like that he's inquisitive this way and I always have to remind myself not to quench it. Here are more pics!

Not too impressed with his new spade.

So he uses his hands. Here's his "under-bum" scoop!

Can you find the cow, dog and dinosaur?

We found an abandoned sand castle. And within minutes it was demolished!

Trying to bury himself.

Got to appreciate the view. :)

Waaassup!!

2010-08-16T09:44:00.001+08:00

Just a little morning fun! :)

YouTube Video

-- Post From My iPhone

Five Years!

2010-08-01T22:52:00.002+08:00

On a little trip to Warwick - 2007

J and I celebrated 5 years of marriage on 30th of July. For me it's a major milestone and looking back, we have experienced so much together as a couple in such a short span of time.

If you ask me, I still can't believe it's been 5 years. I feels a lot more like 3. I remember vividly getting ready to walk down the aisle, catching J's glance at the altar and smiling like I'd never smiled before. I remember our first toast as a married couple, our first dance, our first supper of left-over orh-nee and room service Monte Cristo sandwiches. I remember our leaving for the UK, our honeymoon in Paris, our lovely flat in Southampton. I remember our rather long drives in search of good dim sum, our trip to Warwick and Portsmouth and our final holiday to the US before coming back to Singapore.

I remember the day we found out we were pregnant. I remember moving to Fernwood, then to our current home, all while my belly was growing bigger and bigger. I remember panicking when I got contractions the weekend my gynae was away. I remember every minute of the labour process and how J stood by me every step of the way. I remember holding John in my arms for the very first time and how J showered little kisses on the little bundle when no one was looking.

I remember how the first year of parenting was one of the hardest we had to endure as a couple. The sleepless nights and the cluelessness of being a first-time parent all took it's toll on us, but with God's grace and mercy, coupled with J's patience and understanding, it made it much easier to bear.

I remember celebrating John's first birthday and then his second. I remember laughing about all John's milestones and marvelling at how we could have made it that far.

It's been a real whirlwind of a ride and I couldn't have asked for a better man to have started this journey marriage with. J is one of the most patient men I know and he's the even-tempered one of us two. We have come to a real state of knowing each other deeply, yet we know there's a lot more that we can learn. I love how we sometimes think the same things at the same time and that makes decision making a lot easier. Looking back, I can only say God is good and He knows best. And if I could turn back time, I'd do it all over again... :)

Here's to many many more years together!!!!

A Father's Love

2010-07-18T15:29:00.004+08:00

When I watched this video I cried my eyes out. It was a wonderful reminder of the love of our Heavenly Father who is always there to stand by us as we run this race. Yes, there will always be ups, downs, celebrations and disappointments... but nothing is as reassuring as knowing that our Heavenly Father watches over and walks with us.

F-L-O-O-D!

2010-07-17T21:21:00.005+08:00

So this morning, John started to stir in his sleep just before 6am. That woke James up and the moment he put his feet on the floor he alerted me to get up immediately. Not completely aware of what was going on, I got up. And when I put my feet on the ground, I got a rude shock. There was water EVERYWHERE. It took me a while to come to terms with what was going on. Thank God John resettled so we quickly got started on damage control.

I think assessing the damage was the scariest part for me. This was what happened... our balcony on the third level had flooded due to a drainage hole clogged with leaves. The water had flooded into our room and flowed out and down the stairs and flooded the second level. It then flowed down and pooled on the ground floor, affecting everything in its path - from a TV to all our rugs to paper note books (just to mention a few). On the ground floor, John's play area was affected and so were his shoes, which we keep on one of the shelves.

All family members were alerted and we all began using towels to collect all the water into pails. By mid-morning, we had cleared out all the water. John did wake up about 45 min after we started cleaning and he happily played in his room (one of the two rooms not affected at all - thank God) till it was time to go down for breakfast.

The one thing I really appreciate about our family (I stay with my in-laws) is that when something like this happens, we assess the problem and we find a solution and act immediately. There's no blaming, no quarelling, no irritation... just a common goal to fix the damage. And that was what helped us get through the crisis quickly. In fact after everything happened, we sat down and laughed about it. I think that is really precious and something I cannot take for granted.

Having reflected on this the whole day, I have learnt so much from this one event. God is constantly teaching us more about Himself and if we take time to ponder and wait on Him, we can learn a lot!

One very huge lesson I learnt was that our God orchestrates and provides protection for His children. Despite the flood, not a single essential electrical appliance was affected. Not a single one of the 5 laptops in the house was on the floor. Not a single one of the handphones was on the floor (I usually charge my HP on the floor, but last night, I decided to charge it on top of a pile of old clothes). Yes, one TV was drenched, but we hardly use it at all. God obviously knew the heavy rain was going to come, and He protected what was important to us.

Also, I was supposed to have a vocal session with the choir at my place this morning, but on Monday, I decided to change the time and scheduled it after lunch. Should I have stuck to the initial time of 10am, I would have had to cancel the session - and I'm sure God didn't want that. So I still managed to have the session and it was a wonderful time of worshiping and sharing.

This is just one lesson I learnt. I will blog more about this in the next few days. But I just want to say this again: God is good... REALLY. And I stand in awe of Him today, knowing that though the thunders roar and the floods come up, God is still in control and He is there orchestrating and strategising so we can come out of crises victorious and stronger in our faith in Jesus Christ. Praise God!

Wedding Fun!

2010-07-04T23:51:00.001+08:00

On Saturday we attended the wedding of two of our friends at the Capella. I think deep inside I'm a hopeless romantic and one thing that really moves me is seeing two people joined together in the eyes of God. I am almost always moved to tears at every wedding I attend... Not always the best when I have to lead worship for the ceremony. By the time the bride is reaching the front, I realise I've got to compose myself and get a move on!

It was a lovely ceremony at the Gallery room facing the sea. It was a breath-taking view! Then we adjourned to a room upstairs for a delicious 4-course western lunch. Even John got a kid's version of a 4-course lunch!

Towards the end of the meal, the DJ pumped up the music and although it took a while to get the mostly shy, Christian guests to take the floor, by the time the Champagne really kicked in, the party finally got started!

John had a lot of fun. Actually A LOT is an understatement! The tyke loves music and dancing, so he promptly took his place on the dance floor and did his thang! Here's a video of what went down... Notice that a few other little girls shower flower petals over him (he is quite the charmer, especially in his Monsoon outfit!), but he runs away to another part of the dancefloor!

YouTube Video

-- Post From My iPhone

Poop in the Pot

2010-06-24T23:44:00.003+08:00

Today was a good day. For the first time ever, John did a poop in the potty. :)

Just last night I was talking to my friend Chris about not being disciplined myself to potty train the little one and that there's no obvious carrot I can dangle to incentivise him to do the deed in the pot. But what a difference a day makes!

Kudos to James. It was really his effort. Every morning John spends some time with James so I can have a half hour more in bed. Thing is, every morning, James has been asking John to say "poo poo" if he wanted to pass motion. (Side note: I never ever thought I'd hear the words "poo poo" come out of James' mouth - EVER. I guess the hubs has loosened up a little eh. hehe) And today, John actually said "poo poo". So James whipped him off to the pot and voila! - He did it!

I was so excited I got out of bed to see the end "product" and I must say I have never been so happy to see poop in my life! I even took a picture, which I won't post, to mark the milestone!

John is by no means potty trained yet. In fact, he did 2 more poops in the day - in his diaper. But that was because we were out of the house and didn't have any access to a potty. But I'm so glad we're finally on our way to potty training. Yay!!!

John's 2!

2010-06-17T12:50:00.006+08:00

Yup! The little one's T-W-O! It still feels like yesterday this little one appeared and turned our world upside down. We've had our fair share of ups and downs, laughter and tears, but I can say for both James and I that we wouldn't trade a moment of it. Given a choice to live these 2 years again, yes we would have done one or two things differently, but I believe everything happens for a reason and now I feel much better equipped to handle our next one, or two... or three? :)

I always say that birthdays are not just a celebration of our kids having lived for x number of years; it's also a celebration of us bring parents for x number of years. As a mum, I've had the privilege of learning so much about the heart of God, lessons I would not have had the opportunity of gaining from had I not been a mom. Everyday God reveals bits about Himself as I watch my little one grow, hit his milestones, experience the pains and pleasures of life. I can only say I wish this for everyone - that they may realise how much God loves by being a parent.

This year we decided for various reasons to have a really small do for the little one. We had family over for tea and the 10 of us sat around our dining table chatting about John over bread, pate, ham and chips - totally my kinda meal! :) Then we took out John's special Chuggington Brewster 3D cake, baked with love by my good friend Chris. John was ecstatic and absolutely loved it when we sang the birthday song. He even attempted to blow his candle (something I had been "training" him to do for a while).

We then opened presents, one of which was a little drum set from grandma. Daddy and Uncle Aaron promptly assembled the set and the little one was drumming away! He does have a good sense of rhythm, which of course would be pleasing to mummy and Uncle Aaron. :)

All assembled!

The day after we headed off for church camp and John managed to celebrate his actual birthday in Batam with the rest of the church. Pictures of that coming up soon.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOHN!
We love you with all our hearts and we pray you will grow to be a man after God's heart. May you come to know our Lord Jesus intimately very soon and ultimately fulfill the purposes God has set out for you. We look forward to this next year of yours and all that it has to offer, both for you and for us.
Hugs and kisses... Daddy & Mummy.

Boo!

2010-05-08T10:01:00.002+08:00

Peek a boo. For some reason, kids never get tired of playing it and John's no different. But his "boo" has evolved into a "BOO!".

There's no doubt my little one loves to entertain and when he's got an audience, he'll repeat stuff over and over again to get a positive response.

Here's John playing Boo at CVC:

YouTube Video

-- Post From My iPhone

John and Victoria take Hort Park!

2010-05-07T21:22:00.008+08:00

Hort park is looooovely! Lush greenery and nice chill out areas. The best thing about the place is they have a few playgrounds (one with sand, one with dinosaurs, one normal non-sand playground and a sort of science type area for the older ones) and a fish pond with loads of colourful fishes. Oh, and it's free!

