First Birthday!

My little boy is finally 1 year old. The many many adventures we share the past one year has been mind-bogeling. I am also finally getting used to the whole idea of being a mummy.

C is not a very naughty baby in comparison but still he is a handful to take care of. RH and me sincerely thank God for this little parcel and it is really amazing to watch this little baby develop skills, grow up to look more like me and see more of his emerging personality.

Recently, we celebrated his birthday at home with extended family and friends. Some pictures to share. His bear theme birthday party.

{Bear Theme Birthday Party}

{C's Birthday Cake by Pommes}

{Lots of Pressies}

{Family Picture}

{Family Picture}

Grandchild Fever

My in-laws were here for their longest time ever. More than one month in Singapore. My father in law had a major sugery done and was recuperating in Singapore. Of course, being first time grandparents, they were really excited to come and spend some time with C. Here are some of the pictures they took while they were here. My mother in law was so nice as to burn the pictures into a CD for us.

{C on his little car}

{Playing pirate with Daddy's Hankerchief}

{Why am I wearing shorts? Where are my pants?}

{That's better}

{Huh, Chinese New Year not here yet?}

{Then, how about a Solo traditional Batik?}

Last Christmas I gave you my Heart!

Doesn't time travel in a flash. It is Christmas time again. This year, we are having our annual Christmas dinner which means cooking, cooking and more cooking.

Christmas Menu:

1. Turkey + Gravy + Cranberry Sauce
2. Chestnut Stuffing
3. Yorkshire Pudding
4. Potato Gratin
5. Curried Cauliflower
6. Mushroom Ragout
7. Chocolate Pudding
8.Apple Pie
9. Fig & Chocolate Salami plus Walnut Fudge

Notice that I inlcuded gravy and cranberry sauce together with the Turkey. Singaporeans do not seem to know that gravy and cranberry are essential accompaniments to the Turkey hence when we ordered a Turkey for our small group Christmas Party, there was NO gravy or cranberry sauce to be found. It would definitely be an outroar in USA for a Turkey to go "Cold Turkey". Pun intended!

Anyways, as you might not recall, I missed last year's dinner as I was rather unpatiently waiting at the hospital for my Christmas parcel to arrive. Yes, C came at 3:00 pm in the afternoon, in time to be a Christmas baby!

So, this year, RH and I thought it would be really fun to dress him in a Santa costume for his birthday. However, when we heard of The Studio Loft's Christmas walk-in, we grabbed the chance to bring C for a studio photoshoot instead to commerate his first birthday. So, here are the pictures......of the guy who stole my heart last Christmas!

Happy Birthday Mama!

Is it just me or does everyone find it hard to buy a birthday present for their parents? It seems that they already have everything they need. Nor do they go after the latest models like we do. Anyways, yesterday was RH's mother's birthday so I decided to bake her a cake to surprise her as well as show off my culinary skill. As usual, the decoration part caused me to be dumb-founded.

{Family Picture}

{Homemade Birthday Cake - Chocolate Mousse Cake}

Rare Moment

Here is a rare picture of C smiling. He rarely smiles by the way and this one is only a half smile. What he really likes to do is to scrunch up his face and wince.

{Half - smiling}

{Holding his own bottle}

C is old enough to hold his own bottle to drink. Showing off with one hand in the above picture.

My my, what shall I play with today?

Little C is now able to pull himself up from a sitting position and so he is constantly trying to pull himself up by leveraging on almost anything (stable or unstable), pillow, bolsters, sofa, magazine holder, chairs, coffee table, playpen railings.......

And here, he is using his toy box to pull himself up.

{Where all all my toys?}

{Now, where did mom put my shape blocks}

{I spot my shapes block}

{Woah, reaching down for it}

{Finally, got it! Why did mom have to put it there anyways?}

{Figuring out the mechanism}

{Moving on}

{Coming up on the sofa}

{Woops, coming down again}

{Maybe if I use my teeth to bite the sofa, I will not slip}

{Urgh, its not happening}

{I did it, I did it!}

{Boy, did my teeth hurt!}

All soaped up

Look like Daddy!

One morning after his bath, his hair is still wet and so you can brush it to the side.....once his hair dries, it will go back to being straight and all facing the front. He looks so much like papa in this picture. Well, like papa when he was a toddler at least.

Previously, when people say that C looks like RH more than he looks like me, I would so indignantly reply that he looks like me. Only recently, do I notice that he does indeed look like RH more. :(

So much for carrying your bb for 9 months...and going thru all the pregnancy blues. Who your bb resembles depends on genes, not efforts.

I have often anticipated C's first words and wonder what it will be, papa or mama! Of course, I want him to say mama first and even cheated by teaching him only mama and not papa. But then, all of you know from my last post that his first words are "papa". Urgh!

