Mummy has "graduated" from 1st trimester pregnancy

A smooth pregnancy it is. Visited Dr Tan as scheduled. We arrived the clinic at about 8.30am to be at the first few of the queue. It's our turn at about 9am, even before we have time to have our breakfast, yeah, no more long waiting today.

Dr Tan said "baby is growing VERY WELL"!!! So glad to hear that. And baby was actually very active kicking her/his feet actively during the scanning, it's very cute to see that, oh and even Hao Re was interested to see it. Though due to my many layers of fat, I still can't feel the movement of baby, yet :-P The next visit will be on the 24th March 2009, when some of my amniotic fluid will be taken for the chromosomal abnormalities test (Dr Tan advised due to my age, amniotic test is recommended, so I went with her advise).

Baby is now about 6.3cm in length. EDD remains on the 7th September 2009.


The reason why we brought Hao Re along today is so that he can take a picture together with Dr Tan, the first person who touched him and the first person he saw!!!


Hao Re was at extremely super duper good mood today!!!

For reasons that we didn't know of, Hao Re was in a very good mood today. Kept laughing and smiling ALL DAY long, he has brighten up our day!

We went to JB right after the clinic visit to do some shopping. Mummy and Hao Re brought something, but daddy came home empty handed, poor daddy. Daddy bought a pair of Clarks kids shoes for Hao Re, the first proper walking/running shoes for Hao Re. And the dad and son have their hair cut as well (Hao Re hair cut only costs RM6, what a bargain!).

One of the highlights of the day was we brought 3 durians, 2 was the D13 species, and 1 was the X.O. Oohhhhh, it's so nice, especially the X.O. one, bitter and thick enough for our liking :-) Hao Re has his share too! After reaching home, it's pouring heavily, so it's stay at home time for the rest of the day. We took turn to "entertain" Hao Re, and this little boy never failed to cheer us up. A happy day spent!

Durian, durian!!!



Clapping happily along with the music......


Hi, clap with me, and sing with me........


Mummy's little kitchen helper, to drag the 3.5kg watermelon to the fridge


This is my Enfa milk, I know where to store it (that's close to 4kg!!!)


Bouncing happily on Jiu-jiu exercise ball


Do I look cool? I am going to be a famous biker


How about this look, better (or is it any different?)


Yeah, daddy bought me a pair of new shoes!!!


Does it look nice on my little feet (size 6 now, grew from size 5 in a few months)


Ya, this is how it looks. Guess what, I picked this pair myself :-)

Though it's only an one-off thing.......

This was a real co-incidence. Let me tell you why......

Hubby managed to knock off work on time (which happened very rarely) today, so I picked him up from his workplace. On the way driving to Hao Re's school, we were chatting on non-Hao Re stuff (as hubby said sometimes we should forget Hao Re for a while and just talk about our stuff). But somehow, after a good 10 min or so of chatting "our stuff", we couldn't avoid but talk about Hao Re :-P

Hubby said he is kinda jealous because Hao Re didn't call Papa for a long time already, only knows how to call Mama. I said it's not true, because whenever Hao Re said Mama, it's only at times when he was not happy, wanted my attention badly, and especially when he was cranky, and definitely not genuinely calling me Mama.

After we picked him up, and as soon as we sat inside the car, I tried to say, "Re Re, call me Mama". And to our great surprise, he faced me and said to me "Mamamamamamama........." After a quick laugh, we tried, "Re Re, called Papa (pointed to hubby), and to our greater surprise, he faced to hubby and said to him "Papapapapapapapa........" We were SOOOO HAPPY!!!

But that was it. Until we reached home, he refused to call us again. And the whole night at home, no more Mama and Papa coming out from his mouth. Oh well, guess we just have to wait very patiently to have another such "sweet treat" from Hao Re whenever he is in good mood again :-)

Recently, we observed that Hao Re actually tries to learn words from us. Though many a time, he was not able to pronouce it correctly, but he managed to say something which is very close to what we say to him. Could this little smart boy be talking very soon?

Let's wait and see!!!

Some video clips........

We haven't been taking video of Hao Re since we changed to DSLR. The video camera we have is an old piece (already 5 years old) and sometimes could have faulty display. Our DSLR doesn't come with the video function. So have to depend on my 2-year old Sony Ericson handphone to record some clips, which I don't do it very often. Hubby's new Samsung F480 is quite crappy for video taking (well actually the whole F480 is pretty crap, poor hubby has to use it for 2 years).

