Aidan's party

We attended Aidan's first birthday party a few weeks back. The birthday boy had his party on a beautiful Saturday at his grandparents place. The place was great and the food was good. Jarrett met some little friends and had fun playing with Aidan's wooden walker.

Unfortunately, no pics with the birthday boy. He wasn't feeling very friendly that day. The min. I said "Aunty carry", he started brawling. So we tried to stay clear but towards the end, he warmed up to Jarrett and even shared his toys with Jarrett. Such a sweet & generous boy!

Another evening all alone with my little one.

Can I say I have quite a "reputation" in my industry. Or rather my sis and I, we have quite a reputation. We once found out someone gave us the nickname "the fierce ones/sisters". Rather than feeling offended, I find it all too amusing. It's not a cutesy nick for sure, but i like it. We have other nicks of cos, such as the more common one "the pair of sisters", but this one is definitely my favourite. I once told someone who pissed me off "I eat little boys for breakfast" (besides Jarrett of cos) when I know he's already terrified of me. AHAHAHA..I am so mean..Wx once said if a newbie in telesales should call someone like me, he's downright suay.

Now, there's a saying which states that everyone has a weakness or as commonly said in Taiwanese shows, "Wo bai gei ni le". This is definitely the case for me when it comes to Jarrett. This evening is another mother & son quality time. Wx has a paper and so left Jarrett and I alone at home. I was a bundle of nerves before Wx left. I prepared everything in advance while Jarrett was napping, such as getting his dinner all nicely laid out on a tray, his pyjamas, wash cloths all ready by the side, my trusty Hotsling on stand by, his fav. CD (actually he only watches one) all ready in the player.... I was all prepared and ready. So confident was I, that I actually had the nerves to wake the little guy up from his nap! This takes a lot of courage ok, cos Jarrett strikes everyone in the family, grandma included, with fear when he's all cranky during meal time and this always happen when he's tired/sleepy. Infact, each time he refuses to nap, we'll all break down into cold sweat when his meal time comes. It's the same case when he doesn't get enough sleep.

God must have been watching over me this evening, cos Jarrett was a total angel! I know I sound like a really lousy mum, so terrified of doing the most natural thing every mother should know - taking care of their babies. But I am, I still have so.....much more to learn. Unlike Wx who's a natural parent, I confess I have so much more work to do, as in learning to be a parent. I can cook ok well for Jarrett, and I earnestly read up on parenting/child development but when it comes to practical, I am just so argh........

Anyway, today's a total success. Both of us had lots of fun together. Jarrett laughed at all the stupid things I did and we played balls. While submitting my report to the father, he even got a little jealous at how much fun we had. Well, today's not much but I certainly think it has made me more confident as a mother. =)

Jarrett's sick!

For the first time in 10mths (almost), Jarrett's gotten sick and can I say it was all pretty drama mama.

The little fellow had never been sick before so you can imagine how we panicked when his fever shot up to 40.3 deg last nite. It started with a slight fever in the afternoon which didn't look too serious as he was still perky and eating well, so Wx gave him the fever med given by the doc when Jarrett got his vaccines. We thought it was signs of teething. Monitored his temp. and it went down to normal range right before he went to bed around 9+. But at around 1plus in the morning, Jarrett woke up suddenly (which hardly ever happens cos he has been sleeping thru the nite since 8th week), he was all quiet, lying in bed with his eyes wide opened. We were lucky Wx was up to check his temp. We found his temp hovering around 38-39.5!
Needless to say, we got into a mad rush to bring him to the hospital. When we got into NUH's Children A&E, his temp was around 38.5, but it later went up to 40.3. Jarrett's face was all flushed up, red as an apple. He looked all confused and exhausted, with weepy eyes when we tried to feed him the med and I finally understood why some mummies broke down in tears when their little ones fall sick, cos I felt like sitting down and weep a little too. Wx went around mumbling "so poor thing, heart pain".