Loved C to bits, fed him a tiny lick of curry yesterday and his whole face turned red, sticking out his tongue and almost wanted to cry from the spiciness.......Hahaha, it was kinda funny to watch. I am an evil mummy but I believe that children should be asked to taste all kinds of food so that they would not be fussy eaters but I think C will be more careful from now on to accept any food from me. Hehehehe, I should have videdeoed the whole thing.........

Vacation Time

My in laws came last week for a visit and they had a great time catching up with C. C was sick pretty much the whole time they were here and so was not so active. He was also very cranky, refusing to be carried by anyone except me and S (our domestic helper).

But all in all, I think my in laws had a great time with him cos the last time they came, he was still not able to stand or crawl. By the way, C is now able to crawl faster, sit up on his own with more confidence. Able to stand up from sitting position by himself, able to stand for a few seconds without holding on to anything, able to cruise and able to say "papa" which is a real treat for RH except that C was not actually referring to RH when he says "papa". Hahaha!

Anyways, here is a picture of C in the baggage trolley when we sent RH's parents to the airport. He was dressed in his Sunday best! And I think he was just a moment away from being checked in together with all the luggages.........I am sure that my in laws were just very tempted to do so anyways.

{Sneaking in a little yawn}

{Hurray!}

I want to stand up!

Here is a video of Caleb standing up in his playpen. You can also see the little one trying to move sideways but not so successfully.



Here is of him crawling or should I say half crawling. C is not able to crawl the whole ten yards. He will try to sit down and rest after a few crawling steps....

I am beginning to sound like those mothers who are so immodest when it comes to their kids. But when you take care of a little child from young and you see him develop skills, first learning to flip then to sit then to crawl, somehow you just get a sense of wonder and amazement and dare I say, pride?

Standing Strong

We lowered C's cot/playpen down to the lower level. Good thing we did too cos that night, he learned how to grab hold onto the railing and stand up. It is really tough, by the way, to have an infant be able to sit up and stand up in his cot cos that is ALL he wants to do come bedtime.

No matter if the lights are out, his lullaby playing in the background, his pacifier in his mouth, ALL he wants to do is stand at the edge of the cot and "talk" to us. Hahahaha! My little tyke! Anyways, it just takes a little longer now to put him to sleep at night.

Oh, and he learned how to drive yesterday!

Rest......

Slacker mom reporting for duty! I have blogging withdrawal syndrome cos of the long lack of posts. Been sick and busy for a while. WHAT IS NEW?????

I think I broke the record for the most times sick this year. Yep, it has indeed been a bad bad year. Having a baby is serious work, you need to spend a lot of time. I think the amount of time spent looking after the baby plus work and all is taking its toll on me. Yes, the most recent culprit is a bacterial virus that caused a throat infection and thus 5 days of high fever. I lost 2 kg in that 5 days and am now a mere 47kg, even lighter than my wedding day.

I have been having more often thoughts about being a stay at home mom these days. It would definitely solve the problem of a lack of rest. Not being able to rest enough rest has definitely caused my immune system to be lower. I do feel more lethargic from lack of exercise, gaunt from lack of nutrients and also less attractive because of lack of time to take care of myself.

RH, if you are reading this...........no matter how much I wish I can go to KL during the weekend, I REALLY REALLY need the rest more. I hope you understand.

I am an aligator.....

My sis, SB, had some children costumes on hand for her first born and so mom decided to bring it all the way from Surabaya for C to take pictures in. So, we decided to spend Sunday evening having some fun. With a makeshift studio at home, here is what we got. Don't have high expectations, we are not professionals after all. Hehehe.

C was definitely not a happy camper. He hated all the costume changes. I think especially those that has hats or capes. Thankfully, we managed to get some decent shots amidst all the crying. We had 5 adults in the room, trying to make him laugh or at least smile. hehehe!

{still stoned after his nap}

{C, crying}

{Much Better}

{our little monk}

{Our Friendly Alligator}

{RH's interpretation of a Xmas baby}

RH bought this Santa Claus costume from BKK especially for C's first bday but by the looks of it, I really don't think that C is able to fit into it in December.

C is 8 months and counting. Time goes by really fast when you have a baby.

