Friday, April 27, 2007
Activity...
I mentioned previously of the activeness of the little one and promised to upload a video, but got too lazy to get it going. doGged and ymusti came to visit yesterday evening and saw gabe pull but a few punches and said he's an active boy. Looks like I have to show what kind of kicks and punches this boy is capable of. 2 minutes worth of action. I hope you wont be bored. If you're wondering, yes, he's real strong. The mother has to keep up. If I'm not mistaken, the right bicep is growing.
Monday, April 23, 2007
Mummy's Day Out
We all woke up with much excitement as the day would be packed with activities, at least for me. I had an appointment with my mum's friend, who does professional massages at home. The relief was much needed. I need not explain more haha. Then I'll get a much-needed afternoon nap before heading heading to a Japanese dinner with the cell group and then the Phantom of the Opera at the Esplanade. This meant that Gabe had to stay at my mum's for the day, much to her delight anyway.
So we prepared the little boy and he took his usual morning bath, this time, coupled with a few burps. Check it out!
The day out was great; some freedom and sleep is much appreciated. But at the same time, I kinda missed the boy. According to my mum, he hardly slept the whole day and his cries were the "pitiful" kind, most probably due to the unfamiliar environment and the absence of the cow/ mother. But we'll have to keep letting both grandmothers have their turns in taking him for an afternoon/ a day, so that he'll be close to them too.
So we prepared the little boy and he took his usual morning bath, this time, coupled with a few burps. Check it out!
The day out was great; some freedom and sleep is much appreciated. But at the same time, I kinda missed the boy. According to my mum, he hardly slept the whole day and his cries were the "pitiful" kind, most probably due to the unfamiliar environment and the absence of the cow/ mother. But we'll have to keep letting both grandmothers have their turns in taking him for an afternoon/ a day, so that he'll be close to them too.
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Gabe at 2 Months
Family picture -- Gabe at two months. Did I forget to mention the boy's a frowner too?
Apparently someone's not interested in taking pictures.Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Uniquely Gabe
Gabe turns two months today! Get to know him better.
- To date, he has learnt to "talk" ie coo and make funny sounds at you, quite a fair bit of his awake time. He is also able to respond to you with smiles and laughs. He is very active, always vigorously punching his hands and kicking those trotters. Will be posting a video of that up soon. He weighs between 5-6 kg now.
- He's got a fiery temper, which displays when he wants something NOW. Otherwise, he is real good at entertaining, especially his grandparents. The entire household raves at every wave of his arm/ kick of his leg/ display of his famous smiles. Good move though, haha!
- He's starting to perspire! His hair can have that sok sok smell!
- He must prop his feet on something during meal times. He's now long enough to place both feet on the bed/ sofa but when situations do not allow him to do so, he'll try to "find" placements for his feet, even if only the ball of his foot is touching, also happy. And when only one foot can find a secure base, the other will rest on the secure foot so that both will be rested on something.
- He likes to leave a big gap between big toe and second toe, hence grandparents say it looks like the stick that heaves the bamboo poles that hold your laundry.
- He will take a smile-break near the end of each feeding session. (Does not apply to bottle feeds)
- He must compete with the mother to be the first to wipe his mouth after the feeding session. Mother attempts with hankie, gabe with mitten.
- He chuckles in his sleep. But at the moment, due to inability to coordinate sound and breathing, it sounds like a series of gasps.
- He has outgrown much of his home clothes, and gifts of rompers and shirts must be worn asap. He is now wearing stuff that is for 6-12 months, which goes to show how inaccurate the predictions on the labels are. Many mother-friends also say that the age-size is buay zun one.
- He loves baths, and can now sit holding his head up, no assistance on the neck, for quite a while.
- He has a double chin and not much of a neck. The second of that double chin spills over such that the neck cannot be seen.
- He has lots of snort.
- He responds to instructions like "suck suck" and when you "mmmmm..." him, he clears his bowels.
- To date, he has learnt to "talk" ie coo and make funny sounds at you, quite a fair bit of his awake time. He is also able to respond to you with smiles and laughs. He is very active, always vigorously punching his hands and kicking those trotters. Will be posting a video of that up soon. He weighs between 5-6 kg now.
