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“I miss you too!”

March 25, 2007 in Ethan, Growing Up, Parenting | 2 comments

To a certain extent, I am always engulfed with guilt whenever we leave Ethan off at the baby sitter’s place in the morning before we go to work.  Lately it has become more difficult for me, more so because now when we leave him there in the mornings, he gives us a forlorn look as if he *knows* we are not going to be around him for a few hours.  It’s not that Mrs Tan the babysitter does not treat him well, but more like he is sad that we won’t be there for that period of time (when we’re at work).

And in the evening when we reach Mrs Tan’s place to pick him up, his face will immediately light up when he sees or hears us.  His eyes will gleam and his lips will unfurl into the cutest sweetest smile ever, all the way into Daddy’s arms.  When we reach home, he will walk/crawl to me and hug my legs for dear life (yes, like koala bear).  Sometimes he will say “mum mum mum mum mum” and if there is still no response he will scream “MUM MUM MUM MUM MUM” even louder, until I feed him.

That’s his way of saying “I miss you Mommy!”  and you know what?  I most certainly miss him too!

Weekend Outing

March 21, 2007 in Ethan, Growing Up, Parenting, Shopping | 2 comments

Hurray!  It’s the weekend again.  I love weekends because being a working mom, the weekends are the only times I get to spend quality AND quantity time with Peter and Ethan.  We make it a point to really enjoy ourselves thoroughly during weekends, no matter what we do.  I don’t share the sentiments of some parents who claim they are more tired during the weekends, because for me, it is the opposite… weekends really get me energized!  However, come Sunday night, we’re always wondering where the weekend has gone… you know what they say about time flying by when you’re having fun?  SIGH……

Last weekend, we decided to spend the Saturday at Queensbay Mall shopping.  As usual, our boy was very excited upon reaching the mall.  We shopped for a bit: bought a couple of board books for Ethan from Borders.  Ethan had a lot of fun in the children’s section at Borders, and was quite reluctant when it was time to go.

Dinnertime: we decided to go to T.G.I.Friday’s: good food, great fun…okay okay…we were actually itching to go there too…heh heh….

Pete ordered the JD Burger and I ordered the Salmon Steak (yummy!).  We ordered spaghetti for Ethan.  We figured it was time for him to try the spaghetti for real and gave him strand by strand of the pasta to feed himself with it.  Of course, he had to feed himself with his hands, since he had not mastered the use of the fork and spoon yet.  It was the first time Ethan ate restaurant food by himself, and he really looked so adorable doing so.  Hmmph… the pasta Mommy made, he rejected.  But TGIF one, he ate willingly and even asked for more as he finished each strand, banging loudly on the table!
All in all, we enjoyed ourselves very much… Ethan did too, judging by the mess he made around his high chair.

Sunday, I cooked my claypot chicken rice, so we ate at home before going to Gurney Plaza.  We bought more books for Ethan from MPH.  The books were at a steal at only RM9.90 each!  I couldn’t resist getting 3!

And our boy is already enjoying himself with his new books now…

Home Alone with Ethan

March 8, 2007 in Ethan, Parenting | No comments

… well, for about 2 hours only…

Yesterday (Wednesday) was Pete’s futsal day, so after we pick Ethan up from Mrs Tan’s place, I spent the evening with Ethan. 

It’s more challenging now because Ethan is VERY mobile and VERY kepo, so he will move around really quickly from room to room.  I played with him for a while, then I fed him, and then we watched American Idol together  🙂 and waited for Daddy to come back.  Then Ethan had his warm bath before his bedtime at 9:30ish. 

Cool way to spend a Wednesday night huh?

Getting Better :)

March 5, 2007 in Breastfeeding, Ethan, Growing Up, Parenting | No comments

Ethan is so much better now.  I knew he was already back to his old self when he woke me up giggling in his sleep last Saturday morning.  Can you imagine?  He slept till 9a.m.?!!

We still fed him his medication through the weekend, because we wanted to be certain there would be no recurrence of the illness.  Guess what?  We only found out yesterday that the syringe that we used to administer the medicine needed to be positioned at an angle so that the medicine will be shot right down his throat, giving him no chance to gargle or cough it up.  So last night, we promised Ethan that it would be the absolute last time he would be taking the medicine.

This horrible coughing illness has been a force to be reckoned with, and I am SO GLAD that we will soon be rid of it forever. 

Recovery time:

Pete – 8 weeks
Joyce – 4 weeks
Ethan – 1 week

Another amazing fact from Ethan boy, courtesy of being an exclusively breastfed baby!

Still not well :(

March 2, 2007 in Breastfeeding, Ethan, Growing Up, Parenting | No comments

Ethan woke up this morning coughing and sneezing even more than he did yesterday; I even detected some phlegm when he coughed.  We fed him his Rhinathiol and Polaramine, despite his fierce protests… it always tugs my heartstrings to see him cry and scream like that when we try to feed him medicine 🙁

After dropping him off at the sitter’s (with instructions to give him more milk and water, and to wipe his nose), I called Dr Jessica to inquire what could be wrong.  She reassured me that the symptoms for his illness would tend to take a turn for the worse on the 3rd or 4th day, before becoming better.  As long as he wasn’t wheezing (which was a sign of bronchitis), there should be nothing to worry about.  She also said I could bring him in for a quick checkup in the evening if I wanted to be further reassured and for her to check Ethan too.

