Our New World

...to spend with the boys that is... One of the many benefits of being a Malaysian is to enjoy 'extra' public holidays due to our multi-racial/multi-religious beliefs. We have been enjoying long-er weekends for the past 2 weeks; due to Awal Muharram & Christmas which fell on 2 consecutive Fridays. We enjoy long-er weekends because we get to spend every single waking hours with them both; our lovely boys, Isaac & Ivan. The more recent weekend which has just passed was Christmas, Boxing Day & last Sunday of 2009! A typical weekend would be like this : As usual we woke up at around 6.30am, took di-di Ivan downstairs to play with his toys whilst mummy (that's me) get ready his bottle of milk. He is a very disciplined baby; he sleeps sharp at 7pm every night and wakes up around 6-6.30am every day! Shortly after, Isaac woke up at about 7am...his current routine is to call out to his daddy at the staircase as soon as he wakes up..truly a daddy's boy...*mummy ki...

Again I wanna brag about how advance Ivan is developing (yes I am a proud mummy of my 2 boys), at 10months of age ie now, he is walking around the house by pushing a chair. Many a time he would stand still without holding on to the chair. I know I should never compare, but just as a record, Isaac started doing this when he was 12months. Not very far apart actually :p Well I have heard many friends sharing that the 2nd kid would grow up faster as they have an elder sibling to catch up to..some sort of benchmark la. See all this 'competition' actually started when we were kids, subconsciously :) *****

It's not easy for an English educated Chinese banana like me to remember how to write our kids' Chinese names..(yeah of course I know how to write my own Chinese name). So I've actually prepared a powerpoint slide of all our Chinese names, as above, to help remind me how their names are to be written :p It's funny how we got Ivan's chinese name above... my parents didn't manage to provide chinese names that we like that rhymes with his English name - IVAN. Most of those that my dad shortlisted sounded abit like a girl's name. So one day what I did was to google for a translation website and used this website to translate "Wen" in english to Chinese character. After some browsing through, I've finally selected the above Chinese character to represent "Wen" which also has a very good meaning. It represents "stability, strength, strong foundation" which I find will be very good traits for a little boy. There is a Chinese sayin...

Although Ivan just turned 9mths, to me he is developing well ahead of his age. Seen here is Ivan on a motorized bike, which was suppose to be kor-kor Isaac's 2yr old birthday gift from grandpa & grandma. *****

I was chatting with my colleague LHM the other day, she was sharing about how her 1st son is reacting to their 2nd newborn. Big brother Justin got into some trouble in school, likely to be his ways of showing his parents that he craves for attention and my colleague had to take some time off work to attend to this. I felt so very blessed as Isaac has never ever shown any tiny bits of jealousy since the arrival of di-di Ivan. On the contrary, kor-kor Isaac has taken to the role of a big brother almost immediately. Over the past 9 months, he has shown in many ways how he takes part in caring for Ivan. * He aint heavy, he's my brother (hehe) * Once, as we were driving out..Isaac who was sitting in his car seat and Ivan in his carrier, they are seated next to each other. Unexpectedly, Isaac held on to the carrier, almost showing that "he is holding on to the carrier, just in case it flies away..hehe" Whenever we put Ivan on the potty for *poo poo*, Isaac would rush to ge...

As of today, Isaac is 2 yrs 1mth 21days old & Ivan is 9mths 20days old. Time really flies by very quickly..Ivan can almost walk now and he's already starting to talk,mimicking his brother. Whenever he hears his daddy call out to him, he will talk like this. At times screaming in exhilaration too. Isaac the big brother is the ever so loving brother. Taking care of Ivan whenever daddy & mummy are busy. Seen below, Isaac pushing Ivan who is sleeping in the stroller,whilst mummy is busy trying out shoes @ Charles & Keith in MV. Daddy & grandma were looking on, smiling. *****

As promised earlier, here are some initial shots taken from the Canon EOS 500D (it's a wonderfully great machine & I'm enjoying every moment using it!) I've even attempted to use the DPP software to edit some of the photos & is pleasantly surprised to see the amazing results..! At this point, I wish we could afford to get a DSLR much earlier so that we could take really good shots of Isaac and Ivan during their birth-days and those earlier moments. But I guess it's never too late to get started. Sharing some great photos here with you : Some of the photos here will never be possible using a P&S camera as the action was simply way too quick. I know I will enjoy our DSLR very much now.....:) *****

A friend and his wife joined us at church today. They brought along their 5-month baby and felt immediately at ease with RLC's nursery area. She delivered her baby in March and has since left her job to be a full-time home-maker/mother/wife etc. Looking at her, I felt a strong sense of respect for her. I started asking myself "would I quit my job to take care of my 2 boys all by myself?" It's a question that I've asked myself during my 1st confinement after delivering Isaac. Then, my quick reply was NO. Financial limitation aside, I find it a really HUGE sacrifice for any working mums to take this bold step. I do not pride myself as being a workaholic... but to certain extend, I like my job & I like having my financial independence plus a strong social network which I've build across the last 10 years working in the media industry.  Confinement period/maternity leave is by far the closest I could get to being a stay-at-home mother. Not to say I do not en...

