The loving brothers

It is very heartening to see the 2 brothers starting to enjoy each other's company. Dennis still loves to hug and kiss his brother a lot. He also likes to "play" with his brother in his own silly ways : such as poking his eyes, pressing his nose and messing with his hair. And Chris, despite being only 6 months old, is well aware of the existence of another fellow kid in the house, and gets excited every time Dennis is around him. He will pull himself close to Dennis and starts interacting/playing with him.

Here's a video of the 2 hugging each other - more like Den hugging Chris. In the beginning of the video Chris was crying because Den, in his earnestness to hug his bro, had accidentally knock Chris in the head.

Mummy - at last!

At long last (2 years 9 months, to be precise) Dennis has started calling me! "Mi mi" - that word is just music to my ears. On good days, he would call me "ma mi" but most of the time, it's "mi mi". It doesn't matter really, all that matters is he's finally called me!

Video of the boys

I love taking videos of the 2 boys, especially of them fooling around with each other.

Another bath time video

See how much Chris loves to bathe - yelping away and refused to come out when bath time is over. Noticed, he couldn't resist eating his fingers even when he's busy enjoying his bath.

Still going and going and going and......

About a month back I said I was thinking twice about stopping breastfeeding, and guess what! I didn't stop and I'm feeling more motivated than ever to continue breastfeeding. It's weird isn't it? But I must confess I have already started supplementing Chris with formula - I'm just not pumping enough to keep up with his ferocious appetite. But he's only taking about 6oz of formula/day, the rest of it is still my supermilk.

Thanks all for the encouraging words that helped me get through the treshold and psychological barrier. But sadly, I think I'm going to stop at 6 months. This time probably for real because the yearend is coming and I wanna for a holiday!! But I'll try to store up as much as I can so that the supply can last him slightly beyond 6 months.



PS: Last week, when I was having a gastric attack, I discovered by accident that a wind medicine, domperidone, actually helps to increase milk supply. The doc said it's prescribed to help nursing mothers increase their supply. So guess what I've been taking the past few days??! I just need this "steriod" to temporarily boost up my supply. Besides, it helps with the wind and indigestion.

Random photos

One of the very few photos which I took with mummy....do I look like her??

After my second haircut last week... how do I look?

Baby where'd u get your body from?Baby where'd u get your body from? I got it from my mama, I got it from my mama...NOT

Dennis and his fav Sesame Street pals and a bear.

Dennis playing in the playground

Chris in diapers

This is just a random video of Chris - him in diapers and smiling.

Greedy Chris

Something tells me baby Chris is going to grow up having a ferocious passion for food....(just like his dad)

Why is it so difficult to bathe Chris?

Other than the fact that Mr. Mini Michelin Man is quite heavy , Chris also uses his bath time for his exercise regime.

4 months old

Chris turned 4 months old yesterday and within this short span, this little guy has actually achieved quite a few milestones. These are what he can do now:

1) Chris can roll over. He rolled over for the first time on ma-ma's (grandma) bed on mid-autumn festival- probably trying to impress ma ma. Unfortunately, I've not taken a video of him doing that, need to remind myself to do that.

2) He can hold his milk bottle but only for a few seconds. Of course he can't feed himself yet, he just holds the bottle. It's quite annoying actually because everytime during feeding, he will shove our hands off to hold the bottle, which makes it very difficult to feed him. Grrrr.....

3) This boy refuses to sit, he likes to stand. Look at this video of Kakak Tina attempting to make him sit but ended up bouncing him.

4) Chris is very loud. He likes to chit chat and once in a while,he will laugh out loud. He's pretty fun to play with now.

5) And last but not least Chris can already SIT UP on his own. This, I have pictures to prove:

Ok.... that's a lie. He's sitting up because of the Bumbo seat. =) Actually, he doesn't quite like to sit in Bumbo because as I've mentioned, he prefers to stand. So, everytime we put him in Bumbo, he will stretch to the back to try to stand up and get himself out of the seat.

Something tells me this boy's going to be quite a handful very soon. But so far so good. At this point, he is still quite manageble. And Chris is a happy, friendly boy who loves to smile. He's also following his sleep routine - goes to bed at 7pm, and wakes up only once after his night feed at 10:30pm. After that he will sleep through till about 7am. Let's hope he will keep to this routine and slowly when he's ready, drop the 3am feed altogether.

To quit or not to quit??

