Walk the FISH?

Most kids walk their dog but one fine morning last week, Sean decided to walk his pet fish. Stuffed toy fish, that is.

A couple of minutes upon waking that morning, he quietly took NEMO (that's the fish) by the tail and started walking round the room. His dad asked him, "What are you doing?"

Sean gave a cheeky smile and replied, "Bring fish walk-walk!"

By the way, NEMO's the same fish you see in the earlier post - Sean's friends - only then, NEMO was named "Finn". Somehow it got renamed. NEMO is now Sean's new buddy. He brings NEMO everywhere and looks for Nemo when he wants to sleep and when he wakes.

Oh My Sleeping Child

There are few things in this world more awesome than watching your child sleep. Really. It's hard to describe how I feel when I watch Sean when he's asleep. His long eyelashes. Round, smooth cheeks. That small, cute pucker (lips). Steady, soft breathing. A perfect picture of peace. It's totally awesome - a baby - life - God's ultimate creation.

And who am I that HE'D entrust me with 2 of HIS precious creations to raise?

I am in awe.

(Below are 2 photos of Sean sleeping with his stuffed toy, Doggie).

The BIG news

I mentioned BIG things happened. Well, the biggest has got to be....the impending arrival of our second child. Yes, you read that right, I'm PREGNANT. Again. So soon after Sean. Actually, I was already pregnant at Sean's birthday party but had no idea. No wonder I was extra tired! We found out soon after.

I cannot begin to describe the gamut of emotions I felt when I found out. To be honest, I wasn't elated. I was in TOTAL SHOCK. It took us 2-3 years to conceive Sean. Those years were filled with frustration, longing, lots of prayers and visits to the doctors. So imagine my shock when I got pregnant "so easily" this time. Well, it took a long time for the shock to wear off.

This pregnancy has been a difficult one. So different than my first. The first four months, I endured terrible nausea and giddiness. And then there was abdominal pains, body aches, insomnia, gastric...SIGH. It was really tough for me especially with caring for Sean. My mum has been a tremendous help. Without her, I wouldn't have made it. She stepped in to help me with Sean.

The baby's due 31 December 2005 (haha!) I wanted a baby girl but the scans show another boy. We haven't decided on a name for the baby yet.

This baby's been really active. Of late, it feels like football season in my tummy. Really hard kicks and turns/movements. Quite a lot of them painful.

We've been trying to prepare Sean for the arrival of his sibling but really, how do you tell a 19 month old that he'll have a baby brother next month? We tell him anyway and pray that God will help Sean adjust well.

After a long silence...Sean's birthday do

Wow! It's been 7 months since my last entry. So much has happened since. BIG things and the mundane every day stuff that keeps one busy, busy, busy.

I promised news on Sean's birthday party (and photos). Let's see what I can recall.

First - the birthday cake. Jason & I wanted something special (as most parents are wont to do for their firstborn's 1st birthday bash). Since Sean loved aeroplanes we decided to get a cake shaped like one. We tried a few bakeries but was surprised to find out that they don't custom make cakes like that anymore and the ones available are the usual round or square ones with cartoons like Garfiels, Power Puff girls, Doraemon - aaarggghhh!!. Finally, we found a bakery willing to oblige us but they have never made an "aeroplane cake" before and have no sample. So, Jason searched the net for samples, found a nice, yellow plane and passed the photo to the bakery. We were quite happy with the cake la (it wasn't super delicious - plain chocolate cake - but design-wise it turned out ok) but it did cost us a bomb. Anyway, there was so much of it left, it stayed in our fridge for months! haha!

Then there was the weather. The party was held at night but because there were so many of those irritating insects - the kind attracted to light - we had no choice but to close the door. Suffice to say it was really stiffling and hot. I'm thankful no one fainted! We opened the doors after a while but it was still rather hot.

The birthday boy was garbed in his first pair of jeans and shirt. He was really excited that there were so many people in his home though I bet he had no idea what the fuss was all about. He enjoyed ripping the presents open and his cousin Chloe (2 months younger than him) enjoyed having rides on the lil bike his grandma got him. :)

Overall, I'd say we all had fun. Cleaning up was really tiring though!


(Kudos to Allan - Jason's bro - for this lovely, eye-catching "banner". I wanted something simple and nice and this pretty much fits the bill. He used crepe paper. We left it on the wall for months after the party!)








(Sean and his grandparents. My parents on the right, Jason's on the left.)










(Sean's first pair of shoes. Cute eh? He wore it at the party.)

