werner's 8 months now, going 9..

its been a long while since i updated my blog.. not sure it i ought to attribute it to laziness or simply being too busy to do it.

so much has happened over the past months since Werner rolled over - he started taking solids about 4 months old, started swimming about 5 months, started crawling around 6 months and started standing (supported) from 7 months..

now I am anticipating the time he starts walking and calling me mama. :-)

at the same time, I am proud to highlight that till today, Wener is still having breastmilk (with formula as the last feed daily) - and having travelled to Turkey, Shanghai, New Delhi, I have managed to pump and bring back all the milk for him. I plan to feed him with the best for as long as I can - and hopefully till his teeth appears - by the way, he is a late bloomer where teeth is concerned - he is still toothless, but eating everything...

So much to update - but so little time - happiness is a choice - I choose to have it in my life everyday.

4 months old Werner rolling over

Everyday is a new day for baby Werner and it never fail to amaze me when he demonstrates all the new things he is picking up from this brand new world.

From having the strength to hold up his own head to cooing and squealing and making sounds of delight, from holding his own milk bottle and pushing it away when he's had enough, to taking out his pacifer and pushing it back into his mouth. From staring intently at his music-making toy, to staring at the pages from the books I read... From rolling over (non-stop) from front to back, to sitting up unsupported today (9 Oct), it never fail surprise and warms me when I see him practising these milestones that he has reached.

Special thanks to my mom for spending time with baby daily and helping him acquire all these skills while I am away at work.


Werner rolls-over

Werner turns 4 months old

It is customary for Chinese to shave the babies hair when they reach 4 months old. Looking at Werner's thin hair, we decided to do the same - shave his head. On the weekend just after he turned 4 months, his daddy took out his daily shaver and took up this job with trembling hands while me and gorgor played the important role of distracting him. Look at him now, totally clean shaven that the head shines.
Putting him in a bath tub to see him "swim"

Botanical Gardens 1st Oct 2008

On Hari Raya Day, we brought the kids out to Botanical Gardens for some fresh air before Sylvia starts her PSLE. Also gave us a chance to bring baby Werner out to the park for some fun with the sisters.

Baby's trip to my office

More photos

Trimming hair on 30 June 2008 - 1st Month ceremony


Look whose on the phone?


Gorgor and Jiejies with baby

Getting back to Work - traveling, breastfeeding, etc

I returned to work on 11 August, 2 weeks before my maternity leave is over and started a part-time arrangement with my boss. I would work from Tuesdays to Thursdays and take my remaining maternity leave on Mondays and Fridays. This gave me a longer weekend to spend time with baby and family and at the same time, enabled me to get the hang of returning to my desk and coping with continuing to express breast milk for Werner while back to work.

On one hand, I feel I should spend some more time with Werner, on the other, I am worried about the sudden transition from the 3 months away to juggling full-time work and home all of a sudden. Additionally, one major trigger for making this decision is also due to the monotone of being a stay-home mom. Most people will think a stay-home mom has a good and relaxed life, but after 2 months plus, I really beg to differ.

It might be the strong sense of responsibility or the possessiveness or Werner being too much of a attention-seeker (Werner doesn’t seem to sleep long enough – 15 mins nap each time and he is up again, demanding attention), I suddenly felt stifled, can’t seem to have time for myself (where is my reading time? music time? grooming time? hair cut? facial?) and felt guilty whenever I had the urge to leave the house for the “frills” and leave baby at home or with my mom. All the above seems very frivolous as compared to the importance of mother-and-child bonding, but then again, aren’t all these little things important to make one feel happy and worthy? They are for me.

In order to try and balance my previous lifestyle with the addition of baby Werner, I started driving him out with me, strapping him in a carseat and off we will go on my facials, or off to meet friends for coffee. At times, he is a cooperative and inquisitive passenger, staring at the scenery that goes by. Once in a while, he starts squealing in the car and I try my best to pacify him while concentrating on the road. Sometimes I think I can be classified as a supermom! Haha..

Today, I am back to work full time and I’ve managed quite well so far. I carry my medela pump to work daily, provide more than sufficient milk for Werner by pumping milk at my desk 3 times a day (you should see what a multi-tasker I am at my desk), have traveled to and back from Guangzhou for Conference (pumping breast milk in the plane on my seat and bringing the chilled milk back in cooler box) and will be off to Turkey next week for a sales seminar (will be freezing the milk as it’s a 6 days trip – hope I will succeed). Overall, I am enjoying every moment.