I’ve said many times that I would stop breastfeeding Chris exclusively once he turns 4 months old. Breastfeeding has been such a bane, it’s constricted my life (can’t be out more than 5 hours, cos I have to return home to pump) and stolen a lot of my precious sleep, and I so want to give it up.

Chris is 4 months old today and supposed to get his first bottle of formula but he hasn’t. Why? Because as much as I bitch about breastfeeding, believe it or not, I find it hard to give it up. It’s SOOO odd. For all the difficulty it’s caused me, I thought I would be jumping in joy now that I’ve met my deadline. But I’m not…. In fact I found myself finding excuses to postpone the ACT.

Maybe it’s because by giving Chris breastmilk, I know that I’m giving him the best that he can get at this tender age. No formula can replicate the goodness of breast milk. Perhaps, China’s tainted milk scandal has something to do with it…. Or I am just not ready to lose this special bond that I share with him (even though I don’t feed him directly).

Whatever it is, I’ve given myself 1 more week. Told myself that I’ll do it during the Raya week when I’m on holidays. We’ll see whether I’ll have the heart to quit then. Somehow, I suspect it's going to be postponed again.

Baby with an ATTITUDE!

Well,the pictures say it all...

What you looking at?!!

Now get lost!

PS: For the record, we didn't fold his fingers just to get these shots. He did it on his own! =)

Christopher in action

Christopher is very responsive now. He responses to you when you call him and play with him. He loves to smile too.

Kissing the baby

Dennis loves kissing his brother. I don't know whether he does it because he loves Chris so much or simply because he gets a cheap thrill out of it (I like to think it's the former). In fact, he's been kissing Chris since he was born. But back then his kiss was less sophisticated, he would put his lips on Chris' cheek and then exclaim "MU-AK". That was a kiss.

In the video you will see Dennis kissing Chris but when Dennis attempted to kiss him the second time, Chris - probably annoyed - pushed Dennis away. That Michelin boy is actually quite strong.

My moo-moo supply

Following my friend, Steven's advice, I've decided to post up photos of my milk supply. Not quite as impressive as Valin's (Steven's wife; Steve, pls wipe that smirk off your face) but it's still something. I'm not as dedicated as Valin and only express about a total of 25oz a day. I also don't keep record of how much I express each day; all I know is it's enough to feed Chris.

The milk is stored in milk bottles, and each bottle stores up to 5-6oz or 9oz.

This drawer in the freezer is specially dedicated for z milk (Bad photo, need better lighting)


I follow a system that's loosely based on FIFO but I also interlace the old milk, with some freshly squeezed ones. =) I consciously give Chris the new milk particularly when I'm sick so that he can benefit from the antibodies that my body produces.


AFter all the hard work, sad to say I think I'll be quitting breastfeeding soon. But I shall perservere to feed Chris exclusively on breast milk for at least 4 months. Sigh... just not as motivated this time around.

Circus comes to town?

No, the circus was not in town but Dennis sure looked like he was preparing for an audition with the circus - "juggling" to hold 2 spades with his neck while trying hard to keep a pail on his head.
Btw, he loves holding things with his neck....I wonder why...

Little Michelin

Haven't had time to write much so I've decided to put up some photos of my little prince instead. He's turned into quite a Michelin Man, hasn't he? =)

Chris at 1 month old

.....now at 2 months plus, almost 3 months

Memory loss

It is soo true that motherhood erodes one's memory. At the first day back at work, I found myself getting into the elevator and staring hard at the buttons...........trying to remember which floor my office is located. It took me a good few minutes to recall...actually I didn't quite recall. I just sorta remember that it's located at the very last floor that elevator can go to. I tried my luck and thank god, was right.

Hey, I almost whipped out my business card to check already, ok!

A child is born

He is finally out. After weeks of anxious waiting, Christopher Lai Yong Chang finally arrived into this world in style on the 22nd of May 2008. He made mummy go completely au naturale, without epidural. Anybody who knows me knew that I was not going to deliver without epidural. Little did I know that my baby had a different plan for me. This is how it all happened:

1.00am : My water broke. I was sleeping soundly when suddenly I felt liquid trickling out. As more liquid continued to flow out, I knew this was it.

2.00am: Keat and I checked in to the specialist clinic, 2 minutes away from my MIL’s house. The midwife examined my cervix and said that it’s already dilated by 2cm. Great! All that hard work done without any contraction.