The doc diagnosed it as viral infection but as a precaution, she wanted to take a urine sample to make sure it's not urinary track infection. Let me tell u, waiting for a baby to pee at 3am in the morning is not funny. The nurse attached this plastic pocket bag over his little friend with instructions for us to check every 20mins. This plastic pocket looks so uncomfortable! Imagine wearing a plastic bag over ur butt! So anyway, we settled in and waited for Jarrett to pee.
We could have taken the next alternative which was to bring the baby home but once he pees, bring in the sample within 2hrs. We thought since we were all up, might as well just wait a little and save us another mad rush to the hospital with the sample. So we waited, and waited and waited. No pee! Argh............

At 5am, I really wanted to go home, Jarrett was already sleeping and I was totally exhausted. So we packed up and left, with strict instructions from the nurses to bring back the sample within 2 hrs. It's not a long drive, from NUH to home, but at 5+ in the morning with no sleep at all, everywhere seemed far. Got into the carpark close to 5.30am, and guess what? Jarrett finally pee. So we restarted the engine and drove back to the hospital.
It was close to 7am when we finally got home. Jarrett's fever went down a little, hovering around 38deg.
For a little fellow who had never gotten sick, he sure knows how to do it with style for the first time.

Pest infection!!!

We found a really huge mouse at home the other day. Strangly, it looked so much like little Jarrett.



Pest control??!? Ahahaha...I am so keeping these pics for his wedding montage, if it's still in vouge by the time he gets married in 30yrs.

Jarrett & Mama

Playdate at Playdays

Jarrett & Kayden had a playdate a few weeks back at Playdays, all kindly organized by Kayden's Mummy. Situated in sleepy Sunset Way, I like it for it's quietness. Everything seems to slow down once we turn into the junction from Clementi. Jarrett was the youngest kiddo in the class, all others were above 1 yrs old as it was a class for 12-18mths if I am not wrong. There's no weekend class for below 12mths.
Jarrett seemed to like it lots with other children around. Though there was not much interaction between children, he seemed to have enjoyed himself, all smiles and delighted screams.

I took the above pic when they had a little snack break. I don't know why but this picture made my heart break a little. Jarrett looked so lonely. I didn't manage to capture his exact expression but it made me want to give him a little sis/bro. Wx's banging hard on this pic to give him his 2nd child..hmm....

China milk scandal

News on the China milk scandal have made me more glad than ever that Jarrett's on breastmilk. Over the weekend, all the men in my family commented "Wah...(pointing at Jarrett), lucky you not drinking formula milk! You lucky baby!" and this morning, my colleague actually told me to sell my excess BM to China. Now that's a thought..it's better than dumping them everyday and the money can go into Jarrett's education fund. haha..

On a more serious note, it's crazy, what's happening right now. I wonder what kind of lives these people lead to make them capable of such immoral acts. It feels (to me lah) like some sacred codes have been broken by these people. Instead of protecting babies and children, they have caused harm to these innocent lives and alreay, 4 had died. In a country so big and wide, one wonders if it's really only 4 or more. I am also thinking, what are the babies drinking now? I would think most parents are now too worried to feed their babies any formula. While the rich can easily afford the more expensive imported formulas, what about those poor families? Soya milk or goat's milk??

A mad mother's rambling

I "caught" my nephew with his gf in the library the other day. I emphasize on the open inverted ", cos I didn't set out to catch them. I just happened to "catch" them when I was in the lib on Sunday. I can honestly say I am quite open minded when it comes to teenage dating. We have all been there after all. But the sight of the young couple made me sad. It's not because I am upset with my nephew (who's only 15 but then at 15, we all thought we knew everything rite) but I suddenly realised, my time with Jarrett where he's all mine, is relatively short. Was it just yesterday that my nephew was drooling all over himself and crawling all over as an infant? It certainly feel like a short time ago and now he's all grown up, dating a girl!

