Long Time no blog

I want joy that money cannot buy. I am having it now, joy that money cannot buy, even though I am not without troubles. Happiness is temporal, joy comes from grace.

Walking

My boy has taken his first steps. He walked two steps unaided and then throw himself at me. Sometimes, he catches me by surprise by standing up on his own for a few seconds. I hope he can start walking independently before his birthday.

He is communicating more to me now, I'm glad that he is crying less. At least now he says 'milk' when he thinks of drinking milk, so I can understand his needs better.

After running the sheares bridge 10km run, I feel it's a pity to just stop running after that. Not only because I didn't do as well as I wanted for the sheares bridge run, I think I got hooked on jogging. I want to continue! I give myself a target now, to lose more kilos before my brother's wedding, haha!

We won the 13th prize!

We had a pleasant surprise today. Luke won the 13th prize for the Best Breastfed baby contest! During the preliminary round, I didn't expect us to get into the semi-finals as there were a few hundred participants just for his age group. I was pleasantly surprised when we got into the semi-finals, then the finals, today, he won the 13th prize out of 60 finalists!

I am glad that he won this without much effort, he only needed to be himself. And as for me, I only needed to bring him to the contest to let the judges play with him. Hmm...no need for him to be the fastest crawling baby, no need for him to be the chubbiest baby, he was only required to play. Not bad at all.

He was taking his nap during the prize giving ceremony at Suntec City. I went up to the stage to receive the prize alone.

Started Weaning

Started weaning my baby this weekend as it's easier to do it with Dave's help. He kept crying 'Mama' when Dave was feeding him and I had to disappear from his sight. I resisted from going to him as my heart softened when he cried for me.

The sinus infection had gotten so bad that I woke up in the middle of the night wincing in pain. Therefore, I had to start a course of medication and I don't want him to take in all these drugs. I'm pretty glad that I have tried my best so far and can wean him without feeling any guilt. Perhaps it's due to my family background that causes me to want to do my best for my child. This is something which not everyone can understand. I can see results in what I have sown into his life. For example, I really want him to be a happy baby so since he was 6 weeks old, I have been smiling, and smiling, and smiling at him to show him that I am happy to be with him. Now, so many friends have told me that he is a smiley baby as he smiles most of the time.

Two weeks ago, Luke saw baby Samuel waving at him in church and he waved back (to my surprise). Since then, he has began to wave at people when others wave bye-bye at him. He would never wave bye-bye at his own parents, he doesn't like us to leave him.
Yesterday in church, he saw some toddlers clapping to the worship music, he began to do the same too and kept clapping every now and then. I conclude that it is good for babies to meet up other children and socialize, and it is good for children to go to church :)

I had the privilege of doing consolidation duty at the church yesterday and I felt very encouraged as I met the young NUS student from Brunei who received Christ into her heart. I felt a lot of joy and as I shared with her how a Christian life is like and prayed for her. It takes a miracle from God for someone to believe in Jesus! I don't mind doing this consolidation duty once every month!

Not feeling well

I have been sick for two weeks and I'm having fever again today *sigh*. My baby has already recovered but I'm still down. Not easy to take care of an active crawling baby when one is sick. I could not even put him to bed last night.

This morning he woke up for his feed at 4:30am and I could not fall back to sleep after that. Maybe it's God's will, for I spent the time praying and fell quickly back to sleep at 6am!

Recently, he has been 'dancing' quite a lot when he hears the music :) And I was surprised that today he said 'duc' which is actually duck. Then for the rest of the day, he has been saying 'duc duc'.
So far, his first words were 'Mama', 'Dada', 'ah-ber' (apple) and 'duc' (duck).

I'm enjoying his company more each day. He is really responsive now and my mom-in-law is also very enthusiastic about helping me to take care of him. Thank God for her, but I'm a stay home mom after all.

I'm rather disappointed that I won't be able join the cell group girls for the SAFRA 10km run. There is not enough time to continue the training now since I'm still sick.
I must get well soon!

Working people

Not too long ago, CNA interviewed someone from a job agency while reporting on skills redevelopment of workers. The representative from the job agency commented (not in exact words) that
"we Singaporeans have to show the world that we are good workers, workers who can work long hours....".
I had quite a strong reaction towards her statement. As if our working hours are not long enough! If that is the mentality of most employers in Singapore, then we may be in trouble.

It seems to me that many employers in Singapore have mistaken long working hours for productivity. An employee working long hours may not mean that he is productive and good. He can spend the time day dreaming, surfing the net, going for long tea breaks, taking his own sweet time to finish a task. He might as well work short hours and be productive in his work and then go home early to spend time with his family!

Do the employers in Singapore these days treat workers as machines or human beings? Everyone needs a good family life, spends time with spouse, kids and parents. If one's personal life is not in order and is not living a well balanced life, can he/she concentrate on being a good worker?

What about value-adding at work? What about creativity at work?

French workers are some of the most productive workers in Europe despite their short working hours of 35 hours. What's more, they are some of the least stressed and happiest workers (BBC news reported).

What is happening to our children today as parents have to work long hours? Most children in Singapore have little time with their parents. Many may grow up being insecure, lack of parental love, lack parental guidance and encouragement. Some children only get to see their parents during the weekends. Are we going to expect them to take care of their parents since they have not much time together and building up parent-child relationship?

Today's special

My baby gave me a fantastic birthday present. He called me Mama. Though I heard him call mama a few months ago, I wasn't sure, yesterday I was sure. As I was walking away from him, he anxiously cried out 'Ma.......Ma....'. Dave heard that too! That was a pleasant surprise. My efforts have paid off, every few days I kept telling him "I am Mommy, call me mommy".

He also has been trying to kiss us on our lips recently, has been rather affectionate until we have to dodge his french kiss :)

Had a good birthday celebration. Had a good buffet lunch, had a good nap (have not had a good night sleep since I got pregnant), and had a good COMPLIMENTARY facial together with Dave :B

Chronicles of a stay home mom?

Goodness! I caught my sis-in-law red handed for stealing my son's first kiss on his lips! Yucks! On account of her love for him, never mind this time. However, I have asked Dave to watch over him when we are with our relatives in case anyone tries to kiss our baby on his lips again.

My baby boy walked seven steps today as I held his hands. As I praised him when he walked the first two steps, he smiled and took another few more steps until he gave a shout and sat down coz he was tired.

I'm beginning to feel like I'm writing 'Chronicles of a stay home mom' in this blog...

Went to the central library last Saturday, surprised to see that there is a parenting room. Wow, babies are welcomed in the library! Singapore is getting more and more baby friendly.

First day blogging

Months ago when I was still working, I would not have considered creating my own blog. Thought it was a waste of time, too busy, blah blah blah...I disapproved of those who blogged during working hours.
Now that I'm a stay home mom, things have changed, my mind has changed too!

Thank God that my baby slept till 9am this morning, quite unusual, probably because he slept at 11pm last night. So my morning was short as I had the luxury of sleeping till 9am, hee!!!

By 2pm, I was famished, quickly rushed out to have my favourite Hakka Yong Tau Fu (authentic) and then to the library. My boy now weighs more than 8kg so carrying him was really tiring but I persisted. He was a good baby, at the library, he only cried for a while when he was hungry or sleepy. I even managed to get 30mins reading time while he was sleeping in the carrier.

My boy has been crawling around, standing up on his own and cruising a couple of steps. I wonder when I can see him taking his first step. I'm looking forward to seeing him walk. One thing I lack is patience.

He is a gift from God. I remember praying to God to ask for a child who will be a God lover and He answered my prayers really quick. Two months later, I realised I was pregnant with him.