2:30 am: I proceeded to change, clear my bowel, do all the deeds. After all that, the midwife checked my cervix again and said that it’s already dilated by 4-5cm. This was again, without any contraction. Yippee, things couldn’t be going any better.

At that point, I asked the midwife if I could take the epidural now. Her reply was, ”What epidural! You’re too late for that! At 4cm, you can’t take epidural anymore.” "What! That's not what I've planned!" Protest all I want but there was just no turning back. Fear started creeping in. All I could do was wait anxiously for the contraction to kick in. I really didn’t know how bad it would be.

3.00am: still no sign of contraction. The dilation had also slowed down. No improvement since the last check. I was beginning to think that Chris had pulled a fast one on mummy - get her to dilate fast in the beginning so she couldn't use epidural and then let's take it easy.

3:30am: some mild contraction, nothing I could not handle. I continued to chat with the nurse and midwife to ignore the discomfort. Despite the contraction, not much improvement in the dilation

4.00am: The gynae arrived. Dilation was about 6-7cm now.

4.45am: the contraction suddenly escalated and became unbearable. I started to squeal in pain.

Things became hazy after that… I lost track of time. At about 5+, the gynae checked my cervix for the last time and announced that it was time to push. I had this urge to push badly too to get the baby out and end the suffering. The pushing started. I don’t remember how long it took but it felt like forever, having to battle with the pain and exhaustion. Boy, I thought the pain from contraction was bad, but the worst was actually when the baby’s coming out.

As baby Chris came out and his crying pierced through the peace of the dawn, all the pain just disappeared. Keat had the honour of cutting the umbilical cord. He said it felt just like cutting calamari. I was just soooo exhausted but exhilarated to see my new baby. Welcome to the world baby Chris.

Barely 1 week old, doesn't he look like such a big boy in this pic?

36th week

Went for my 36th week checkup on Monday. The 36th week scan is the final scan and luckily, I managed to catch a glimpse of Junior 2's face again. He's grown quite chubby on the cheek! Doc said baby already weighs about 2.6kg so he's ready to be born anytime now.

Lately I've been experiencing more Braxton Hicks (for the uninitiated, Braxton Hicks is fake contraction) which means my uterus is practising hard for the real thing. I experienced it yesterday evening, in the middle of the night and this morning. It got me a bit panicky because sometimes it's hard to tell the fake one from the real one. It can also be easily mistaken for a bad tummy ache.

The pain at the groin area has also become increasingly unbearable. It hurts even when I walk. Somehow, I don't remember going through this when I was carrying Dennis, maybe because he's smaller.

With all that discomfort, I really can't wait for the baby to be out soon!

Sing along

Dennis loves to sing even though he can't verbalise the words yet. His vocabs are still very limited and haven't developed much from the past months. But that doesn't stop him from singing!! He sings along when he watches his favourite videos and listens to his songs.

Here are 2 videos of him singing. The first one shows him singing along with mummy in the last bit of the ABC song - note the dramatic finale. =)

In the second video, he is mummy's back-up singer, barking along as I sang the Mandarin song about a dog. But we didn't finish the song because as usual, he got distracted after a while.

Engaged!

Not me (again) but my baby is! Went for my 34th week checkup last Saturday and doc said that the baby has turned. That explains why I've been feeling a lot of pain...ahem....down there lately. I could hardly walk and sit decently like a prim and proper lady now...if you know what I mean. On top of this dreadful soreness, baby has been jabbing at my ribcage and will twist and turn when he feels squashed, especially when I'm lying down. Not very comfortable at all.

Doc said baby weighs about 2kg now. So all he needs is a grand total of 200grams to beat his big bro's record-breaking birth weight of 2.2kg. According to doc, baby will weigh about 2.7kg if he's born on the 38th week and about 3kg if stays on till the 40th week. Looks like he's not going to be a very big baby either but it's all good. I don't want to suffer too much during delivery.

As for the mummy, I've put on in total about 9kg thus far. I should be able to keep within the 12kg range if I maintain this pace. Keeping fingers crossed.

Doc said that the second delivery is usually easier and shorter. I sure hope he's right and not lying. For Dennis' delivery, my final phase of labour (i.e. the unbearable phase) lasted about 2.5 -3 hours. So, if he's right, I can look forward to one that's shorter than that. Yippee!