Sean is now 1 Year Old

Sean turned 1 on April 6, 2005. Wow! Time sped by. The little feller has grown much taller and he looks a little different too. We had a small party for him and below's the invitation card. Cute eh? His dad designed it. The photos are of Sean from 1-12 months (in chronological order) and the big photo was taken on April 1, 2005. Looking at the photos, I miss his chubby cuteness of the early months. More on the birthday party (with photos) soon.

Sean's Friends

These are gifts from friends. Sean is a very blessed little boy. Let me introduce them to you:

Right in front is Patrick the Dog (from Dr Neo and family) and Finn the Fish (from Gladys and Kenneth).
The big teddy bear is Scotty Bear (from Min, my bro's girlfriend from Taiwan). Leaning on Scotty is Benla.
Benla is Sean's favourite simply because it's his first tedy bear and he chose Benla himself. We were at Ikea and gave him a choice of 3 softoys and he chose Benla.

The little bear next to Benla, the one holding a heart is BJ (from my bro Daniel).
Next to BJ is Bubbles the Fish (from Allan and Sharlene).
And finally, the brown bear at the back is Jojo (a Christmas gift from Joanne Ang).

Here, they are on Sean's bed.

A Simple Life

Could it really be simple?
To live a life of contentment
It’s simply a choice
To obey Your Word
You said
My needs You’d bear
I could be without care
For the things of this world
If I simply choose to be happy
With what You provide
But “happy” has become what others have
That I should have too
So often, “more Lord” instead of “thank you”
When life with You could be immeasurably more
Than anything this world can offer
With rewards that are out of this world too
Dear Lord
Please help me each day
Find contentment, Your way
Leaving cares and worries to You
Simply living, happy to be with You

Will be adding the photos to the recent posts soon.

Sean’s Chariot

A lovely Christian couple blessed us with an almost brand new expensive stroller some months before Sean was born. Since moving to this new Taman, I have named the stroller, Sean’s Chariot.



It all started with my parents. They started bringing Sean for evening walks in the stroller and soon it became a daily ritual. Sometimes Jason and I bring him instead of my parents. Sean of course, enjoys it. He’d grip the front bar and babble away in his baby language. He gets excited when he sees birds or a cat or a plane. He’d start kicking his legs, lean forward and make “ooh” sounds. Sometimes he’d lean back and sit quietly surveying the surroundings like a big boss.



And then one day, my parents stopped by the playground. They put him on the swing, and those animals-on-a-spring things and he was screaming away in delight. I wasn’t with them so I did not manage to record it with the digicam. I’ll record it one of these days. Hopefully get some good shots to post here too.

American Idol

Ha! I simply love this show and am so glad the new season’s started. It’s simply hilarious. We laugh at the contestants and their weird singing and comments. I cannot believe how bad some of them sound but most often, they’re the ones with the most confidence. The judges’ expressions are simply priceless. Of course there are talented contestants too and we want them to get through the audition.

The first episode, they had Mark McGrath (aka Sugar Ray) as guest judge and one really freaky contestant called him a hottie. Now, this contestant was really freaky but I have to agree with her, the guy’s a hottie. He looks a lot like Ethan Hawke.

We enjoyed last year’s American Idol. We were hoping Fantasia would win when it was just her and Diana Degarmo. Boy, were we glad Fantasia won. Degarmo’s got an amazing range and power for someone so young but we found her habit of using power vocals all the way simply annoying.

Malaysian Idol was fun too. It was obvious that Jac was a cut above the rest and we were voting for her. So glad she won. Hope this year’s Malaysian Idol will see an improvement in vocal quality.
Talented or not, I must say that every one of the contestants are really brave. It’s not easy to sing to a panel of judges and be on national TV. And if they get through the auditions, they are in for many weeks of really tough competition. I really admire their guts. I’m too old but even if I make the age limit, I don’t think I have the guts to try. Don’t think I’m good enough lar.

Baby Cuisine

Sean is one of the most fortunate babies in Melaka. His Por Por (my mum) takes great pains to cook all sorts of yummy meals for him. She’s not satisfied with just anchovy and vegetable porridge. No, for her grandson she cooks porridge that has pumpkin, spinach, carrots, potatoes, brocoli, cauliflower, fish, chicken, oyster, dried scallop (not all of these ingredients at once of course, but often a mixture of more than 3 of these), dhal and potatoes, and even – can you believe it – macaroni and cheese!

She read in the papers about a recipe book for weaning babies written by a Malaysian and sure enough about a month later, the book was in her hands and she happily started pouring over it. One of the recipes she has tried – beef and pasta. :) Sean seems to enjoy most of the cuisine prepared for him.