- He's got a fiery temper, which displays when he wants something NOW. Otherwise, he is real good at entertaining, especially his grandparents. The entire household raves at every wave of his arm/ kick of his leg/ display of his famous smiles. Good move though, haha!
- He's starting to perspire! His hair can have that sok sok smell!
- He must prop his feet on something during meal times. He's now long enough to place both feet on the bed/ sofa but when situations do not allow him to do so, he'll try to "find" placements for his feet, even if only the ball of his foot is touching, also happy. And when only one foot can find a secure base, the other will rest on the secure foot so that both will be rested on something.
- He likes to leave a big gap between big toe and second toe, hence grandparents say it looks like the stick that heaves the bamboo poles that hold your laundry.
- He will take a smile-break near the end of each feeding session. (Does not apply to bottle feeds)
- He must compete with the mother to be the first to wipe his mouth after the feeding session. Mother attempts with hankie, gabe with mitten.
- He chuckles in his sleep. But at the moment, due to inability to coordinate sound and breathing, it sounds like a series of gasps.
- He has outgrown much of his home clothes, and gifts of rompers and shirts must be worn asap. He is now wearing stuff that is for 6-12 months, which goes to show how inaccurate the predictions on the labels are. Many mother-friends also say that the age-size is buay zun one.
- He loves baths, and can now sit holding his head up, no assistance on the neck, for quite a while.
- He has a double chin and not much of a neck. The second of that double chin spills over such that the neck cannot be seen.
- He has lots of snort.
- He responds to instructions like "suck suck" and when you "mmmmm..." him, he clears his bowels.
Monday, April 16, 2007
My New Job
After much consideration and prayer, I went in to my HOD's office in November 2006, letting him know that I would like not to return to work after my maternity leave.
I talked to quite a few girlfriends about this and they said that it really depends on the boss. I could be asked to leave before I go off to pop, and hence not be entitled to the 12 weeks of paid maternity leave, or, the boss would be kind enough to let me claim it all. There would be many that will just ask the employee to go off. It was a time of great dilemma. I really didn't want to burn a bridge by tendering only in the second month of my maternity. That would really sabotage my colleagues and all the people that I've worked with. Though it would be a sure-win stance on my part, I just wasn't comfortable with it. Derod also said that as Christians, we should not be displaying such behaviour. Also, being there for two and a half years meant that I had really put a lot of things together, and if I didn't have a chance to properly hand things over to someone, all my hard work would really just go down the drain. The only positive part of this move would be giving the office sufficient time to employ someone to understudy me. So, after much praying and commiting the matter to the Lord, which meant that we'd happily accept whatever outcome there was, I went to speak with the boss.
God's hand was with us. The boss agreed that staying home to look after the baby is really good for him. I point-blanked asked him if he was ok with me claiming the three months of maternity in such a situation and he said, "go ahead, you deserve it". At that point, I was really very touched and thankful.
I did my homework and contacted HR for the specifics on dates and leave, and I have officially submitted my letter of resignation last week, postdated to the required date at the end of this month. So I'll be receiving my last paycheck in the month of May, and will officially take on the new job of Mum for Gabe. There are times, many times, where I ask myself whether I can cope with this task, and whether the loss of income and a certain lifestyle will matter to me. I think the answer came when I was reading Psalm 4 to Gabe just a couple of days prior to my formal submission.
"You have filled my heart with greater joy than when their grain and new wine abound."