To be very honest, actually we have been taking less photos of Hao Re nowadays. A bit lazy.... and a bit like, err, kind of getting use to the presence of Hao Re and we don't expect any major developing milestones, and so no longer get excited everyday now?!! But that day when I was talking to some friends, I realised some of "THE MOMENT" are so precious that if you don't record it down, sooner or later you are going to forget all about it.

So, here I go. Managed to take down 2 clips that are worth sharing with.

This one showing how clever Hao Re is to manage to self-feed himself with a spoon! Hao Re can feed himself with finger food before he turned 1 year old, and he has been doing that a lot. Since he is always interested to hold an utensil, we always let him have one while having his dinner or while he accompanying us for our dinner. First it's just a mess, more mess, and much more mess. But after working on his hand-eye-mouth coordination, this little boy somehow managed to scoop out his food from his bowl using his Thomas spoon! How amazing! But of course he can do it for all type of food. Noodles that have been cut into shorter pieces, soft rice, thick porridge are probably the type that he is good at. Having said that, at this stage, it's still more like playing for him, though I have no doubt he understands what is all this about. This particular video showing he was eating his "mi tai mak" or "mouse-tail noodle" (mummy's favourite!)



Okay, this video is not very clear (but I won't expect good quality with my SE old phone). What it shows is that Hao Re was happily DANCING (i.e., moving his legs, and hands and body upon hearing music) at school. Oh yes, this little boy loves music and dancing (and singing!). When teachers play the nursery ryhthm, he would stop what he is doing/playing, get up of his feet, and start the move, and sometimes accompany with singing (i.e., making non-stop arrr, ohhh, errrr sounds while "dancing"). It's so amusing! When at home, he knows which toy can make sound. So he would get that toy out and put it on the floor, squard down, press the buttom, and immediate stand out and dance to the musical. It's so cute! (hmm, okay, will try take a clip of this).



Mummy (and hopefully daddy) will try to take more video clips of Hao Re from now on. Though there would be no major development milestones to be observe these few months, Hao Re can now do so many new things and understand us so well now........ okay, that will be another post.

For now, enjoy my little man in action!!!

........ yet another weekend!!!

Saturday (21st Feb 2009)

Last Saturday was the only Saturday for the whole year that mummy had to work. So mummy left after having breakfast with hubby and Hao Re, leaving the two guys at home for the very special bonding time (the only day so far with no mummy around on the weekend :-)).

According to hubby, Hao Re behaved really well. Took his morning nap for about 1.5 hours, while daddy took this "free" time to finish all the housework, vacuumed and mopped the floor, cleaned the toilet, cleaned the table top, etc. When I arrived home, Hao Re was playing with his toys, and he was a bit surprised to see me coming from outsite the house. After a couple of minutes, he kind of sorted out why, and came to give me a big hug, how sweet!

Oh, one important message that I took home after the Saturday morning event was - according to our guest speaker (a child oncologist), to be on a healthy lifestyle and diet is the most important keeping you healthy (everyone knows this but very few people are practicing this). Eating 5 portions of fruits and vegetables (with a variety of colours) a day is highly recommended. While taking supplement is actually not doing good to your health. I was surprised to learn that there was a study comparing 3 groups, 1 with usual diet, 1 with at least 5 portions of vege/fruits a day, and the last 1 with lots of supplement. Result was the one taking fresh vege/fruits scored the best, while the one taking supplement scored the worst! Luckily our family is never a fan of supplement (we NEVER took any supplement, not even Vit C), I only take Obimin, the multi-vit for pregnant woman as prescribed by gynae. But we will certainly gear up our intake on fresh fruit and vegetables, esp hubby, don't think he is taking enough now, while I take lots of fruits everyday. BALANCE is the key word to maintain a healthy lifestyle!

It was raining later of the day. Hubby suddenly has this impromptu idea of paying a night visit to Esplanade. So we set off for this last minute and unusual late evening family outing. Left the house 6pm. Hao Re fell asleep during the car ride (he hasn't took his afternoon nap yet).

When we arrived, he was still sleeping. So put him into his stroller and sourced for our dinner. Finally went for Peranakan food instead of Japanese, as there was no queue for the Peranakan. Ordered our food, and started to have our dinner, and Hao Re was still sleeping! It's kind of nice, as we haven't had uninteruppted meal for a very long time already. But only half way through our dinner, he woke up and I have to feed him his cereal, and hubby continued to finish off his dinner, then took over.