After Isaac became a 'gor-gor' to baby brother Ivan, he seemed to have grown-up very quickly. He is very loving & protective of his little brother Ivan and recently he has impressed us by going diaper-less during the day. He is able to use the little potty on his own - really impressive at such tender young age. Well done Isaac, so proud of you! *****

I was downloading some (more!) photos into my laptop last night when I found out that we have taken over 2,500 shots of Isaac since he was born on Oct 8th, 2007! He’s now 21 months old, so that’s an average over 100 shots taken of him every month. We now need to take significantly more shots of Ivan to even things out…lol I guess it’s fairly normal for young new parents like us to obsessively take photos of our newborn & growing kids; in the spirit of not-wanting-to-miss-out any precious moments. We have recently taken our fanaticsm of photographing our kids to a greater height by purchasing our very 1st DSLR – a Canon 500D. This decision was made when our P&S/compact camera – Kodak started delivering poor picture quality. Stay tuned for more great photos…hehe.. *****

These could very well be myth-ical beliefs handed down from one generation to the next without scientific proves. It had worked all this while so I’m not about to deny the effectiveness of them all. But it made me wonder, what would other mums do if they didn’t know any of these tips? What are the other alternatives (besides prayers..hehe)? Babies tend to have unexplained symptoms/discomforts when growing up esp. from 2 nd month till 1 year old. My babysitter, Wan, has shared the following with us and I would like to share them with everyone here: 1) Pearl powder – this is selected good grade pearls, crushed into powder form. Best to buy this from a trusted CMH otherwise you might be given low grade pearls. Add some water to the pearl powder and feed your baby. A small teaspoon would suffice for young babies. It is to help baby sleep better at night when they have been over-stimulated during the day. 2) Old ‘yeong some’ – given to babies as young as 2 months old. Take a ...

It was 3am on Wed 10/6/09, when SW & I were awakened by a loud scream by Ivan. It was not his typical cry of pain/hunger, I immediately thought that it might be a bad colic attack. Little did we know it would turn out to be so much more than that! SW & I tried all methods; from putting ‘Yu Yee’ oil , rubbi ng boiled eggs on his stomach to praying in tongues – none worked! Ivan’s loud s creaming cry would reduce gradually but only to recur in 1/2 hrs gap. It was when he started to vomit that we knew it could be more than just colic. From 3-8am that fateful day, he threw up a bout 6-8 times. Even water could not be retained in his little tummy. At about 8am, we drove off to Ooi’s clinic to have Ivan checked. Dr Ooi diagnosed it as virus infection & colic. It must have been a serious enough case coz Dr Ooi gave qui te a lot of medicine. When we went home & gave Ivan his 1 st dose of medicine, he seemed a bit relieved. Soon he started to vomit again. Despite not having muc...

Mar 18th : I wonder how many mothers out there have ever questioned themselves on how their performance as a mother. Does it mean that I have to be a full time mother in order to be a good mother to my 2 boys? It's a constant battle between providing for your kids vs spending enough time with them. In order to provide for their needs, I have to work (or rather I choose to). But hubby and I make sure that we spend our weekends with them. Isaac, my elder son, is much closer to our babysitter, Wan. And because when he gets home from her place in the evenings and my mum puts him to bed, he's becoming closer to her too. Worse is that he tends to listen to them both rather than myself & my hubby! It breaks my heart to see him running into their arms when they call out to him. And recently when I did that, he would run towards me (it seems!) and then de-tour to the toys nearby! OUCH! Now my 2nd son, Ivan is also showing signs that he prefers to be in the arms of Wan or my mother! ...

March 5th : It's all about perspective – how one perceives things that would change the entire experience. This is my 2nd confinement and boy I must say that I enjoy every waking moment this time around. Why? you may ask. Perspective! The key to enjoying your confinement (CFM) period is basically to REST... rest in God and literally take loads of rest. My last CFM was filled with self-created stress where I refused help and I basically thought I should still do most of the things on my own – despite my mum (who was and is currently also my CFM lady, I’m truly blessed) offering so much help! My perspective then was “no one does it better than myself!” Ok forget the past and allow me to share how you can best enjoy your CFM period :  1. Like mentioned, REST...REST...REST   Most CFM lady will tell the mothers to rest their way through CFM, but just how much can you sleep every day right? That was what I thought during my 1st CFM, how can I be sleeping or lying down the whol...

