Super Baby!

We brought Chloe to the paediatrician last Saturday for her four-month immunization. She weighs 8.8kg and is 64.2cm long now. Her growth has slowed down in the last month, although still ahead for her age. The paediatrician said one-year old babies should weigh around 10kg, so there's little concern that my baby can't meet that target by that time. : )

I just realised that my Chloe is already teething! My maid told me one day after she got "bitten" by Chloe when she put her finger near baby's lips to test if she wants milk. True enough, when I pried open the little lips, I saw the jagged edges of two little teeth breaking out of her gums. About a month ago, I joked to mom that maybe she's teething because she has been drooling and biting her mittens all day long. We did not expect it to be true because most babies teeth around 6-months of age. I wonder if my baby had an over-supply of calcium when I was pregnant with her - her bones and teeth grow so quickly!!!

She's now the curious age whereby she began to grab anything that comes near her hands, stuffed toys, rattles, clothes and spectacles (thank God not all goes into her mouth). It's getting increasingly challenging to carry her as she wriggles her 8.8kg body in our arms. Sometimes she makes a lot of sound - what we call 'singing' - when she's excited. Although it can get noisy at times, all parents will think their babies' gaggling is music to their ears.

However, she's beginning to get a little naughty and wants to be carried all the time. My maid told me that Chloe wants to be carried in the sarong and walked around, and refuses to stay in the playpen or colt on her own. She will cry loudly for attention, only to giggle once she's picked up. At night, she refuses to sleep until at least mid-night, and what's difficult is that, again, she needs to be carried in the sarong and walked around! My poor maid hasn't had enough sleep for a while, but she's not complaining because she loves the baby too much. I wonder when Chloe will learn to sleep earlier and sleep through the night. In the meantime, I have to make sure I always have sufficient supply of panadol for my maid whenever she gets headache from a bad night.......

New Equipment

We recently invested in an entry-level SLR camera after doing minimal research. Bought the Canon EOS 1000D which cost slightly over $1000 - a reasonable price to pay for a good equipment to take better photos of our fast growing pumpkin (i.e. Chloe). I do like to take photos, although the quality of my photographs had been somewhat limited to the capability of the dumb-dumb aim-and-shoot cameras. I particular like shots with sharp subject with blurred background as seen here:

Unfortunately I haven't had the time to play with the features of this camera, and I hope to be able to do so bit by bit over the next few weeks. In the meantime, here are a few 'test shots'.....

One of Chloe's first few attempts at 'flipping' .....

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Yesterday was my Dad's 58th birthday. Compared with many people I know, I have relatively young parents. [My parents-in-laws are a decade older than my own parents.] My Dad is still very healthy, economically productive and financially independent. Ever since my Dad accepted Christ a few years ago, my whole family became even more loving and close-knit. Praise God!

Food, Glorious Food!

We celebrated Dad's birthday last Sunday. Everyone congregated in my new house (being the largest gathering place now) for home-cooked food, pot-luck, and da-bao chilli crab from Toa Payoh. This year, Dad has 2 additional grandchildren. Although he doesn't say it all the time, I can tell he loves it when his family rallies around him, abuzz with children's laughter..... Up till today, my Mom is still pressing him to reveal if his secret birthday wish was for more grandchildren next year. : )

I bought the famous 717 Durian cake. The 2 babies were sleeping, not in the photo....

But here they are....!!! My beautiful niece Jojo and my cute little Chloe.....

Chloe's Three Months Old

Very quickly, my little darling turned three months old last week. We brought her to the paediatrician for her 3-month check-up plus injection last Saturday. I do look forward to visits to the paediatrician because it's like finding out the result of an exam which you think you've done well. I'm quietly proud to receive friendly remarks from fellow-mothers who were surprised my baby is only 3 months old and the size of their 6-month or older babies. Then the nurse dish out the exam paper - with a written: weight 8.2kg and length 63.2cm. The doctor's stamp of approval that accompanied a "Well done, your baby's doing very well!" made my day.


