Pre Birthday Celebration

We are back again Phoebe ahhahaha

We celebrated Declan’s birthday 2 days earlier on 26 June 05 as it happened to fall on a Sunday. It’s easier to gather the family on a weekend than a weekday thus we decided to do it 2 days earlier. Actually, it wasn’t much of a celebration. We didn’t really do anything special for him and it wasn’t a big hoo ha thing. We simply collected our immediate family together and sing a birthday song for him, followed by us (the parents) helping him to blow out the candle and cut the cake.

I ordered a 1kg Tasmania monster mango cake for him. I actually preferred the baby Mickey Mouse cake, but the minimum size of that cake had to be 2kg. We only gathered about 10 relatives so we won’t be able to swallow a 2kg cake, thus the decision to go with the not so nice Tasmania cake. The worst thing was that the cake shop actually spelt Declan’s name wrongly!!!! Arghhhh!! They misspelled it as Dellan…. What a way to mark the most important milestone of my little one’s life…..



Actually I do not have any intention to celebrate for him as I find that it doesn’t make much sense… It’s the little one’s birthday but they won’t get to enjoy the celebration when we throw a party for him when he is just a year old. He doesn’t know the meaning of birthday, he doesn’t know how to blow the candle, he doesn’t know how to cut the cake and he doesn’t even know what’s going on right??!! All he knows is that one big bunch of people are gathering near him and singing loudly and making him does funny things and everyone is expecting him to smile and while all the adults seem to be enjoying everything, he is being passed around from guest to guest making him all tired and fussy. That’s my personal opinion though.

People around us had been asking about how we are going to celebrate for him. So, in order not to disappoint our immediate family, we decided to at least buy him a cake and did the birthday song thingy for him.

I will throw a proper birthday party for him when he turns 5 years old, when he will have his own friends to share his joys with and that is the age when he’ll probably know the real meaning of birthday and he’ll be old enough to play host.

It seem like Declan wasn’t in a good mood that day. He was fussing the whole time and he wasn’t very cooperative during the photo taking session. I guessed it must be due to the fact that he was hungry and not being fed on time.

Here come the photos of that day, take note of Declan’s grouchy face hahahhaha







That's Declan with Kiat's sister's family


Little Dec is jealous that his grandma is holding Ethylyn and not him hahaha


I just love this pic!! Ain't Ethylyn sooo cute??? Molest Declan and got caught red handed!










We are singing birthday song for him and he's holding on very tightly to his Gardenia Raisin bread. He just refuse to let it go.


Candle blowing time!

We have being "familied"

Hey I discovered that Baby Talk has been "familied".What do i mean by "familied"? ohhhh let me enlighten all of you. Nowadays it is the in kind of description you know? When you get mentioned on Mr Brown's blog we say that you are been "browned" and when you get mentioned on! Xiaxue's blog, we say you are been "xiaxued" right?

Baby Talk was briefly mentioned in July copy of "Family" magazine so ain't it right for me to say that Baby Talk has been "familied" heheh.

It was a surprise and pleasant discovery. Last Saturday, I had to take over my mum's role as the newspaper lady at our kiosk, to pass time, I started flipping through all the latest magazines. While flipping "Family", I came upon an article about blogging and upon turning the next page I saw a screen shot with the picture of a half naked baby. I was thinking to myself :" Hey, this screen shot looks kinda familiar" Then I realised :" Hey that's Declan and hey that's my blog!" hahah so fun.


Huileng! You have been "familied" too

Happy 1st Lunar B-day

Yesterday was Declan’s Lunar Birthday. His grandma was up and about in the kitchen early in the morning to prepare glutinous rice and red eggs for the prayer. By the time the lazy duo (none other than yours faithfully and her son) woke up, grandma had already set the prayer table with food including a roast chicken, a box of “red-tortoise” kuays (aka ang ku kuay), red eggs and plates of glutinous rice. It was a short and simple prayer.

The interesting part was when we had to lay out various items for Declan to pick, which according to traditions would mark his future destiny. The items we laid out included;

1) kitchen weighing scale (to replace the old Chinese type of balancing scale as I have no idea where to get one. I THINK this signifies that he will be a businessman in future. Feel free to correct me if I am wrong as I am not too good with all these Chinese traditions)

2) Ruler (no idea what this signifies.)

3) Chicken drum stick. (signifies that he will have enough to eat)

4) Pencil, pen and exercise book (signifies that he will do well academically)

5) Abacas and calculator (no idea why I threw in the calculator since both of them signifies the same thing, I THINK. I THINK, they signifies that he will have plentiful to count, or do they also signify that he will be a businessman also??? *confuse* )

6) Ang bao aka Red Packet (signifies he’ll be prosperous)



Before we let him off to pick his “future”, grandma said we must let him step on the 2 giant ang ku kway, which she ordered specially for this occasion. I am not quite sure what is the rationale of this act. Can anyone enlighten me please??





Guess what, mum in law said that the giant tortoises gotta be eaten by the parents... SO BIG how to finish???

After stepping on the poor “giant red tortoises” we let him roam free and see which of the above items would interest him most. Its kind of exciting to see your own kid “pick his future” wahahaha. I anticipated that he would reach for the red packet as this item was one of his all time favorite.