Here's how my baby looks like at 34th week (baby's got his palm resting on his face):

Thanks to An Sin ee-ee, who helped me to convert the scanned file to JPEG.

Dancing prince

Have I ever mentioned that Dennis loves dancing??? Maybe just a thousand times. Yes, my son loves to dance and he will dance at any given opportunity and to any music. He would dance to the music played in a commercial and even to those short intro music in news programme. Amazing isn't it?

For now, it is really cute that he loves dancing. But I secretly hope that the passion will be short-lived and he won't grow up to be another Billy Elliot. Otherwise, Keat and I will have some pretty tough decisions to make.

Here's a video of Dennis indulging in his favourite pasttime. His definition of dancing is just turning round and round and round and round..... doesn't it remind you of ballet??? Scary.

Frustration!

So the big shot finally got back to us yesterday and guess what! He agreed to attend the event! YAY!!! Despite the stress, everyone was excited and started scrambling to get things done. Finally, it's HAPPENING!!!

And then today, exactly 24 hours after the consent was given, he changed his xxxx mind again! He wants the event postponed!!! Postponed to God knows when because no new date was given!!

This is a PG13 blog, about my son and my blissful life and I intend to keep it that way. So I shall keep my mouth shut and .......Hmmm......I think it's best that I stop writing now....

Excuse me while I explode!!!

Stress! Stress! Stress!

I'm stressed at work. My work is being delayed by some big shot who doesn't have time to let us know whether he can attend an event. My deadline is looming large but nothing can be done until he's given his consent. My worst fear is he agrees to it at the last minute and then I have to start scrambling like a mad woman.

Working with the Government pisses me off. I'm definitely going back to the private sector after this. Note to self: No more Government, semi-Government agencies! Go for a job which has minimal contact with the Government or civil servants in the future!

Sorry... just need to vent my frustration.

Dennis eats everything!

Keat was thrilled when I told him this the other day and he said, "That's good. So he's not a picky eater." Unfortunately, that's not the case. When I said Dennis eats everything, I mean EVERYTHING! I've caught him chewing on the roots of the neighbour's plant, his books and putting pebbles and anything he picks up from the floor into his mouth. Everytime he eats a cracker he would leave a trail of crumbs on the floor like Hansel and Gretel, except that Gretel will never find her way home because our little "Hansel" will pick up the crumbs and eat them up. Yes, he eats off the floor.

Dennis also eats the leaves which he plucks from the plants. And once he offered it to the neighbour's puppy, Hero but the lil pup was smarter than him. Hero sniffed the leaf, decided it's not palateable and pushed it away, while my son happily chomped away his bit. That's the flipside of him liking his green so much. =)

I thought Dennis has long outgrown this habit of putting everything into his mouth but I guess not and it's getting worse! And it's hard to stop him cos he's so fast now and would refuse to open his mouth once he's thrown something in. I've tried several times to dig it out only to have my finger badly bitten by him. I just hope he won't choke on something or consume anything poisonous.

New job

So, I have been in the new job for a week now....so far it has been ok. But I'm still learning the ropes of the business and slowly discovering the sensitivities and politics within the company. I guess that's expected for every new job that one takes on.

Work aside, I'm also slowly adjusting to my new life. I still hate the fact that I have to leave for work so early in the morning, before Dennis wakes up. Sometimes, I am tempted to jostle him from his sleep so I get to hug and play with him for a bit before I leave. But I know better than to do that - the boy needs his sleep! That leaves me with only about 2 hours to spend with him in the evening before he goes to bed during the weekdays, which is not a lot. Come June when the new baby is born, I'll have even less time with Dennis. Boy, I'm already feeling so guilty!

The Big 2!

Dennis turned 2 last Sunday! Look how much he has grown - from a scawnny underweight baby of 2.2kg to the rascally active boy that he is today! Just to put it on record, Mummy and Daddy love you a lot, Dennis!

Look how he sank in the basket, and his head was so small it could hardly fit the baby cap.

...but, after a few months of mummy's super milk, look how puffed up he became!

and chirpy ..

and cheeky ...

and handsome! (sorry la...he's my son. To me, he's always handsome =))

Mickey craze continues

Yesterday I bought Dennis a new pair of "Crocs" (wannabe), which has Mickey and Minnie buttons. He absolutely loves the shoes; a smile broke out the moment he laid eyes on them.