Chloe's beginning to be more responsive these days. She's especially excited when she sees my parents, often opening her mouth wide in laughter (although no sound comes out yet) and kicking her legs vivaciously. Just like how a 3-month old baby should be responding as discussed in books, Chloe is now able to see objects a good distance away, follow moving objects (such as her favorite cot mobile, or Mummy's camera, as evidenced in the photo to the left), attempt to grip things, or hold her milk bottle, and make goo-ing sounds. In the video here, Chloe tried to have a conversation with Mummy.....

A Morning at Botanic Gardens

One hot afternoon as I was carrying Chloe out of her car seat when we reached home, I saw that she shut her eyes really tight and appeared uncomfortable. Because she has not learnt to use her little palms to shield her eyes from the sunlight, my Little Apple lifted her mittened-hands to her nose and shook her head rigorously from side to side. That was when I realised I have not been bringing her out often enough into the sun. She needs more fresh air and sunlight.

Daddy and Mummy therefore took Chloe to the family-favorite Botanic Gardens early last Saturday. It was indeed a place packed with prams and pets alike. Thank goodness she was in an excellent mood that morning, and sat in her pram quietly while we had a leisurely breakfast at Cafe Verde.

Chloe entertaining herself with the new colourful toy clipped to her pram......

It wasn't too hot a morning and we had a nice little walk around the Garden. Chloe had her 'picnic' on the park bench when we fed her milk, which she downed with contentedness. Daddy tried to burp-burp the little one without success. I, too, failed because she fell asleep in my arms - which happens a lot!

Chloe very interested in the trees around her and the open blue sky above.....

Baby fell asleep in my arms as I tried burping her!

Although it was a short walk, we enjoyed the bonding with Chloe. An outing with a baby required huge preparation that involves packing extra milk bottles, supply of diapers, wet-wipes and a change of clothing complete with mittens and booties. But we agreed we will try to bring her out for walks as often as we can.

Chloe darling, you liked the park?

We Finally Moved!

We bade goodbye to our lovely Eden View apartment on 27 Sep 2008. Packing up was such a headache in the last week before that (gosh, when did we accumulate so much stuff?!!) plus we had not enough ground to put the boxes! Although I was excited about the move, I was sad at the same time as I really loved the environment at Eden Grove, especially the serene unblocked view from my roof terrace. (It always reminds me of the view of Paris city from the Sacre Couer basilica on the hilltop of Montmartre). My greatest regret is that I failed to take more photos of the sunrise from my roof, which I promised myself to do. I did try to get up early in the morning with the camera on standby, but it was either raining or the sky, cloudy!

Although we had 2 lorries-full of things moved over, we still borrowed my Dad's MPV to self-transport 5 more loads of items left unpacked - baby's sterilizer, milk bottles, fragile bottles of condiments for cooking, curtains for recycling, small plants, dirty laundry, kitchen utensils..... It was a really mad day for us to clear out the apartment quickly because we had to hand over the keys to the new owner by noon the following day.

Unpacking was not so bad as we had more than sufficient space to chuck our belongings. While our old furniture fitted fine in our 1200 sq ft apartment previously, they now look like little toys in the new house! Unfortunately we are going to have to live with these as there's no more budget to talk about for new furniture for the next 5 years! Honestly, the house may be too big for me - I am seriously in lack of stamina to climb up and down three storeys. Sometimes I dread making trips down from my bedroom or scream for my hubby who's downstairs so I resort to sms-ing him. But on the bright-side, I hope to have toner legs really soon! ; )

Renovation finished! The neighbours will be grateful for the peace......

The messy garden. Dad and Hubby trying to clean up the lawn, under Mom's 'supervision'.....
Our spacious hall-cum-dining area. The old furniture look like toys!

My beautiful kitchen which is 4x the size of my old one. No more knocking into my maid there....