After dinner, went out to the open-door stage, where there was a rock band performing. Though the music was a big loud, Hao Re enjoyed the music! If it's not because it's already night time (dark) and he just woke up, I guessed he would be happy to be dancing on the floor (which he usually did upon hearing music playing). For that evening, he only wanted to be carried and enjoyed the band performing.

Arrived home at around 9.30pm. Hao Re didn't want to go to bed just as yet. I was tired and needed a rest, so went to bed at 10.30pm, hubby accompanied Hao Re to watch TV. Then I woke up at 11pm to make milk and put him to bed. Luckily it was a breeze putting him to bed that night, not much struggle, phew, think he was already exhausted for the day!

Sunday (22nd Feb 2009)

We resumed our usual activity on Sunday - swimming! Haven't brought Hao Re for swimming for more than 1 month already. He got so excited. Daddy brought him to the deep water, hold his hands so that his head is above water, and then "pull" him around the pool at a fast speed, (understand what I am trying to describe?). He enjoyed it so much! We also tried to let go of him, let his whole body and head immersed under the water for a few seconds and pulled him up, and guess what, he was totally not afraid of it! And he started to kick his legs sometimes. Would he be successfully trained by daddy (mummy can't swim) to be a little swimmer? We shall wait and see :-)

Hao Re and hubby took their afternoon nap at around 1.30pm (missed morning nap). I finally have time and energy to clean the kitchen, I mean thorough cleaning! Felt so good after cleaning up the kitchen, spent more than 1 hour on it, and it's so happy to see the "shinning" worktop and stove.
It was raining again today, and it rainned heavily. It's a much needed rain, as most of the grass and trees already turning brown....... We went out to explore the new NTUC at the new shopping at the basement of the new Yew Tee condominium. This new shopping mall is still empty, except with NTUC. Think Watsons is the next coming up. Wonder what other shops will be there, it'll be really handy to have a shopping mall just next to our block, waiting eagerly for it! Initially only wanted to buy a kampung chicken to cook soup, ended up bought lots of fruits!

This little man was behaving very weird in the evening. He screamed (fake cry) a lot since about 6-7pm. Poor hubby has to deal with him as I was busy cooking. When dinner was ready, he joined us at the dining table, enjoying his special "soaked rice in the tasty homemade chicken soup". He almost finished 1 full bowl of the rice! Before I have time finished off my dinner, this boy got cranky again, and started his screamimg/fake crying...... We tried to "troubleshoot", could it be:

- he is teething (recently drools and likes to put fingers into his mouth and bites)?
- feeling uncomfortable because of his nappy rash - pooed a lot since Friday night, and developed some rashes?
- wind in his stomach?
- simply not happy and wanted to get our attention?

At the end, I figured that he was toooooooo tired as he only took 1.5 hours early afternoon nap today, and needed some rest. It's true, only after 30min after his meal, he drank 6.5oz of milk (wonder how his little stomach can take in so much food!) and then quickily dozed off to his lala land!

Wow, how nice, Hao Re went to bed and sleep soundly before 9pm!!! I finally have some ME time!!! But still, my me time was spent on cutting his nails, doing laundry, packing his school bag, cleaning the kitchen, etc....... while hubby was busy with ironing. After completing all these things, we can finally sit down and watch tv together at 10pm. And we both knocked off at 10.30pm.

A normal but well spent weekend!

Oh wait, I forgot to tell you one thing - Hao Re has his first taste of DURIANS today!!!!!!! Hubby's craving for durians can no longer hold back once he saw some at NTUC. Though those durians didn't look nice, he still couldn't hold back and buy 3 packets for $10. Hao Re tasted it, he kind of okay with it. Din't reject and din't get very greedy like his favourite food....... So we shall see whether or not he has inherited daddy's love for durians!

Will upload some photos soon with Hao Re eating durians..........

Finally, we were there!!!
Hubby had been wanting to visit Hort Park since its opening (probably a couple of years back?). There were a few times we nearly made it there but eventually didn't due to some (whatever) reasons.