To our surprises, he actually picked up the pencil, followed by the pen and then the weighing scale! No interest on the ang bao at all!!







According to his choice it meant that he would do well academically and also be a businessman. It never occur to me that he would do well academically since he never show any keen interest in books until lately…. See this pic? Hahah it’s taken today.



Anyway, it is really too early now to worry about whether he will do well academically. I’ve got loads of other things to worry about.

Happy Lunar B-day to Declan!!

Nail Cutting HAzard

2 days ago, while I was sitting in front of my PC doing some work, a loud shrill from the next room suddenly broke the line of my thoughts. That was Declan crying out in pain. My first conclusion was he must have bumped his head again. I quickly got up and rushed to the next room. His grandma was hugging him while he was wailing. His grandma sheepishly informed me that she had accidentally cut his finger while trying to cut his nail…

I quickly took over him and carry him out in the living room trying to soothe him. When I picked up his hand trying to assess his wound, it really pained me to see that his little index finger was bleeding profusely. Little drops of blood were dripping from his index finger. In a short while, his pants was dotted with little red spots.

My heart really really ached… soooo heart pain… I use a tissue to wipe away his blood, but they just kept coming… His grandma gave me a plaster, so together we put on the plaster for him. I couldn’t see how deep the wound was because of the blood. Luckily the plaster was able to stop the bleeding but this boy hated the plaster. He kept trying to pull it off and I’m so worried that the might just aggravate his wound if he really managed to pull it off.

Hmmm I wonder whether pharmacy sell plaster suitable for infants and toddlers. Those normal Hansaplast seems a bit overkill for the little ones.

He kept crying non stop, probably from the pain and also from the frustration of not being able to get rid of the plaster. I dropped him into his sarong and within a short while he fell asleep.

I left for work. When I got home, he had gotten rid of the plaster and I took a look at his bloodied finger. He didn’t really want anyone to touch it so that explained why it was still bloodied when I came home. Wahhh I nearly fainted, don’t know from heart ached or from shock…. The cut on the finger was so deep that if his grandma just apply a little bit more strength on the cutter, she would have sliced off the flesh of this tiny finger tip!!! That was how deep the wound was!! That explained why he was bleeding so profusely. Oh my god… my poor little boy… I don’t know why old folks are just so stubborn! We had warned her time and again not to cut his nail as her eyesight was no good but she kept insisting that she could see very well…. For goodness sake she can’t even see the figures printed on her bank book and she still insist she can see well!! I read out the figures to her and she can go :´where did u get that figure? I don’t see anything printed anywhere” and she still dare to attempt to cut her little grandson finger nails??!!! Arghhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!1

This was the third time his finger was cut. The first time was when he was about 3 months old and his daddy nipped him during his first attempt to cut his nail. That time I cried together with the baby. Second time, it was my sister in law who cut him, that time I was at work when it happened. This time it was the most serious and I really hope it will be the last time anyone will injure his little finger again! Why can’t they just leave him alone??!!! His daddy will cut it for him when he is sleeping so that the chances of nipping is lower as he is motionless. What about me? I got a weak heart, I dare not cut for him at all……

Getting Married? Looking for Ring Pillows?

Hey Folks!

If you are getting married and looking around for unique ring pillows do drop by Sharons's Tink's Haven. This young lady makes beautiful ring pillows and the prices are sooooooo unbelieveable!!!

Even if you are not getting married anytime soon or already married, still can go take a peep and recommend to your friends who might need them!! I simply love her pillows!!

Time Flies!

Ying Ying Ying!!! Here we are here we are!




Was it just yesterday that I bumped into Huileng’s blog which inspired me to start a blog for my little bundle?

Was it just yesterday that the panicky me was asking around for advice from experienced mum like Ying and Huileng on how to handle these limbs waggling little beings that can’t really tell us what they want except for screaming and crying to show us their sentiments?

Was it just yesterday that I am like a milk cow who needs to express milk at every 2 hours interval?

Was it just yesterday that I am walking around like a zombie due to lack of sleep for having to feed the new member of the family every 2-2.5 hours?

Was it yesterday?? Was it?? NOOOOO!!!! It’s been months since all the above happen!!!! Now my helpless little bundle has grown into an active and unstoppable 11 months old! He’ll be turning one on 28 June 2005.

From not knowing how to communicate, he now knows that he can get something when he starts screaming his head off. He can no longer sit still. Now, whenever we leave him on the floor, he’ll crawled off quickly to the nearest furniture and pull himself up and reach for whatever things which are within his touch. So, the whole family basically spends our time chasing after him and watching over him so that his mischief will not be hazardous to himself and also to make sure that he doesn’t start destroying things which he laid his hands on.

He is still crawling with his tummy stuck to the floor. He’s able to shift himself from tummy position to sitting up straight. That also means, he has his fair share of toppling over when he didn’t sit steadily and fall backwards. Sometimes, he’ll deliberately throw himself backwards, especially when he is on the bed. He’ll assume that he’ll hit the pillows and of course there are times when he missed the pillows and hit the wall. I guess you don’t need me to illustrate what was his reaction when he hit the wall.