The sparsely furnished family area on 2nd floor. Perhaps will convert this into Chloe's play area.....

Chloe's room. Poor girl has a little afternoon sun....
Very messy study room! Haven't had the time to pack the room nicely.....
Reserved a room for Mom and Dad. Don't know when they will make up their mind to move in though....

Part of my bedroom, door to the right leads to the balcony. Yes, Bibit is still around..... : )

How my Baby Has Grown.....

I love to view photos of Chloe over and over again and see how she has grown over the past 2 months. From a puggy little baby, she's now quite a heavy load to carry - weighing 7.6kg today (11 weeks old). : ) You get the idea from the photos below! I find her even cuter now, that the shape of her head has become more round instead of alien-like.

Chloe bathing at 10 days, and 8 weeks....



Her head is quite round now....Chloe at 10 days, and 2 months.....(photos not to scale)


I'm gonna miss my little darling very much once I get back to work next Monday!

Chloe sleeping soundly... zzzz.....

What a Night! Formula One Night Race

All thanks to my hubby, we had access to a "privileged" viewing gallery to watch the inaugural Formula One night race in Singapore. As it was almost a last minute arrangement, we did not know what to expect but brought my parents along with us nevertheless.

By the time we reached Raffles City, it was 7:45pm and there was a long queue into the already-full underground car park. Luckily, hubby made a call to his colleague in time and arrangement for "VIP" parking at the lobby of the office tower was made for us immediately. That would make anyone else in the car park queue jealous!

We drove Dad's car. Parked at the reserved lot in front of the office tower - no need to queue!

We were stunned that the viewing gallery offered such a fantastic view of the race track, against the backdrop of the beautiful Singapore night scene. And we didn't even have to pay a cent! Although we could not smell the burning rubber from six floors above, we could have a bird's eye view of part of the race track, which those who paid S$1,500 for a ticket would not get.

Within minutes after we arrived, the race started. Wow, no words could describe our experience! The thundering machines zoomed past at breath-taking speed and the deafening roaring of the engines got our adrenalin pumping. Although I had never been a F1 fan, being there live at the race made me dizzy with excitement.

Check out this video I took about 10 minutes into the race. I will always remember this night - it's probably the most exciting night for me in the year 2008!

Renovation Progress

It has been a busy period for hubby and me. Not only are we adjusting to life with a new baby at home, we are busy with the renovation of our new home. The renovation is not without problems - while work is progressing, we have to make concurrent decisions about the designs and layouts due to constraints on site. There are also little things to do like buying bathroom fittings, ensuring the minor defects are corrected, seeking quotations for security and alarm systems etc. that got our heads spinning.

I really hope the renovation works can finish up on time. We have to shift out of my apartment at Eden Grove on 27 September. I am praying that everything will proceed smoothly and that the weather will be fine on the day we move house.

Gifts for Chloe

This entry is way overdue because my computer konked-out and all my photos were 'stuck' inside the harddisk.


I meant to thank everyone who had sent ang-pows and hampers to Chloe and myself when we were still at Gleneagles. Even after we were discharged and returned home, more gifts came - more Brand's essence of chicken and bottled birds' nest - I could open a mama-shop. : ) But the most interesting and traditional gift I received was a tin of Milo bundled with 2 cans of Milkmaid Condense Milk. There was even a small piece of red paper in the bag for good luck. I burst into laughter when I saw it, because I could not believe such thoughtful gifts are still given in the 21st century! HA HA HA!! I'm still touched by everyone's kindness and suddenly felt ashamed of myself because I did not use to give that much thoughts to friends' and relatives' new babies. I was always at a loss what to buy for them but I guess now I know better what to do....

Disaster Control

After looking at my pong-pong-tree hair in the mirror and asking: "Gosh, what have I done to myself??!!" for a week, I decided to return to the hair salon to get a restyle. Since I'd already sunk in money to get it permed, it was not wise to rebond it. Besides, too much chemicals will hurt the hair. My hairstylist and I agreed to trim it to get a more tapered look. Here's the outcome. I'm beginning to look like my hubby's mother when I stand next to him, but what the heck - the time I can save for my baby (and to make some blog entries)!