So on last Saturday, on the Valentine's Day, we made it to Hort Park, finally! We went there right after Hao Re completed his semi-final baby contest at the United Square. He had dozed off during the car ride, and continued to sleep when we arrived at the park. So we put him into the stroller and pushed him around the park. It's kind of nice for us that Hao Re was sleeping, as we could have some kinda couple time, walking down the park, hey, it's Valentine's Day afterall :-)

To be honest, the Hort Park may not suit everyone's taste, as it's a pretty organized park. The unique thing is it is divided into many areas and each area displays a special theme or garden design. Hort Park is introduced as "a one-stop gardening hub that brings together gardening-related, recreational, educational, research and retail activities under one big canopy in a park setting". We are not into gardening, but find it a nice place to visit, quiet, clean, tidy, and peaceful. And note to parents, it has a pretty nice playground for the kids too! We didn't let Hao Re play at the playground as it's piping hot that day (we were there between 2.30pm to 4pm, really not the ideal time to visit a park :-P).

Hao Re woke up from his nap, refreshing himself by drinking plenty of water.


We stopped at the Bamboo Labyrinth area. Why? Because this is the only place with lots of shade, and so we can let Hao Re play with the stones, the sand, the dried leaf, and the grass.

Daddy and son chill-out time


Very excited and happy, playing with the stone/sand/leaf


Yeap, I am not afraid of standing on the stones


Got himself very dirty, especially his hands and his pant


The place that I like the most is the big patch of (very neat and clean) green just right behind the entrance, where the kids can run freely (and safely) on it, with the blue sky on top, and the fresh air! This is definitely much better than stuck inside a shopping centre. Hao Re was very happy running around on the green, while we sat there leisurely keeping an eye on him. He was daring enough to disturb other kids/people, or at least he tried to make contact with them :-) Too bad the camera was ran out of battery, otherwise we could have captured some nice photos. It was a nice day with the blue sky and the breeze.

If we were to go back again, we will have to plan our time better, best to go there around 5pm-ish when the sun starts to set so that it's too hot but can still capture nice photos. And we have yet to walk/explore the bridge/park connector. So yes, we will be back!

Saturday (14th Feb 2009) was the semi-final day at the main atrium at United Square. We were the last one to register, so my little Hao Re is contestant #20. I guess all other parents were more eager and nervous than us? Or because there was goodies bag to be given away and many booths were set up, so parents just went there earlier to grab the stuff? We didn't get the goodies bag, as the main thing in the goodies bag is the Mamil Gold Stage 2 milk powder (900g), but Hao Re is an Enfa drinker, so no use might as well don't take. There was a peadiatrician from KKH to check all contentants. Then it was a very simple contest. Each of the contestants (accompanied by 1 parent) just have to do a cat-walk on stage.

I thought Hao Re won't make it to the final because of his full bout of separation anxiety and those mosquito bites are still all over his body (luckily not too bad on his face). He didn't want to be put down on the floor, kept wanting me and hubby to carry him. But, surprisingly, once it's his turn to be on stage, he was very willing to be on his feet, doing his little cat-walk happily, and even sent out 飞吻 to the judges and audiences. He did it non-stoppingly until I stopped him. This is so funny and really made a lot of people laughed!!! And he waved goodbye and did the "gong xi" to judges as the ending. Oh my, can I not say that he loves to be on stage??!!!

Healthy check by a PD from KKH, kind of cooperative......


"Cat-walking" and sending kisses to the judges


Ending post....


Selected to be one of the 10 finalists


The whole contest took less than an hour. While waiting for the results, the emcee (who did a very good job, I think) kept mentioning to the parents that the 20 final contentants were shortlisted from thousands of entries, so even if couldn't make it to the final, we should still be very proud of our kid, blar blar blar...... Result was out. This time round, we were not surprise at all that he made it to the final (10 contestants selected). Meaning we have to come back on Sunday.

It was as if he knew that he would be competing for the final - this little boy woke up before 8am, and refused to take any morning nap! He was having his milk during the car ride to the United Square, he nearly fall asleep, but then suddenly jump up and refused to sleep! He was all excited at the shopping mall, and didn't get cranky though without the nap, lucky for us!

The final was more testing on the parents - to make milk, to change diaper and to change dress at the shortest time. Hao Re has been very cooperative and we came 2nd, meaning me and hubby are very hands-on with the daily chores :-) Again, the contest last less than an hour.

The 1st prize went to a pretty girl. She will be featured on the Apr/May issue of the LiveWell Baby. Actually this is more of what we want - for Hao Re to be the magazine cover model. But well, the 2nd prize also not bad, an exersaucer, a diaper bag, and a goodies bag, total worth ~$500. Hao Re has already passed the stage when he would sit/play inside an exersaucer, so this prize will be just nice for his little brother/sister. Hohoho, a big present from the big brother!