He also loves fruits. Banana and papaya are his favorites. Probably because they’re sweet and soft. On good days he can finish a whole bowl of whatever yummy stuff my mum cooked and one banana or half a slice of papaya (he can finish one slice but we don’t want to give him too much).
In spite of all the good food and my mum’s efforts, Sean is still underweight. He’s been called skinny, scrawny and small. Sigh. So geram. My mum especially feels frustrated. The doc said that it’s most likely because he’s so active...high metabolism. Also, he doesn’t drink much formula. Never did like it and it’s usually difficult to get him to drink it. People tell us that as long as he’s healthy it’s alright but I can’t deny that it stings a bit lar when people keep commenting on his size. Some keep at it like we’re deaf. Ah well.

The BIG Move

At last, we’ve moved. To our new home, that is. It’s in Taman Paya Rumput Indah, quite a distance from town. We moved on 26 December and the next day a friend told us that Penang was hit by an “earthquake”. Our TV aerial was not fixed and we did not buy newspapers so we had no idea about the tsunami and thought the feller was pulling our leg. It was the next day that we learned of the tragedy. Jason and I were married on Sept 11, 1999. 2 years later the 911 tragedy happened. Then on the day we moved to our very own house, the tsunami struck. What a coincidence. Back to our house.

It’s a double storey terrace house. My parents and us are among the first to move in among the double storey 3rd phase of this Taman. My parents are just one door away. Being one of the first means having to put up with all the noise and dust of incoming neighbours’ renovations. Ah well.

It’s really convenient having my parents nearby. Even though I’m not working at the moment and look after Sean on my own, I really appreciate my mum’s help. She cooks Sean’s meals and bathes him. My parents also takes Sean on evening walks (Sean in his stroller) and to the playground. (I will write about Sean’s meals and evening walks another day). My mum and I take turns to cook. Well, so far I’ve cooked a couple of times. Haven’t cooked for about 2 years...pretty rusty. When I got married, I happily made dinner almost every night even though it meant I had to rush home from work 20 minutes away. Then we moved to Kg. Lapan which was nearer to my office but I just lost the passion to cook. So, getting started again isn’t that easy but it’s fun.

God has really been faithful and provided for us by way of love gifts from caring Christians and the kindness of people who allowed us to pay in installments for the lightings, wiring works and grills. We’ve also been very blessed by Jason’s colleagues who helped us move house. They drove the lorry, moved all our stuff (2 trips) and then went to help my parents too. At no charge at all. We’re really blown away and are so grateful for their help.

Below’s a snapshot of our home.

Updates

Well! It's been so long since my last post and this one will be rather short because I have so little time. We are moving to our new house in Taman Paya Rumput Indah NEXT WEEK and there's still so much to do.

Sean is now 8 months old! Wow! He can sit on his own, crawl, make funny faces (no one taught him and they are funny!), do all sorts of stunts that tire and freak his mum out. He'd go grab the bed rails and stand! He's gotten more playful too. Here are several photos taken in the first week of December.

The first one is of him sitting on his own (he's got a piece of paper in his hands. He loves paper...he moves very quickly to grab any paper in sight).



The second one...he's making a funny face. It's also the first time he's in a baby chair. I was feeding him cereals.



And lastly...Sean the "big boss" in the car.

Lullabies

I've always wondered what a lullaby sound like. I mean, I've heard kiddy rhymes and songs but I don't think I've heard a bona fide lullaby. I like to sing (or used to. It's still in there somewhere but the tiredness and busyness sorta buried it) and so when I started singing to Sean, I wondered again about lullabies. I sang Christian songs at first and then one day it happened. I created my own lullaby.

It's nothing much. In fact, it's a silly little ditty, four repetitive lines and melody. It goes:

Mummy sayang Sean boy
Mummy sayang Sean boy
Mummy sayang, mummy sayang
Mummy sayang Sean boy

There! Silly ain't it? But it's just for Sean. Our thing. Some days I come up with some other stuff I can't remember but the "lullaby" above still plays on Radio M.U.M. regularly.

When I first sang to Sean, we were trying to train him to sleep without being carried. It took him some time and I thought, why not sing? So I did. And he slept in less than 3 minutes! The next night or so, he slept almost immediately upon hearing me sing. I don't know whether to be offended or glad! ha ha!

A long pause

My! It's been almost a month since my last post. Had so much to write but no time and..I've forgotten much of what it was I wanted to write! Darn!

There'll be more photos of Sean soon. I've asked Jason to help me with that. Blogging isn't as simple as it looks...for me la. All the "deco" and photos are not at the click of a mouse so I've commissioned Jason to help out. Ain't it telling that after my last post (zzzz deprivation) the photo that follows is one of Sean in slumberland? ha ha.