So Steph and I brought John and Victoria there last Friday and the kids had a ball. Pity it was soooo hot with not even the slightest breeze if not it would have been a perfect day. But better sunny than rainy. John was fascinated with the huge dinosaurs for a while, then it was the playground but when he got to the sand pit, there was no holding him back! He was grabbing the sand, throwing it on himself, throwing it on the pavement and once even at Victoria (poor girl). One thing's for sure, he's not afraid to get dirty. In fact, I think he likes it. I'm often tempted to stop him from getting dirty, but I believe I've got to let him explore and be a boy - even if it means a super clean up after.

It's really interesting to see how girls behave. Victoria is very proper and she doesn't like getting dirty at all - good for Steph I say. She's all about the clean play - see saw and swing - and will sometimes follow John to see what he's doing but not engaging at all in the icky play. I wonder if my daughter (when I have one) will be like that. It would certainly be easier for me. haha.

Anyways, here are the photos from the playdate. Most of them (the lovely ones with super vivid colours) were taken by Steph and a few by myself on my iphone. :)

Check out my buay pai seh son sprawled on the sofa at the visitors' centre.

Oooh... Dinosaurs. John's got a fascination for them at the moment. Tory in the background not as impressed.

John jumped right in and started playing.

Victoria wasn't too happy with the black gravel. It took her a while to get used to the place.

Ah. Good clean fun. No sand or gravel here.

We wanted to get a picture of John and Victoria together on this bench, but it proved too difficult cos John just needed 2 seconds of rest before he was off again.

By this time John had absolutely red cheeks, was dripping in sweat and had sand all over himself.

Let's have a closer look!

And here's why... running with a fist full of sand and throwing it on the pavement - getting some on himself in the process.

Snack time.... we finally managed to get a picture of them sitting together! They were actually looking at a couple of boys who had also come to the playground and their helper who was wearing 2 hats - don't ask why.

Look at that ice-cold drink. The mummies had to get a drink after all that running around.

Fish! John was absolutely delighted to see the fish in the pond. They were actually very very pretty because of all the colours.

There was a small dispensing machine selling fish food for a dollar! That's really expensive considering how little food we got. But nevertheless, the kids had a ball feeding the fish.

We're definitely going back to Hort Park again. Next time I'll be sure to check the weather forecast beforehand. :)

Lip rolls

2010-05-07T09:33:00.002+08:00

Looks like my little one has learnt a thing or two from mummy's vocal sessions with the choir girls! Here he is doing the lip rolls, a technique used to warm up the vocal cords, complete with the upper lip itch after. Hehe mummy's so proud. *beams*

YouTube Video

- Post From My iPhone

Translator please

2010-05-05T20:56:00.002+08:00

We have come to terms with the fact that our little one is a little slow in the speech department. Don't get me wrong... it's not that John doesn't speak. We just don't understand him. This is what I mean....

Now, can someone please translate what he's saying please?

Still heartbroken

2010-05-04T21:19:00.004+08:00

"The tongue that brings healing is a tree of life,
but a deceitful tongue crushes the spirit"
Proverbs 15:4

Earlier this year I blogged about a certain kid, C in John's Julia Gabriel class. Hearing how he was treated at home broke my heart and every week we go into class, I am reminded of how I need to shower my son with love and not neglect him.

Today we had a parent-teacher chat and C's grandfather came to class. After the photo taking session I overheard this conversation:

Grandfather (to helper): Let him do the art and craft himself ah.
Helper: *nods*
Grandfather (to C): Later you do your art and craft yourself ah, stupid boy (emphasis mine).

WHAT??? I couldn't believe my ears! I had to confirm it with the helper later on at the playground. Did C's grandfather actually call him a stupid boy to his face? The helper confirmed it and added that C's parents call him stupid boy at home as well.

Is it no wonder that C doesn't say a word in class? Is it no wonder he still drools occasionally like a 14 month old baby? All that negative confession from those closest to him is really taking a toll on the little man.

Sigh.

Dancing King strikes again!

2010-05-03T09:10:00.002+08:00

YouTube Video

This one was taken this morning. I love how John breaks into a little dance with just the slightest amount of music. He's definitely got that from mummy.

-- Post From My iPhone

Our new friends!

2010-05-01T13:13:00.008+08:00

God has a wonderful way of bringing people together. In March this year, when we started on term 2 of John's Julia Gabriel class, one of my Uni mates, Stephanie, joined the class with her daughter Victoria. And since then, I've found another good friend and John has found a play pal in Victoria.

We've unofficially made our Friday mornings playdate days for the bubs and so far we've been to Botanic Gardens Swan Lake and Hort Park - both of which were firsts for John and mummy. I must say it's been wonderful! John and Victoria seem to get along quite dandy and they run around (actually more John than Victoria, she's a real lady), play, have snacks and get dirty in the mud/sand/grass (again, more John than Victoria, she's a real proper lady).

We mummies also get to chat and catch up and we have found waaaay too many similarities in ourselves it's not even funny! Stephanie says it's because we're March babies and I agree. Besides the outward appearance (I'd die to look like her - Adrian's a lucky man), I swear we could have been twins! I say again, God has a wonderful way of bringing people together.

Steph's also a wonderful photographer and when we go out, she's snapping away. She can afford to, unlike myself, who has to run after John half the time cos he's trying to catch a caterpillar or he's playing with mud. So thanks to her we have our little playdates documented in pictures. :) So here's some photos from our Botanic Gardens outing.

John loves birds - any kind of bird - so he was happy to see the swans.

We brought bread to feed the swans. John happily threw the bread into the lake until he realised it was food and started to eat the bread himself! Good thing mummy brought fresh bread! Victoria didn't feed the swans and held onto one piece of bread the whole time. I think she was reluctant to share. haha.

The two of them look sooo cute here. Expressions almost identical.

I can't remember what they were doing here but it was really nice to watch them "communicate".

We sang the Barney song and when we came to the "great big hug and a kiss from me to you", John went over and kissed Victoria on her nose! It was so sweeeeet.

John shared his toys with Victoria.

... and he's off!
My bub runs off to explore the big trees.

If you think these photos are nice, wait till you see the Hort Park ones! Coming up soon!

Dancing King

2010-05-01T09:24:00.003+08:00

YouTube Video

One thing's for sure... John loves music and he loves to dance. Sometimes he just starts dancing out of no where, like he can hear music we don't. It's very cute. Here's mummy secretly trying to catch him in the act but he soon saw what I was doing and stopped. Well, at least I got a bit of the dancing!

Ps... this post is my first posted from my iphone! woohooooo :D

King of the house

2010-04-25T21:57:00.001+08:00

Yup... that's John watching TV on gong gong and mama's bed. He's really King of the house and he knows it!

Freedom to have children

2010-04-17T20:53:00.005+08:00

"Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord,
the fruit of the womb is a reward"
Ps 127:3

I was reading the newspapers today and was saddened by the report of couples in a certain province in China bring "forced" to undergo sterilisation surgically. Due to the 1 - 2 child policy, these couples are forbidden to have more children.

Some of these couples have moved away for work or other reasons, but the officials are resorting to perhaps illegal means to get them to come back to be sterilized. They get the relatives involved and have them detained (hostage-taking if you ask me) or threaten to remove building rights (or something like that). Whatever it is, these people are being "forced" to get the surgery done.

I'm not going to say whether I think this is right or wrong. That is not the intention of this post. But I want to celebrate the freedom of being able to procreate in a non-hostile environment here in Singapore - something we definitely cannot take for granted. We don't have laws dictating how many children we ought to have and we don't have authorities chasing up abortion or sterilization figures. We have the freedom to have as many children as we want. And the government gives us aids along the way (ie. Parenthood rebates, working mothers' subsidies etc).

I say again, let us not take that for granted. I cannot imagine a Christian woman in China reading the passage in Psalms and then having her womb barren-ed (if there's such a word). How would she bear more fruit that's supposed to be her reward and her heritage from the Lord?

We are living in perilous times and we face an enemy that's out to steal, kill and destroy. Let us continue to appreciate our right to continue having children and thank God daily for the ones we already have.

John visits the dentist!

2010-04-02T23:18:00.003+08:00

John in the dentist chair.

Just this week, I was getting my routine clean and polish and I brought the little one along so the dentist could have a little look. I wasn't sure he would be at all comfortable in the chair, not to mention the strangers clad in funny "raincoats" and masks. But the dentist was great in making him feel comfortable (she has a 2 year old son herself) and of course, he was also distracted by the TV above the chair.

So the good news was that he was OK sitting in the chair. Bad news, however, is that his teeth aren't doing so well - which I expected cos for a long time he refused to let us brush his teeth. It was only until recently after I sleep trained him, that he willingly allowed us to brush. I still can't understand the connection between sleep training and teeth brushing - but the battles are over now and I'm just thankful.

However, we still have to deal with the consequences of the months of haphazard brushing prior to January this year. Sigh. John's got plaque (hardened and calcified) on his bottom teeth and it's bad because we can't just simply brush it off. It needs to be removed with proper dental equipment and only when he's about 3 years old.

So my action plan at the moment is to reduce juice intake, get John to take to the electric toothbrush, and brush his teeth AFTER his milk feed before bedtime - not before.

I hope it all goes well!

Fearless

2010-03-12T21:37:00.003+08:00

They say children are born without any fears... and I would have to agree. In this case, I have to manage this fearlessness cos John seems to want to jump into any pool of water. But as long as daddy is there with open arms, I'm ok. :)

Complacency

2010-03-05T22:55:00.002+08:00

I've learnt never to underestimate the importance of praying for God's protection and journey mercies on the road, especially if you're driving with a child in the car. It's something that comes quite automatically for me when I get behind the wheel. But on Tuesday, I didn't. Maybe it was the fact that I was late (we were heading to Forum for John's JG class) or I was complacent. Whatever the reason was, it resulted in an accident on Nichol Highway right smack in the centre of morning traffic.

I was slightly distracted and within a couple of seconds, my car had made contact with an almost brand new Mazda CX7 in front of me. I was on second gear and possible driving at about 40km/h so the impact wasn't too bad. I looked back and John was ok, so I got out to assess the damage to the cars.