I don't think I'll become one of those crazy, possessive mummies who refused to let go of their sons and make their daughter-in-laws lives miserable. I am really quite a nice person (ahahaha) and don't think I'll ever become so mean. Independence is definitly a trait I want Jarrett to have. but I just can't help feeling miserable with the thought of him leaving the nest. I think mummies reading this may be able to empathize with how I feel while others may think I am mad.

Looking at how fast kids grow and mature these days, I better grab hold of the next 15 years and spend it well with Jarrett.

Tyler's turning 2

Last Sunday was Tyler's 2nd Birthday Party. The family has specially flown back to celebrate his birthday with family and friends. Of cos part of the agenda for the trip is food. Tricia, the radiant preggie mummy has her sights set on all the local delights..i think.

Tyler with his "Bear" cake. It's a bunny named Bear.
Argh.....dun mess with me and my balloon.
Jarrett having lots of fun with his balloon.


Jarrett had too much fun that afternoon. Too much excitment and new faces, had him all wired up and simply refused to nap for the rest of the day which meant a very cranky Jarrett who refused his milk and food.

Project Tofu #1

Wx's having lesson tonite, and Jarrett's at grandma place. So I thought to make the tofu I had been telling everyone I'll be making heh..

Pre-soaked organic soya beans
Blended soya bean Soya Milk. Yumz... Lemon juice added. Florets of tofu appeared.
Ta da! Homemade tofu!

Result: Weird tasting tofu. It's sour! I am sure it's safe to eat, but definitly too acidic for baby.

Will not keep this receipe for tofu making BUT........will keep it for making soya milk!

Homemade Organic Soya Milk

I was "smart" enough to save some of the soya milk before my attempt to make the tofu. It was really smooth and good. Could be more creamy though. I'll make note to use more beans the next time.

Long day...

It's 3.26pm, 3 more hours to home and I am missing Jarrett. Life sucks sometimes

See what I found in Jarrett's box of cereal

The black dots you see in the cereal are not brown rice..if that is what you are thinking.

Wx opened Jarrett's box of Healthy Times' Barley Cereal on Sat and to our horror, we found little bugs crawling and flying around. We are talking about a premium brand of baby food..organic some more ok..and we got bugs flying out of the box!!! Tsk tsk..you can be sure I will not be buying from them in the future.

I called up the supplier and spoke to the guy in charge. He sounded nice, friendly and (lucky for him) apologetic. I think I would have kick up a big fuss if he had sounded nonchalent about the whole thing. Imagine if the bugs were hidden deep inside the box and we fed Jarrett with the cereal. I would be ready to commit murder! But well, I didn't have to resort to such drastic measures. The guy offered a very..........long explanation and will be making a trip to my office to replace me with a new box of cereal. Nice...good customer service which is how it should be.

Look who's standing!

You should have seen the way we went scrambling for the camera, or rather the way I did. Wx was sitting near to Jarrett, ready to catch him should he fall, but he was just as excited. Man..we were both bursting with pride. ahaha.. parenthood..
It happened quite unexpectedly on Sun. I was in the kitchen preparing his snack and Wx was sitting next to him, doing his own stuff and suddenly, Jarrett was standing. He managed to pull himself up by grabbing on to the sofa and pushing himself up. We didn't manage to take that pic cos the camera went dead. The above pics were taken when Wx let go of Jarrett and he managed to stand by himself for quite a while.

From then on, the little one has been trying to stand whatever chance he gets. He has also learnt how to sit from the standing position yesterday, by leaning his head into the sides of the playpen and then slowing sinking down to sit. Quite a funny sight. Since last night, he has been cruising along his playpen and cot, having a ball of a time. Wx commented Jarrett's indeed 1/8th of a teochew, looking very smug whenver he managed to pull himself up and cruise. heh..

the boy's 8 mths old now

It's a amazing how fast they grow.....