Hair Fashion Disaster

I have not visited the hair salon for a good four months and was getting tired of my long hair. Not only did it take up too much of my time to wash and blow-dry, it got in my baby's face when I carry her against my shoulder.

The idea was to chop it off and try to achieve a wash-and-go hairstyle. I visited my stylist yesterday with an open heart and told her my needs. Somehow I was bought into cutting and perming it for a totally brand new look. And here's how I look after the transformation! I can't say I like it because it makes me look so "Auntie" if I don't style my hair properly. Will see how it grows on me for the next few days. If I can't take it, will go back to salon to re-style lah. Aiyoh.....what a disaster!

Before....


After....

I Learnt That.....

I learnt that my baby has grown faster than I expected. I brought her for her 2nd BCG shot two weeks ago when she was a month old, and was shocked to learn that she was already 5.55kg!That's the average weight of a two- or three-month old baby. I'm amazed at how she has developed, and everyone asked me what hao liao (good stuff, in mandarin) I ate when I was pregnant. I can only say lots of bread, and hawker food? I remember I was on no-pay leave for a large part of the pregnancy and ate mostly bread for 2 meals a day, and hawker food for dinner! Fortunately, I got assurance from the paediatrician that she's not at risk of obesity at this age.

I learnt that as a new mother, I have no time for myself. In my "past life", on days I need not work, I would wake up when I felt like it, wash up, take a nice long shower, style my hair, then watch TV or read the newspapers over breakfast. These days, I usually jump out of bed when Chloe cries for her morning milk, rush through washing up, and tend to her needs first - then take my hurried breakfast or shower when it's convenient to do so.

I also learnt that long stretches of sleeping time is not possible for the time being because it's mothers' instinct to wake up and rush to the colt when you hear the slightest noise from the baby. Even though Chloe sleeps in a different room with my maid now, I will still wake up and see if Chloe needs feeding or my maid needs help changing baby's nappies in the middle of the night. Plus I also need to express my milk at scheduled times. Yawn....

I learnt that I get very irritable when I don't get enough sleep, and sleep is so important to me! At times I wish people would stop visiting me. My day's routine is built around baby's feeding, nap and bath times and that kept me and my maid pretty busy already. She doesn't sleep for very long stretches and usually wants people to carry her when she's awake. I get extremely irritated when some visitors just turn up at my door without prior appointment, especially when I found opportunity for a nap! I feel quite bad not being able to welcome them wholeheartedly, afterall they meant well. Then again, there'll never be a better time, will there? I just hope I will get used to a life without proper rest soon. : (

Yet Another Thing to be Thankful For

I recall being rather troubled about who's to help take care of Chloe when I return to work after my maternity leave, and was toying with options of sending her to infant care, or employing a maid. We decided on the latter, and arranged to employ a transfer-maid, who has been highly recommended by my sister's maid. We had prayed hard that God will put a trustable maid in my house to assist me in taking care of baby and housework.

Due to unforeseen circumstances, my maid arrived only when Chloe was two weeks old. Initially I feared that having a new maid in my house and having to 'train' her in house-chores will give me extra stress during the confinement period. However, she turned out to be a blessing, as not only is she very quick to learn, she easily takes all the house-chores in her stride, and most importantly, she shares my (rather high) standard of cleanliness. I practically need only to tell her once how I expect things to be and voila! Thank God!

She's a few years older than me, and very petite in size. A mother of two, caring for children is not new to her. Although she needs a refresher on how to bathe baby and make milk, she's picking up fine under confinement nanny's and my supervision. I am pleased to observe that she consciously washes her hands before carrying Chloe and making milk etc. Her attitude is also very pleasant - she greets us every morning with a wide smile, is very responsive and takes good initiative.