The car in front was waaay bigger than my little swift, so the damage on his car was rather superficial with a few little scratches and probably a couple of small dents. BUT the same was not to be said of my little swift. It was like its nose was bashed in. :( The bonnet was bent and the engine exposed. We couldn't even open it to see if anything inside was damaged.

At least the driver of the Mazda was nice and didn't badger me there for ruining his new car. I think he saw how shaken I was from my handwriting which looked like a symphony of worms. I guess he was empathetic since he has a 3 year old child himself (not in the car at the time - thank God). So we exchanged numbers, took pictures and headed off. I still brought John to class since I figured nothing could be done within the next 2 hours.

I sent my car to the workshop that evening and was told that the repairs would take 10 days and estimated cost was about $5K! Thank God we're required to buy car insurance. The driver of the Mazda had to send his car to the Mazda workshop because of his warranty and his estimated cost was at least $1.3k.

Whatever it is, I'm glad that all of us - John, myself, the Mazda driver and his wife are safe and the only 2 casualties were the cars. I have to remind myself to always pray for God's protection everyday without fail. We never know when the "thief" decides to pull a fast one on us.

Big shoes

2010-03-05T22:09:00.002+08:00

After a day of shopping, John found Daddy's new leathers too irresistible. By the looks of it, he's certainly got BIG shoes to fill! We've just got to make sure he wears them the right way round next time.

Then & Now - Part 1

2010-02-21T21:03:00.004+08:00

It's amazing to see how much John's grown in just a few months! Here are a couple of photos taken in the exact same ride at Suntec City and John seems to have grown almost a whole head taller! And he's lost some weight too. :)

John at 11 months

John at 18 months

Ch'ng Look-alike Meter 2

2010-02-20T20:48:00.003+08:00

This is the second time I'm doing this. The first time it said John looked more like James by 5%. So YAY! John's looking more like mummy now. :)

MyHeritage: Family trees - Genealogy - Celebs - Collage - Morph

Bye bye!

2010-02-19T21:12:00.002+08:00

One of the clearest words John says is 'Bye Bye'. He loves saying it and more so because he almost always gets a 'Bye Bye' in response, even from strangers. Sometimes the farewell can go on and on and on and on and on. Here's an example (video courtesy of Aunty Siew Ping, filmed on her new iphone!):

He's 20 months already!!!

2010-02-15T23:00:00.008+08:00

I haven't done a real update on John for a while now and since he turns a whopping 20 months today, I thought i'd do just that.

Physically, John's thriving. We hadn't weighed him for some time and while we didn't know his actual weight in figures, we certainly felt every increase in our arms. So a trip to the PD for an immunisation booster and we find out he's 12.2kg! That's a whole 9 kilos more than what he weighed when he was born. He eats well and loves his food. Breads and biscuits of ANY kind really do it for him and he can go on and on if mummy doesn't stop him. He's been going wild this CNY with all the goodies everywhere and it's not easy to get him to stop cos mummy herself is indulging. Boo me - i'll deal with the consequences in a couple of days. :S

I'm happy to say that as of tonight, John's been sleeping through the night and on his own for a whole 3 weeks now! PRAISE GOD! J and I made the decision to sleep train him and although it was perhaps the hardest decision we had to make, it may have been the best one ever. Our little family of 3 is now well rested and having a whole lot more fun. We still see one or two bumps in the road, but consistency in our sleep training approach has ensured that he gets a good 10 - 11hours sleep every night. God is indeed good. I attribute all success in this area to Him and His guidance.

John's got a very big personality coupled with a really infectious laugh. He's a real social creature, very much like his mummy and has no qualms approaching other kids and asking to play with their toys. He loves being around people, especially children, and will do anything to get some claps from us. And when he's really excited, he'll start running on the spot and clapping his hands.

He attends Julia Gabriel with me 3 times a week - 2 chinese lessons and 1 english - and although I've heard very differing opinions about the effectiveness of the school, I believe John's benefiting from the sessions. I can see John learning and socialising well with others. He can now follow instructions, mostly in english and some in mandarin, and he can follow most of the actions during the sing-a-longs. He sits through the story-telling with no fuss and loves to play with paint and glue.

John loves TV, but he loves books too. He watches any show that's on tele and even knows how to tell us he wants to change the channel. His favourite would be anything with music. He "reads" anything too, from simple board books to flipping encyclopedias.

The thing we love most about John is that he shows he loves us. He'd snuggle up against us in the morning and plant a kiss on each of our cheeks - several times too. He's such a joy to have around and he constantly amazes us with the things he does. We pray we'd grow to be better parents everyday and that God will continue to guide our steps as we bring up this gift he's given us.

Happy 20 months bubba! Mummy loves you!

Family Photoshoot

2010-02-14T13:45:00.008+08:00

When the family was around for my brother's wedding, we took the opportunity to have a photoshoot done. We got Joan to to the shoot and we managed to get some great shots despite everyone being tired from the wedding the day before and John having a fever. Also, Joan herself wasn't feeling too great physically but continued with the shoot anyways despite almost fainting at some points - Thanks Joan for being so professional about it.

Here's what we got!

Happy Family!

We wanted a casual shot but John was so distracted by the ball.

And there he goes.

An indoor shot!

John happy on the swing.

Daddy and Mummy Khoo

The Chngs!

Our little family.
At this point, John's fever was sky rocketing so we couldn't get a smile from the bub.

We tried to pacify him with raisins, but he threw the whole lot on the floor.

Before we called it a day, we managed to squeeze in a few shots of J and I. :)

I'm really glad we managed to get our family shots done. We had wanted to do it for a long long time and now we have so many to show for. Yay us!

Look out!

2010-01-30T12:44:00.003+08:00

Traffic police! :)

John had a go on an actual traffic police motorcycle at the Ministry of Home Affair's career fair at Marina Square earlier this month. Needless to say, he was thrilled. :D

Heartbreaking

2010-01-26T20:52:00.007+08:00

I bring John for playclub lessons at Julia Gabriel and it's been great not only for John but for me as well. I get to learn a few 'tricks' of the trade and I get to follow up with John outside of class to enhance his learning. John also gets some social exposure and I get to meet other mums.

One thing I do a lot is observe others with the kids. I especially watch helpers (because there are just so many of them! One class we attended had 8 helpers and 2 moms!) and how they treat the kids. I don't really now why I do that but i think it's because I feel an innate sense of protection for these kids and I look out for any inappropriate behavior.

One helper-kid duo in John's class stood out. Over the last week, I had observed that the helper had smacked the child, she had used her finger to push his head in an "inappropriate" way while obviously complaining about him to another helper, and she had also been very rough with him, tugging his shirt and pushing him around. I felt horrible for the kid (let's call him C). Each time I saw something I disapproved of, I cried inside for C. The mother inside me couldn't take it. I can't imagine what was like at home when they were alone. On top of that, C is very quiet. He hardly speaks and shows bursts of mischief which would elicit an angry response from his helper again.

I spoke to my husband and had decided to speak to the teacher about what I saw with the hope that she would speak to C's parents or grandfather (who drops C and the helper off every morning at Julia Gabriel - 4 times a week). Then today I went to class and shortly after I arrived, C and his helper arrived. I decided to casually speak to this helper and what she had to say made me weep inside.

I asked her how old C was and she said 2 years 5 months. That's a whole 10 months older than John! Then she said "But he dunno how to talk". Compared to my little one who yabs non stop, this, in my opinion, was very unusual. She then went on to say that his parents both worked and had no time for C. On the weekends, C's mom would sit in her room and "play computer" and his father would just watch TV. What's worse, this morning, C had gone into his parent's room and tried to cuddle his father but his father had pushed him away. So he ran to his helper instead for a cuddle. I was like "WHAT???!!!" I literally teared there and then. I couldn't hear or even take what she was saying. It felt like a someone had ripped my heart open, pulled it out and trampled on it. What she concluded the conversation with did it for me - "mam, C's grandfather says he's no one's child". I had to look away. If I took another look at C, I would have burst into a flood of tears. My final words to her before leaving the class that day was to treat C well, and show him love because she was in a position to do so - to which she agreed - thank God.

Thinking about it now, I don't think I can blame the helper for being the way she is. Yes, she shouldn't be rough with C but in my own personal opinion, she is also a sort-of victim. She's a helper who has been thrown into the role of mother. She spends all her waking hours either mummy-ing C or doing housework. And I for one know how much it takes to be a mother. What's more this is NOT her child! She's frustrated about the situation and she's frustrated for C.

And my heart aches for little C! I feel choked up each time I think about him. He probably feels his parents don't love him and as a result, isolates himself. He doesn't speak not because he can't… he just doesn't because there's no one to talk to. I'm not surprised that he acts out with bouts of mischief. He's just trying to get the attention of those who are supposed to love him. And he's such a sweet boy. Handsome and all. Aiyah. I'm just so distraught with the revelation that parents can treat their children this way. I'm no psychologist, but it's hard to ignore what's happening to C.

This blog entry is really one to keep myself in check. To remind myself that helpers are really that… HELPERS. They are not meant to take the place of parents. And really, if you don't want the responsibility of caring for your child, don't have one. Having said that, I must say that I'm not against parents who work. I'm against working parents who don't use the rest of the time they have (like on weekends), to shower their kids with love and affection. I'm against parents who "subcontract" their parenting role out while they enjoy lives themselves, sans children. There are few things that I feel VERY VERY strongly about and this is one of them because I can't bear the thought that a child is neglected and driven to reclusion and rebellion. Sigh.

I must conclude by saying this. In my heart I wish what this helper said is untrue, that C is actually well-loved and cared for. But I will also try my very best to show him that even other mummies like myself can pay attention to and play with him in class and I will pray for him when I pray for John… that he will one day know that he is a child of God and that he is greatly loved by our Father in heaven.

Cheerio?

2010-01-24T13:30:00.004+08:00

Kids do the cutest, sometimes the most innocent, things! Here's John trying to feed a cheerio to one of the "$2 a ride" bumble bees. I felt horrible having to tell him the bee didn't want a cheerio because it wasn't real (James tells me I shouldn't lie to him.). He looked a little disappointed, but then put the cheerio in his own mouth and walked away. Cute!