I am watching him carefully hoping that I will be able to catch a glimpse of his first step. From what I see, it’ll not happen anytime soon. From the way he wobbles when he stands up, I think he’ll probably need another 1-2 months before he’ll attempt to stride his first step.

That’s all for now folks! We’ll be back!

I'm still ALIVE

Sorry lah folks... i really cannot find time to blog these few weeks. Hands are really tight, whatever time I have left is very precious, so I dedicated it to my boy. Now that he has slept, I quickly come up here to blog a few sentence to confirm that I am still very much alive and kicking.

For mummies who miss my boy, here is a half naked pic of him. I snap it when we were rolling around in bed. hahaha I always like to roll around in bed with my boy.



He has learnt how to "pray pray" this evening. Still can't do "thank kiss", "pank kiss" nor "frank kiss". Dec has also grown more vocal over the past few weeks. He's now babbling alot but he don't really make much sense.

For awhile we celebrated that he is sleeping on the dot at about 10+ nightly, now his sleeping routine has gone haywire again... Yesterday he refused to close his eyes till 2+ in the morning....

Me and my team have a booth at the book fair, so mamas, if you all happen to go to the book fair and pass by booth 07 can say hello to me.

I will update more often in 2-3 weeks time, meanwhile do bear with me.

Good night!

Musical Baton

Ohhh after reading Phoebe's post on Musical Baton then the sotong me realised, I am suppose to do the same after I got the arrow from hahahah

Total volume of music files on my computer:

Just reformatted my computer last week, so currently music files do not exist in my computer. How sad!!!


The last CD I bought was:

Barney... for my son

Song playing right now:

Blasting gun shots from my eClub users....

Five songs I listen to a lot, or that mean a lot to me:

Self created humming lullaby by Kiat (my husband) - he use that lullaby to make my baby sleep

Non sensical babbling by Baby Declan - I assume he is singing cos he will do the babbling in one whole breathe non stop.

That's about it actually, I don't really have much time to listen to songs :p


Five people to whom I'm passing the baton:

Fannie
Stacey
Online Triplets
Sleeping mommy
moshengren

Academy of Greetings

Most parents will send their babies to the “Academy of Greetings” along the way when this little ones develop from a newborn to a toddler. What does the Academy of Greetings teach? Ohh simple, they teach the kid to wave bye bye, signal hello, throw flying kisses and most importantly do the ang bao churning act of gongxi gongxi. Sounds familiar??

My kid has graduated from the course of waving goodbye, and sometimes when he is in a friendly mood, he’ll extend out his arm and twig it a little to signal hello. So, I’ve enrolled him into another course, which is the course of throwing a flying kiss, which the whole family mispronounce and always call it the “frank kiss” or “thank kiss”. So hello Lims, its call the flying kiss and not any other kisses.

In a bide to teach him this flirty act, since many people keep asking my confuse baby for it, I place my palm on my own lips, kiss my palm and then removing my palm in a throwing out motion. While I demo to him, I keep telling him:’ Baby flying kiss, flying kiss.” After seeing his silly mum demo for the longest time, he gets a slight hint of what is expected from him, so he place his palm on his pacifier (he’s got the pacifier in his mouth) and then he mimic the throwing out motion.

Guess what? Instead of a flying kiss, I got a flying pacifier. Morale of the story, next time before you teach your kid the act of flying kiss, make sure that he/she does not has a pacifier in his/her mouth.

Newfound skills

Phew has been pretty busy lately… not much time to give updates on my little boy.

He is coming to 11 months old already. Wow! He has learnt how to sit up on his own. His newfound skill also includes pulling himself up to a standing position with the help of furniture around him. Most babies when they learnt to pull themselves up to a standing position, they will then attempt to walk a few steps sideways while hanging onto the aide.

This boy, instead of attempting to walk a few steps, he is more interested in climbing upwards…..I can foresee that once he learnt to walk, he’ll want to climb the stairs and window grills more than walking.

He is also getting naggier by the day, when the mood strikes, he’ll babble on and on and on. Very lor soh….. but cute! Hahaha I actually enjoy his babbling and will join in too! so u get a pair of naggy mum and son, wonder whether we are driving the dad up the wall.

More newfound skills in my next update. Now gotta run out of office fly home and hug my son!

Don't Trap ME!

After the humpty dumpty experience, we are finding other ways to trap that boy. But ahhh this little powerhouse ahhh just hates to be confined! Look at the below "progress" photos when we put him in his high chair during his dinner time.



Yeah! Yeah! Food! Glorious FOOD!!



ok! I've sit inside long enough.. mummy "bao bao"....



*Yawn* When is somebody gonna get me out of here.....



take..me.. out.. pleeeaaasseee.....

See how this boy "wilt" in his seat? All these happen within minutes. This boy really got itchy backside.. cannot sit still.. If you don't take him out, he'll refuse to eat and kick up a fuss and start blowing out his food like merlion.

We thought play pan was a good idea. It's the safest place we can leave him in when we really need to get something done. He hates it too...





That amount of toys can only keep him entertain for like 5 mins? After which he'll cry and try to push himself through the net... begging to be let out...

We are really running short of ideas on how to confine him in a safe way....