I shall continue to pray that my maid and I can develop a good working relationship out of mutual respect and trust, and that nothing of that sort that we read in the newspapers (about troublesome maids, maids abuse and the terrible consequences that ensue etc.) will ever happen in my household.

More of Chloe

It's certainly a joy to watch babies grow. Chloe is three-weeks old now and we all notice she has put on more "meat" to her limbs, which are looking more lotus-root like. Thus far she has been a good girl, crying only when she has to wait too long (like 1 minute?) for her milk. However these two days, she seems to be suffering from too much wind in her stomach and wake up crying at times. Poor baby!

Baby Chloe enjoys baths and has never cried in the tub.

The little lotus-roots limbs are appearing.....

I just love seeing her blur-blur face........

Still no double-eyelids in sight......

Horrible Confinement Nanny

I started looking for a confinement nanny pretty late. Those nannies highly recommended by friends and relatives had prior engagements already. So I had to settle for a dubious one from Penang, Malaysia, through an agent. When I met up with her months ago, I did not have a good impression of her. She appeared to have a little bit of an attitude, and was pretty old-fashioned in her briefing to me about how she would take care of me (in areas of bath, food and baby-care). Since beggars can't be choosers, I went ahead to engage her for fear that I wouldn't be able to find anyone to help me.

It's been 18 days since she's living in my apartment and I've been putting my patience to the test for 18 days. I have resisted the temptation to sack her but kept telling myself to be more tolerant for the sake of Chloe. It was OK in the first few days when I was still getting used to her. As she got a bit more comfortable over time, she sort of start crossing the line. Here are some things which I cannot tahan about her:

• Super KPO - She assumed she's part of the family and joins uninvited and unashamed into my family's conversation, freely offering opinions and advice about what we should and should not do etc.. She also can't stop poking her nose into everything, like asking who's who that visited me, worse still, comment on their looks! My parents and my in-laws don't like her either.
• Super talkative - She can't stop yakking, and I increasingly find that I have to avoid her, for otherwise she will launch into her commentary about her family members in Penang, or what I should do about baby's first month celebration, or which outfit she should wear.
• Talks on the phone - Her hand phone rings loudly a few times a day. Although that does not wake my baby, isn't she supposed to be working and not chatting? I suspect she has a young boyfriend, whom she calls "cousin" in Malaysia. They chat a few times a day and give me the goose pimples. This morning her "cousin" called her at 3 am!
• Request for things from me - She's quite good at making me and my hubby buy things fo her. For instance, she has reminded me twice to buy the Kong Guan Biscuits (can you believe it?! It's only KGB) I have at home for her to being back to Penang. She also wants pistachio nuts (apparently Malaysia does not have pistachio nuts as glorious-tasting as those available in Singapore) and have been hinting to me to buy for her before she leaves. Whenever I go out for a quick grocery shopping, she will slip in an item or two for herself. So annoying! She's here to work for me but I have to help her do this and that?
• So unhygienic - She smells of BO!!! Although she bathes twice a day, she smells bad. Her hair needs a trim badly and she drops hair like a dog all over my home, my guest bathroom, in my baby's colt and even my food! I don't think she washes her hand before she feeds baby. My poor Chloe!
• So messy - She's a messy worker. My 'showroom' kitchen has become oily and wet since her arrival and she doesn't seem to notice any thing's out of order. I can't stand the sight of water dripping down the side of my cabinet or soya sauce stains on the floor. In stead of asking her to clean up, I do it myself. Am I not supposed to be having adequate bed-rest after my surgery??
• So exploitative - On my new maid's day off, she secretly asked her to help her buy coca-cola, titbits and fruits. I was shocked when my maid returned home that evening with bags full of stuff. Shouldn't she have the courtesy to inform me that she's asking my maid to do things for her? What impudence!