Thank you Jesus, and I pray that I will continue to put my reliance on him. It really isn't too tough. I wouldn't have gone through each day thus far without His strength. Continue to pray with and for me, my dear friends. Now, you have a/another housewife-friend :)
I talked to quite a few girlfriends about this and they said that it really depends on the boss. I could be asked to leave before I go off to pop, and hence not be entitled to the 12 weeks of paid maternity leave, or, the boss would be kind enough to let me claim it all. There would be many that will just ask the employee to go off. It was a time of great dilemma. I really didn't want to burn a bridge by tendering only in the second month of my maternity. That would really sabotage my colleagues and all the people that I've worked with. Though it would be a sure-win stance on my part, I just wasn't comfortable with it. Derod also said that as Christians, we should not be displaying such behaviour. Also, being there for two and a half years meant that I had really put a lot of things together, and if I didn't have a chance to properly hand things over to someone, all my hard work would really just go down the drain. The only positive part of this move would be giving the office sufficient time to employ someone to understudy me. So, after much praying and commiting the matter to the Lord, which meant that we'd happily accept whatever outcome there was, I went to speak with the boss.
God's hand was with us. The boss agreed that staying home to look after the baby is really good for him. I point-blanked asked him if he was ok with me claiming the three months of maternity in such a situation and he said, "go ahead, you deserve it". At that point, I was really very touched and thankful.
I did my homework and contacted HR for the specifics on dates and leave, and I have officially submitted my letter of resignation last week, postdated to the required date at the end of this month. So I'll be receiving my last paycheck in the month of May, and will officially take on the new job of Mum for Gabe. There are times, many times, where I ask myself whether I can cope with this task, and whether the loss of income and a certain lifestyle will matter to me. I think the answer came when I was reading Psalm 4 to Gabe just a couple of days prior to my formal submission.
"You have filled my heart with greater joy than when their grain and new wine abound."
Thank you Jesus, and I pray that I will continue to put my reliance on him. It really isn't too tough. I wouldn't have gone through each day thus far without His strength. Continue to pray with and for me, my dear friends. Now, you have a/another housewife-friend :)
Monday, April 09, 2007
The Journey
It begun since June last year, which brings us to almost a year now. We found me behaving weirdly at our trip to beautiful Maldives last year. Spending that amount of money, you would think we'd eat, drink and be merry through the few days that we were there. But I was so tired I slept at midnight every night. There were some dinners where I had secretly wished in my heart that I could just stop eating and go back to sleep. But for derod's sake, and the fact that we threw a bomb into this holiday, I refused to be so idiotic. Other than unexplained tiredness, I had no appetite. Of all the things to happen when the porcelain plates of yummilicious food were displayed before us. I'd take a few bites, tell derod that this tastes absolutely yummy, that he'd love what I ordered, and proceeded to push the plate over to him. I just couldn't swallow another bite, much to both our disappointment. My alcoholic tolerance was also unbelievably low. We had ordered the most expensive glasses on the menu and after a couple of sips, I was feeling the mighty waves of the Indian Ocean, which was impossible since we were on dry ground. To round it all up, the flight home was absolutely horrendous. I had never felt such terrible backache in my life and reached home in time before I was about to really collapse. Amazingly, I had no problems with travelling on water; the mighty waves (real ones) of the Indian Ocean did nothing to me.
We confirmed my pregnancy the very night we reached home, and the nine months that follow saw much experiences indeed. No wonder people say that your first born will always hold that special place in your heart. It was my first everything, and all the joys and woes (that are somehow joys to me) are now kept in a place in my heart and mind -- my bad first trimester, not-so-normal nauseousness from the fourth month on, relationship with baby as I carried him through, the four times we saw him on the ultrasound, how he'd listen to my instructions and cooperate with me while in-utero, feeling his first movement and getting derod to feel it as well, watching how my tummy would look like seawaves as he displays his activeness, and so much more. And of course, to round it up, the process of how he decided to arrive.
Today marks the second week that the confinement lady has left. I have not slept well for the last two months, and the last two weeks has just been even more tiring, tiring, tiring. I wake twice a night to feed him, and feed him through the day too. I bathe him, change him, carry him, pacify him, talk to him, do his laundry. My world revolves around him now, since I can't really eat, bathe, or even go to the toilet whenever I want to anymore. When I go to church, I need to make sure that he doesn't disrupt the service and his feedings are a concern too, since I do direct feeds and ain't an expert at that right now. When I take him out, I have to ensure all the bags are packed the night before, and the timing of our excursion has to coincide with his very unpredictable feeding schedule.