Werner is 4 months plus now and weighing about 6.7kg when we brought him for his injection last week. He is flipping from front to back non-stop (eversince he acquired this skill last week), cooing and making so much “conversation” with us. It is simply a joy just to look at him. Every morning he wakes up, he gives me the smile that simply melts me. Makes me forget the night pumps I am waking up for. It makes my day. :)

From confinement to manyue

Before I give you all updates on my end, let me say thanks to God once again for giving us healthy little Werner. Joelle shared a blog with me today, of a couple who are not as fortunate - my heart goes out to them...

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It's been a long while since I updated my blog and so much has taken place eversince little Werner is here. Let me try to recall what's happened in the months that passed and pen them down as best as I can...

Really grateful I had my confinement at the comfort of my mom’s place. Confinement is a stressful month, no baths (though I did sneak some), no aircon (I didn’t manage that at night), confinement food which will not affect breast milk production or worsen jaundice (alcohol or no alcohol?), breastfeeding (including waking up numerous times at night, trying to fulfill baby’s appetite and trying to pump-up to a good production level). Having confinement at mom’s place means I did not have to worry about housework, kids’ homework and husband’s work while I concentrate on “how to manage baby”.

Werner screams whenever he is hungry – and I mean SCREAM!!!! At times, I felt inadequate, wondering if I am doing the correct thing (should we feed him formula instead as mom says?) but I really must thank my friend who has been with me through this tough time – PEIYU – a special thanks to you, for constantly calling and cheering me on with the breastfeeding. She’s pre-empted me on all the difficulties in this seemingly natural act of providing food for a baby and continued cheering me on in this tough journey even though she herself is almost due with her number 2. Everyone needs a friend who has “been there” when you plan on full breastfeeding. I’m glad I have you.

To my Mom, thank you too for being patient with me when I was in my worst possible moods in the month. I had my rules and how I want baby to be brought up - including do not rush to carry baby once he cries, NO to pacifier, MUST sleep on bed and NOT in sarongs, do NOT play with baby after 8pm, etc... All these rules made life difficult for me and Mom, but she let me be, though trying to persuade me otherwise with her “kind reminders” – “the pacifier is in the drawer if you need it”… “Daddy and I can put up a sarong swing bed anytime so that baby can sleep longer”… “Baby’s not having enough to eat, how can you get your life back with baby at your breast the whole day”… Eventually, I succumb to the pacifier, but no regrets to that.
Thanks Mom, for your love and patience and your eventual support of my breastfeeding efforts. Today, my mom is a strong advocate of breastfeeding, telling everyone who is pregnant they must buy a Medela Pump-In-Style (aka Mercedes) and breast milk is the best for baby.

If your baby is "beautiful and perfect, never cries or fusses, sleeps on schedule and burps on demand, an angel all the time," you're the grandma."
-- Theresa Bloomingdale

Check out the manyue party for Werner on 5 July! Godparents Jason and Tianhui helped with the party planning and execution while baby and I were in confinement.

Werner @ Week 3

The Arrival *30 May 08*

Werner is 2.36kg today!

After days of worry that little Werner is not growing enough, I am so relieved that the checkup with Dr Yvonne today shows that my efforts of eating more meals and laying down enough really helps!! Today we see a nice increase of his weight to 2.36kg from 1.77kg 10 days back! Doctor even jokingly tell me that I can cut down on durians now as baby is of a nice weight at last!


Opps.... we still have a box of durian from hubby's yesterday's purchase... hee... guess I will still take somemore before I stop.
:-P

Baby is of a reasonable size to be delivered anytime now, and from the scan, Dr Yvonne says it could happen in about 2 week's time, after Vesak Day Holiday. Let's see if little Werner's birthday will coincide with daddy's (26 May) or sis Joo's (24 May)...
Oh yah.. importantly, before or after the car arrives?....

Week 35

I'm now into week 35 of the pregnancy and baby Werner seems to be having lots of fun kicking and punching my ever-ballooning tummy, more so when there is food in the tummy.

He is a little underweight from our check-up last week though, at a mere 1.77kg (from 1.6kg 3 weeks ago) and I have been instructed to rest more so that he can gain the necessary weight to prepare himself for the world out here.

