Toy box

Well, we got this white container from ikea on our first visit to the tampinese branch one early morning, in fact, on new yr's day, so many people were already queuing at the stall when we arrived, and the door hasn't been opened yet. Yet we thought everyone would still be in bed after the eve's celebration. Obviously, we were wrong.

This box is cool, got wheels on it, could wheel his toys around, and pick them up where he threw them. Chong got the idea from this pic, 'Think out of the box', hmm ...

I had quite a fun time wheeling him around the house, unfortunately, he didn't quite enjoy it, it must be kinda strange for him, though it was really fun for me. Look at his surprised stare into the camera. Sometimes, we had so fun at his expense.

After a hard day at work, Chong would come back home, pick Nathan up, hug him and say, 'you make my day, baby bear.'

First tooth

Nathan got his first bottom tooth at about 9months old. He's been having teething spells since 4 months old when he wants to mouth everything he touches and sees, and still is doing that alot, so nothing comes near him if it's not safe for the mouth.

Sometimes I wonder if those plastic toys would hurt his soft gums or worst, cause deformity in his teeth, but seems ok for his very first tooth. Hmm, I'll be looking out for his next tooth. He looks so cute now with that little white spot when he smiles widely.

New dish for the week for snack: 1 tablespoon of Toufu with a scoop of yogurt, a teaspoon of tahini and finely ground flax seeds. He loves it, and finishes a bowl in less than 10mins.

I've been having a hard time giving him breakfast. It's the usual mix of bananas and papaya with oats, but he takes forever to eat them and these past few days I had to discard almost more than half of what I've prepared. I thought maybe he's just not keen on breakfast. Then he would need his noon time nap, so that's another skip for lunch,when he next wakes, usually about 2p.m. he takes his snack.

I try not to give him too much during snack, else it's going to spoil his appetite for dinner, another difficult meal for him. It seems so far that he only takes to snack time, or maybe he only needs one meal a day? I wouldn't attempt to force feed if he doesn't want it, I reckon its better to let it go and let him be happy during meals rather than develop a dislike for it.

Yeah, 2 more days to his first flight!

Nathan's first wedding dinner

Last Sat was Subu and Emilie's wedding. First was the church wedding at Precept presby, then the dinner at Raffles house, up fort canning, very unconventional. A very nice and romantic place, but definitely not conducive for families with kids like us.

Nathan was fairly well behaved, but becos there wasn't any high chair for him, he got to be carried, mostly by dad, cos mummy's wearing a pretty dress and wearing her diamond necklace, which Nathan would have alot fun pulling it. A pity not many people volunteered to carry him cos everybody's well dressed, you see, and Nathan is a heavy and active boy who won't spare a thought for your nice make up and fanciful laces ...

So Chong was tired early and we left about 9.45p.m. before Em returned from her second change of clothes, and of course, way before the 'party' started. We had our fill of dinner and cakes of course, but not the dancing and making merry into the mid night hours like the rest of our dg mates.

Having a kid does restrict us to a large extent, and I was picking up a few dresses, wondering which one would fit better , and seriously considering which one I could feed him easier with. On second thought, he doesn't have much appetite whenever we're out somewhere, he could easily have gone without any food at all. But anxious mom always wonder, 'is my boy hungry?'

The latest wt he clocked was 9.8kg, but also becos he hasn't pooed properly last two days, been missing yogurt for 3 days now! The stores have ran out of them! Oh poor kid, with yogurt, he never would have such problems.

And we're all looking forward to Krabi now coming up this wk end. I'm all packed. Bought some bottled food for him, going to get cereal too, in case he didn't like the bottles, and more milk powder too... well, his things are packed into one big bag, and mine and Chong in another. It'll be his first time on the plane, 2hr ride, cross our fingers he doesn't scream the plane down.

It's Friday

Fridays are our happiest day of the week. After been home for the entire week, both mom and boy desperately look forward to getting out of the house, also, dad's around more during the weekends.