Mama In Need

I met a soon to be mama who is very young and single. The sad thing is she has no one around to help her through her pregnancy... Absolutely no one... Her family will not be there for her, I won't disclose why as this is very personal to her. Her situation really touch my heart. I wish I can help her out in all aspects... but there is only so much I can do.

I have offered her my assistance if she need someone to send her to and accompany her back from the hospital after her delivery. Mama Fannie has also offered her assistance. It's sad to deal with this alone. But she is very brave and optimistic. I salute her for she choose to keep the baby instead of letting a wonderful creation waste away. Thus I think for us who are fortunate to be able to afford to buy things for our own child, it's only right that we extend a little helping hand towards her. No obligations though. If you have something extras which your own babies aren't using, list it down in the comments so that I can take stock and see how to liase and send it to her. I've done up a list of things which I think she may need :

1) Warm water dispenser/ boiler
2) Milk bottles/teats
3) Bottles sterilizer (or at least a pot for dumping all the bottles in to boil)
4) Breast pump
5) Breast pad
6) Maternity Sanitary Pads
7) Baby Cot / Baby Sarong (yao lan)
8) Diapers
9) Formula milk powder
10) Wet wipes
11) Ru Yee Yu
12) Baby powder
13) Baby powder container
14) Milk powder dispenser
15) Mittens/Booties
16) Baby Clothes
17) Baby toys
18) Tonics
19) husk pillows/bolsters
20) baby blanket
21) Baby shampoo/shower foam
22) Pacifier
23) Nappy Rash Cream
24) Baby Pram/ Stroller
25) Baby Rocker/Bouncer

If u gals/guys have anything to add on please feel free to let me know.

Declan at the Bird Park

Last weekend was a real busy week for us as mentioned here. We brought the little one to the Jurong Bird Park on Saturday morning.

The weather was real humid and his grandma kept complaining about the sun. Kind of a spoil spot... It didn't help that I actually forgotten to apply sunblock for Declan. He ended up 1 shade darker at the end of the trip.

Below are some photos taken during the visit.


Little Dec striking a pose



The silly boy thought he could actually feel the fish by placing his palm on the tank. Nice fish huh?



Dad, granny and Dec

On Sunday, we brought him to attend Kiat's friend's baby's full month celebration. There, little Dec came face to face with little Claudia (Mama Stacey's girl) for the first time.



Poor chap, Claudia bo hiew him hahahah



Finally they see eye to eye.

I wonder what were they telling each other then. Little Ethylyn was also there that day, but we didn't manage to snap her pic.

There are quite some new pics updated in my multiply album.

For Declan's 10th month's pics, click here

For the pics of the wedding we attended on 30 April, click here

For the pucs of the wedding we attended on 01 May, click here

For pics taken at the bird park, click here

Commando in the making

This boy is forever trying to dive off the bed.. I bet he'll make a good diver or commando in future. He's always scaling new dangers.

The baluku which he acquired last week was aggravated when he decided to test the hardiness of his forehead by banging it against the wall. The swell was about to go off, when he decided to perform that act, bringing the swell back plus a patch of blue black...

Ohh by the way, does learning how to pull out drawers considered a developmental milestone for babies? If yes then he has reached another milestone because he is starting to pull out the lower drawers under the tv rack.........

Parenting Tips I Learnt

Just finished reading this book.



Learnt 2 things from this book:

(1) "Praise in public, criticize in private"

From my observations, a lot of parents neglected the fact that kids (no matter how young they are) do have some sense of self-esteem and ego. Many parents commit the mistake of critising the shortcomings of their own children in the public and very often in the presence of the little ones' friends.


I remembered vividly when I was in K1, a conversation between my mum and her friend. She told her friend :" I tell you ahhh, next time ahhh I can never depend on this girl to feed me one ahhh! she ahhh no use one! Her younger sister is better, I think I can only depend on the younger one!"

"OUCH" I was only 5 years old then, what did I do for her to conclude that I won't be able to do my part as a daughter? Since young, I was always the quiet girl who got bullied by my younger sister and yet she's the one who would get all the new toys. My sister was only 2 years old when my mum said that to her friend.

Ain't it shocking that a 5 year old girl would carry what her mum said for 20 over years? I'm shocked too. I have bad memory, but yet I remembered that conversation as if it just happen yesterday.

Today, I am proud to say that, it is her useless daughter who is keeping her employed and it is also this useless daughter who she'll run to whenever she needs help to solve some problems or run some errand.

So parents, heed the book's teaching and my advice to think twice before you speak in front of your child. You do not want them to grow up thinking they are not being loved and to dampen their self-worth.


(2) "When discussing consequences, don't make threats that are outright lies ("If you do that again, the police will take you away" etc.) Futhermore, don't issue a warning involving a consequence you are not actually willing to carry put."

"If you don't behave ahhhh later the policeman will come and catch you!"
"You anyhow run lah, go lah! later bangali come and catch you!'
"you noti somemore!! I don't want you liao, sell you to bangali!"
Don't the above threats sound so familiar?

Threaten the kids with those for repeated times and they will soon learn that those are just empty threats which will never materialise.