Daddy and the 3 kids at home have been very supportive. We have changed the daily dinner cooking to catering and the kids have been helping to cook the rice, wash the dishes, laundry (washing machine of course) and doing their own revision for examinations.

Before our next visit to the doctor's this coming Friday, Supermom will have to lay in bed more! (which is what I just did for the last 2 days!)

Monday, May 05, 2008

Baby cot arrived at my parent's place today and it finally made my confinement room complete! Mom has been really lovely, tailoring additional sets of baby's bedsheets, pillow cases, beansprout casings' pillows (oh, dad helped out too with this!), dark curtains for my room, and helping me to buy the stuff for baby's arrival and my confinement. Kudos to Mum & Dad!

Now I am looking forward to being pampered at my parents' place during confinement! Yummy food...

Oh yah... Wilson and I are also awaiting for the arrival of our new car, an 8-seater to fit the huge family... everyone's scolding us for procrastinating on the decision to change the car but then again, we have to live with our late decision for now... being car-less...

Goodbye to our sold Camry... 10 April 08

Hope our new car will come before little Werner does, so that his daddy and me can go for nice dinner dates + movies (& last minute shopping?) before the sleepless "confinement" nights comes in...

Wilson's comments... let's see if our baby is fated to take the car or take a cab.
I am crossing my fingers for the car.. haha...

A journal of little Werner within me

Thank God that this pregnancy with little Werner has been smooth sailing so far. No morning sicknesses, no discomfort, feeling so well that at times, I even forget I am carrying a little life within me.

Time flies and without realising, we are now at week 33 of my pregnancy.

We first discovered this little life within me in late August last year. In Oct 2008, still in my first trimester, I was to travel on a business trip to Japan, Tokyo and Korea, Seoul and Busan for a week. The gynae was not for it, citing high risks of miscarriage in the first trimester to dissuade me, but all has been planned so we didn't have much choice but to go ahead with it.

Daddy Wilson was worried and joined me in Japan for a few days to help with my luggage and make sure all's ok. But I had to survive on my own in Korea as he had to return due to work commitments. There were some moments in Korea whereby I had to carry my super heavy luggage up and down long flight of stairs by myself to cross the underpass to reach my hotel, but GOD BLESS, strong little Werner survived the ordeal. (too many stairs in Seoul, maybe the Korean authorities can consider installing lifts/ escalators to the train stations) Oh yah, and did I mention Wilson actually fell sick after he returned from Japan? it was cold when we were there and he, having to wait outdoors while I went for meetings, actually got a bad chill after he returns.


I managed to skip New Delhi (supposed to go after the Japan & Korea trip) due to the hygiene conditions (or lack of it) especially after the toll from the last trip but as the saying goes, you can run, but you can't hide - I was tasked to attend an exhibition cum marketing trip in Mumbai in March 2008. During week 26 of my pregnancy, when it is supposed to be much safer to travel. But of course, Mumbai is not the most ideal place to be in when you have to worry about food poisoning and diarrhoea, especially when there are 1 1/2 of you in the trip.

To anyone who is planning on a trip to Mumbai, be prepared for expensive meals in hotels and a totally differnt world out of the 5-star hotels.

Once again, daddy Wilson came to the rescue. He paid for his own airtickets, tagged along, and ensure I have constant supply of mineral water and food while I ran about for meetings and exhibitions - he is the muscleman throughout the trip, also the "caring nagger", pacing me on my daily schedule and meetings. After Mumbai, we adjourned to Shanghai and Beijing for more marketing visits. It was all hectic but I'm glad I have Mr Muscleman with me for comfort and to give me all moral support I can possibly ask for.

I believe little Werner has enough experience of flying within me.
No more flying around, until he pops, till then, I continue my prayers for his smooth arrival...

Daddy is already planning on a year-end family trip to Hong Kong Disneyland end of this year. Get ready for more flights, my little darling.

Days of our life

Did the days of our life begin on 070707?
Or is that the day when our Love and Promises are acknowledged?
Hand-in-hand, we have chosen each other to walk down this long road called "LIFE"...

And in one of our first tasks together, we await the arrival of little Werner into our life.

070707 Our Wedding Day

A wedding is a start of togetherness... of walks in the rain, basking in the sunshine, shared meals, caring for one another and sensing the love that a marriage carries.


To have and to hold from this day forward, for better or worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, to death do us part.



Treasure each other in the recognition that we do not know how long we shall have each other.