Attended 'mums and babes' yesterday, after not going for more than 2 months, some familiar faces became less familiar, and more new mums too, it was a great crowd. Nathan wasn't used to the loud noises, he didn't adjust well, hopefully with more visits, he'll be better.

Lydia mentioned that perhaps I should bring him out on my own more often, to get into used to meeting people, seeing others rather than facing me alone all day all week, it could be kind of shocking for him during the weekends when he gets out public. I'll think about it.

Everyday's the same for Nathan and I. I wait for him to wake up, hoping that he'll sleep longer, with a shorter morning, I tend to have more energy for the rest of the afternoon and night too. I'm especially surprised and happy when he only starts stirring past 11a.m. on some good days, but there were some days when he would be wide eye at 8a.m., right after Chong leaves the house for work. Then, I would be very annoyed, tired and stressed, wondering how the rest of the day would be.

He also needs less sleep these days, or so it seems. His naps are only 20mins, twice a day, sometimes once, and night time, he only knocks out about 10.30p.m. then wakes again about 1 plus or 3 plus. Last night, he woke up thrice, at an hour interval, wow man, I was beat. Chong slept through. That made me more frustrated sometimes seeing him sleeping so soundly despite boy's cries, but I have to remind myself, he needs the sleep cos he's got work the next day, while I could steal nap.

Sacrifice sacrifice sacrifice, with a baby in the house, what more can i say?

Jan 11th formula feed

This is an outdated blog.

Just wanted to record when I started Nathan on formula feed. Nope, he's not weaned yet, there was one night when he nursed non stop and my nipples became quite sore, that was when I decided I would buy a tin of formula the next day, which I did.

I chose Enfalac lactose free iron fortified formula, since lactose is a high allergen, hopefully he doesn't react negatively. Wow, milk powder is expensive, I'm thankful that God enabled me to breast feed him from birth, saved alot on milk powder, but when he turns one, we got to wean him off the breast and go full on formula. Thankfully, the older they are, the cheaper the milk powder ... hmm which brand then?

He has been drinking 120ml each night. Since he still wakes at least once, my breast didn't suffer from engorgement. These days with food supplement, he drinks much less and lesser my supply too, hopefully weaning wouldn't be too tough for both of us to handle.

First Dg

We haven't been back for bs with danden group for more than 6 months, the last time we tried bringing Nathan, he was only 3months old, and he created 'hell' for us at the church office with hhis unstoppable cries, and from then, we decided to stop going altogether and scouted for an alternative dg that meets on Sunday after 9am service, but after a few tries, we still miss our old dg people, and thought we should try again.

So, Nathan was turning 9months, and we headed for dg at church office last night, Tuesday 23rd Jan. He was well behaved, fantastic! He made his usual 'noises' and played with his toys on the carpeted floor. He was seated hidden behind a large table, so it wasn't so distracting afterall.

The study was about the 'good samaritan', a familiar study, and it ended pretty early. We left about 9.30p.m. and reached home by 10p.m. and Nathan turned in by 11p.m. Not too bad, we could go again next week.

A promising yr indeed. As boy gets older,it really is much easier, habits are more predictable, and temperaments more secured. the only 'problem' so far would be his meals, when he gets out for long periods, I have headache over what to feed him with, and he often doesn't seem to eat well without his high chair. Hmm, that's something to work out.

Nathan@9months

In fact, we'reone day early, he would only be 9mths old tomorrow, but since i'm free today, i'll blog.

He's a good baby today. We collected his passport early this morning. He seemed to know we're bringing him out, usually, after his morning feed, he would doze off quite easily, but this morning, he opened his eyes wide, seemed to be asking, 'R you going to get me changed out?'

He likes going out, always happily jumping in our arms whenever we opened the gate an while walking down the stairs, he would look around, and smile very happily. Guess so, even mummie likes going out too, but with dad, of course, now that he has reached a good 9.7kg, I could hardly manage him for long periods on my own.

