Yuan calls Ma Ma

The much awaited moment arrived for me a week short from the day Yuan hits 10 month.

And this time round, compared with the 2 older brothers’ times, I got it captured on video. No fluke, and you will see, for he repeated “mama” many times. Sweet!

Sleep like A Baby

The truth is, babies don’t really sleep well at all. How else do you think mothers with little ones get so deprived of sleep!?

I am amazed at how well I can still function on a day to day basis with so much disruption to my sleep every night. On a good one, Yuan wakes me up 2-3 times a night. Most times, it’s 3-4 times! Yet day after day I go to work per normal, as if I’ve had my full 8 hours of continuous sleep. Compared to when I had Yu, and needed to sleep in the car every morning while my hubby drives me to work.

So it proves that age is not a factor in determining how much energy a new mother has daily. What then is my secret? What is different different now versus 6 years ago?

Aside from having a maid, I think it is also good nutrition. And my secret to that is a daily cup of Ensure!

‘Lil Pearly Whites

For the record, Yuan cut his first tooth, the lower incisor, at around 7 months of age.

Now at 9 months, his upper left incisor has erupted. And he makes it known to me through his bites…when I am nursing. Ouch!

Sleep Training Yuan

I confess. I was addicted to watching drama serials online, and as a result was negligent with Yuan. Since watching Scarlet Heart aka Startling By Each Step ( 步步惊心 bu bu jing xin) online during my 2 months of hospitalization leave prior to Yuan’s birth, I’ve been hooked.

Now I am paying the price. Because I stuffed Yuan with the breasts each time he cried so I could continue to watch The Yang Warriors online, I’ve turned my breasts into props for sleeping. As a result, not only is he sleeping badly with 5 wakings nightly, he also developed habitual snacking with 2 hourly feedings.

To save myself from the agony I had to go through with Yu when I went back to work then with him still waking up to 5 times nightly, I dug out all my baby sleep training books. I have them all, almost. From Gina Ford’s Contented Baby to Gary Ezzo’s BabyWise to Tracy Hogg’s Baby Whisperer. I tried them all previously with Yu and Yue, with limited success for each method. What worked previously was only Tracy Hogg’s Pick Up Put Down method to get Yu to stop waking up at night. As such, I have a biasness for Tracy Hogg’s methods, although many of my friends swear by BabyWise.

I speed-read all 3 books over one day and have come up with a plan.

At 8 weeks, Yuan’s problems (or rather, my problems since the little one is all bliss still) are:

1. Snacking 2 hourly in the day
2. Habitual wakings up to 5 times every night, typically with first waking at 1am, followed by hourly wakings at 3, 4, 5 and 6am!
3. Difficulty in falling asleep without being latched on to my breast.

I will need to resolve them one by one. Hopefully, by the time I finish watching the very suave Kelvin Cheng in Ghetto Justice 2 (oops!), I will be enjoying more restful sleep nightly.

P1 Registration

P1 registration has been described as a rite of passage for parents in Singapore. Indeed, Koppiepapa and I went through it last month.

The registration process takes place in phases. As members of a methodist church here, we qualified for phase 2B for all Methodist associated Primary Schools.

Among these schools, Our first choice was ACS Primary. For that, we bought a property within 1km of the school years ago, when I was surveying the P1 registration landscape. Although ACS junior was slightly over 1km from this property, it did not matter much to me then as we were set on ACS Primary.

Weeks before we were due to register, I learned from kiasuparent.com that for 7 preceding years, no balloting was required for kids living 1-2km from ACSJ in phase 2B. In comparison, as I have known for a while now, balloting was required for kids within 1km of ACSP in the last 2 years.

Hence, we had a change of strategy. We decided that ACSJ could possibly give us better chance to enrol Yu in compared with ACSP. But it was not guaranteed as statistics of the enrollment change for year to year. Therefore, there was a need to monitor the situation over the two days of phase 2B and decide 1 hour before registration closed which school to submit our registration form against.

Koppiepapa went down to both schools on the first day of registration to check out the situation and familiarize with the staff and the process, while this mama lurked around the forum in kaisuparents.com for updates. I was only 3 weeks into my confinement for the birth of Yuan.

On Day 2, around 2 O’clock, Koppiepapa and I drove to ACSP. We weren’t quite sure which school to station ourselves at, so we parked the car at ACSP as it was convenient. As it was only 2pm when we got there, Koppiepapa suggested that we go for coffee at Balmoral Plaza or nearby, which of course the anxious me rejected on the spot!

