9 April 2016 - part deux

7 years ago K and I embarked on a journey. 

How time flies! We went from 2 separate souls to one conjoined unit and now we've spawned the next generation of our own. Lol. 

 

Our journey together has had the obligatory ups and downs in any relationship. But I can't imagine going through it with anyone else!

Happy anniversary baby...:) 

P/s: 是我上了贼船! Hehe...

9 April 2016

And my baby turns 2.5 years old today. 

Honored to be her mum. 

Humbled to be able to give my love to her.

Happy to protect her and comfort her.

Hoping that she will be healthy, happy and strong always. 

While her baby days are long gone, we have learnt to appreciate her toddler-hood. While it can be rather trying at times, we are also deeply grateful for all the happy, lovely, funny, wonderful and awesome times spent with her. 

She's a stubborn and fierce spirit. Yet, one with a kind and caring heart. I hope and hope again that life will be kind to her and treat her well enough. 

My baby girl, here is Mama's promise to you: I will be there with you and for you always. I love you. 

The Incumbent

Too much hate, vitriol and complaints on FB these days. Why ah? Complain for the sake of complaining? Whine for the sake of whining? Jumping on the bandwagon to bash whoever is the incumbent? So much malice sometimes. Hiding behind a screen sure gives people a whole load of guts. 

I come from the public sector. While I might not always agree with policies set by the G, I understand where they are coming from. You can never please the entire populace. 

Sure, giving in to public sentiment and wishes will bring the G a lot more support. But generally, members of the public are not policy-makers. Most cannot see beyond a micro view. Most can't see the macro aspects of policy-making. So going with what the public suggests will probably not have a happy ending for the country. 

It is a delicate balancing act. Juggling between managing the people's expectations and what should be done for the country, its progress and its sustainability. 

Yet, many people don't see this. There seems to be a constant outpouring of hate against the G and a constant vigil for when a slip up might happen, which, if it really happens, would then bring about loud baying for the G's blood. 

Don't be too quick to nitpick. Suddenly everyone is a politician or an economist or a policy-maker who knows what should be done for the country. Put it simply, if you're so smart, if you know what needs to be done to fix all the issues, then you do the job. If you can't even get to that position or role that makes a difference, then it might be wise to just stfu. 

I deal with simple policy-making. Very simple policy development. Yet, there are still many angles to cover, many rounds of discussions and arguments to tough out, and many hours of thought put into it. Just to ensure that the policies make sense, are watertight and do not inadvertently bring any negatives to people. 

I cannot imagine policy-making at a national level. The amount of thought needed is scary. And the amount of intellect needed is equally scary. 

We as a people, have enjoyed many good things arising from policies and initiatives set up by the G. Maybe it is more prudent to be content and appreciate the good stuff that we have, rather than focus too much on the perceived negatives. It'll make life easier. 

The 30-Month-Old Little (Big) Girl

So K told me last night: "Do you know that Nadya knows how to turn on the light?"

I told him "Yeah I know. She knows how to use the remote control to turn on the light in her room. This has been for quite some time already."

K: "Nope. She knows how to turn on the light in OUR room."

???

@_@

The lights in our room?? We don't have any remote to control the light in our room.....
Which only means that.....omg.

YUP.

She is now tall enough to tiptoe and hit the light switch.

At all of 92cm.

(and 12.7kg lol).

Oh man....why do kids grow so fast?? I miss her baby stage!!

She will be 2.5 years old in 2 days' time. How time flies really....

And oh yes, she needs a ticket on the train and bus already...a Child Concession Card...

Whoa

It is scary really.

I am conducting a simple background check on an overseas company which is trying to establish a formal relationship with us. Yes, I double up as a PI at times and undertake some detective work.

In the course of my doing such PI work.......I've come to realise that....

It is rather scary how much information you can find of a person simply by doing a search on them on Google. You know where that person is from, where that person is based now, where that person went to school, where that person has worked at, etc. You can even find tons of pictures of them. Sometimes, you would even know whether that person is married or not, whether he/she has kids, etc.

And.....

It is interesting to see how shady some of these businesses are. Yes, they may be raking in millions....but you see them incorporating their businesses in tax-havens like Cyprus, Belize, Panama, BVI, etc. It makes you wonder if they are involved in any illicit activities or any money-laundering activities haha.

Bloated tummy

Bloated tummy these 2 days. 

No idea how to relieve it...quite uncomfortable sigh.

I look 4 mths pregnant. 5mths pregnant if I just had a meal. 

True story. 

Mega wail. 

:((((

Achievement Unlocked!!

Nadya can button up her uniform dress already! 

Way to go little baby!! 

Mama is proud of you!!

😝🤓😆😘😍😃😉☺️😏😛

Zentangle

Here is a Zentangle piece...not sure if it can be considered a Zentangle mandala though. But really, the process of drawing these is rather therapeutic...:) the photo does it no justice lol...and I'm not a good photographer too. The piece looks better than it does in the "chui" pic below lol.....