"if you don't behave, we will cancel our trip to disneyland"
"if you don't behave, we will all go shopping and leave you at home alone"
Before you spew similar threats, do ask yourself are you really going to cancel the whole trip? Is it fair to penalize the rest of the family members for the mischief of 1 child? If you are not prepared to really cancel the trip, then think of some other forms of penalty. I don't think many parents will feel at ease leaving a naughty child home alone while the rest go shopping as a form of punishment. He/she may be up to more mischief and ended up with regrettable consequence if left at home.

First Dip

Declan got his first dip this morning! The dad gotta dig the lazy me out of bed early in the morning... It's extremely difficult to separate me from my bed on weekend mornings.. me and the bed are just so much in love with each other that practically I want to be it's siamese twin...

We just bought the swimming suit from Kiddy Palace yesterday. I chose the suit instead of the triangular piece of sexy fabric as I worry that he may catch a cold with too much flesh expose.

Before I let him out into the pool, I slapped on plenty of Banana Boat SPF50 sunblock for him. Kiasu hor??!! SPF50.. I scared he get sunburn mah. If his skin start peeling right after his 1st dip, I bet his ah ma will ban him from future dippings. So must be careful!



Before the dip
Doesn't he look kinda worried??I think he got no confidence in me as I'm a non swimmer and the last time i don on a swimming costume was donkey years ago when I was in secondary one. *count* *count* *count* wahhh 10 fingers also not enough must borrow my baby's fingers, no wonder he looks worried.








Somehow he still looks worried, though I held on to him tightly. That timid fellow.









His dad took over and guess what??! He was so busy making sure that he was keeping baby's butt floating that the forgot to make sure that baby's head was above the water too. Ended up, baby drank a mouthful of water+chlorine+urine+poo+mucus+saliva+sweat etc. He got a funny expression on his face so I guess that mouthful must have tasted yucky.

Overall, he enjoyed slapping at the water. He didn't seem too thrill when we try to get him to float. As it was his first dip, I didn't dare let him stay in the pool for too long, for fear that he might catch a cold which would mean perpectual ban from the pool by his ah ma. I took his :"Hachooo!" as an indication that we should end the dip. All in all, he only stayed in there for about 15mins. Kinda short but as this is the first dip, it's better to play safe. Will prolong his dip progressively.

Oh, notice the absence of a float? We did buy him a float for him to sit in. But we naively thought that the dad's lungs will be powerful enought to puff it up at the pool so we brought it there without inflating it first. The dad threw in the white towel after huffing and puffing a few mouthfuls of co2 into the float, for fear that his lungs would collaspe.

Points to note for next dip :

(1) Must remember to bring his bathing robe to keep him warm. Today forget.

(2) To puff the float up with a pump before going to the pool.

(3) To bring some floating toys for him to play with.

Virgin Fall

Remember this picture...? I think my boy won't be smiling so brightly from now on if we place him in that chair... Reason? He just fell off that chair a moment ago...
OUCH OUCH OUCH OUCH OUCH!!! those "ouch" are not from him... but me... my heart pain.....

First time is always painful mah hor? We have guarded him vigilantly for the past 9 months and today, our line of defence collapse....

Mil put him in the bamboo chair, walk a few steps away to throw all the ingredients into the slow cooker to cook his porridge. Just a few seconds away and that little powerhouse thought he is a commando, so he lifted his butt and try to climb off the chair, ignoring the fact that his balancing skill is practically non-existent....before my mil could turn her attention back to him, he toppled over like humpty dumpty.... O..U...CCC...HHHHH...

Hubby MSN me to break the news to me... the first thing which flash across my mind was what happen to Mama Stacey's cousin as described in her blog..... I just read that entry this morning... and now... it happen to my boy.... buy 4D also not so "zuen" (accurate)

No more bamboo chair for him from now on!!! Tomorrow go buy play pen!

One more thing to add on to my worry list! see lah?? So busy with worries....

Breastfeeding Mum Alert!!

"Toxic anti-fire chemicals used to coat common household goods are seeping into breast milk in Australia at levels higher than in some overseas countries, environmentalists have warned.

The fire retardants, known scientifically as PBDEs (polybrominated diphenyl ethers), are used to protect a wide range of goods including computers, televisions, chairs and mattresses.

But the chemicals, which are fat soluble and build up in our bodies, have also been linked in overseas studies to cancer and problems with sex hormones and brain development."

Read the above from this link provided by a friend in Australia.

*GASP* *pace up and down and up and down*

The info in there is kind of worrying. Are we breastfeeding mums poisoning our little ones unknowingly??!! The facts from that article is based on findings in Australia and Europe, so what about Singapore??? Does our household items also contain this harmful chemical?? Probably so.... since it is a widely used fire retard agent.

Further search on "PBDEs" online yielded more information such as :

"The data from Sweden show a drastic increase in the quantity of PBDEs detected in women's breast milk. Since no definitive data regarding the health effects of children's exposure to PBDEs in breast milk have been published, it is not possible to draw conclusions regarding the impact of these rising levels. However, enough is known to raise concerns. Like the dioxins, furans, PCBs, and organochlorine pesticides, PBDEs are bioaccumulative and persistent. Unlike these other chemicals, no serious international efforts are under way to ban these hazardous chemicals. The trend toward higher levels in breast milk signals a need for immediate action to stop human exposures, before the levels rise higher and risk compromising the safety of children's first food. Toward that end, other monitoring studies in other countries will help clarify the scope of the problem."