My "baby" brother weds!

2010-01-23T22:29:00.004+08:00

On 9th January, and at a ripe ol' age of 25, my "baby" brother Aaron, the youngest of 4 children in my family, got married. It may seem young in this day and age, but I give it up to him for breaking away from the norm and following his heart. And I'm happy to have gained a sister, one who will look after my brother and inspire him to bigger and better things. Welcome to the family Celia!

The happy couple popping the champagne!

John was one of the page boys so we decked him out in a little tuxedo complete with cumberbund and bow tie. He was supposed to walk down the aisle with mummy but froze the moment he saw the crowd so I had to carry him down the aisle instead. I'm just happy he didn't cry and insist on running off somewhere. He also sat through the whole ceremony with little fuss, which was very nice because I was able to witness the grand affair without having to run after a toddler.

Oh how he's grown! John's a proper little boy!

All in all, it was a fabulous day and I'm glad my sister and her family flew all the way from Sydney to be there. John was able to really get to know his cousins Mia and Zac. Zac's only 2 months younger than John and it was nice to see them play together. Perhaps a trip down under is in order! :)

John and Zac playing before the ceremony.

Congratulations again Aaron & Celia! We are glad to have had the privilege to witness the start of this fabulous journey you have embarked on and our prayer is that you both will always be guided by God in all you do as a couple and as a family.

Toddler talk

2010-01-13T12:07:00.007+08:00

My big boy

So John's been "talking" a lot lately and most of the time we just wonder what he's saying. For the most part, it's John talk and we can't understand 95% of it. When he wakes up from his sleep or nap and he's well rested, he can "talk" to himself for up to 10 minutes before calling for us and it's quite amusing for J and I at the other end of the baby monitor.

Together with the in-laws, we have had much discussion about what language it actually sounds like. At one stage, my father-in-law was convinced it was tamil. So we headed to Muthus for dinner one night and when John started a "conversation" with the Indian server, we asked her if she understood, and she didn't. So i've concluded that it's some form of tongues and one that only God can understand at this point.

Having said that, John has started to also say proper words and it's just adorable to hear. One day he'll just surprise us with a word peppered amongst his john babble and I do a little gig inside knowing he's moving along well in his speech development. Here are some of the words he says (and the meanings):

bye bye (bye bye)
bird (bird)
ball (ball)
poh poh (poo poo)
more (more)
no more (no more)
dut dut (duck)
peeh peeg (pink pig)
buh ber (bubble or ball)
mama (mummy or mama)
deh chee (daddy)
ai-yah (swing - don't ask me why)
meng-ah (open)
far-er (flower)
piss (please - although he's only said it once in class)
moh (moo)
meh (cat/meow)
ow ow bow wow (dog's bark)
rarrhhh (roar of a lion/tiger/bear)
sssssss (hiss of a snake)
two (two)
peep peep (which according to my mum, is what big bird says - she obviously has her cartoons mixed up)
and this morning for the first time... dawwwg (dog)

This is all I can think of at the moment. I think it's pretty fab for my little one. I just can't wait till he's able to properly speak and hold a conversation with me. Till then, I'll just keep trying to decipher the toddler talk.

MIA & Water Play

2009-12-24T21:33:00.004+08:00

I know i've been MIA for a while. It's been mad mad mad wearing the mummy hat and the working hat simultaneously. But over Christmas, I've decided that I will catch up with my blogging in between parties and gatherings. :)

John's now 18 months old and one thing John really really loves is water. Anywhere with a fountain or water play he loves and seeing how much fun he has makes the hassle of cleaning up and changing later on all worth it. Here are some photos from one such water play session at Vivo City.

Up up and away!

2009-11-11T23:11:00.004+08:00

Yesterday we took John to Marina Barrage to fly a kite. I was inspired by Joan, whose 30 list included flying a kite, coupled with the fact that John's been sick so we couldn't go anywhere indoors with other kids and he needed the fresh air. Also, the view's fantastic.

I had never flown a kite before and had the impression that it was really difficult. Fortunately for me, I have a pro of a husband, who as a child successfully flew a kite at his mum's clinic with close to nada wind. He showed us how eeeeasy it is to fly a kite. He didn't even need to run.

This is y favourite pic of the lot. It's got my 2 fav people and the Singapore skyline complete with the flyer.
It's now my desktop picture. :)

When we arrived, there wasn't anyone at the field. But soon, bus loads of primary school kids lined the field. Many of them tried flying their kites unsuccessfully and one girl even came over to consult James on how to fly properly.

Here's my husband being consulted. It was so funny I just had to snap a pic.

Close to the end of our session, the wind got ratehr strong and we managed to fly the kite very high. We had almost no string left. That was really exciting for me.

Me having a go. The kite's so high up you can't really see it in the pic.

Of course true to John Chng's style, he did a HUGE poop while we were there and we had to change him in the open field. Of course we disposed of the 'toxic waste' after we left. :)

That's my bub all clean and satisfied after his poop. :)

But we just had so much fun we're definitely going back to fly our kite again.

Like father, like son

2009-11-03T21:51:00.005+08:00

Here's a picture of my 2 boys taken this morning by Aunty Siew Ping...

The 2 of them obviously didn't know they were being photographed. :)

Bollywood Bub

2009-10-21T21:02:00.006+08:00

It's been an interesting week at Julia Gabriel. We were asked to dress the bubs in traditional Indian outfits to celebrate Deepavali and I thought it would be fun to expose him culturally. Together with another mommy Estella, we bought 2 Indian outfits for our boys who are the same age. They wore one outfit last week and we swopped them this week so the bubs got to wear not one but two costumes! :)

The boys looked super cute and very smart. At $10 for a 2-piece suit, I say it's a very good deal!

John's pal Jair giving his 'camera' smile.

My bollywood bub

Mucking about just before class.

Doesn't John look like a little Indian prince? :)

Mr Strong

2009-10-10T11:04:00.005+08:00

Here's the tod doing some weight lifting. I found it absolutely funny that he was carrying his box of Mr Men books wearing his Mr Strong outfit (courtesy of Aunty Helena in the UK). The box is really heavy weighing about 2.5kg. Even I find it heavy.

I purchased the Mr Men set from a lady doing a bulk purchase on the Singapore Motherhood Forum. And i must say it was a steal! S$90 for for the whole 46-book set and it came in a neat hard cover box. The price printed on the box was 99 pounds! I was very pleased. :)

Grandpa caught red-handed!

2009-10-08T19:53:00.003+08:00

I'm usually quite strict with how much TV/computer time John gets during the day. But he's really taken the the square box and it's getting me really worried. If we allowed him, John could easily sit and watch TV for hours.

At CVC, it's proving to be even more of a challenge because there are so many computers around and when John decides he wants to watch something on youtube, he heads straight for Aunty Gret, Aunty Marianne and of late GRANDPA! When he doesn't get his way, he cries up a storm and more often than not, he gets his way. Aunty Gret and Aunty Marianne now give him just a little entertainment but it's grandpa he's got wrapped round his little finger. And i've got the evidence:

How? How? How???

John and Nat

2009-10-07T10:21:00.005+08:00

Last week we had lunch with Chris the baker and her bub Natalie. We had Thai food at Siam Kitchen at Parkway (Chris now stay in the east!!! Woohoo!) and the two little ones had a treat of spring rolls, phad thai and thai fried rice. Very yummy.

It was a nice, relaxed lunch for us both cos the two little ones were in relatively good moods and were happy to get to know each other. Close to the end of the lunch, they were playing 'follow the leader'. Nat would start to bang the table and John would follow suit and then vice versa. I know it's not socially considerate behavior but the restaurant wasn't too crowded and it was too cute to watch! Here's a short video:

Then there was the book swop...

After lunch... reading time.

Nat's more interested in what John's reading.

John decides Nat's is more exciting too and they SWOP!

Swop completed and we have to happy bubs!

After lunch Chris headed to run some errands and I prepared to head home. But John decided to leave me a present... a HUGE present. Good thing Parkway has a nice nursery in Isetan. I used so many wet wipes i actually lost count - but i won't bore you with the details. :)

how can you say no?

2009-10-04T23:25:00.003+08:00

When the bub comes up to you with a face like this, how can you say NO to him?

The "singing" face

2009-09-25T23:25:00.004+08:00

Introducing John's "singing" face:

When a familiar song comes on, or when he's in worship rehearsals, John actually sings. The words typically come out as 'ooooh oooooh' (and thus the face), but they come out at the right time. When there's an instrumental segment in the song, he stops and when the singing come on again, the 'oooh oohs' start again. It's uber uber cute.

At the Zoo!

2009-09-24T21:23:00.004+08:00

Since John started walking independently, we have had loads of fun bringing him to different places. Last month, we took John to the Zoo. Both James and I hadn't gone to the zoo in yonks so one bright Friday morning, we headed north to mandai. And i'm glad we did.

It wasn't overly crowded and the weather was nice. The animals were strutting their stuff and John had a good time on the tram and the boat. We watched the Splash Safari show with the sea lion, penguins and manatees and John was good enough to sit through the whole show. One of the highlights had to be the Rainforest Kidzworld. It's a pity I didn't bring John's swim gear but he had a good time running around the playground-like area and looking at the animals in the petting corner. It's amazing how the bub is not bothered by the smell of animal faeces... mummy on the other hand, felt nauseous more than once - and no, i'm not pregnant (yet :D). Here are some of the photos from our little family excursion.

One thing i must say is that it's a great thing i brought along my hip seat - that blue contraption that looks like a fanny pack in the top right picture. Whenever John decided he didn't want to walk, or when he wanted to pick up something that looked remotely like dung, we had to carry him. Daddy could carry the 10.5kg bub comfortably on his shoulders, but for me, the hip seat was absolutely necessary to prevent my arms from giving way. I had on hand my ergobaby but it was waaay too warm to carry John in that sling.

We spent a total of 5 hours there and by the time we got back to our car mid afternoon, the tyke was so tired out he slept almost immediately. All three of us had a wonderful time and we will definitely be going back there again.

