Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

It's one of my favourite time of the year. I love singing Christmas carols and looking at decorated Christmas trees. It is also a time to reflect on the past year and make resolutions for the coming year. There is so much to thank God for this year. This year flew by me so quickly not least because of Josiah. I never knew motherhood was that exhausting. Its been an incredible journey so far although there were lots of hair pulling and screaming moments. Hubby bought me a Samsung Galaxy SII which I am now using to type this post. Its my very first smart phone and I love it. I hope 2012 will be an awesome year and Josiah will continue to grow strong and healthy by God's grace.

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Busy December

December is supposed to be a month of relaxation and being in a holiday mood with all the festivities and merry-making that Christmas brings. But not this year. The past week was especially busy because I had to attend a few hearings and I even had to go to Court of Appeal last Friday. I'm so glad it's over and I can relax a little now (and blog!). Josiah is being taken care by mom this week as the babysitter has gone for a vacation. He was only there for a day but mom and grandma has been feeding him non-stop. I think too much of a good thing isn't good either. When he came back last night his tummy was as big and hard as a melon! He could hardly drink his milk. Speaking of milk, I've started him on Pediasure since the paedie recommended it. I tried a bit and it is soooo sweet! I wonder if children can get diabetes from all the sweet milk that they drink.
Josiah is walking quite steadily on his own now and does not want to hold my hand most of the time unless when he needs help when going up or down the steps. He is also quite clingy and throws tantrums when he doesn't get what he wants. Last Saturday we went to Phee's for a final luncheon because they were leaving to NZ on 12/12/11. As a result, Josiah did not get his nap and when we reached home at about 4pm, he was in such a bad mood that even before we reached the door he was crying and screaming and sitting down on the floor outside the house refusing to come in. When I carried him in and tried to feed him milk, he struggled so hard. When I took him into the room to sleep, he still cried non stop. And then he vomited. Everything. He vomited on my clothes, his clothes, the floor, the bed sheet, duvet, pillow case and his soft toy, Wolfie. Imagine my frustration. I screamed at him. I was at wits' end.  To make matters worse, Simon was not home as he was meeting a client. I had a sore throat after that from all the screaming. I bathed Josiah and cleaned up the mess. And then he fell asleep. He looks so angelic when he's asleep. I hope he doesn't develop a bad temper. How do we train our children to be good tempered and behave themselves?      

Josiah can walk!

Whatever concerns that I had for Josiah over his inability/unwillingness to walk have finally been dispelled. He has been walking on his own for a couple of weeks now albeit not completely stable as he sometimes stumbles because he walks very fast. I'm happy with his progress. He's got many pairs of shoes too although they are not expensive/branded ones.
And I'm happy to note that his top left incisor has finally began to show. This happened when we were in Vietnam. Mom told me that a piece of his gum came off and was hanging from his gums! Must have been quite a scary sight.
Our trip to Saigon was good. It is not your typical holiday of sightseeing, relaxing and shopping. It was  an eye opener. I was sad because we got to see the after effects of the Vietnam war in the 1940's-70's. A lot of children are handicapped beyond imagination due to the chemical 'Agent Orange'. Not to mention that most of the people there are very poor too. The main mode of transportation is motorbike. It is a common sight to see a whole family of 4 on the motorbike. They also drive very precariously and it is no surprise that a lot of them succumb to road accidents. The only consolation is that the country is fast developing in the industrial sector and lots of factories are blooming. This trip once again reminds me of how blessed I am, to be living in a peaceful and thriving country. I'm going to get my hands on these books to read more about the war:-  The Girl in the Picture: the Story of Kim Phuc, the Photograph and the Vietnam War by Denise Chong and Ten Thousand Day War: Vietnam by Michael Maclear.
PS: We missed Josiah so much while we were away. Everything reminds us of him. I bought him 2 pairs of cheap shoes and 4 t-shirts. Sadly, I was told he did not miss us.

Vacation in Vietnam

Hubby and I are going to Saigon this Friday. I'm so excited as we have not been for a vacation together since we had Josiah. The last time we went for a holiday was to Hong Kong and at that time I was about 4 months' pregnant with Josiah. It will be the first time that both of us are not around with him and I hope he will be alright under Mom's care over the weekend and night time. Initially I thought of bringing Josiah and in fact paid for his fare which is only a minimal amount because children under age 2 do not need to pay the full fare, but decided against it in the end because we would be walking a lot and he is still on porridge and cannot adult food yet (because he still only has his bottom 2 teeth).
I hope it will be a fun vacation. I wonder how we would cope being away from him for 5 days. I won't be surprised if most of our souvenirs from Vietnam are for him.