"We tested 40 Northwest mothers for PBDEs--chemical flame retardants widely used in consumer products such as furniture and computers--and found in the breastmilk of every woman in the study, at levels much higher than in other countries."

"These dangerous chemicals may impair the intelligence and motor skills of children and disrupt thyroid hormones, which are critical to proper brain development in utero and during early childhood"

However, in the midst of all these scary info available on this harmful agent, there are also some consoling articles such as:

"Why Breastfeeding is still best for baby"

Now ain't the above information just gonna add on to the list of things which we mummies have to worry about?? I think I can be promoted in my alternative employment as a "worried mother" to an "insanely worried mother"......

Now I see this statement "to overly love your child, you may sometimes be doing more harm than good" in a different light. We love our children, that's why we did not choose the easy way out of feeding them formula. We persist on, even when breastfeeding give us great inconveniences especially for working mums like me. However, seems like this sacrifice which we did for our little ones may subject them to some dreadful harm....

My eyes are crossed now from reading those links above. >_< When they are looking straight again, I'll try to do more research on information available locally. I don't mind if other mummies want to chip in and help do the research and post the information on their own sites.

Kiasu mums? or Bo chup Dads?

Why is it that it's always the mums who are reading baby care, disciplinary, child development books etc? Ain't the dads concern or even worry about the physical and emotional well being of their little ones? Or is it that the dads are so expert in the field of child raising that they don't need the extra information and can still run on auto gear?

Why is it always the mums who will be trying all ways and means to fill up their little ones' day with a variety of activities for fear that they'll be bored or retard in their development if their brains are not stimulated?

Why is it always the mums who will worry about what their little ones' eat? Whether they are taking in enough milk/food, whether they are nourished enough or not etc?

Why is it always the mums who will worry about whether their little ones' are dressed nicely or not for an outing?

Why is it always the mums who will go toys hunting for the little ones?

Why? Why? Why?

Are the mums too kiasu? or the dads too bo chup? I think it's a little of both. Basically most mums are a little too kiasu and most dads are a little too bo chup. Women are worrisome creatures by nature. They always worry and usually they will think of things to worry about well in advance. I worry that next time my boy will not be able to go to Henry Park Primary School as our registered address is nowhere near the school. See what I mean? My boy can't even walk now and I am worry about Primary School!!! Siao!

Sleeping Though the Night

This boy has finally decided not to go on torturing his parents with late night feeds anymore. For the pass 1 month, he has been doing without his middle of the night feeds except for once when he was ill and I gave him some warm water instead of milk. That was the only time when he drank water from the bottle.

We manage to help him kick the habit of night feeds by not immediately jumping out of bed and rushing to grab the bottle from the fridge the moment he stir in his sarong. Previously, at the slightest hint that he's gonna wake up, we'll grab the bottle and dunk it in hot water to warm it up for fear that his hungry cries will rock the whole clementi. As days go by, we get more and more tired, more and more lazy and we always try to drag drag drag before getting the bottle. There was this point of time we realise that if he stir and whine, he'll stop when we continue to rock the sarong and if that don't work, we'll pull him out and let him sleep with us on the bed. Surprisingly, he'll continue sleeping without crying for milk wor!

HaHA! Strike gold! So now, no more night feeding! Bravo!

Smile!

Smile Folks! SMILEEEE just like MEEEEE!!!

I'm too SEXY for my MAMA's blog

With Mr Brown's "I'm too sexy for my blog" entry causing quite a storm in the blogging community, my baby chose to be in a league of his own with this "I'm too sexy for my MAMA's blog" pose.



What a "sexy" baby I have hahahahah. This pose of his remind me of some sleazy swimwear calendar girl..

FOLKS I shrank my KID!

The above 2 pics were taken last Saturday on our way to consult PD for Declan's fever. hmmm though lack of sleep, both of us can still manage to smile at the camera ehehehee.



This pic was taken when Declan was about 4 or 5 months old. Look at the difference!!! sob sob!! He has lost most of his chubbiness..... I'm a lousy mum.....

Finally back!

Ever since we shifted in with my in laws after my confinement, Declan has no chance to sleep in his own cot which is his very first bed and the "den" which contain him during his first 2 months on earth.



This Fisher-Price piano is also one of his very first toy. It accompanied him through his many crying and sleepless days during the first 2 months too.

These 2 items must have felt so neglected being left behind at our flat. We seldom have a chance to go up, let alone stay there over night.

This boy seem pretty thrilled with the reunion, but it only lasted a while before he lost interest in the piano and felt so jailed up in the cot.

Making a Genius?

I was asking a friend about the Shicida Method and this was part of his reply :

"u rather train ur child to think like a genius then to read at a young age"

He thinks that the Shicida Method is crappy and his opinion is as above.

Sorry pal, but I don't agree with you. Part of my reply to him are as follow :

"i am not looking for a genius in my child"
"i want my baby to learn to read and to develop a healthy liking for books"

I may be a doting mum but I'm definitely not a kiasu one who wish that my son will comes in top in all he does. I am definitely not sorting for a genius in my son. To me, you can't make a genius out of a normal child. If genius can be made, then what's so rare about a genius, since everyone can develop their child into one?