Do boys play with dolls? This one does

This is one of those things you either love or hate, like Crocs. My sis hated them and thought they all look hideous. But me? I like........these Dooodolls are so cool!
After much pondering (cos they all look so darn cute), decided to get Jarrett this alien looking one. Heh...and boy does he love it. It has since become his buddy, next to his smelly bolster and we have named it Kaka.
Kaka drying from his "bath". Jarrett's been munching on his ears and thighs..so poor Kaka has to take frequent bath.

An evening off

I've got a bad......throat. Lost my voice since Friday and have been coughing here and there with a heavy head. Wx's off to take his paper tonight, and we didn't want to risk Jarrett getting the bug from me, so we sent him to the in laws' place for the evening. Which means.....I get the evening off.

It's been so long since I could take a stress free shower. What bliss. Long hot shower with a scrub, leisure hair wash, unlimited time to condition the hair and most importantly, not worry about a hungry baby.

On a normal day, one of the most stressful time for me is when we get home. Jarrett is often sleepy by then and all ready for bed, but hungry too. Which means we need to get him ready and settled for bed (clean and change) the moment we get in, me rushing like mad to get a quick shower, and then nurse him before he KO for the night. All these must be done A.F.A.P. So for months, I have not been able to get a relaxing shower, not even when I was travelling. But tonight....ah.........i feel good.

I could have opted to take care of Jarrett myself tonight but try wearing a mask with a baby at the stage of grabbing and throwing. Not very fun I tell u...I've taken to wearing a mask when I am with Jarrett since the cough started, but each time he sees me with it, he'll start trying to pull it off my face. So with Wx not around, it's much better to have him with grandma. No fun if I pass the cough on to him.

Jarrett's "horrified/puzzled" look when he saw me with the mask.

KISS ME! KISS ME!

This is what you'll hear when u see us with Jarrett these days..because the little one has learnt how to KISS!!! It happened so unexpectedly that the first time he did it, I thought it was pure accident. He was leaning against my shoulder, with my face right beside his. He turned his head left and brush his lips against mine. So I was thinking "ok...not bad..not a kiss but I can pretend he's kissing me", and then it happened again. By then, I got a bit excited...and waited with impatience to see if there would be a 3rd time and he DID! i almost fainted with delirium! And he didn't do it thrice, he did it 5 times!!! Wx went sulking around the house, mad with jealousy for days before the little one gave him a peck!

So that was 2 weeks ago...now, whenever we hold him, we'll go "Kiss Mama", "Kiss Papa", "Kiss me! Kiss me!" I think we must have driven him crazy with our irritating, incessant chants. He doesn't "bless" us with his kisses freely (so smart, he knows not to overuse this), only when the mood strikes and when he does, he totally melts our heart. The cutest thing is the smile he gives us after his kiss. He'll look abit shy and very pleased. Now, he has couple the kiss with a hug too, he'll lean over, place a kiss on our chest and put his head where he kissed. Aww......is that a new toy u want Jarrett? Mummy will get that for u!

New food, new dishes

It has been really fun, introducing Jarrett to new food, taste and texture. Each time I feed him with something new, his first expression is always so priceless. He'll usually show us his "ewww.." face and then proceed to gobble up everything. Strange..I always thought eew...goes with pui!
Thus far, he has shown no real dislike for any food, except for avocado (maybe I should try again next week). If he doesn't like the food, there's no way to get him to eat it. He'll keep his mouth firmly shut no matter how hard you try to shove it in and even if you manage to get a teeny bit in, the next thing you know, you'll have food splattered all over your face and floor when he goes "Boooooooooo.....". If he loves it, you better be fast cos if you are abit slow, he'll start yelling at you!