Psalm 91:1-3 "He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, "He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust." Surely he will save you from the fowler's snare and from the deadly pestilence."   March 4th : Breast milk (BM) is said by doctors & all medical experts to be the best a mother can give to her newborn. Well I do not deny it as its nature’s way of providing for a baby – a God-given priceless provision! What we've just gone through recently just opened my eyes that with all good things, there are always some not-so-good points too. This time around, my breast feeding (BF) effort is bearing good results – with more than sufficient supply for baby Ivan. Thanks be to God for answering our prayers to provide the best start to Ivan. Well, as simple as it sounds, supply equals demand when it comes to BF. The more I feed/pump, the more the supply. The key to this is being hard wor...

Feb 20th : Strange or perhaps might be frightening to some, if they hear this from me “I miss being pregnant” - only 2 weeks after I've given birth to Ivan. I'm probably the few pregnant women who was blessed with an easy pregnancy (yes, Sze Weng and I prayed all throughout my pregnancy for an easy pregnancy & fast delivery. Prayer works all the time!)  No morning sickness at all, almost zero pregnancy symptoms like food cravings, tiredness etc. In fact, for the past 2 pregnancies, I’ve been immensely blessed with so much energy that I hardly feel tired even though I had to work late or travel in and out of office for meetings or even travel out of the country for business meetings. It’s strange even to know that whilst I was pregnant, I was more alert at work and performed better!  Perhaps it's the power of TWO! Let me share with you some of the reasons why I enjoyed being pregnant :  1. I got less worried when I gained weight during those 10 months. For both pregn...

2 Corinthians 5:7 "We live by faith, not by sight." Whenever I'm in doubt/disbelief, I often refer to the Bible for some spiritual food. Or at times, I would read one of those Christian books I have.  But the ‘10 guidelines from God’ below is a straight-forward ‘tips’ to leaving behind those doubts/disbelief to God. After all, nothing is too difficult for Him. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  Effective immediately, please be aware that there are changes You need to make in your life. These changes need to be completed in order that I may fulfill My promises to you to grant you peace, joy and happiness in this life. I apologize for any inconvenience, but after all that I am doing, this seems very little to ask of you. Please, follow these 10 guidelines.  1. Quit worrying Life has dealt you a blow and all you do is sit and worry. Have you forgotten that I am here to take all your burdens and carry them for y...

James 1:2-3 "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance."   Feb 2009 : 18th - Have you ever experienced this - you've been praying & praying for something NOT to happen but it happens anyway. And then you start to question if God actually heard your prayers and if he did, how come He allowed that thing to happen to you??? Once and for all, let's get the fact right. God did not come to steal, kill or destroy. It's all the devil's work. The devil is always trying to screw up your plans so that you can start blaming God for not answering your prayers. Ok enough said about the devil, no need to give him more limelight. I wanna share what we are going through now.  After Ivan's quick delivery on 9th Feb, we were soon discharged on 10th Feb afternoon, after both of us were given the clearance of good health. Sze Weng and I were very happy that everything i...

Matthew 7:7 "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you."   9th Feb 2009 : It's Chap Goh Mei today ie the last day of CNY and it happened to be a public holiday (due to replacement for Thaipusam which fell on Sunday). I was sound asleep till I was awakened by a contraction that caused my lower body to be numbed. I have not experienced any contractions in the past few days, this was the first one. When it happened, it was around 5plus in the morning. I sat up on the bed and breathed in slowly and said a little prayer for the numbness to go away.  Little did I know that my body was getting ready to deliver Ivan into our arms that morning..! After that contraction was over, I went back to bed. As a lover of beauty sleep, I dozed off immediately. The next contraction woke me up and sent me straight to the toilet for some BIG business. It dawned on me then that I might be delivering that morning itself! I went back to th...

Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope & a future."    It's been a while since I wrote.... been really busy since..what May 2008!..haha. Let's see... what have I been busy with since then..   May 2008 : been a really busy month then, was involved in a big time business pitch for a leading skincare brand which we later won the entire business. The blessings behind this is that I was not put on the account but the sad thing was our group was restructured and I was transferred to another group. When that happened, I thought to myself that "maybe I was NOT good enough hence the mgmt decided to move me to another group instead." Little did I know that God has a better plan. That account would have been 'way-too-much' for me esp. since I later found out I was pregnant!... (yee-hah!)  Fast fwd to  July 2008 : on 21st, I went to see Dr Liew to confirm that I wa...