The prizes won, including the new outfit Hao Re is wearing......... but Hao Re didn't look happy though, why??? Haven't taken nap for close to 7 hours!


We had our lunch before heading home. This little can no longer fight with his sleepiness. Finally slept at 2.30pm, almost 7 hours without nap!

This was a good experience for us as a parent and great exposure for Hao Re. Now we confirm he is definitely not afraid of crowd (in fact, he loves the crowd) and he is definitely not the shy type. We will keep this in mind and might help him in developing his personalities later.

Well done, the Kam-sss!!!

Finally, I understand what is separation anxiety.........

Following up from my previous post, The growing up story of Hao Re ~甘皓日~: About sleeping-through-the-night, where I described Hao Re has been behaved very differently lately. After the post, I have received some feedback from some mummies, suggesting that it could be that he is 1) teething, esp the molar; 2) having nightmare at night thus explaining the night waking incidences; and 3) having separation anxiety.

I have checked his gum that he is not teething (though I am waiting eagerly for his next tooth to be out).

Whether he is having nightmare or not, that I won't know. But he has been sleeping much better at night. Even if he woke up, only need a little bit of patting and he would fall asleep again. Though he is still refuse to go to bed at 9pm (now bedtime is 11pm), but having an interupted sleep is already a big bonus, never mind the late night. And that's the reason why I blog less nowadays, because no more "free time" at night. Once he goes to bed, I follow.........

And yes, he is definitely having SEPARATION ANXIETY!!! Yes, for the very first time since he was born till turned 13 months old. Why do I say so? When I am accompanying him, he is perfectly okay. But when I am out of his sight, he would almost immediately make out a loud cry. Luckily hubby still managed to soothe him after a few minutes, otherwise, I can't do anything with this little boy attached to me full time. So now after work, I have to wait till hubby came home from work, then only I can have a shower and have some rest. When we were out to the shopping centre, he wouldn't want to get down on his feet, so unlike the usual him, whereby he would want to be put down as soon as possible and explore on his own. When we were at the park, he was all right though, as it's not crowded and we were by his side all the time.

When I thought things started to improve and get better over the weekend, because, he is, again, willing to play on his own while I am cooking in the kitchen, but this morning, he has the full bout of the separation anxiety when I sent him to school. It broke my heart to see him crying like that - he hold on to me so tight, and didn't let me to put him down, and didn't want teacher to carry him. So I have no choice but to go to the toddler class, as there are more kids there, thought it would be easier for him to settle down. He was willing to be put down, but still cried when I was about to leave. So I sat down again, passed him a book and some toy, then his favourite Jie-jie was there to accompany him, then I rushed out the room before he noticed.

Phew! I hope I don't have to repeat this every morning, it's so heart breaking, and definitely not a nice thing to do to start off the day :-( I wish I could tell him (and that he understands) that mummy won't leave him there, mummy will surely come to fetch him after work, and mummy keeps thinking of him every moment. I wish I could do whatever I can to help him overcome this separation anxiety......... Meanwhile, I have to constantly remind myself to be patient, patient and patient!!!

The little one in my tummy says "HI"

I really shouldn't delay in posting this.

The story........

Mummy missed her period in mid Nov. Kinda getting worried that we might "strict the lottery" when there was still no sign of my period till mid Dec. So hubby and I (and Hao Re gogo) went to Guardian and got a pregnancy test kit. It was tested NEGATIVE. Okay, I thought, cool, since we didn't plan for #2 at this point of time.

By mid Jan before my period was due, I felt there was some subtle changes of my body, really subtle, can't tell what was it exactly, but only myself knew there was something different. So went to Guardian to get another pregnancy test kit. This time got a better brand one, as we were wondering could it be false negative for the previous test.

And ta-la..... it's POSITIVE!!! We didn't know what to say, but just kept smiling to each other. But for sure, we immediately accepted the arrival of our second baby without any further thought.

Because of the 1 negative and 1 positive test results, we really didn't know when was the actual conceived date, and really couldn't recall which days we "exercised" :-)

Scheduled to see my gynae, Dr WK Tan from Thomsom Medical Centre on the 7th Feb 2009. On a Saturday morning. As the queue was usually very long, we didn't bring Hao Re along, left him with his teachers at school.