Actually Sean has been a bit zzz deprived too lately. I think it's because he's learned to turn from lying on his tummy to his back and back again. He's been happily practicing it all over the bed. So much so that he's too keyed up to sleep. It's really fascinating...there he is all "mata bengkak" cos he's so sleepy and yet he can't stop turning and rolling. Sometimes for an hour! Sometimes I'm so sleepy that I'll fall asleep first.

He's also been quite "geram" cos his tooth is taking it's own sweet time to appear. We call it the Golden tooth. By now, most of our friends have seen Sean's "art" (drool) on our t-shirts. Each day, my sleeve will be soaked wet. Yuck! He doesn't want a pacifier and tire of the teething ring after a couple of minutes and prefers my sleeve. His gums must be really itchy for he's been biting my shoulder or whatever cloth he grabs hold with a very "geram" sound. I wish there's something I could do to ease the pain and itchiness.

Sean's 6 months old today. Wow! Time sure flies. He's getting heavier and taller and handsomer (so say our church pals. I think it's because his looks are changing a little...a bit of me now. ha ha! perasan!).

Sean sleeping 

zzzzz deprivation

It's amazing how one's sleeping habits change with the arrival of a bundle of joy. I have always been a light sleeper. The slightest noise will wake me. But that is a thing of the past. Since Sean was born, I have been so tired that on occasions, Jason (that's my hubby) has called my name, nudged my knee, lifted my hand and dropped it (!) and I slept on. Wow!

And I can now sleep at the drop of a hat. haha. I just need to close my eyes and I'm off to lala land.

I use to have this weird way of messing up my words when I'm really tired. Like if I want to say "buried the body", I'd say "boried the bady" instead. It's hilarious and a sure sign that I need to sleep! And yes, as you can guess, this "word or phrase-a-jumble" has been happening pretty often of late. Just the other day, we were out shopping and I turned to Jason and said, "Look at those mooties." Mooties?! Mittens and booties!! hahaha! Crazy! If I ever get called to testify in a court of law anytime soon, it'd be one heck of an interesting trial!

I hate lizards!

Yes, I do! I hate 'em with a passion! And there's a wee one in my room right now! It's crawling on my room door! Went in to check on Sean just now and presto! The feller made a quick dash across the door! Nasib baik did not fall on me or I would have screamed and woke the whole neighbourhood. The worst thing is, there's no poison for lizards! I asked a friend who worked in Rentokil once and that's what she said! Aaaarggghhhh!!

Ok, nuff bout lizards!

Last Friday was my last day of work. At KPMG. :) I hope it's not my LAST day of work, ever. That would not be good though I thank God for the break from working life. I have been working since I left secondary school! Jason (that's my hubby) asked me how it feels to leave working life (for now) and...well, sad cos I do have good friends in KPMG. Other than that, glad for the break. Real glad to have a "physical" rest. But worried bout finances. Ah well, I have to trust God. Oh, for those reading this who don't know me well....I'm a Christian.

So, it's been 5 whole days of being a "housewife". ha ha! Me, a housewife. Well, I was never a career driven kinda person so I guess it's not so hard to see myself as a housewife. Except that...I hate housework! haha! The strange thing is, occassionally housework is a good way for me to release tension.

It's amazing; it's been 4 months since Sean was born. Where did the time go? The first month was difficult and exhausting and I thought I'd never get here but here I am! I'm still getting the hang of being a mum (I suspect, I'll still say that when Sean's 21!). Nothing reveals how badly out of shape you are than taking care of a baby! I so need to shape up!

Oooh! It's late! Or rather, very early in the morning. I'll sign off here. G'd nite world!

A new score sheet

Well! I have a blog spot! A place to put on "e-paper" my thoughts. Don't know if it'll interest anyone but I think it'll be therapeutic for me just the same. So here goes...

These past 4 months have been a symphony or sorts for me. At times chaotic, occasionally slow-paced, often times tiring with a much needed number of peaceful respites here and there. I've just entered motherhood for the first time. Nothing changes one's life more than that one sentence I'll wager.

My baby boy, Sean, is such a cutie! I know every mum would say the same of her offspring but Sean really is cute :) He looks a lot like his dad and is a cheerful lil fella. It scares me big time the responsibility I now have to raise him well.

I feel like keying in a lot of what I've been through these past months in this one posting but that'll take time and memory I kinda lack (one of the signs of adjusting to motherhood; a frazzled memory!). This'll do for now. I hope to be able to add interesting postings as often as I can. Good nite world. Sleep tight.