At Transformetion Weekend

2009-09-21T08:57:00.008+08:00

Last month we went for our Church's Transformetion Weekend. The schedule was packed with teaching, worship and feasting and all of us, bub included, enjoyed every bit of it. It was the first time we stayed away from home since the 2.5 weeks we went to Italy when John was 5 months old.

Background: The Italy experience was terrifying for both of us. James was on a course and I was alone with the bub most of the day. It was in an ulu part of Italy so the town was really small and so was the hotel. The room was a nice size but walls were paper thin, so each time John cried, i imagined the other folks in the hotel wishing they stayed somewhere else. It didn't help that John had realised he had vocal chords and were exercising them extensively so each time he was awake, I had to sling him and and take him out. We were out a few hours at a go and so by the end of the trip, my shoulders were absolutely trashed. All this aside, it was good for us to be together as a family exclusively. I do cherish the experience because of the bonding that resulted and given a choice, I would go through it again.

The 3 of us in San Remo, Italy

That being said, I prayed really hard for the 3 days we were to stay at Parkroyal on Beach Road. John was now at a different stage in his little life and the challenges were different. And God came through for us. John was so good during our stay there. He even slept and napped really well! He ate whatever I gave him and he was happy to just run around the ballroom foyer most of the time. James and I could attend the teaching sessions and the group sessions and I was even able to co-lead worship at the Prayer, Praise and Worship without feeling anxious or guilty. All I can say is that God truly answers prayers and we now have enough confidence to consider a little family holiday at the end of the year! Woohoo! :)

Photos courtesy of Uncle Eddy and his big big camera!

Cut and play

2009-08-31T22:05:00.005+08:00

Couple of weeks ago, I brought John for his first official haircut at Parkway Parade. I can't remember the name of the shop, but it's one of those catered specially for the little ones. they play DVDs to distract the bubs and they've got toys and all just in case they need more amunition.

Even with Barney and Mickey Mouse on screen, John didn't like having his hair cut one bit. The moment the electric shavers made contact with his hair, he squealed and when we persisted, he cried. So I had to carry him the whole time and in mummy's arms, we calmed down significantly and we finally managed to finish the haircut. It took 25 minutes and I must say John was a real trooper. I actually expected it to be much harder so I was very relieved not to have to leave with his hair half cut. After the cut, John looked a little like a mini NS boy with his hair real short, but hey, at $20 a pop, i'd rather he had a good short cut so it'd take it's time to grow out.

A couple of days after that we met Desiree and Leroy at the swimming club and fortunately for us, Desiree was armed with her camera again. Woohoo! Here are some of the lovely post-haircut shots taken that day. Thanks again Desiree! :)

Eh?

2009-08-24T21:36:00.003+08:00

If there was one word i'd use to describe John, it'd be colourful. It's expressions galore when it comes to the tyke and here's just one example.

Eh???

How can anyone not love love love him? *grin*

Photo courtesy of Aunty Gret.

Asterisk marks the spot

2009-08-24T20:43:00.006+08:00

I must say it's been a really busy busy busy one month and time has just flown by. Between all the work at CVC, maid troubles, keeping the bub happy and active, I haven't been able to do very much else, let alone blog. So here's my first looong overdue post.

This video was taken about a month back when John had really learnt the joys of independent walking. We were at Novena Square with grandma and soon to be officially aunty Celia (I still can't believe my "baby" brother's getting married! woohoo!), and John decided he'd explore the open space and check out a couple of shops.

It's really funny when he does a little jig when he hears music like in this video. What's also amusing is how he checks out a pretty lady at the end.

Just a little note to myself that I have yet to blog about our little outing to the zoo, transformetion weekend and lovely photos from Desiree (again! aren't we fortunate!).

If I had a goooooood camera...

2009-07-20T22:03:00.003+08:00

... I would be able to take photos like these.

Thank God for friends who do. *winks at Desiree*

SoFa... So good

2009-07-19T23:27:00.006+08:00

We bought the tyke a new sofa. Yes... a SOFA. We had been looking for one for some time now and when we found one at toys r us, we decided to get it. :) It's really gaudy, I know, but John loves it (much to the hub's disappointment - he's a minimalist).

It's actually a sofa bed and John has learnt to open it up himself as well. When we leave him there with a couple of books, we get some peace and quiet for a while. *wink* All in all, i say GOOD BUY!

Gymming junior

2009-07-18T09:38:00.010+08:00

When John was about 10 months old, I signed him up with mygym at Marine Parade. I heard that it could really help with his motor skills, build his confidence and help with his social skills as well. When I looked at gym options, I looked at mygym and JWT Kids Gym at Leisure Park Kallang. The latter was nearer to my place and offered free parking on weekdays but the time slots for John's age group was not ideal and so I went with mygym instead. But I have no regrets. After one term, I can say that John's done very well in the said developmental areas. Here's a look at what he does at each class.

Before the warm up, the kids are allowed to run around and play with anything in the gym. John's favourite item at the moment is the trampoline. He makes a bee line straight for it. I think for him, it's even more fun when there's someone else on it too.

The warm ups are made up of action songs, dancing around and a skill that parents learn so they can continue at home. Such skills include flipping your child, teaching him to arch his back etc. After that it's free play again before 3 gymnastics stations interspersed with free play. Then it's the swings! All the kids love love love the swings. After that it's the bye bye routine and that wraps up the gym session. All this lasts 45 minutes and at the end of each session, mummy's waaay more tired than John is. If given a chance, i think he could go on for another hour if we let him! Here are more pics of our session yesterday.

Part of the free play - Climbing on the snake

Gymnastics station #1: swinging from the pole. Here he's learning to bear his own weight.

Gymnastics station #2: Climbing the ladder

Free play again. Here he's chosen to walk up and down a set of steps with handles.

The ball pit. John just loves throwing the balls out and calling for mummy to pick them up and throw them back in. Tiring i tell you.

The big swing! Carefully monitored by the gym instructor, John balances on this huge swing. Here he's actually looking at the other babies in the smaller individual swings.

Now he get's a ride on the individual swing. The gym assistants blow bubbles to keep the bubs entertained. The swings help prevent fear of heights.

I'm glad John's really enjoying his time at the gym. As a mummy, I feel it's important that I engage him in such play and am part of this process of development. And I have no regrets signing him up for something like this. After this term, however, I'm thinking of enrolling him in something else just to give him some variety so now i'm scouting around and looking for interesting trial classes. :)

A day of fun!

2009-07-16T20:27:00.011+08:00

I've been really busy with work the last 2 weeks and have been feeling guilty about not spending enough time with John. So i was happy to have some good fun with the bub today.

First, we headed to maccas for breakfast with Desiree and her boy Leroy. Leroy and John are about 8 months apart but they seem to get along reasonably well. John had a whole hotcake by himself, even after his morning yoghurt. It's amazing how he doesn't put on weight. I guess it's all that walking and burning off the calories.

Leroy & John.

The breakfast was just a prequel to our little outing to Marina Barrage. I've just heard so much about it and I had been waiting for John to walk confidently enough to bring him there. And having gone there today, I must say it's a really really lovely place. The water play area's huge! Because it was a weekday morning, we had the whole water play area to ourselves and the boys had an hour of fun getting wet, watering the plants, etc. Desiree even brought a plastic elephant watering can for John. That was really nice - thanks Desiree!

You know what the best part was... it was FREE! (typical singaporean mummy. heh) They even have a huge grass area for flying kites or having picnics. So we're definitely going there again!

The huge water play area which was empty on a weekday morning!

Good thing John has a thermal suit that kept him warm. :)

The boys again. I find it very interesting to watch them engage in parallel play.

I managed to get a video of John attempting to water the grass.

All that activity was definitely good for John. He was so tired that he knocked out when we set off to go home. Before we even got out of the Marina area, he was in lala land.

zzzzzzz

I had a couple of friends come over for lunch as well and John got to play with another friend - Rae (Lynn's beautiful 8 month old baby girl.) They were all chatty... communicating in what must be baby talk. I wish I had taken a video of them interacting. Would have been nice to have that archived. It was really nice catching up with some of my old MG friends (all new moms and one mom-to-be) and sharing our experiences and struggles. Thank God for good friends.

After John's afternoon nap, I brought him for his swimming class again at Suntec City. I must say he's really improved since we started some months back. He now can hold his breath under water for at least 3 seconds and he can "row row row" his boat - like he's swimming the breast stroke. He can also climb out of the pool with little assistance and he can jump in when asked to (mummy's there to catch him of course). I think the most important thing he's learnt in his swim class is how to expel water when he accidentally takes in some. Definitely something he needs to know. I'm just glad he has gained some confidence in the water and loves it.

Today was a good day overall. I really enjoyed it. However, I was supposed to go to the gym today after John went to bed, but the day's activities have been a tad too much for me. I think i'll go tomorrow instead. *fingers crossed*

diaper mummy

2009-07-09T20:21:00.001+08:00

I know this may sound really odd, but when John needs a diaper change, I try not to let anyone else do the honours. I feel as a mother, it's one of the most basic roles to keep my baby clean and comfortable. Unless I'm not around or I just can't break away from something i'm doing, I almost always am the one to do the change. Call me anal (pardon the pun), but that's just me. The only exception is the hub. He gets to do the changes too. Lucky him! :)

Eczema no more!

2009-07-03T22:26:00.009+08:00

For a large part of John's first year, he had quite a bad case of eczema. The rash appeared as red spots in the usual areas like behind his knee, elbow etc. But the one area most affected was his face. He had red patches on both sides of his cheeks and they definitely caused him some discomfort coz he used to rub his face against our clothes when we carried him. It seriously broke my heart to see him like that.

We tried steroid creams and that helped here and there. But the patches kept reoccuring. I hated using steoids on John. I heard that if you use steroids, it would be hard to stop using them cos the skin would get so used to them that the moment you stopped, the eczema would come back. I also found out from a friend that steroids thin the skin and that's no good as well.

Before: Two patched on his face.