So after almost 2 hours of waiting (Dr Tan has 1 surgery + 2 minor surgery to do before she can see patients at clinic), it's finally time to see Dr Tan. Everything is fine. Since it's a little more tricky to predict my EDD, Dr Tan actually used the V-scan to have a better measurement of the foetus size. This is the first photo of my baby. She/he was 9 weeks 5 days and measuring 29.3mm on 7th Feb 09, and EDD will be on the 07th Sep 2009.

"Hello, hello, can you see where am I? I want to give you a hug!"




I am already considered the "high risk group" as I am 35 this year. Dr Tan recommended for doing the amniotic fluid test for checking Down Syndrome than the Oscar test, which I still haven't decided on. So sad to be at high risk group now :-(

I am the lucky pregnant woman. I don't have any morning sickness, don't have nausea or whatsoever. Appetite is as good as usual (even better). And no craving for anything. Sleep as good as usual also (except the disruption from Hao Re, as per my previous post). One thing that I have to be careful on is to have a better/healthier diet.

I hope this pregnancy is going to be a smooth one, and we will see Hao Re's little sibling in about 7 months!!!

Hao Re drives me crazy at night these days!!!

Let's recall on the sleeping-through-the-night episodes........

Hao Re managed to sleep through the night without waking up for night feed since November 08, when mummy was out of town, and daddy co-slept with Hao Re and successfully made Hao Re not to wake up at night (not sure what he did, though he said he did nothing).

After mummy came back after 5 days, Hao Re still continued sleeping through the night, for about 1 month. That particular month was the month when I could finally get some quality sleep after so long, I was undescribablely happy!

Then suddenly Hao Re decided that he needed more milk. So after 1 month of uninterupted sleep, Hao Re made me woke up at 2-3am, then at 5-6am, 2 milk feeds of about 8oz each time, and that was after he had 9oz of milk just right before his bedtime at 9pm-ish. I handled it well, as I only need to wake up, make the milk, put him down onto the bed, then he hold his own bottle, finished up the milk and back to his la-la land within minutes. I didn't feel that this's particularly tough, only no more uninterupted sleep, that's all.

Then, without I noticing it, after going through this phase of growth spurt, Hao Re satisfied his stomach, and decided to sleeping through the night again. Hurray, back to my quality sleep. Even when we were back in Malaysia, he slept pretty well at my in-laws and at my parents place, except those 2 days when he was ill.

Since last Tuesday, when we came back from our CNY holiday, Hao Re has started a cough, pretty bad at the beginning that he couldn't sleep well at night. That's okay, cos I just need to carry him over my body like a koala bear, and he slept. On the second day, his cough has become much better and he only woke up once or twice for the whole night, just patted him and he slept through. Same for the next few nights. Though my sleep was interupted, it's manageable, nothing too "serious" for me to handle.

NOW, this is what driving me CRAZZZZZZYYYYYY...........

All started on Saturday. We went for my first gynae appointment for our #2 baby (will post the scan picture of #2 soon). We left him at the infant care as we scared there might be a long queue. Picked him up at around 11am, then we went to JB to visit one of our closest friend's family since it's still CNY. Hang out till we had our dinner and reached home late. Hao Re slept at about 11pm. Then he woke up at around 2am, crying, shouting, wanting me to carry, and didn't let me sit down carrying him, must walk/stand up. Took a long time to soothe him and he only went to sleep again after a tiring 1 hour. I was concern about my tummy, so tried to sit down carrying him, but must be very tactical so that he didn't realise. Once he realised I sat down, he cried/shouted and I have to stand up again. I don't mind if I can sit down and carry him, but if have to stand up and walk and carry him, oh man, don't think my back can take it. Anyway, I concluded the Saturday night episode was due to over-stimulation since we were out for the whole day and arrived him late.

Came Sunday. Didn't go out at all, all 3 of us needed some rest. When came the night, he refused to go to bed, though he looked pretty tired, and he has been going to bed not later than 9am for many months already. I tried many methods, and he just refused and wanted me to carry. I simplied got too tired and lost my temper on him. Hubby was mad at me, because he said Hao Re is still so young, how could he understand what I am trying to say to him? He took over to soothe Hao Re. I went in to the bedroom to cool down. Finally he slept at around 11pm, after watching tv with daddy for like half an hour. During the midnight, the same thing, he woke up crying again, wanting me to carry. Hubby made milk for him, but he didn't want at all. I tried to talk to him asking him what he wants actually???? Hubby thought I lost my temper again, and scolded me!!! (see, Hao Re, you made daddy and mummy quarrel, almost!!!!!!!). I told hubby I was not angry, I just tried to communicate with him as he knows what I am talking about most of the time, so I asked hubby to go back to sleep and Hao Re finally calmed down and slept again after about 1 hour. Woke up a few more times, but not as difficult to put him back to sleep. Again, I really don't mind waking up during the night, but I just couldn't bear the back pain if I have to carry him (11+kg now!!!) and stand/walk.