I never believe in forcing a child to achieve things beyond his means. To me, so long as he is a happy child, I'm a happy mum. My objective in seeking out the Shicida Method, is to explore the possibilty of developing an early reader. I love to read, thus I hope my son will be able to read early so that we can read together. I am looking forward to bring him to the library for him to pick up books and read for leisure not for enrichment. At the moment he is only interested in gumming the books and he don't seems to like listening to stories narrated by me.

I must work harder on that! Maybe my story telling skill is lousy or maybe he finds me too naggy and talks too much?

Are babies really that Expensive?

Singapore’s birth rate has always been a hot debate topic. Even up till now we can still see people contributing their thoughts on this topic to TODAY newspaper. It's not difficult to notice that many people attributed the low birth rate to the cost and difficulty of raising their offspring due to monetary, time and career constraints.

While chitchatting with my hubby this morning about how some folks can raise 3-4 children with a meager income while dual income folks like us keep saying that we can't afford to have a 2nd child.

Let's touch our own heart and tell ourselves the truth of why we keep saying we can't afford. I'll just share a few reasons why having kids have become more expensive in today's context.

1) Last time when "mata" still wearing shorts, most of our mums don't go to gynae and sign expensive package for their prenatal checks. They go to polyclinic, which are usually free or just cost them a few bucks

Now, we women must go to gynae and sign exclusive and expensive packages for our prenatal checks, we no longer trust polyclinics nor those doctors "anyhow" assigned to us from KKH when we walk in.

2) Last time most of our mums popped at the old KKH in the most crowded wards without a gynae. It's usu the midwives who "hob" (catch) us when our mums squeezed us out.

Now, we prefer those hospital in the "mountains" such as Mount E, Mount A and of course other places like TMC, Raffles Hospital, Gleneagles etc and we only want our "one and only" gynae to help us "hob" our baby instead of any other Mary, Lucy or Nancy. Their hands come with a price loh.

It's no longer cool to give birth in SGH, AH or KKH and we want to stay alone or at most with another "neighbour". We don't want to be squeezed together as if we are in some refugee camp.

From "$50 also can get back change" during the old KKH days, our bill has escalated many folds to few thousand dollars.

3) Last time our mums are power women who can endure the pain of labour without any form of painkiller. Now most of us are made of "tou hu" (beancurd) and will fall apart at the slightest jab of pain and scream for epidural which will set us back by a few hundred dollars.

4) Last time our mums bring us to polyclinic for our 1st year assessment and vaccinations and even when we are ill we go polyclinic "see doctor" (more like doctor see us).

Now, some mums prefer to bring their precious one to private PD for assessment, vaccinations and consultations.

Again from the free and cheap cheap polyclinic to the $50-$100 PD.

5) Last time our "ma sak" (toys) are bought from the uncle who sells all the plastic looking "ma sak" at the "pa sut" (market).

Now, we must buy Fisher-Price lah, Little Tikes lah etc.

6) Last time we wear cloth nappies throughout the day, now must let our little ones wear Pampers Premium to protect their cute little butts.

7) Last time any kind of stroller or pram will do, so long got 4 wheels can roll about and contain the baby can liao, now, many mums dream of Maclaren.

8) Last time we wear those "perforated" little singlets (u know, those singlet with many little holes, majiam a net one??) bought from "pa sut", now we must shop at Mothercare etc and we prefer our babies to be clad once in awhile in baby Guess, baby DKNY, "O'god my'God" (oshkosh bgosh)etc.

9) Last time our mum feed us porridge we eat porridge, feed us rice we eat rice. Now, babies are fed organic food, Gerber, Heinz and some other "cheem cheem" brands I don't even know how to spell and needless to say they cost more.

10) Last time our mum throw us along the corridors to play with our neighbours and that's what they consider development and socializing, now we are looking at those expensive courses to help develop our infants' brains, motor skills and socializing skills.

Aiyoh... and the list goes on and on!!! So ahhh, should we keep lamenting to the govt that cost of popping and delivering a child is escalating?? Of course, not all mums choose the expensive way out, I'm just stating some very stereotype examples in the above list. There are still plenty of down to earth women in Singapore who will consider wisely on their choices to suit their own financial ability.

I was calculating to Kiat ahh, if I continue to breastfeed Declan, let him wear Drypers instead of Pampers (cloth nappies out of the question lah… tedious to wash and also waste water mah hor? :p), no more Fisher-Price toys, no more new clothes, except during CNY (he’s got so much of hand me downs that our room is like a warehouse now), go polyclinic for consultation etc., no more avocados, cut down his variety of snacks to just normal cream crackers, don’t buy insurance etc wahhh then having a kid no longer seem to eat so deep into our pockets anymore. But ahh…the kid will end up majiam very deprive hor? So “ke lian”

See? That’s mindset of many parents today. Many of them, just like me, have many cheaper and cost savings options, but due to the “scarcity” of our own offspring now, we prefer to indulge in them and jacked up our own cost of living and of course when that happen, Singaporeans will do what they are best at – BLAME OUR GOVT on the high cost of living….*piak* (slaps forehead).