He even asked to put them on when he was having his dinner. This is unusual becuase my son is a kampung boy (village boy) who hates wearing shoes and will remove them the moment he sinks into a chair. But he asked us to put the Mickey "Crocs" for him while he was sitting on his high chair, eating dinner. And he continued to wear them in the house for the rest of the evening. Even when evil cousin Alex forcefully removed them for him, he went to put them on again! (yes, he knows how to put on sandals on his own now!)

I'm once again reminded of the power that Mickey Mouse has over my child.... shudders.....

Complicating a simple life!

There is a reason why I named my blog A Simple Life. I like my life as it is now. It's uncomplicated and things seem to have fallen into place since the initial chaos after Dennis entered into our lives. I have a job that allows me to expand my professional attainments but at the same time, leaves me with ample time to spend with my son. It makes motherhood very fulfilling for me.

But life as they say, gets a bit boring when everything is so predictable! I think subconsciously I've decided to sabotage this peaceful episode of my life. First I got myself pregnant. As happy as I am to be a mother again, I am fearful of the prospect of having to handle 2 kids. Not to mention 2 BOYS! But I've told myself that it's a decision that Keat and I have made and we have no choice but to face it with gusto.

So fearful am I that I am willing to quit my job after delivery to help me get used to the life as a mother of 2. Keat and I have spoken about this and he's suppportive of my idea.

But last week I did the unthinkable. I tendered my resignation letter and signed on the dotted line of a Letter of Offer for a NEW JOB! Yes, just as I'm about to enter a new chapter of uncertainty, I've decided to rock the boat further. I'm going to start a new job this coming March, at the beginning of my third trimester, when I'm going to be heavily pregnant, possibly cranky, moody and extremely tired.

If you think I'm crazy, well, I've got news for you. This is not the first time I've done this- 2 years ago, I started a new job when I was about 7 months into my pregnancy. Only this time it might be more scary because I will be joining this new company all by myself, I won't have my former boss to look after me like the last time. Plus, I'll be holding a more senior position and hence will be shouldering more responsibilities.

For both pregnancies, I've initially planned to take a break after delivery but this never happened. Jobs seem to like come knocking on my door when I'm pregnant. I actually took days to mull over the decision. But I suppose, at the end of the day, all of us are motivated by dollars and cents, and the carrot that the new company dangled in front of me is quite irresistable. I'm just afraid that such a good opportunity may not come by again...if I let it slip away this time.

Well, since I've made this crazy decision, I'll have to learn to face up to it. I am bracing myself for a pretty rough year ahead until, once again, the dust finally settles and everyone gets used to the motion of the new daily routines. Be it as it may, I think I'll continue to be haunted by the guilt of not being able to spend as much time with my son(s) as I do now. It's a heavy price I'm paying and I hope it will not be for a long term.

PS: I swear I'll make sure that for the 3rd child, I'll take a break after I deliver - my much deserved break!!!

M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E

Dennis has a new found love and it's none other than the age-old, well-loved, adorable mouse called Mickey. Yes, believe me, that mouse has dethroned me. In the presence of Mickey Mouse, mummy is nobody. He doesn't even bother to turn his head or beg mummy to stay when I bid farewell to leave for work.

What is the big deal with this mouse, anyways? He's got a weird voice, big ears, oversized head and he never changes its clothes. But my son absolutely adores him. He's charmed by Mickey's funny walk and dance, the meer mention of meeska-mooska-mickey-mouse will end all tantrums and dry up tears. I guess there is indeed something magical about this mouse.

The moment Dennis wakes up, he will look for his dad's mickey mouse "back scratcher" which is hung on the wall as an ornament. Then he will walk around with it and whirl it around like his magic wand.

It's amazing how kids can get so mesmerised with these characters and worship them higher than their parents, to the point of despicability. In any case, Keat and I are pretty glad that it's Mickey Mouse that he likes and not that ugly purple monster or worst still, those confused, "middle-sex" Teletubbies (can't stand them!! What are they anyways!)

I think it's just a matter of time before Disneyland beckons. Disney has very cunningly slipped in the advertisement for HK Disneyland in the Mickey Mouse DVDs, promising a wonderful time and a chance to meet with the favourite mouse. So in time Dennis is going to understand that ad and ask mummy and daddy to bring him to that enchanted place. Hopefully, An Luan ee ee will still be Hong Kong then, so we can save a bunch on accomodation. Apart from education fund, I think we should also start one for Disneyland too.