So we proceeded to the admin office in ACSP. There were already a few anxious parents staking out in the office. We sat around too, me observing the situation eagerly and Koppiepapa training his troops in Clash of Clans! At around 3pm, when we learned that balloting will be required for kids within 1-2km of ACSJ, we promptly put in our form for ACSP. Shortly after, we left the premise while many parents continued to sit around, awaiting the final numbers at the 4pm closing.

While having coffee at Old Town in Chun Tin Road, we learned that balloting was needed for us as there were 25 kids vying for 26 places. The feeling of dread as well as relief began to sink in then. Relief that it was over, dread at the possibility of being balloted out…

By the Grace of God, balloting was cancelled by the end of the next day, as MOE announced that all kids within 1km of ACSP got in. We never found out what happen. It really doesn’t matter since we got what we wanted, or rather what God granted!

Since all 3 of my kids are boys, I will never need to go through this stressful process again! Praise The Lord!

The two stages of my boys’ life I continue to be mired in

All the world’s a stage,

And all the men and women merely players:

They have their exits and their entrances;

And one man in his time plays many parts,

His acts being seven ages.

At first the infant,

Mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms.

And then the whining school-boy, with his satchel

And shining morning face, creeping like snail

Unwilling to school…

The latter stage above being what this Mama has to deal with this April’s Fool morning…Haiz!

My Father

Prior to the Down Under trip, Yu wrote this composition.

It made Koppie Papa grin from ear-to-ear.

Yu’s composition on My Father

Down Under

First flight the boys ever took

Finally, after many failed attempts, the family succeeded in going on a faraway holiday. Ok, if you can consider Brisbane, Gold Coast, a 7 hours flight journey away, as far.

Koppie Papa and a 22 weeks pregnant me survived the trip with not only 2 young pre-schoolers in tow, but also with Ah Gong and Ah Mah. It was one amazing trip which I started out a little apprehensive, but ended total satisfied when all declared it was a good holiday at the end of the 9 days. In particular, I am pleased that I was able to bring both my parents on a holiday while they are still active and mobile.

So what did we do over the 9 days? Here’s the photo story..

DAY 1 – Depart Changi Airport on the late night Scoot flight to Coolangatta Airport.

Taking the opportunity for a shot with Jia Jia’s (or is it Kai Kai’s) replica at Terminal 2, Changi Airport.

DAY 2 – Arrival at Gold Coast, Tim Sum lunch with Uncle Nick at Australian Fair Shopping Mall, checking-in to service apartment at Gold Coast.

DAY 3 – Full Day at Sea World, where the boys got to check out all sorts of sea dwelling animals. But don’t ask me if the dinosaurs were sea dwelling..beats me!

Checking out the penguins.

Never knew sea stars were this hard and rough!

Look out, Ah Mah! The apatosaurus is coming after you!!

Nothing like an ice-cream in the cool autumn evening, after a long day in the theme park.

DAY 4 – Moved to 2nd Service Apartment ; Half day at Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary

The Kangaroo Whisperer at work.

In conversation…

In deeper conversation still…

“One last hug before you go, ok”

DAY 5 – Dream World – For the typical commercialised theme park thingy, plus more kangaroo fellow-shipping for Joe.

Round and round in the tea cup with Ah Mah.

Bumping around with Ah Gong

DAY 6 – At Hosanna Farmstay

DAY 7 – In Brisbane – the incorrigible koppie parents went apartment shopping, without the kids!

DAY 8 – Morning at the Botanic Gardens in Brisbane. Immersing in the Chinese tow-kay networks in the afternoon. Dinner with Uncle Nick.

DAY 9 – Home Sweet Home, but not after a 2 over hours of flight delay out of Coolangatta!

And God Told Him So

There is something just so sweet about a 6 year old telling you he knew the answer because “God already told him”.

I am 17 weeks along in my pregnancy. We already strongly suspect it to be another boy from the  last ultrasound scan done at NUH, but the sonographer, knowing I already had 2 boys and perhaps fearful of disappointing me, refused to confirm.

Yesterday’s scan at Dr Tham Kok Fun’s clinic confirmed the suspicion the moment the transducer probe hit the belly, before the good doctor even opened his mouth to speak. Sticking out between the legs was unmistakenly a little penis!

When this was made known to Yu the same night, the grinning boy simply said he already knew it would be a 弟弟, as God already told him so.

I was pleasantly surprised and asked him how God spoke to him. He was not able to describe the experience although he did say he did not hear any voice.

And there and then I knew my boy has had his first conversation with God.

 

The Moon Represents My Love

Three year old Yue to Mama on a moonlit night: “Mama, it is lovely to see the moon in your eyes.”