I prayed and asked God to give us wisdom to help the bub. Only He knew what was going on. And once again, I must say God answers prayers. When John was about 10 months, I started to notice that the eczema was particularly bad days after I ate squid or prawns. And John was having the same through my breastmilk. So I decided to cut seafood (except fish) out of my diet completely. And voila! John's skin cleared! So for about 2 over months now, he's been dawning silky smooth baby skin... FINALLY! :)

After: Eczema no more! :)

If you stood with us in prayer for John's recovery, we would like to thank you. God is good and every prayer counted!

Little drummer boy

2009-06-28T15:12:00.008+08:00

Last Sunday, my brother, who's our church drummer, sat John in front of the drum set and gave him his set of drum sticks. Needless to say, the bub was thrilled and started banging away. Uncle Aaron was pleased to see John interested. He even said John was holding the sticks correctly! So... anyone starting a baby worship team?

ps. thanks Aunty Gret for the video!

Johnny Walker - Part 2

2009-06-27T21:02:00.007+08:00

Our little one is finally walking - properly! It was initially just a step or two and then on June 17, just 2 days after his first birthday, he walked his first 5 steps. After that, just small bits of progress. But the last three days we saw an exponential increase in John's confidence and he's been taking many many steps at a go. And today at his gym mate Caius' birthday party, he walked so much I managed to get video clip after video clip of footage. Here's just one of them!

Of course, after the party, I was absolutely pooped. Chasing the little one around was no joke. I guess it's a little taste of what is to come. Hopefully that will help me shed the pounds. :)

ps. the voice in the background is birthday boy Caius' sister calling out to John. i can't understand what she's saying but i guess John does since he makes a 90 degree turn and heads straight for her.

The Big O-N-E!

2009-06-25T22:54:00.002+08:00

John's O-N-E and boy did we have a celebration! There were just too many people we wanted to share our joy with, so we had to have a total of FOUR celebrations: 2 at home with friends, one in church and one with the relatives. And 4 cakes, 3 parties, an Old Chang Kee spread and one prata man later, I can say with absolute certainty that we're all partied out. Here are some of the highlights of the weekend.

Two of our cakes were creations by our good friend Chris the Baker. The first was a no. 1 cake. Made with rich chocolate fudge and decorated with hand-made marzipan animals. The second cake was a black forest fresh cream cake decorated as a book with (you guessed it) hand-made marzipan animals. I'm sure you can tell John loves animals. :) Both cakes were absolutely delish and I'm glad we ordered hefty cakes so we had leftovers for the rest of the week. Thanks again Chris! The other 2 cakes were bought commercially - one from Polar and one from Swensens.

Our no. 1 cake!

Our book cake. See how it says "Little John had a farm.":)

The birthday boy was all smiles when we sang him his birthday song - all 4 times. He would smile and even clap. Very cute. The only thing is he doesn't know how to blow out his candle yet but the other kids didn't mind at all. Some even blew the flame out before we sang the song. Fun tho. :)

I really wanted to create a fun atmosphere in the house for the birthday boy and other kids that were coming for the party on Saturday so I ordered balloons! It's amazing how the simple balloon could elicit sooo much interest. Kids and babies alike were mesmerised by the blue, green and yellow concoction that lined our ceiling. At $1 a pop, it was well worth it! John had a lot of fun just trying to grab the hanging string.

Having some fun with grandma.

We had out most of John's toys which we painstakingly sterilised the night before. We had a baby gym cum ball pit (present from Grandma & a hit with most of the kids, even though it was for babies), a gym set and trampoline which i rented, an exersaucer for the younger babies, and a slide/swing. It must have been soo enticing that even some adults had a go!

Oh and the whole weekend we just ate and ate and ate. For the first party on Saturday, we engaged the services of BBQ men from BBQ Wholesale. Slighly disappointing. For the second party, we got the Prata man from the famous casuarina prata to make prata on the spot. That was fantastic! He made everything from tissue prata to customised banana-caramel-chocolate-cheese pratas. Fab. I would recommend them in a heartbeat. On Sunday, we celebrated with the church with a spread from Old Chang Kee. We found out they had a catering arm and decided to try them out. And I must say they were very professional and the food was wonderful. Each curry puff, each yam pie, each sotong ball was as good, if not better than what we'd get at the OCK stalls. Absolutely Fab.

On the day of John's birthday itself, we spent a quiet half day with the bub. Just daddy, mummy and baby. We had breakfast at the club and brought him to the play room for some early morning fun. I think John was just happy to have daddy spend time with him in the day, especially in the morning. Daddy's usually on his way to work when John wakes up so it's always a treat to have daddy around on a monday morning! We had lunch at Parkway and then headed home to prepare for party no. 4 with the relatives.

Having breakfast with daddy. On the menu: Cherrios!

We were so early on the monday morning the cleaner was still there!

It was a milestone not only for the bub, but for us as parents. It's been one entire year of having a little person in our lives and he's made these 364 days the most memorable ever. Every coo, every laugh, every smile, every milestone reached has been amazing. John's life has been a real showcase of God's creation and a reminder that we've been chosen to have the privilege of nurturing this gift He's given us. We pray that as John enters his second year, we will be the parents that God had intended for us to be.

To the next 364 days I say... BRING IT ON!!!

First steps!!!

2009-06-17T21:02:00.004+08:00

I'm slowly putting together my post on John's birthday weekend and i hope to have that up soon. I've just got lots to say and loads of pics to choose from. So stay tuned.

BUT, I'm so excited cos my little man took his first official steps today!!! 5 to be exact. wooooot! In attendance was mummy, daddy, mama, gong gong and our helper, Tess. He had been taking one or two tentative steps of late but today, it was proper walking. When he finally got back down on his fours again, we broke into a huge applause, which John of course loved. I'm hoping the positive response would encourage him to do it again. My cam's going to be blued to me tomorrow. Hopefully i'll catch his next steps on camera.

The Ch'ngs as sticks!

2009-06-16T20:07:00.004+08:00

One way to relax: create my own stick family.
It was really quite fun. Try it!

Make your Stick Figure Family at FreeFlashToys.com

(this is thanks to Ps Henson! - check out his stick family of NINE!)

Grandma, Mommy and I

2009-06-09T22:08:00.011+08:00

As part of our mothers' day celebrations this year, my mom, John and I had a professional photoshoot done with my friend Joan. It was great that John was cooperative and Joan managed to get quite a few good shots in. :)

Here are some of my favourite shots:

John looking longingly at Grandma as she reads him his bible story.

Just the 3 of us.

Mommy and Baby Ch'ng

Thanks Joan. We had a wonderful time!

Tea time at CVC

2009-06-03T22:21:00.012+08:00

When you're the youngest member of 'staff' at mummy's workplace, you're more often than not the centre of attention. John's constantly has a few pairs of eyes oggling at, i mean watching, him. Here's the proof!

Here's grandma, aunty Marianne and Aunty Gret watching John have his tea.

Tea for John now consists of a cracker or some biscuits. Thanks to advice from my friend Desiree, I bought the munchkin bowls that have a suction base and i put John's food in it to help him learn that food should be eaten off a bowl/plate rather than off the table. And he's doing really well. He's good self-feeding and can put even the tiny rice crispies in his mouth with no problem.

John's now been drinking from a straw for about a month now. It's amazing how quickly he learnt how to do it. His first successful attempt with a straw ended with a sip of soya bean milk from the hawker centre. I guess he figured that the drink was too good for him to miss out on considering he loves tofu. We use the pigeon bottle at the moment, although it has leaked a few times and I'm thinking of changing it. I'm holding it off for a while because John's really comfirtable with the pigeon. He can even open the cap on his own using his bottom 2 teeth!

Here's grandma feeding him water.

As part of the drill, after tea, the ladies of CVC will get him to "perform", clapping hands, raising hands, saying bye bye etc. And even though they've seen him do it a million times, his cooperation still elicits a very boistrous response from them (mummy included). See what I mean in this video:

Sometimes, I can't decide if, on the days we go into CVC, John has more fun or the folks at CVC have more fun. Heh. But as long as everyone's happy, i'm happy. :)

Sick again

2009-05-31T21:57:00.005+08:00

John's been sick the last few days and mummy and daddy have been trying their very best to keep him happy and comfortable. It started with a light cough on Thursday and on Thursday night, it developed into a fever, runny nose and nasty cough.

I must say that it is a blessing that my in laws are doctors and when we need some 'consultation', we get an almost instant diagnosis. Our home is also a sort of mini pharmacy. And because we have not one, but three doctors in our household, we even have a second and third opinion.

Having said that, this time, John's cough has been bad and we have been giving him antibiotics to preempt the possibility of any secondary bacterial infection to what we believe to be a viral infection. We also give him baby paracetamol whenever the fever strikes (it comes on and off and at its peak it was a whopping 39 degrees!) and a cough mixture to soothe the throat.

Though John's not been as cranky as the last time he was sick, and he still has half his appetite, his sleep has been disrupted again. On Friday night i literally had to carry him to sleep for a good part of the night. Very tiring.

We're just praying now that the worst is over and that God will give him a speedy recovery.

Chng Look-alike Meter

2009-05-28T19:57:00.002+08:00

I found this on my friend Deisree's blog and decided to see if John looked more like James or I. And the jury's out... ALMOST equal. Phew. :)

MyHeritage: Look-alike Meter - Family history - Family tree software

shoes

2009-05-21T22:21:00.008+08:00

Of late, my little man's been VERY facinated with his shoes. Before his bath every evening, he'll crawl over to his shoe shelf (yes he has a shelf of shoes - mostly given) and begin a sort of shoe ritual. It's quite facinating, yet funny at the same time.

First he'll take out one shoe, inspect the sole and place it on the floor. Then he'll take out the next and inspect it and place it on the floor. He'll do this till all his shoes are on the ground. Then he'll toss them about like he's mixing a salad and squeal at the same time. He'll do this for a while. And then he'll start inspecting them one by one again until it's time for his bath.

Not only that... when both mummy and daddy are not looking, he'll attempt to put them in his mouth. That's my playful little man for you.

I'm just glad he's finding things to explore on his own, shoes or otherwise, and we don't have to constantly find things to entertain him with. phew!