He has learnt some independence, like playing on the floor or sit on the high chair for a good hour or so on his own. Sometimes without any toys, he doesn't mind not getting the attention from me either. This leaves me with more time of my own, like reading the bible and doing some bs study before dg, or read a book.

He started enjoying watching tv too, bought him wheels on the bus, and i'v been playing it once everyday. When the bus goes 'beep', he gets very excited and would slap his own thigh. Very cute!! Thought good movies like that would be good for his language developments too, the narrator's british, very nice sounding.

Haven't tried any new food lately, been eating banana plus papaya oats every morning, avocado for lunch, brocoli with sweet potato in brown rice porridge for dinner. He seems happy with this combination now.

Hitting 10kg in no time.

Yes, Nathan's 8.5mths old, and he's weighing 9.7kg already!

Chong and I were just saying that he would be 10kg by the turn of his birthday, but at the rate he's growing, he'll probably hit past that target, and we're very happy with his PROGRESS...

I'm feeding him more or less the same kinds of food everyday, still living on fruits and veg, with grains, and toufu, no meat. Whenever I see him open wide his mouth to eat from the colourful yellow spoon, my heart is so glad, sometimes I would find myself licking my lips too, seeing him eat so well, makes me hungry for food too.

For babies, they have very little needs, so long as they eat and sleep well, mums and dads would have a good life. He's so chubby now, but can weigh heavily on me when he still wants to be carried much of the time when we're out, and at home, when he wishes to sleep, he wants mummy's chest too... hope he outgrows that soon, else I would definitely suffer from back injury.

I love him more everyday. He's also more responsive, how nice to capture those nice smiles and laughs on the camera quite easily, he's a happy baby boy, praise God!

Well, motor skill-wise, he's not crawling forward yet, backwards, but prefers to stand on his feet with hand support. I don't mind him skipping the crawling stage though, afraid that he might pick up tiny bits of dirt from the ground and into his mouth it would go. I just found a piece of glass stuck on his thigh, I wondered where that came from??

Both Chong and I fell sick with flu, but Nathan's strong!! He's still going on fit and well, hmm, not bad at all, the virus didn't hit him.

Life's been more interesting with him around.

Choices

I always thought to myself I would nap when Nathan naps, but each time I see him sound asleep, I want some time of my own, and decided that switching on the pc would be a better idea.

80 per cent of the time, I spend them in the kitchen, mostly at the sink, washing up, cleaning up, or cooking for him, not myself, btw. And the other 20 per cent, would be on the bed, either nursing or napping, on the mat, watching him play with his toys or playing with him. Or should I say, he doesn't really 'play' with his toys, he would just hunt around for some hard material to lay his gums on.

Choices, well, having Nathan has been a high cost for both of us. Especially when i started reading up on food, going organics for him has been expensive, but what is better than giving the best food, or so the media says its true. Nowadays, going to supermarkets has been a weekly affair, and each trip, we would spend close to a hundred bucks! There seem to be always things to get, for him! Either fresh food stuff, or new food item to try. I found myself starting to look at food labels more carefully, checking the ingredients and looking out for iron enriched or food with no sugar or salt added etc. Chong would be waiting by, watching me spending my time at the shelves, sometimes I bet he wonders,'what's taking her so long ...?'

But I have definitely gained greater insights on health foods. Nathan's eating 4 types of grains, millet, brown rice, pearl barley and oats, the last which is favourite, got a milky texture to it, I guess. And he loves pumpkin the most, doesn't mind asparagus, sweet potatoes or carrots, but dislikes white potatoes. I started him on orgainc toufu too, have you heard of it? I've never until I tried looking out for it. It tastes sweeter than ordinary ones, of course, more expensive too.

Tahini (ground sesame seeds) is another new thing I found interesting. It looks and smells like peanut butter, but far more nutritious and costly. I started eating them myself, spread them on rice crackers or bread. Foods as such have short shelf span, discard within 2-3 months dateline, Nathan definitely can't finish them by himself, and so mummy gets to munch on them as well.