Last Sat, I cooked him tofu with egg yolk and he seems to really like it. I tried abit of the food myself and can finally understand why mashed tofu with egg is often used to replace mayonaise in many healthy receipes. It's really quite good and creamy. I will be adding this to my receipe notebook and replace the Jap. mayo which I always use for my wraps/sandwiches.
Another of his favourite is Potatoe, carrot with brown rice. Tried mashed potatoe with brocoli & breastmilk and he likes it 3! He definitly takes after his pa & ma when it comes to food.
This weekend, I'll be cooking him millet & brown rice porridge and introduce him to golden kiwi.
Can't wait!

Oh btw, Jarrett's 2nd tooth is out!

Happy Birthday Ah B/Daddy! (backdated post)

Wx's first birthday as a daddy! With loads and loads of love from his double Js.

pool..........

We got Jarrett his first swimsuit and float and brought him to the pool. Honestly, I didn't know if the father or son was more excited. Wx had been so anxious about Jarrett's first swim since his last jab and he was going on and on about when to bring Jarrett for his 1st swim.

So last thurs, which was also Wx's birthday, I took the day off and together with the in laws, we headed off to the pool.
The little one wasn't too enthusiastic. The dad was though... Overall, Jarrett had not much problem with the water. He seemed abit bored at times, and at one point, excited...he was kicking and kicking and the float was jus turning round and round the same spot, so funny.
We brought him back again on Sun and he showed more signs of interest. I think we have some potential there.

The cute mushroom float was a hit at the pool. All the kids were drawn to it. I like it that it provides a shade for Jarrett. Can keep cool eh..but of cos not very macho like some of the submarine floats I saw. Maybe I should get him one of those arm floats soon.

@ the spa this evening

Got myself some "me" time this evening and pop over to the spa. When the masseuse was about to start the scrub:

Masseuse: Will you like your chest area to be done as well?
Me: No.
Masseuse: Oh..ok
Me: I'm still breastfeeding.
Masseuse: Oh....

30mins later when the massage just started and she was working out the knots in my shoulder and back:
Masseuse: So when I press like this (proceed to press down on my upper back), will the milk squirt out?
Me: erm...no...(DUH!!!)

Another 30mins later when she was massaging my arms:
Masseuse: so how come you can go around without feeding the baby the whole day and still no milk will leak out.
Me thinking "OMG KILL ME"
Me: Erm..I'll express the milk at work.
Masseur: Oh...........

A day of unfortunate happenings

Jarrett had a bad.......day. 1st he fell off the bed and then he had his thigh clipped by the high chair. It was no wonder the moment he saw me, he got all whinny. Poor baby...
In the morning, Wx got scolded by the folks for leaving Jarrett unattended on the bed, thus resulting in the fall. By night fall, Ah Mah was the one feeling darn gulity for clipping Jarrett's fat thigh.
See...ugly bruise. heart pain!

Happy Jarrett

Jarrett loves to play with us in our bed. He's generally happier when we are both with him over the weekends, or so I like to think. haha...



Jarrett having so much fun playing soccer with his dad. No prize for guessing right who was the ball.

Baby Jarrett met Baby Kayden (backdated post)

Jarrett with Aunty Brenda
With Uncle Mervyn & Aunty Brenda
To see if a man's taken, pass him a baby
Jarrett with Kayden!

Spinach Porridge

Jarrett had his last 6 in 1 jab on Wednesday and right aftert that, we brought him home, only to realise his cereal was at grandma's house. Since my trip, Jarrett has moved on to 2 cereal feeds a day, something which he really enjoys.
So with no cereal at home, I decided to give Jarrett his 1st home cooked porridge. This is actually something which I have been dying to do. I have been planning for weeks what to cook for him, how to do it, etc. People who know me will know I love to cook so cooking for my baby son is something which I am really looking forward to. I don't aspire to be the next gastronomy mummy, but I do hope to give Jarrett wholesome, healthy food.

A handful of "new" rice, a small bunch of organic spinach and I had the porridge done within 15mins or so. By right, one should cook the porridge longer to achieve the really smooth, congee like texture, but I had to be fast. It was already 7pm and Jarrett needed to eat soon. So I used another method - puree.
I pureed the porridge and added breastmilk to make it more creamy and to help Jarrett get used to new texture and taste.
Jarrett's first taste of home cooked porridge.