Embarking on another piece tomorrow. Not sure when I will complete it though....

The End of My Breastfeeding Journey

And so...my breastfeeding journey is coming to an end.
Both intentionally and unintentionally.

Intentionally because I was already planning to do so. I had given myself the goal of reaching Alyssa's 6 month mark. She turned 6 months on 24 March...and we just started her on cereal.

Unintentionally because I had not planned for it to end in such an un-ceremonius manner.
Last week's sickness was a tough one and totally knocked my supply off balance. I had intended to slowly let my supply wane off on its own. Last week's bout of sickness zapped off my supply quite suddenly. I think the medication I was on was the cause of it.

I am only pumping like once a day now just to relieve myself a little and still, the quantity is only somewhere around 80 or 100ml. I am pumping and throwing it away too because I don't want to pass on whatever medication I am taking on to Alyssa.

So whatever stash I still have in the freezer will be my last few bags of mummy's milk for the little girl...

Although I wanted to wean her off at 6 months.....I don't know why but I feel a little sad also...
I feel like as if a thick string of our bond is being cut away....:(

Tonsilitis

Friday night was scary. 

My fever went up again as for the first time in my life I started shivering, uncontrollably. K said I had the chills and that it was common for someone with a fever. 

I'd never experienced it before and naturally felt quite concerned. 

I was in a Tshirt and cardi and long harem pants and socks. I was huddled under a blanket in bed, without any fan or aircon switched on, without my aide of the window open, and still I shivered. 

It lasted a good 30mins or so. 

And then slowly, around 2hrs later, I warmed up and started sweating profusely. Tore off all my long clothes before I felt better. 

Glad to say the fever is gone. And the tonsillitis is much much better. 

I hope the year ahead gets better for me in terms of health....

Conversations with a 29.5-month-old

We were in her room this morning.

N: Mama, I show you how to climb (onto) the bed ok?
Me: Ok, show me.
N: First, you put your hands here and then your tummy here and then you lift your legs up!
Me: Wow, that seems tough Nadya's. It looks difficult.
N: Nevermind darling. You can try next time when you grow up ok.

Tio suan again by her. -_-''

I swear she's sounding more and more like us...and the way we speak....

==========
The other day while playing with her rubber hair bands...

N: You take the pink one. The blue one is for Dada.
Me: Why must I take the pink one?
N: Because you are a girl.
Me: Oh ok.....

And so generalisation and stereotyping comes into play that early in age? From where did she learn this? School? Peers? Definitely not from K or myself....

==========

She had a nose bleed the other night. In the middle of the night actually. When we woke in the morning, she said "I bleed-ed." 

While the word should be "bled", I am surprised she understands the concept of "past tense". We never consciously taught her that so I'm kinda happy she's smart enough to pick it up on her own. I guess it helps that we all try to speak proper English to her. 

Mandala time again

A mandala that was done 2 weeks ago.

One that was completed today, under eh influence of Panadol, antibiotics, Zyrtec and cough mixture lol...not too bad actually. The drug-Influenced mandala turned out quite nice I think haha. Nicer than the one above :) 

Sick :(

Down again. Managed to hold out longer than I expected since I started work though. 

Fever, tonsillitis, slight cough and slight flu. 

Doc saw me earlier tonight and put me on antibiotics straightaway. Coupled with 2 days mc and an instruction to take lots of rest and water. 

Yes doc I will try to rest more...

Hehe

Our little erm...tablecloth. Lol....

For posterity

How this mother of two looks like in March 2016. 

We'll see if there are more wrinkles or age spots in a year's time? Lol....

Yummy yummy

Little baby had a culinary adventure yesterday evening. My brother gave the family a treat at Tung Lok signatures because of his birthday and recent promotion at work. 

When I saw the menu I commented that she wouldn't take the first 3 dishes but I was so wrong. She tried each and wanted more! Maybe it helped that she was hungry too. :)

She had Peking duck skin and the wrap that came along with it. She had lobster for the first time! And wanted more...in fact, she had half of my piece....

She had her first taste of fresh fish maw as well. And soon hock fish in a green chili broth. 

I was surprised she managed quite a few mouthfuls of the fish and its accompanying mushrooms and black fungus! They were a little spicy due to the green chili broth but she took them in good stride, coupled with many mouthfuls of water and soup haha. She did better than her 13-yr old cousin who only did a mouthful of fish and refused more. 

She had her first taste of tau huay too! And coconut ice-cream!

It was really an interesting night for her and I'm proud that she was so adventurous last night. :D 

Way to go Little Baby! 

Blankies

This is the 2nd Aden and Anais blanket we've lost. 

The first time the school lost it during Nadya's infant care time. I was pissed off because it was probably put into another baby's bag and the parents didn't bother to return it. How else would a big blanket disappear? 

The second one was lost last evening through our own carelessness, under the eyes of 3 adults. While we were out in a mall. Either we are all seriously lacking sleep or we are all just too complacent and unaware of our things. 