Yesterday night was much better. Woke up at 1.30am-ish, drank lots of water, then slept again within 15 minutes or so. Woke up again at 4am, gave him water, he refused, then I asked do you want milk, he indicated yes by pointing to his milk bottle and made a sound, so I made milk for him, only drank about 2oz, then pushed the bottle away. Carrying him to sleep, luckily he let me sit down afte I stood for few minutes. Then he slept the morning, until we woke him up as it's time to leave the house for work/school. The only thing different was I let him wear sock to sleep (did that help??? I will try letting him wear pyjamas to sleep tonight since weather is prety cool nowadays and see if this helps).

Also, yesterday evening, when we reached home, he stuck on to me like my shadow. And wanted me to carry all the time no matter what I was doing, so unlike to usual super independant Hao Re. Even when I sat down, he wanted to sit on my laps. He didn't want to play on his own. Even when our nieghbour, the little boy, came to our house to play with him, he simply ignored that gor-gor and continued to play sitting on my laps.

I hope it's just a phase and it'll pass very soon..........

I don't know what is happening. Some experienced mummies said that it's because he can sense that he will have to share my full attention with his didi/meimei soon, so for now, he wants to get all 100% of my attention??? I don't know if this is true, though somehow I felt that he knows that something is going to be changed. For now, I just wish this nigh episodes can end real soon, and so my back can relax.........

An upate on our long Chinese New Year holiday
Arrived Ipoh at about 11am on the 23rd Jan (Friday). Had our favourite "Ipoh Hor Fun", then bought quite a lot of CNY goodies, then headed home, to let Hao Re meet his Ah Ma, Ah Gong, Wai Po, and Wai Gong.

Hao Re enjoyed his time at the kampung very much, as he could run around the house freely and there's plenty of space for him. And especially, he loved the ride on the motorbike (too bad didn't take a photo of this).

Happily playing at Wai Po's house. No need to bring toys, he is interested in anything and everything.

From The growing up story of Hao Re ~甘皓日~

Regretfully, we repeated our mistake again - Hao Re has got lots of mosquito bites on the first night at home. We applied the anti-mosquito cream on him, but that didn't work at all (why didn't we learned from past experience?!?!?!). This poor boy woke up to be found with mosquito bites all over his body, face, hands, legs.... counted >30 bites!

Handsome face becomes not-so-handsome, all because of the moiquitoes, grrrrrrrrrr...........

From The growing up story of Hao Re ~甘皓日~

The next day, we quickily bought the mosquito net to cover our duoble-bed, and also a small net especially for Hao Re when he was taking naps in the living room.

Cute? His cousin, Zhi Jie Gogo liked to play with the net when Hao Re was sleeping in it, like a new toy for him :-)

From The growing up story of Hao Re ~甘皓日~

We saw some of our childhood friends on the New Year Eve. Hao Re was very happy meeting with some new little friends, and has been an angel, smiling to people, talking to people, and playing with people. Had reunion lunch at my in-law and then reunion dinner at my mum's.

Hao Re didn't stay till 接财神. He slept at his usual bedtime at about 9pm. We were tired and sleepy too, no choice but to hold on till passed midnight. After we completed with the 接财神 and went to the room, to our surprise, we found Hao Re with very high fever, his body was hot to touch! Gosh, what happened??? He was all bubbly and happy before going to bed, then suddenly now down with fever. Since it's already past midnight, there is nothing we can do. Sponged him a bit and we slept with him. The next day, the 1st day of CNY, all our festive mood had gone, as Hao Re was still with high fever. No sign of coming down. Brought him to see a GP at KK in the afternoon. Given the neurofen and an antibiotics as usual. The medicine was not helping at all. By around 10pm, we found him so hot (didn't have a termometer to measure his temperature), and he became inactive. We decided to rush him to hospital, since there were dengue cases at our village. The doc said best thing is to admit him and put him on drip to bring down the fever. We were reluctant, as it's 1st day of CNY, and temperature recorded as 38.9C, not that bad, we thought, and he was still willing to drink water (not milk though). The doc insert a fever suppository and we headed home. We bought a digital termometer on our way home. The fever is still there, measured highest at 40.5C!!! Luckily, Hao Re was able to sleep, with waking every 2 hours or so for water. At around 6am, he suddenly drank a lot of water, then perspired until the whole shirt is wet, when we all woke up at around 8am, his fever had gone down to around 38C, and was at 38-39C the whole day. He only fully recovered on the 3rd day of CNY. Such a big relief!