They say being a mother isn't easy. But all's just talk until I go through it myself. Being a mother isn't easy. But I thank God for the amazing support around me. My mother has been such great support. She goes overboard with her nagging and paranoia at times, but without her, I wouldn't be able to get this far. My inlaws are equally there but the one who deserves most credit is none other than derod ;) That'll be another post.
So here I am looking after gabe all on my own, and it does have its rewards. He's now progressed to smiling in response and the latest is chuckling with closed eyes. The hours of frustrating feeding do him good - he's so huge! You won't imagine he's not even two months old.
The book I'm reading says that never will so much be learnt in such a short time (the first year of life) and the parents should really enjoy every bit of the journey, no matter how tough it seems at that point in time. And yes, I'm reminding myself that everyday, and there are many times where it's not that difficult at all. This little bundle from God is indeed a joy to look after. He's so cute.
We confirmed my pregnancy the very night we reached home, and the nine months that follow saw much experiences indeed. No wonder people say that your first born will always hold that special place in your heart. It was my first everything, and all the joys and woes (that are somehow joys to me) are now kept in a place in my heart and mind -- my bad first trimester, not-so-normal nauseousness from the fourth month on, relationship with baby as I carried him through, the four times we saw him on the ultrasound, how he'd listen to my instructions and cooperate with me while in-utero, feeling his first movement and getting derod to feel it as well, watching how my tummy would look like seawaves as he displays his activeness, and so much more. And of course, to round it up, the process of how he decided to arrive.
Today marks the second week that the confinement lady has left. I have not slept well for the last two months, and the last two weeks has just been even more tiring, tiring, tiring. I wake twice a night to feed him, and feed him through the day too. I bathe him, change him, carry him, pacify him, talk to him, do his laundry. My world revolves around him now, since I can't really eat, bathe, or even go to the toilet whenever I want to anymore. When I go to church, I need to make sure that he doesn't disrupt the service and his feedings are a concern too, since I do direct feeds and ain't an expert at that right now. When I take him out, I have to ensure all the bags are packed the night before, and the timing of our excursion has to coincide with his very unpredictable feeding schedule.
They say being a mother isn't easy. But all's just talk until I go through it myself. Being a mother isn't easy. But I thank God for the amazing support around me. My mother has been such great support. She goes overboard with her nagging and paranoia at times, but without her, I wouldn't be able to get this far. My inlaws are equally there but the one who deserves most credit is none other than derod ;) That'll be another post.
So here I am looking after gabe all on my own, and it does have its rewards. He's now progressed to smiling in response and the latest is chuckling with closed eyes. The hours of frustrating feeding do him good - he's so huge! You won't imagine he's not even two months old.
The book I'm reading says that never will so much be learnt in such a short time (the first year of life) and the parents should really enjoy every bit of the journey, no matter how tough it seems at that point in time. And yes, I'm reminding myself that everyday, and there are many times where it's not that difficult at all. This little bundle from God is indeed a joy to look after. He's so cute.
Monday, April 02, 2007
Derod Wins It all
The Name Game
The heir's name is Tan Tee Guan Gabriel (Chen Zhiyuan). Yes, this is the long long name on his birth certificate. It wasn't easy for us to finally conclude with the three portions that make up this lengthy thing.
智源 is taken from Proverbs 16: 22 [人有智慧就有生命的泉源] and 18: 4 [人口中的言语，如同深水。智慧的泉源，好像涌流的河水。] Derod's choice, and I was convinced.
Gabriel, I had wanted since I was really young. In fact, had hoped for a Michael and a Gabriel, but since I married a tan, I shall not attempt to drive my son up the wall with kill-me names like Michael Tan. Why Gabriel? He is the messenger angel God uses. I would like my son to be one who loves the Lord and listens intently to His Word, live it out, and where God speaks, to obey, to encourage and edify those around him with the Word and voice of God. Derod has no objections to this and decided that since he came up with the chinese name, the mother should be given the chance to decide the english one, though he did wonder whether the boy needed an english name...