Membership has its privileges

2009-05-20T21:13:00.008+08:00

Recently, I found out through a friend that there was a big playroom for kids at the Singapore Swimming Club. Since we are members there, I decided to bring John there to have a look-see. And what a find! The playroom's huge! It had a ball pit, a load of toys for bubs and kids, books to read, a swing, a house, even a TV for the adults. There is also an attendant there at all times to keep the older kids busy with stuff to draw and paint and to also ensure that everything's in order.

So far i've brought the bub there twice and both times he's had a wonderful time. He's made friends with a couple of other kids and he's familiarised himself with quite a few of the toys. His favourite is by far the ball pit. He can spend a good 15 minutes doing nothing but climbing in and out of the pit.

B for Ball!

John looking like he's about to whip up dinner.

Membership indeed has its privileges. Best thing for us is that it's free and just 5 minutes away from where we live. It doesn't hurt that there's good food there too! So anyone else a member of SSC?

What happened to the 20 cent rides???

2009-05-13T20:42:00.006+08:00

You know those rides you find in almost all shopping centres? Those with characters such as Barney, always with a queue of kids waiting to go on, mostly blasting funny music? I can't believe each ride is costs $1! For like 1 minute! What happened to the 20 cent rides? Where have they gone? $1 is just daylight robbery.

Having said that, it's just so hard to not let your child try something new and over the mothers' day weekend, John had his first taste of the $1 rides. It was just outside Bakerzin at Suntec, where we were having lunch, and mama and gong gong couldn't resist letting the bub try it out. And he really enjoyed it! He couldn't sit on the seat cos he kept slipping off so he stood throughout the ride, steering the submarine like a pro. And he'd ocassionally let out a shout of glee and look over at us and smile. It was uber cute.

As usual, I had camera in hand and I snapped and snapped, but the submarine kept moving and of all the shots I took, only one wasn't blurry (seriously, i need some help in the area of photography). But I'm glad I caught him in a smile. :)

I've also started collecting $1 coins so I can reward (not spoil) him with more rides in the future.

Pearly whites

2009-05-12T20:33:00.004+08:00

I managed to snap a pic of John's lovely teeth over the weekend. I love how he shows them off with his crooked little smile.

flashing his pearly whites...

Happy Mothers' Day!

2009-05-10T20:41:00.006+08:00

"Her children arise and call her blessed,

her husband also, and he praises her."

Proverbs 31:28

On this Mothers' Day, I also want to pay tribute to my mum. To me, she embodies the Proverbs 31 woman. She's one of the most beautiful women I know, both inside and out and she's so full of love, not for herself but for everyone around her. She's been my inspiration and my best friend for the longest time and I cannot imagine life without her. She's my example of a good mother and I pray I will do as good a job with my children as she has done with me. I love you mum!!!

My lovely mum...

Today's also a very special day because it's my very first Mothers' Day as a mother. It's a day I can reflect and be truly thankful for the opporunity to be a mother to my beautiful baby John. He's just brought me so much joy and when he looks at me with what I believe is unadulterated love, it just melts my heart. I love being a mummy and I'm happy I will be one for the rest of my life.

Here's wishing all mummies and mummies-to-be a very...

HAPPY MOTHERS' DAY!!!!!

Teeth and thudguard

2009-05-08T21:23:00.011+08:00

After a quick survey of the bubs i have come into contact with recently, i have concluded that John's got more teeth than the average 11 month old. I am proud to say my bub's going to have 8 teeth by his first birthday! My mil said he probably has lots of calcium, and i am inclined to agree seeing he has a cup of yoghurt a day... everyday.

Anyhoo, having a mega teething machine as a baby has its good and bad points. Good in that he's able to eat foods which are more lumpy, and he's able to bite off fruit pieces and chew them. It's also nice to see a smile with a nice set of teeth and we have been trying to teach him the need to brush every morning and evening.

Bad bits... he grinds his teeth. It's almost like he finds the noise amusing. Of course it sends shivers down my spine. I liken it to nails on a chalkboard. eeks. Also, he bites. Everyone in our household has battle scars to prove it. He's quite cheeky about it too. He affectionately snuggles into wherever he's going to land a bite, like on our belly or thigh, and because we think he's showing us love, we don't stop him. Then he goes in for the kill and sinks his pearly whites into our flesh. And he bites HARD. Anyone has any tips on how to prevent biting?

One other thing is that he wants to chew on everything... yes EVERYTHING! From his shoes to our books to the toys he sees lying around. I guess it's not bad as such because it's a natural way for babies to explore, so I'm not fussed about it. Here's an example. I blogged about the thudguard a while ago, and unfortunately... a couple months on, it's been relegated to a decorative item in John's play yard.

As you can see, if an item can't be chewed, it's got no value to John.

After 5 months of teething, i'm just glad that John's not reacted adversely nor has he been overly fussy; just the bucket loads of drool which i'd take any time over a hard-to-handle baby. Thank God for that.

Johnny Walker

2009-05-01T22:03:00.006+08:00

When John started to cruise around the house, we bought him a push cart from the Better Toy Shop at Takashimaya to help him move towards the next major milestone... walking. This cart is much better than the other push-type walkers because it has a screw to tighten the breaks on the wheels so it feels heavier and more stable for the bub. Definitely a great buy for us.

So far, he'd just push for a bit and decide it's easier to crawl. But TODAY, he decided to really give the cart a go and voila... we have him "walking" - supported, but nonetheless, still walking! Mummy was so so proud. :)

Good thing I had my camera on hand.

climb climb climb!

2009-04-30T22:02:00.005+08:00

For a while now we haven't been able to keep the bub off the stairs. He loves to climb and the moment he's allowed out of his play yard, he heads straight for our very own "mount everest". He's gotten so good he can go all the way to the 3rd level with no break. I really wonder where he gets all that energy. Here he is in action:

John's new playmate

2009-04-22T22:27:00.007+08:00

Yup, John's got a new playmate at church (aka mummy's workplace). The bub's been rather smitten by the funny man himself... Pastor Andrew and Sometimes I wonder who's having more fun. :D I guess Pastor Andrew has had lots of experience playing with his grandchildren - I think he has 5, and entertaining John comes naturally to him.

Here are 2 videos (courtesy of Aunty Gret) of them in action.

I just love hearing John laugh. Oh, and as usual, Ps Andrew's eating.

Here John's just playing with Ps Andrew's hand. Hope that watch isn't an expensive one.

I'm just really thankful that everywhere I go, there are people who love John and want to play with him. He (and I) are really blessed. :)

A Bee Story

2009-04-16T08:50:00.006+08:00

We came home yesterday to find that a population of bees had decided to make a home in our frangi tree. When you look at it for the first time, it can be quite scary cos with all the bees moving at once, the whole hive looks like it's shaking. The amazing thing is that they only took ONE day to set up home! We walk John out in the garden daily and the day before there was no sign of a hive whatsoever.

So anyways, we were thinking of what we could do to get rid of the hive seeing how we go out there so often (i cannot even imagine what it would be like if they decided to sting my baby!). My mil said she was going to call our gardener today to see if he had bee-disposing experience but God's provision came through quicker than we had expected. While they (fil & mil) were at the park with the bub this morning, they saw a pest control man. And when my mil approached him, he said ok, came over and promptly got rid of it. God is indeed good. :)

10 months on...

2009-04-15T22:28:00.011+08:00

One of John's favourite things - tags!

15 June 2008... the day my little bubba arrived kicking and screaming, greeting the world with gusto. 10 months on today, some things have not changed. :) He's still kicking, especially when he's refusing to have his diaper changed; and he's started to exercise his vocal cords a lot more recently.

Apart from that, he's changing in almost every other way. His personality is really coming through now. Though he's still quite sociable, he's developed a mild case of stranger anxiety, which i think came about after getting sick. He's more clingy now and would show his displeasure (vocally) when i walk out of the room. Now i've literally got to sneak out if i've need to do something. But he loves meeting new people and warms up easily, as long as mummy/daddy's still around.

John's got a slight problem with eczema. He's got 2 crusty spots on his face that come and go quite often. We were recommended a-derma, a cream that uses an oat as the active ingredient rather than a steroid, and i think it's helping somewhat. I'm also washing his face more often to keep the area clean. I also read and hear that very often such eczema associated with babies disappear when they're about a year old... which is just TWO months away! (I can't believe my baby's turning one!!!) *fingers & toes crossed!*

Physically he's really grown. I can seriously feel it in my arms when we go out and I carry him. He's aso grown taller and is now as tall as our dining table! He's now completely mobile and can crawl the whole length of our house in seconds. He's also taken to climbing stairs and can do a whole flight at a time. He's so mobile on all fours that I think he might take some time to walk. We've bought him a push cart type walker to encourage him to walk, but after a few steps, he decides he's faster crawling, gets down on all fours and nips off. He's also learnt to climb down backwards... today he climbed on our coffee table, crawled across it, made a 180 degree turn and 'gostan-ed' down. Mummy was so proud that she forgot to tell'im he wasn't supposed to be climbing the coffee table in the first place. :p

Food wise, John's doing better with lumpier foods. He's now eating rice again, but commercial rice porridge. He didn't take to mummy's home-made one - much to my disappointment. But whatever makes him happy and as long as he's getting good sized meals, i'm happy. I've also started giving him bread... home-made bread, and he loves it. Other new foods include honey dew, grapes, tahini and pumpkin seeds.

All in all, everything's going great except for one or two bits and i'm just thankful for the chance to watch my baby grow. I thank God everyday that I have the privilege to be his momma and I pray I'll be the parent God intended me to be.

Praise the Lord!

2009-04-10T21:58:00.005+08:00

John's taken to raising both his hands up in the air. And each time he does it, we say 'Praise the Lord!' and he breaks out into a huge grin. As he does it, we all laugh and this reinforcement makes him do it again and again. It's really cute. I've wanted to take a video of this for a while now, but the moment has always escaped me. I'll continue trying cos it's something i really want archived.