At 8 months:

Physical Progress:
1. Sits without support
2. Moves his hands using his wrists as hinges. Makes a fist and unclasps it.
3. Holds toys in his hands and bangs it. Especially love remote controls, handphones, cables....
4. Able to put pacifier into his mouth. Plays with his pacifier - likes to pop it in and out. Eyes the pacifier - will look for it if it drops, pick it up and pop it back in. Pops it into his mouth crooked but manoevers till he gets it straight.
5. Pushes away the milk bottle when he has enough milk and tries to sit up. Will protest with wails if forced to finish his milk and when he does not have enough and milk is gone.
6. Makes gurgling sounds, imitates the word "hello". Will wail when not happy.
7. Crawls backwards, will reach out both hands for toys, able to stand holding on to railings for support.
8. Can reach out both hands to Mummy or Daddy or whoever wants to carry him.
9. Can lift and flip the pages of a kiddy book, loves to hold remote controls, phones, cables.
10. Has two lower incisors, fully out and 3 upper incisions, half out
11. Puts everything and anything in his mouth. His favourite things to play with and bite on are remote controls, mobile phones, tissue papers, milk bottle caps.
12. Loves to watch new people/people talking. Will stare at people who speak animatedly and enjoys to be part of conversations.
13. Will bend his head 90 deg to the left or right to look for me when I hide behind another person or object.
14. Loves to watch tv and croon his neck to the tv even when we put his body away from the tv.
15. Loves to stand and sit and will protest frequently when placed on his tummy or made to sit down.

Eating
1. He loves to eat and will eat most anything, even chinese med.
2. Every spoonful goes down in a flash, replenishment must be quick or he starts crying.
3. Cries sometimes when he loves a prticular food and it is gone.
4. Now does 2 meals a day - so far all home cooked meals.
5. He can now make chewing motions and bite and pull the cracker out of her mouth.

Sleeping
1. 2 - 3 naps a day, about 1 hr 15mins each.
2. At night - sleeps at 9 pm, last time use to be 8 pm and wakes up at 7 - 7:30 am.
3. Needs to put on music, turn off all lights and pat him to sleep with pacfier in his mouth.

7 months old

C is 7 months old already. Time really flies. What has been happening at the home front. It has been a whirl wind of activities since my in laws were here. First I was sick, then baby was sick, then RH, then me again then the maid. After which we had to go to Surabaya (with C) because grandpa & grandaunt passed away. After we came back, my work piled up and then Alpha Course started and so blah blah blah.

I do not even have time to sleep lest to blog. Hehehe! Luckily, things seem to have settled down somewhat now and we are going back to some resemblance of normal. Although, nothing has been normal since C was born. I have not had a single good night's sleep since C was born. Waking up every night is the norm. Not having enough rest is the norm. Losing weight is the norm. YES, I am officially thinner than my pre-pregnancy state. After the bout of illness, my weight just went sinking.

Some (RH), I suspect is happy about my weight loss while I am trying to put on weight. Something else I am trying to do is to stop breastfeeding, which proves to be a tad harder than I thought it would be. I have had 3 cases of Mastitis (breast infection) on my journey to stop breastfeeding but am happy now to report that my milk supply has reduced to about 75% my usual milk supply which I think is a great achievement. I hope that I can competely stop breastfeeding in 2 months time. C, on the other hand is still taking mostly breastmilk although he has started on one milk powder bottle and 2 solids a day. Fruit in the morning and rice cereal in the evening.

Foods that he has tried thus far:

1. Apples

2. Banana

3. Papaya

4. Pear

5. Nectarine

6. Avocados

7. Plums

8. Carrots

9. Spinach

10. Brown Rice Cereal

11. Rice Cereal

12. Chicken

13. Bottled Parnips

14. Yoghurt

Yes, you saw it right! He has had chicken. Pureed, of course. Although he is now the proud owner of 5 teeth (2 bottom and 3 on top), I think it would still be hard for him to chew on chicken meat.

{C with his paternal grandparents}

{C's first trip to Surabaya}

{C with my godparents and his god cousin, N}

{C and cousin, J2}

{C and Mummy}

{C, in his first high chair}

{C celebrating Mummy's birthday for the first time}

{C having his first yoghurt meal}

So not in the mood

to blog. C has been sick for a week and a half now, battling flu and now bronchitis. It is really all my fault. The flu started with me and spread to my dear C. This is the first time he is very sick. It is a terrible two weeks. I was sick and tired and before I was well, C was sick and so I was sick, tired and had to take care of a sick infant. Now, it is RH and the maid's turn.

I did not realize that the flu is so severe. Now, C's cough and cold is all gone but he still has bronchitis aka phlegm in his chest. The PD prescribed nebulizer and medicine. It was tough getting C to take all his meds. Each time is a crying session. The weird thing is, he only cries when he is taking meds from the PD which is supposedly sweet and yet he takes his bitter chinese med without a fuss. I can't resist posting the picture below of him taking his chinese med. You can see him wincing from the bitterness but he does not cry and even opens his mouth when the spoon comes.

{C, after taking his chinese med}

Well, not everything was bad, C has learned to flip both ways, scream out loud and respond to his name while he was sick. Now, he is just tumbling all over......hehehe