Response: Lukewarm, didn't help that halfway through his meal, he had to break for a poo poo. Btw, Jarrett has been "toilet trained". He sort of know how to indicate to us when he wants to poo. He'll make this cute "urgh..." face and wait for us to bring him to the potty. Of cos, if we are too slow, the little one still can't hold for too long. Credit goes to my MIL who has been most diligent in helping Jarrett.

Back to the porridge, I think Jarrett will need time to get used to the coarser texture but I don't see any major problem here. He did seem eager to have more after a few spoonful. If he's anyway like his pa and ma, he'll soon be eating faster than I can cook.

On the menu for this weekend - brown rice porridge with tofu and veg. Not sure what yet, have to go grocery shopping tonight!

doink...doink...doink...

The jumperoo is one of our best investment so far. The first time we put Jarrett in it, he loved it so much that when we tried to take him out, he screamed with so much anger. Though a tad expensive, the moment the little one squealed with laughter, I thought it was all well spent. Strange how parents figure out the justification in expenditure when it comes to their babies..or maybe it's just me. ha..

Well, Jarrett didn't look too happy in this pic cos I was sitting right in front of him and he was still pissed off with me for going off to Italy without him. Took me two days to pacify him and he is now finally back to his smiley face when he sees me. Phew..for a moment or two, I thought I was going to be totally rejected FOREVER, which got me pretty upset. Due for another trip end of the month (short one), and the Mr. laughed and said this time when I return, Jarrett will not want me anymore! Boo.....

Coffee date with the little one

looking so serious and grown up
I'm big enough for coffee now...
i'll have the latte...and a slice of cake to go with it?

I survived!

and I am so proud of myself. Seriously. It's not easy to go on a long trip as a nursing mum, especially when you are with a tour which cannot accomodate your needs. The first day was the toughest, on my 2nd pump on the plane, I felt really sorry for myself and I was plagued with worries on how to survive the rest of the trip when I got into Rome. So the first day was a bumper, jet lagged and stressed out. I even felt like going home, didn't help that I was missing Jarrett.

Surprisingly, it got easier from the 2nd day onwards, I just got into the swing, and had no problem expressing on the coach or anywhere else. It helped that the tour pace was relatively ok, sometimes with breaks in the day where I could hop back to the room for an hour or so. It also helped that my travelling companion, aka my sis was very supportive. She even helped me to time when would be the next pump and was very accomodating when I said I would need to return to the hotel every 4-5hours when we were on our own in Florence/Rome. The huge problem I had was when we got into Venice. There was some screwed up with the schedule and I had to go without a pump for 7 hrs. You can imagine how sulky I was and I went around whinning (ya..again). Poor sis had to endure with my black face. Apart from that, all went relatively well. I got a few weird looks now and then from the people sitting around and near us, and the tour director looked really curious when she came round our seats when I was in the mist of expressing, and the air steward who looked really shocked when he saw my bottles of milk (with no baby?!?) when I went to the gallery, asking where I could wash my bottles.

The tough part about the trip was missing Jarrett and worrying whether he was okay. Wx said he was really fussy the whole time I was away and drank so little milk. When I got back, the 1st time he saw me, he broke into a smile and then he got really angry and started shoving me away but at the same time holding on to me (does it make sense?) and wailing. The little one was showing me he was really angry I was away for so long, leaving him behind. I felt so gulity! While a part of me feel good knowing that my baby missed me when I was away, another part of me feel so bad that he had a really tough time and wasn't eating and sleeping well. For the rest of the day, Jarrett would follow me with his eyes whenever we were in the same room. This morning when I left him for work, he showed me his pissed off face again. Argh............I don't think there's going to be another long trip anytime soon! If there is, he's going to have to come with me.