The chicken and the egg question comes again : “ We have less children now so we indulge on them or issit because we choose to indulge in our children (and thus jacking our own cost of living) that’s why we can afford less children now?

Which type of situation are you in? For me, I guess, I’m one of those guilty mums who choose to indulge in my child resulting me in lamenting I cannot afford a second one. But ahhh I did not blame our govt hor?!

Hide and Seek Fever

Declan was running a temperature early this morning. On top of the fever, he was also coughing. It sounded like a "heaty" cough. I wonder if it's due to too much "baby bites" and "wang wang xiao man tou" :p

The fever played hide and seek with us. At the PD, his temperature only measured 36.7 degrees.. No fever. However doctor gave him a very thorough check to make sure that he didn't miss anything. At the end of the consultation session, our bill is only $60, lower than what we have to pay at KKH 2 months back and the service was 100 folds better. We don't have to wait as we call up to make an appointment and the PD was very thorough in his examination and was full of advise, unlike those doctors at KKH.

Like what Kiat says, we go and 'see doctor" at KKH ahhh the KKH's doctor really just "see" us. They use their eyes and "see" never use hands to touch. How true!

Just now, Declan woke up from his nap and his temperature went up again.... gila gila fever...

Hip Hop Baby

Look at this fellow in his baggy pair of jeans.  My mum insisted me to get this pair of jeans for him while shopping for his new year clothes and she insisted that this faithful pair was of the correct size.  See lah?! Up till now ahhh he wear liao still cannot see his toes...

I told his dad to dress him "warmly" that day cos it was raining and the weather was quite chilly.  When I called his dad, he told me he already dressed him liao and he lazy to change for him again, but I insisted him to put on a pair of long pants for Declan due to the cold weather.  I reminded the dad that there's a pair of new jeans hanging in the cupboard.

When I met up with my little boy, that was the state he was in..... I didn't know whether I should cry or I should laugh....Instead of removing his romper and changing him into a normal t-shirt to go with the jeans, his lazy dad just merely slipped on the pair of jeans over the romper..... and conveniently overlooked the fact that the pair of jeans was also too big for him....

Don't he look like some hip hop dancer or some rapper who always have their jeans 3-4 sizes too big and hanging dangerously loose around their hips?  Dec's jeans look abit tight at the waist though....

Cheese for Declan

hmmm since no one say I can't feed Kraft cheese to my boy in my earlier post, I shall then buy a pack of Kraft cheese and let him try this weekend.

So far no adverse effects or signs of allergy to the egg yolk custard I fed him last weekend. So this weekend, I'll just feed him some hard boil egg white as advised by the polyclinic nurse.

Oh in that case I can't feed him Kraft Cheese this week. The cheese will have to wait till next week. Intro 1 new food at a time remember? I shall behave and stick to the 1 new food at a time rule.

I'm also thinking of feeding my boy some pasta or macaroni. I shall find time to prepare either one for him. I hope I'll be able to do a good job to prevent him from growing up and hating the food I feed him due to my lousy handling of the food.

I wonder whether it's a blessing or a curse for him to have a mum who can't cook and yet still thinking of preparing all sorts of funny things to feed him :x

9th Month Stats Update

My baby grows up liao! He's now 9 months old.  Look at him?? He's no longer an easily manipulated and 100% dependent newborn now.  He's now slowly learning to be independent.  He can now sit without our support, though he still cannot be trusted to sit up straight without supervision.  He still don't know what harm he can do to himself if he just decides to slump backwards and lie down suddenly.  He also don't know that he may break his neck if he is to challange us with speed crawling and dive off our bed, which he often attempts.

At the polyclinic, his weight and height are recorded as 8.5kg and 71cm respectively.  He has grown 5cm in 3 months.  When my husband told me his weight is 8.5kg, I am dead sure that the nurse is wrong! Because 3 months ago he weighed 8.1kg how can it be that he only put on 0.4kg in 3 months time??! The last time when I measured him myself I thought he weighed 9kg.  I double checked the weight on my own scale and seemed like the nurse is right. hmmm where did the rest of the weight goes? weird...

Nowadays, I can longer contain him in the cradle of my arms anymore.  He has grown a wee bit too long for me to cradle him comfortably.  Which also means it's no longer comfortable for him to sleep in my arms. *sob sob*  His dad will now have the priviledge of patting him to sleep in his arms.  It used to be my job! I'm made "jobless" in my own household!  Come to think of it, even if I can contain his length, I may not be able to contain his weight also wor.  I'm only left with 42kg.  I think sooner or later, this baby is gonna break my arms and my back.

These babies really grow up so fast hor?? With a blink of the eyes, they learn to flip over already, with the next blink, they start to eat solid food, one more blink, they learn to sit liao, another blink they grow teeth liao.  I bet we missed out alot while we are blinking too! For working mums like me, I think I miss out even more. 

Oh yah this little boy has also learnt to feed himself already.  Though the ends of the biscuits always prove a bit challenging for him but I'm sure he'll learn to overcome it in no time.

I shall keep my eyes wide open and prop my eyelids up with matchsticks when I am at home to make sure that I witness every precious seconds of my boy's growth!  If I miss out any more of his growth I may not be able to recognise my son soon!