Then I sarted investing on 'lock and lock' containers. They are so useful!! But if you check out the prices, they are high. With no restriction, I found myself buying one more each time I shopped. Also seems to have a reason to buy another, and always for nathan's food, the need to store and keep his perishable well kept, airtight!!

I must learn then to live within my means. A friend introduced health supplements like multi vits for kidos too, I nearly walked into GNC and boughts a bottle, but exercised self restraint. Like what Chong said, which made perfect sense, Nathan shouldn't be dependent on pills at such a young age, moreover, he is hardly sick, so long as I make sure he eats a well balanced meal and a fair variety, he should get by, strong and immuned.

There are always reasons to spend money, ways to spend it and almost seem purposeful each time, but give it a second thought and consider, 'perhaps i don't really need it anyway.'

Something New

Past 8 months old, Nathan has conquered some milestones. He is starting to become more active, leaning forward whenever he's seated, attempting to crawl backwards, and stand on his two feet when supported by hand. He can hardly remain still for 2mins, always scouting for something to snatch or touch and taste.

He's taking to the high chair well still. On Sat night, Chong and I had dinner at our old time favourite restaurant - The French Stall, he sat playing by himself all night in the high chair, making some noises but all bearable, could see envious hearts from other diners, so proud of him.

These days, he's exploring more of himself too, like plucking at his toes, playing with his fingers, especially interested in his thumb. He would use his thumb to hit on things. His small little thumb can hurt if he hits you really hard with it.

What is most comforting is his willingness to try different foods, and he quite enjoys eating, most of the days. Today, just ground some flax seeds and mixed them in his all time favurite food, yougurt. He took it really well. He loves yogurt, which is a great thing, cos I could then mix new food in it, and he wouldn't tell the difference much, all for his nutritional well being.

Past three nights, he was able to sleep longer stretches at night for about 6-7 hours, really good for me, then I have energy to face another day. The night wakings can make me feel sick tired the next day, but thank God, Nathan is beginning to be more adjustable. Guess the older he becomes, the more secure he feels, and then, better behaved too. All in good timing.

A Brand new year 2007

Day by day, week by week, month by month passes sp quickly, if one does not sit down to reflect, nothing seemed to have happened or taken place, or nothing memorable to retain.

This year's christmas was special, like every other year. It was so because we wanted it to be. Besides having Nathan around with us for all the parties, which was a big change for us, we met many friends whom we could not throughout the busy yr.

We had dinner with my family on christmas eve at our home. I prepared pasta for them. Dad was here too, which was quite a rare occurance. I said a prayer in mandarin, and enclosed the true meaning of christmas in my short prayer, hopefully to remind everyone the reason we were gathered together, and as a testimony to my dad that we are alive today cos of God's grace.

Christmas day dinner was with a group of really close friends, since youth days at Tina and Jim's house. We had pot luck, each prepared our specialty. This year was more crowded, with Nathan, Sara and Aidan. I supposed by the following yr's christmas, we would have an even larger crowd, hopefully.

Things we talked about also change with times. We almost could not avoid giving our son the attention in all our topics, work and church seem to become a lesser interest to friends. This must not be so, when we gather as christians, we should encourage and talk about christ in every way we can, and not let the gift blurr us from the giver of good gifts!

We had Adeline and Eng Kiat over with their two lovely girls, Isabelle and chrystabelle too. They have grown over the years, yet the parents, still looking as young as ever. They have been travelling up to Mynammar every yr end with their church, and it was always eye opening to hear of their involvement with the ministries there, the tough yet rewarding days with the locals.

This new yr is going to be exciting for the Sin family too. We have sat down and talked about our new yr resolution, such as reading the bible more consistently, praying together for ourselves, and for others more each day, and ways to show love and forgive eachother for our short comings. Come June, we would have been married for 5 years, we must learnt o bury our grudges and take it to the Lord, and start a new each yr, counting our blessings, forgetting not our benefits, loving the Lord and serving him faithfully.

It'll be exciting to see Nathan grow and change this yr, we pray that God help us be godly parents, training him in the ways of the Lord.