For what it's worth, we hope the bub's really learning to Praise the Lord. :)

Look who's got a new ride

2009-04-09T21:25:00.009+08:00

Our vertically un-challenged baby has officially grown out of his maxi cosi cabriofix capsule. Seriously, I can't see how it's meant for babies up to a year. I tried to maximise the use of the capsule but alas the bub could no longer sit comfortably in it. Not only were his feet were up against the back seat of the car, his legs were twisted to one side.

Before... with feet up against the back seat of the car.

So last weekend we made a trip down to Robinsons and purchased a Nania Maxim carseat and got a good discount on it. It didn't take John very long to get used to facing forward rather than backwards and he's happy to be zipping around with mummy.

In his new ride!

the zzzzzs again...

2009-04-06T21:26:00.008+08:00

So, at the beginning of this year, I had posted about how John's been sleeping through the night. I am so sad to say that all that sleep training has unfortunately undone itself and we're back to frequent night wakings and mummy being the only one able to put the bub back to sleep. It became especially bad when he was sick recently and we had to comfort him to sleep every half hour (an experience I NEVER want to relive again!).

This is highly highly disappointing for me cos it's been taking a toll on me and i'm once again really really tired. And it doesn't help that John's so much more active now. It seems my boy has grown up significantly over the last few days and he's showing his independent spirited side. It's espeically so during nap times. He's now standing in his cot and it takes a lot longer for him to go to sleep.

At night, I sometimes have to spend a long time nursing him and carrying him till he's in a deep slumber before putting him down. I guess the good thing is that John sleeps in his own room and has done so since we first sleep trained him.

John's sleep has been the biggest challenge for me. I've just not been able to have sustained success in this area and it's something I know I have to fix sooner rather than later; which of course means I'm putting all this stress on myself tring to find solutions. We're thinking of sleep training him again soon and we hope this time, it'll last longer than just a couple of months.

So if you're reading this, please pray for us. For God to lead us to the right solution, to grant us the wisdom to know how to implement it, for the strength to go through with it and for the patience to stick it through.

Praying...

2009-04-05T22:06:00.002+08:00

Lord, grant me the serenity to accept that which cannot be changed, courage to change that which can be changed, and wisdom to know the one from the other. Amen.

Me baby and me...

2009-04-04T22:06:00.003+08:00

While playing today, i managed to snap a photo of us 2.

I'm feeling grateful today. Grateful to God for giving me the privilege to be the mother of my beautiful baby John. Each time i see John smile, my soul fills with joy. Though motherhood has its struggles, I'm thankful that the good bits always overshadow the bad ones and each day is more fulfilling than the last when I see him thrive and grow.

He's just growing so fast. Soon he'll be one and then two and i'll be wondering where all the time went. I don't know how i'll feel when he's too big to sleep in my arms or too old to be silly with mummy. I know it's not really possible, but I hope he'll never forget the time spent with us... i know I won't.

Dimples

2009-03-31T21:45:00.002+08:00

Don't you just love those little dimples at the base of a baby's fingers? I absolutely love looking at them and I hate to think that John's will one day disappear. But for now, I'm savouring each little depression for all they're worth.

Play Time

2009-03-27T21:41:00.008+08:00

Since John's been mobile, he's been really fun to play with. It's wonderful watching him grow into a little explorer, taking in everything. He enjoys playing in his play yard, where all the toys are, but he enjoys being out and about way more. Of course mummy's had to do a whole lot of chasing him round the house. John really fast on all fours... turn away for a second and next thing you know, he's chomping down on some magazine or tissue box. I really can't imagine what it's going to be like when he starts to walk!

Here's a pic of john making a quick getaway. I love that he has such purpose on his face. My boy's really a little spirited one!

Here's one of him playing peek-a-boo through the curtain:

I just love play time... sometimes i wonder if i enjoy it more than he does. heh.

Poor bub

2009-03-20T20:45:00.005+08:00

My poor baby's been sick the last few days. He had a fever starting Tuesday and it turned into a runny nose and a cough today. Needless to say, it's been hard on the bub. He's had very little sleep and was probably very uncomfortable. Nights have been especially hard as he would only be carried to sleep and would wake within 15 minutes of being placed in his cot. In the day, he's been relatively more cranky and clingy, and he didn't want to go into his playpen. He hasn't been eating too well either. The only thing he's still eating relatively well is... yogurt. His milk feeds have also dropped so we're hydrating him with water.

Poor bub. This is the first time he's fallen sick this bad and if this is anything to go by, I pray he'd never have to go through it again. For his sake and for mine.

Morning Hair

2009-03-20T20:32:00.004+08:00

Even babies have morning hair. :)

John's 9 months old!

2009-03-16T20:53:00.008+08:00

Yesterday, John turned 9 months old. I could have had a whole other baby in that time, so he’s been my little man for quite a while now. And I have loved every moment of it… :)

We went to the PD on Saturday for his routine check and he’s doing very well. He’s now 73.5cm tall and 9.5kg (gasp!) - No wonder my arms feel like breaking every time I carry him for more than 10 minutes. He’s teething again BIG TIME. Teeth number 5 and 6 have made their appearance. He’s not overly cranky or anything, just drooooooooooling loads, so mummy’s got to pack in a couple more tops when we go out. He refuses to wear a bib, so that makes mealtimes a really messy affair. When we try to put one on, he yanks at it so hard it causes scratches on the back of his neck. We’ve decided that more laundry is better than scratches so the bibs have been put aside for now.

Talking about food, John’s been eating relatively well. His favourite food BY FAR is yogurt. He has a whole cup of yogurt (organic natural yogurt) for lunch everyday and we put in fruit and ground seeds in for added nutrition. I buy a kilogram of yogurt a week for him… that’s how much he loves it. He also loves his fruits on their own, like apple, pear, mango and papaya. He also takes some vegetables well… like sweet potato, avocado, carrots and pumpkin. He doesn’t mind chye sim when it’s mixed with something else and he absolutely HATES asparagus. He’s not a fan of fish but likes egg yolk. Oh and he’s also decided he doesn’t really like rice.

He’s still on breastmilk most of the day, but I feed him one bottle of formula now just to get him used to something else so it won’t be so hard on him when I hang up my nursing bra (hopefully when he’s 1).

One thing that has amazes me is how John’s such a social creature. He lets everyone carry him and smiles at complete strangers He even ‘talks’ to them sometimes. He’s a hit with the staff at restaurants, with the other mummies and domestic helpers at the park, with everyone in church, which is great for us. :)

Developmentally, he’s also come such a long way. James’ cousin came by with her bub last week and commented on how John’s so active… she likened him to a Duracell bunny! Here’s a video of him doing the "100m baby sprint" – with a few distractions along the way.

He’s also moving around so fast now we’ve had to baby proof the house over the weekend. He prefers to stand and does so at any chance he gets. He can do so unsupported for about a second before he falls to the ground. He can also stoop down before getting back onto the floor.

John’s favourite game is peek-a-boo and loves anything that makes a loud noise like a tin can or a plastic container full of peanuts. He loves a cuddle in between his toys and we’re glad to give him that.

When I look at how John’s grown, I’m just amazed at how God’s put so much thought into us humans when he designed us. It just shows how much He loves us. Also, when I think about how much I love my baby, I can only think about how much more God our Father loves us. I just pray that I will be the mother God wants me to be and that I will bring up my son in the ways of the Lord.

29 forever!

2009-03-11T22:13:00.004+08:00

I turn 29 today. Woohoo! God's been really good all these years and I am very happy with where I am in my life now... I've got a wonderful husband, an absolutely adorable baby and a family who loves and supports me. I've also got a circle of friends whom I also love and trust. I couldn't be more grateful.

One of the highlights of the day was the cake! We ordered a carrot cake from my friend Chris. If you like the Cedele one, you won't be disappointed with hers! It's moist, full of flavour and absolutely delish. I highly recommend it.

Other than that, we had a really relaxing day... just chillin' and having fun with the bub. What more could one ask for? So... Here's to being 29 forever! - From next year onwards, please don't ask me how old I am. :)

Thudguard

2009-03-08T14:00:00.007+08:00

I was browsing Deborah's sister's blog recently and read a post on the Thudguard. Although John's been crawling around like a busy bee and his play yard is, in my opinion, padded enough, we decided to get one because my father-in-law mentioned numerous times how he was worried that John would injure his head (him and mil are both doctors you see...). So our decision to buy the product was really for his peace of mind.

When I first checked it out (here), the price was $68. One day later, when we decided to go ahead to get it, the price had gone up to $80! I missed the introductory promotional offer by one day! I really felt like hitting myself. Anyways, we got it and it came within 2 days, so no problem there.

It's a great product... PROVIDED your baby doesn't mind head gear. So if you're thinking of purchasing this for your child, try a hat or swim cap to make sure he/she is ok with having something on his/her head first.

Unfortunately, John was not happy at all wearing the thudguard. Even though it comes with a strap to keep it in place, he managed to take it off everytime... in one swift motion. Determined not to let our 80 bucks go to waste, James concocted a simple plan to get the bub to wear it. Simple plan = Distraction! Why didn't i think of it earlier? - doh! Anyways, John would only wear it if he doesn't know he's wearing it. So at least the thudguard's getting some head time. Here's a pic of John with it on. I think he looks waaaay cute in it.

Oh, one more thing, John sweats a storm in the thudguard. When the gear comes off, he looks like he's just had a shower. Not all that suitable for our hot and humid weather, except if the aircon's on.

And today John's started climbing stairs, so i'm definitely going to try to make sure the thudguard stays on when he's not in the play yard. Hope that goes well.

Gong Gong's home!

2009-03-04T21:17:00.003+08:00

If John could speak he may just be saying this:

"Need to get to my table to stand.

Yay! Did it again. Now to press these buttons. Don't understand why i can't get them both to go down at the same time. I need to have a word with the guys from fisher price. yeesh.

What's that sound? Who's home? Ooh it's gong gong! Yay! I hope I get to go to the park.

Ooh, gong gong's coming here. I'm going to the park for sure!

Why are you still standing there gong gong? Pick me up!

Hey, where are you going? I want to go to the park! I want to go to the park! Heyyyy!!! Heeey!!!!"

Or mummy may just have a very wild imagination.