Helping out with sweeping the floor after recovering from the fever.

From The growing up story of Hao Re ~甘皓日~

I like to see when Hao Re 嘟起他的小猪嘴, so cute :-P

From The growing up story of Hao Re ~甘皓日~

And guess what? As soon as Hao Re recovered, hubby fell sick, with high fever, too. And so was my dad and younger brother. Drove all 3 of them to see doctor. My dad and brother recovered on the day, more or less, while hubby continued to suffer until the 5th day of CNY. He went to see doctor again, and was sent to hospital for a blood test to rule out the possibility of being bitten by the aedes mosquito (dengue). Once that's cleared, he was given a jab, and the fever went down within couple of hours. But then, his sore throat (very bad ulcer at the throat and mouth and lips) made him no appetite to have anything. Poor hubby!

We had a lunch appointment with my aunt and family on the 4th day of CNY. Initially hubby said he wanted to miss it as he was still ill. But finally he went with us, he didn't want to miss the gathering. So finally, Hao Re put on his new CNY custom only on the 4th day of CNY.

新年快乐，万事如意！

From The growing up story of Hao Re ~甘皓日~

Having fun at the lunch with 阿栋舅舅 and the rest of my cousins. The dishes are pretty good too, but too bad hubby didn't get to enjoy. Can you see Hao Re's very big and nice teeth, 8 of them?

From The growing up story of Hao Re ~甘皓日~

This is on the 5th day of CNY, when my 2 nephews were about to go back to KL. The 3 of them were all interested in the plate of Cintan instant noodle. Elder nephew, Zhi Jie, about 5 years; younger nephew, Zhi Yun, about 2 years, and Hao Re, 1 year old.

From The growing up story of Hao Re ~甘皓日~

This little fellow asked to have his favourite Gerber Graduate Puff, and then sat in front of the tv and enjoyed himself, rather than joining us at the dining table. Made me think of us eating popcorn while watching movie in the cinema.

From The growing up story of Hao Re ~甘皓日~

Poor hubby still have to entertain Hao Re, though he was still pretty ill. See how happy Hao Re was to ride on daddy shoulder. This is something I can't do, a special game for dad and son only.

From The growing up story of Hao Re ~甘皓日~

On the 7th day of CNY, we paid a visit to my uncle house at Taiping (was originally scheduled on the 2nd day). Two of my cousins went back to KL already. So no chance for us to meet them.

Another new CNY outfit for Hao Re. My mum said this one looks better, what do you think?

From The growing up story of Hao Re ~甘皓日~

Lion Dance, Hao Re version!!!

From The growing up story of Hao Re ~甘皓日~

So, that's about our CNY holiday. Only met with close family and relatives, some kampung childhood friends, and that's it. Didn't go anywhere (was planning to go to Cameron Highland, and bring Hao Re to enjoy the waterplay at Sunway Ipoh, and to meet some of my secondary school friends, etc, etc). But well, this is what Buddha said - 无常, everything is unpredictable.
Arrived back to Singapore on the 3rd of Feb (Tuesday) at about 3pm. Quickily cleaned to house, sorted out our luaguage, rested for a while, had our dinner, and it's already bed time.
On Wednesday, it's the day back to our routine, we go to work and Hao Re goes to school. Everything back on track again.
Hao Re started coughing quite badly on Tuesday night. Gave him cough medicine. Cough seemed to be better, but the phlegm is still there. Will bring him to see Dr Keoy if the phlegm still doesn't go away by Saturday.
Hao Re was 13 months old on the 4th Feb 2009. We weighed him at his school, and he weighs 11+kg. Didn't lost weight (despite not eating well for 4 days), and didn't gain weight either.
Till the next blog.......... hope you all have had a nice CNY holiday!