Flashcard classes

Josiah has been attending flashcard classes for a month now. The method used in the class is pioneered by world renown Dr Glenn Doman. I'm not sure if he enjoys it. Everytime we send him there, he will scream and cry at the door even before entering the classroom. The only time he did not cry was during the first class when I attended with him. He thoroughly enjoyed it and made new friends with the older children there. But after that, it was all screams and cries. I wonder if it because the teacher is strict or he has somehow developed an attachment to us. Even in church nowadays he doesn't want to be carried by other people and prefers to be with hubby or me. I do hope he will grow out of it soon. He used to be so people friendly and anyone could carry him.
Josiah still has only 2 bottom incisors. I'm getting a little bit worried about his teething progress though I know I shouldn't. It will come eventually. He's also been vomiting and we don't know what is the cause of it. He seems to understand more things now too. Whenever I say 'call me' he will promptly reply 'ma ma!'. It is the most wonderful words to my ears. Even when hubby asks him to call him, Josiah will reply 'ma ma!'. He also recognises spoon, plate, cup, lantern when we ask him to show it to us. Whenever he sees fish on the TV or books, he goes 'shh' and he also goes 'woof-woof' whenever he sees a dog. He is getting smarter:)

Happy Birthday darling Husband!

Today is hubby's 39th birthday! I wish hubby a very special and blessed happy birthday! This birthday is special because hubby got himself a very expensive birthday gift. It's the Ford Mondeo! Hubby has been eying it for sometime already. I'm glad he chose this car over the Merc and BMW that he was considering. It's a really good car, solid, stable and spacious. Not to mention that it's cheaper than the aforementioned. Hubby took Josiah and I for a spin in the car last night. Josiah could tell that this is a different car. He just acted differently and he was checking out all the buttons on the dashboard. And what did I get for daddy? Well, I got him a nice card, and I'm planning something special tonight. Just the three of us. I'll update in the next post.
Josiah had his chicken pox vaccination last Friday. We're happy that he has put on some weight. He is now 9.5kgs and 74cm in height. I don't remember his head circumference off hand, but I know it has increased from the last doctor's visit. Dr H is quite good with children. She was really fast with the jab and distracted him afterwards with cookies. My son is such a foodie. I wonder where all the food goes though as he is not a big baby. Whenever he has had a large meal he will poo-poo a lot. Oh, and recently he has been making the sound 'ma-ma' a lot. I don't think he is calling me, he just makes the sound and will call 'ma-ma' whenever I ask him to. I just pretend that he's calling me and will answer him whenever he calls. It's the sweetest word to my ears :) 

Happy Anniversary!

It's our second wedding anniversary today. Happy Anniversary darling!! I can't believe it's only our second anniversary. I feel like we've been together a lot longer than that. Hubby agrees too when I asked him yesterday night. We don't have anything planned yet but we will go for a nice dinner tonight together with Josiah. I usually buy a nice card for hubby during special occasions like this, but I couldn't find a nice and meaningful card when I went to Memory Lane last week. Maybe I'll give him a belated card.
We couldn't really plan anything because Mother In Law underwent a spinal operation last Friday which lasted for more than 7 hours. She was pushed into the OT at 1pm but we only saw her at 10.30pm and even then she was still heavily sedated and did not respond when we called her. The next day (Saturday) she was much better but she still needs to rest and let the wound dry up before the doctor will discharge her. We hope and pray that Mother In Law will get better soon and most importantly, she will be able to walk and not be wheelchair bound anymore. She is 73 years old so we had our reservations for her to be operated but the pain was unbearable for her. We're just glad that the operation went well and she's recovering well.
We also got to see baby Kah Yeen for the first time because he was admitted in the same hospital as Mother In Law for jaundice. He's a really chubby and cute bundle of joy. He was 3.48kgs! He's much bigger than Kah Mun who was only 2.3kgs when she was born. The character 'Yeen' is the same as Josiah's 'Sian' but the former is the Cantonese pronunciation.