Now... the official name. Derod had wanted to keep to the tradition of having a dialect name, which I too second. But when we found out that 智 is "tee" in hokkien, I almost fainted. It's disastrous, probably second only to Michael Tan. So I suggested that we could do a combination of "Tan Zhiyuan", and really brought my case forward with explanations and all over a period of time. This was agreed by most friends, who thought "tee guan" pretty disastrous as well. Our dear derod was not convinced and said it was weird to combine the different languages and hence stood quietly by his ground for the dialect name. Me trying to be the submissive wife went along with it. And perhaps to console myself, decided that we could "TG" him as short form, which could be potentially cool.
And... our dear derod also wanted his son's hanyu pinyin name to be reflected in the birth certificate, which explains why the name is so long. Many friends have laughed at him saying that they'll tell gabe when he grows up, that they did their best to change his father's mind (to Tan Zhiyuan) and he only has his own dad to blame.
After all this jibe and teasing, derod came back and said he has second thoughts, and regretted the dialect name. I gave him the big-eyes-dontyoudaretellmethistypeofthingnow look. And he closed the case by saying that it was all my fault -- I didnt convince him enough.
Japanese Occupation??
My mother was so kind to take care of gabe while derod and I went out to run some errands last Saturday. We left him at her place for more than half a day and when we returned, were greeted with the report that he didn't sleep the whole day. Gabe was more settled after hearing our voices (or at least, this was my mother's theory). So I proceeded to nurse the fretty little fella and he fell asleep quite soon after. I told derod that he had just wanted some comfort, and the love of my life responded with "so you are now comfort woman".
The heir's name is Tan Tee Guan Gabriel (Chen Zhiyuan). Yes, this is the long long name on his birth certificate. It wasn't easy for us to finally conclude with the three portions that make up this lengthy thing.
智源 is taken from Proverbs 16: 22 [人有智慧就有生命的泉源] and 18: 4 [人口中的言语，如同深水。智慧的泉源，好像涌流的河水。] Derod's choice, and I was convinced.
Gabriel, I had wanted since I was really young. In fact, had hoped for a Michael and a Gabriel, but since I married a tan, I shall not attempt to drive my son up the wall with kill-me names like Michael Tan. Why Gabriel? He is the messenger angel God uses. I would like my son to be one who loves the Lord and listens intently to His Word, live it out, and where God speaks, to obey, to encourage and edify those around him with the Word and voice of God. Derod has no objections to this and decided that since he came up with the chinese name, the mother should be given the chance to decide the english one, though he did wonder whether the boy needed an english name...
Now... the official name. Derod had wanted to keep to the tradition of having a dialect name, which I too second. But when we found out that 智 is "tee" in hokkien, I almost fainted. It's disastrous, probably second only to Michael Tan. So I suggested that we could do a combination of "Tan Zhiyuan", and really brought my case forward with explanations and all over a period of time. This was agreed by most friends, who thought "tee guan" pretty disastrous as well. Our dear derod was not convinced and said it was weird to combine the different languages and hence stood quietly by his ground for the dialect name. Me trying to be the submissive wife went along with it. And perhaps to console myself, decided that we could "TG" him as short form, which could be potentially cool.
And... our dear derod also wanted his son's hanyu pinyin name to be reflected in the birth certificate, which explains why the name is so long. Many friends have laughed at him saying that they'll tell gabe when he grows up, that they did their best to change his father's mind (to Tan Zhiyuan) and he only has his own dad to blame.
After all this jibe and teasing, derod came back and said he has second thoughts, and regretted the dialect name. I gave him the big-eyes-dontyoudaretellmethistypeofthingnow look. And he closed the case by saying that it was all my fault -- I didnt convince him enough.
Japanese Occupation??
My mother was so kind to take care of gabe while derod and I went out to run some errands last Saturday. We left him at her place for more than half a day and when we returned, were greeted with the report that he didn't sleep the whole day. Gabe was more settled after hearing our voices (or at least, this was my mother's theory). So I proceeded to nurse the fretty little fella and he fell asleep quite soon after. I told derod that he had just wanted some comfort, and the love of my life responded with "so you are now comfort woman".
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