I am trying my best to keep my calm, telling myself I only need to endure her for a week or so more. I don't enjoy being picky or bitchy, but I have never encountered someone so thick-skinned. Above all, I had paid a good $1,800 for her to work for me, so I expected more professionalism. I feel like wailing for my bad luck!! Although the food she cooks for me is nothing fantastic (one needs to just throw in some ginger and liquor into every dish), I do need her to change baby's soiled diapers and feed her every 2 hours throughout the night. And that's about all I can expect out of $1,800 until the end of 28 days lah. Sigh! : (

My Little Apple

We welcomed Chloe to the world on 22 July 2008!

The c-section with epidural was quite an experience. I was slightly sedated so was only vaguely aware of the action around the operating table. My gynae, anaesthetician and more than half-dozen nurses buzzed around me and hubby was holding my hand throughout the procedure. Hubby was horrified when the anaesthetician stood on a stool next to me and used all his strength to push my tummy - to help the baby out. Luckily I didn't feel a thing. Then, I heard baby's cry and saw a nurse suck fluid out of her nostrils and mouth using a tube. The paediatrician checked on her. The next moment Chloe was placed in my arms to cuddle for a few seconds. Then I fell asleep.....

From that moment my life changed. I still find it hard to fight back tears when I hold the little one in my arms. Uh... ok, she's not that little because she turned out to be 3.695kg at birth! Even my gynae was surprised. She's probably just heavy-boned coz she's not all that bulky. Praise the Lord Chloe's healthy and beautiful, and doesn't require any special care upon birth - a relief to all brand new parents.

It's been a challenging 2 weeks - nursing and changing baby seems to be the key routines of the day. I feel I have yet to find my own time, and I crave for naps. Although confinement nanny is around, every time baby makes some noise, I too, will rush to the colt to check on her. But it's all worth it when you see that cute little face. I call her xiao ping guo ["Little Apple"] because her cheeks look like apples and I have the urge to bite them every time I kiss her. : )

Chloe, just a few hours old......

Chloe sleeping soundly, her eyes sometimes look so smiley.....
My favorite photo of Little Apple.....

My Cute Niece

My sister organised a barbecue party at her place last Satudary evening to celebrate my brother-in-law's birthday. I normally will not volunteer myself to go near the grill [Oh!... all that oil from the sizzling chicken wings that will be deposited on my face!] so the poor hosts have to do the cooking for us. Look how busy they got themselves!

I prefer to play with my little 6-month old niece instead. Isn't she a cute angel? I hope Chloe will grow to be like her - chuckling all the time and friendly to everyone..... : )

Baby's Coming Next Tues!

Visited gynae for check up again last Saturday morning and it appeared that baby was still not descending enough for labour to happen anytime soon. I don't know the cause of this, but suspect that because of my [old] age and lack of regular exercise, my pelvic bones are stiff as old rocks and couldn't stretch to accomodate the size of Chloe's head. (Um... not scientific, purely wild guess).

Gynae wanted to "observe" for one more week and I felt my heart sink. So I asked:

Me: Does it look likely that baby will descend nicely by next week? I'm already 38 weeks now.
Gynae: We can't tell, but as at now I still can't feel the baby's head yet. She's actually ready to be delivered.
Me: If there's not going to be any improvement, should we consider c-section soon and get it over and done with?
Gynae: Let me check my surgery schedule..... Ok, we can try next Tues.
Me: Uh, so I come and see you again next Tues and we can decide if we should proceed with c-section?
Gynae: "No, we can do c-section next Tues."
Me: ..ah....?!

So that's how quickly the decision was made. Gynae thought it was advisable not to delay birthing for my waterbag could burst anytime, or my placenta could start ageing and failing - both which would still require emergency caesarean. I asked for a few minutes to discuss with hubby and shortly after that the necessary hospital and OT bookings were made for Chloe's entry into the world! I was actually mentally prepared for that (except for the swift timing!), because I'm getting rather heavy and I can tell by baby's squirming that she's probaby getting impatient too. So in a few days' time, we'll have a little bundle in the house with us!