False Alarm

My period came Monday night. That means I'm not preggers. I don't know why the pregnancy result came up positive. Maybe the baby died due to all the negativity and me not wanting it. Hubby wasn't too happy. But I told him that it's better this way, since I was down with fever and flu which must not be good for the baby anyway. I did also tell him that we could always try again after we have settled into our new house.
Still no news on the Ipad yet. But if you are reading this, yes You, who stole my Ipad, here's cursing you and all your descendants never ever having enough food to eat, money to spend, losing all your valuables and rotting in hell for eternity!!!

The day I lost my Ipad2

Flew down to KL last Thursday for a meeting with my boss. The following day, husband and I followed our friends to KL (again) to shop for furniture at Ikea. And that was where I lost my Ipad. I had no idea where I left it. As soon as I realised I lost it, we headed to the Lost & Found counter to report the stolen item. Filled up a form and was told that they would call me if anyone returned it. Of course no one did. To make matters worse, I was down with fever and cough since the day before. It was a horrible weekend for me. The ipad was barely 3 months old.
On another note, my period was also late and I bought a OTC pregnancy test kit. It confirmed my suspicions. I should be feeling happy but I'm not. With a baby to care for and the house just started renovation works I'm not excited at all. I did not even tell mom. The first thought that came to my mind was how am I going to handle 2 babies? Will I be able to spend quality time with Josiah when the second baby arrives? Will Josiah be excited with the arrival of a baby brother/sister or will he be jealous? How do I give both babies my undivided attention? Will we be able to take on the extra costs of having baby number 2? Will I be able to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight since I've still got the extra kilos from the first pregnancy? Will I be able to pack and move things into the new house? Will I be able to quit work now? Right now I can only pray to God for strength and wisdom.

My cheeky 1 year old boy with his 2 little teeth :)

Selamat Hari Raya & Merdeka Day

Today is the second day of Hari Raya and National day. In conjunction with the festive season, 29 aug to 1 sept was declared a public holiday. Josiah had a fall last Saturday and ended up with a bruie at his cheek just below his left eye. He was sitting (that's right, he can't ride the bike yet) on his bike and I think he was trying to reach for his toys which are in the front basket but couldn't so he ended up falling on his left side together with the bike. I was in the kitchen preparing dinner while daddy was suppose to watch him. Daddy must have gone to the room for a while when the accident happened. He was crying so much I think he must be in pain. It wasn't till about 15 minutes later that I realized his cheek was bruised. I quickly grabbed an Avent ice pack from the freezer and put it on the bruise. He didn't seem to mind and I played with him by counting to 10 then releasing the ice pack to distract him. The bruise eventually healed and by today it is hardly noticeable. I foresee more falls and knocks to come. But that is part of growing up. He still wants to sit in his bike though, and all's well again I suppose. Anyhow, a big thank you to uncle Phee & aunty JO for giving me my first bike!

12 months check up and vaccination

Josiah is due for his MMR vaccine so I took half day leave to take Josiah to Island hospital. Hubby came along too. Parking at Island is a nightmare. I took the opportunity to ask the doctor about his physical development. He now weighs 8.7 kg and he's 72 cm tall. According to the doctor, he's small built but there's nothing to worry about. Now that he's 1, he can eat butter, cheese, yoghurt etc. to help increase his weight since he does not like milk as much as porridge. The doctor also suggested to increase protein intake eg. Chicken, pork because he's mainly taking fish only at this point. I read somewhere that a child's weight should triple his birth weight when he reaches the age of 1. Josiah's birth weight was 2.98 kg. I was surprised that the doctor says he is small sized despite mommy and daddy being big built!
Since the doctor has given the green light, I'll go grocery shopping for more variety of foods for Josiah. In the meantime I'll feed him more of the special Tibetian culture yoghurt that Mom has been diligently making every week for Josiah. Thanks Popo on behalf of Josiah!

Happy Birthday darling Josiah!

Josiah turns 1 today! We celebrated Josiah's birthday last Saturday, 20/8/2011 at Tanjung Bungah Beach Hotel. It was a good turn out and the kids had lots of fun. About 80 people came including children. Josiah received so many gifts. Will post up pictures from the party when I have the time.
Josiah, Mommy and Daddy love you so much! We love every single moment of being your parents. You are our pride and joy. Love always, Mama & Papa.