I'm upset mainly because the blankets material is really very good and I'm particularly fond of that piece of blanket. Though it's just a plain white blanket, it's very beauty is in its simplicity and plain-ness. 

Sigh...

Alyssa @ 6 months

"Standing" at 66cm and weighing in at 7kg.

Language
She's making many noises which is a good thing. She is a rather "squealy" baby haha. She squeals much more than Nadya ever did. She gurgles quite abit these days as well...and gives little baby sighs that are oh-so-adorable...


Social Interactions
She is slowly recognising people these days I think. She is quicker with her smiles when someone she knows is interacting with her. And I believe she already looks up to her older sister. Whenever Nadya is around, she would be staring at Nadya and watching intently whatever Nadya is doing.


Emotional Control
Erm, little to say here for a 6-month-old. She is a very happy baby compared to when Nadya was her age. She is quick with her smiles and goofy grins. There are times when she raises her brows in a comical way and other times when she breaks into such a happy grin that her entire face scrunches up. Stay happy little sunshine!


Food
It's a trickier affair with Alyssa. She's a breastfed baby, till now. I only managed to breastfeed Nadya for 1.5 months last time. Alyssa has so far gone from 100% breastmilk to a 80-20 arrangement then a 50-50 arrangement and now she's doing 20-30% breastmilk each day with the rest being formula. Why so? Because I was aiming to wean her off at or around 6 months old. Well she's 6 months old now and my supply still hasn't diminished fully so I guess she will still be on the 20% BM and 80% FM arrangement for awhile longer...

I will be starting her on solids either today or tomorrow. :) I look forward to seeing her reaction actually. Because she has been showing interest in our food for several weeks already. :) She stares and licks her lips when I eat in front of her haha...

Nadya @ 2.5 years

Standing tall at 86 or 87cm. Weighing in at 12.5kg thereabouts.

LANGUAGE
She's pretty alright with English I think. Her speech is good although not grammatically correct. And she's picked up on Singlish too so we will need to correct that (and ourselves too.....). These days she rambles on and on about various things.

Her Mandarin's rather weak though. And whatever words she knows either comes out mispronounced, phonetically inaccurate or just sounds like as if it's a Caucasian speaking it lol. More work to be done in this aspect. She gets stunned sometimes when I speak a full sentence to her in Mandarin. When she recovers and has deciphered what I was saying, she would then respond to me in English. Bah, not good.


MEMORY
Excellent. What can I say. She remembers things from eons ago. And after several times of reading a storybook to her, she is now finishing up the last 1-2 words of each sentence in the book.


SOCIAL INTERACTIONS
I detect abit of myself in her. Shy and withdrawn at times, preferring to stand by the side to watch and observe rather than being in the thick of things. There are times when she just stares wide-eyed at someone who is trying to be nice to her...and then either scampers off or hides behind me. Yet at other times with people she is familiar with, she would be loud and boisterous and downright bossy. Think "MAMA! STAND HERE!" "DADA, SIT THERE!" type of bossiness.

I'm glad to see her having friends in school and being comfortable with them. Where some teachers lack in warmth and fun, I think having good friends in school bridge that gap...:)

And oh yes, she is slowly accepting Alyssa into her life...she will make time to give Alyssa some pats or try to play with her. Although half the time she gets frustrated because Alyssa either can't comply with her instructions or will just give her a goofy smile or a blank stare hahhha.


EMOTIONAL CONTROL
Working on this. Getting her to calm down and regroup her senses when she is in a tantrum. She is getting it slowly. I think. She understands when I tell her to "settle down first and then we'll talk" or "take a deep breath and settle down"...I can see her trying to calm herself down and even taking a deep breath when I do it with her.

But oh well, she's still a 2 and a half year old. Tantrums are probably her forte at this stage in life lol...


FOOD
She loves her Ribena, barley water and other cool drinks. She loves her mushrooms, of any sort. She loves her tofu, be it white or egg, tau kwa or tau puay. She loves her fishballs and fishcake. For a long period of time she refused to eat chicken or fish or pork at home. I'm happy to note she has starting eating chicken and minced meat at home now...I think the trick to chicken is that I don't tell her I am feeding it to her....haha.

She has tasted curries but still doesn't have a much of an affinity to them. She will get all red and teary-eyed before asking for water haha. :)


TOILET TRAINING
She knows how to tell us that she needs to poo and will do so on the toilet bowl. Peeing is a different creature to tackle altogether. She doesn't tell us that she wants to pee and will still do it in her diaper. or in the shower when she is about to bathe....Not quite sure how to "train" her up in this also haha. Guess we will just wing it....at the most...wash more shorts and bedsheets and blankets, wipe more floors, etc.....

Come on, Chin up!

4.5hours of sleep.
With a 20 or 30-minute interruption somewhere in between.

It's 330pm now in office.
I'm gradually nodding off already.

Jialat. :(