I then called Mrs Tan, our babysitter, and she proudly proclaimed that Ethan had finished his entire morning feed of 5oz of EBM at one go and was feeling better already.  In fact, he was taking a nap when I called.  I was glad. 😀

After work, Pete and I took Ethan to see Dr Jessica, who again confirmed and reassured us that his lungs were clear.  She cautioned us, however, that if his breathing was rapid (more than 40 breaths per minute), we should inform her.  She instructed us to continue with the medication and hopefully with the breastfeeding, he would be all well tomorrow.

Dearest darling Ethan boy, Mommy and Daddy are praying that you will get well soon!

Down with Fever :(

February 27, 2007 in Ethan, Growing Up, Miscellanous, Parenting | No comments

Ethan came down with a fever this morning.  38.2 degrees.  Not sure if it’s accurate, cos I didn’t have the time to get an ear thermometer yet, so I had to use the underarm mercury thermometer method.  We took him to see Dr Jessica, and she confirmed that the bacteria from my cough had spread to him before his flu got better.  His fever had shot up to 38.4 degreen then.  So unfortunately, she had to put him on antibiotics.  She prescribed Axithromycine, which is from the same family as Erithromycine (the antibiotics that I took), and Ethan was to take it for 3 days.  She also prescribed Rhinathiol (for cough) and Polaramine (for flu).  Paracetamol also, but we were also provided with the suppository option, since Ethan rejects medicine taking orally. Sigh…

Tried giving him the medicine… he blew the medicine out.  Then when we shot it straight down his throat, he gargled the medicine and refused to swallow it.  We also tried alternating the medicine while feeding him soup, but our boy was not willing to be outsmarted.  He would check the spoon to see if it’s clear (i.e. soup) or red (i.e. medicine) before taking it.  So… it was certainly a chore to give him the medicine, and heart-wrenching too, I might add.

I hope he gets better soon.

NO to Pacifiers

February 9, 2007 in Breastfeeding, Ethan, Parenting | No comments

The use of pacifiers for babies have long been touted as an *easy-way-out* method to calm babies (read: shut them up). I guess that’s why they call it the *dummy*. The usage of pacifiers causes nipple confusion especially in the early stages of breastfeeding, is easily soiled and just yesterday, I was saddened to read the news that it caused a 14-month old baby to choke to death:

Toddler chokes to death on pacifier
JOHOR BARU: A 14-month-old baby boy suffered for almost 90 minutes before dying, after he accidentally swallowed his pacifier at his babysitter’s house.
The victim, whose parents work as factory operators in Singapore, was sent to his babysitter’s house in Taman Johor Jaya here yesterday.
It is learnt that the parents have been sending the baby to the babysitter for more than a year.
Yesterday, the babysitter put the pacifier into the baby’s mouth when she went to prepare his milk at about 10am. When she came back to check on him, she was horrified to see that he had swallowed the pacifier.
She tried to pull it out but it was stuck in the baby’s throat. She rushed him to a nearby clinic but the people there could not extricate it. By the time he was taken to Sultan Ismail Hospital at 11.30am, he was pronounced dead on arrival.

I am glad that we have NEVER once used a pacifier with Ethan. Mom had also never used a pacifier for my brother and I when we were babies. Of course initially it was difficult because when Ethan needed to be calmed down, we had to talk, sing, soothe, rock and nurse by offering “the human pacifier” to him. It has all been worth every bit of the effort as there is no need to break him from the pacifier habit now.

Mixed Feelings

February 8, 2007 in Ethan, Growing Up, Milestones, Parenting | No comments

Yesterday evening when we picked Ethan up from the sitter’s, she proudly announced that Ethan had begun to take his first baby steps. Although still wobbly, she said that he was holding on to a chair and then very gingerly let go and took a few steps towards her!

Pete and I were ecstatic! Imagine, from a non-mobile infant to a crawl-everywhere-and-opens-and-closes-all-doors baby and NOW to a soon-to-be-free-roaming toddler! Wow… next milestone! Check!

However, I can’t help but feel that I would sometimes miss out on important milestones like these, being a working mom and all. So even though I am jubilating over his first few steps, I am a little sad that I wasn’t there to see it. C’est la vie…

Ah well. Maybe, hopefully… I will be there to witness the first few REAL steps, not the unstable ones. Hehehe…. me being my kiasu self now.

Oh, by the way, yesterday evening after we brought Ethan back home, I saw him take 1.5 steps from one side of the cot to the other! So I’m happy. Hee.

Ethan: The First Year

January 31, 2007 in Ethan, Milestones, Parenting | No comments










Ethan Turns ONE Today!

January 31, 2007 in Ethan, Milestones, Parenting | No comments

The moment you came into our lives
My pain all vanished when I heard your cries
After our nine-month getting-to-know-you session
You really lived up to our every expectation!When I first held you in my arms
I loved your smell, your closeness and your warmth
The tears I shed were definitely tears of joy
I couldn’t believe we now have a beautiful baby boy!

And so began our breastfeeding journey
You were a pro, even though you were so tiny
Cradling you while singing a lulling song
Our bond as mother and child grew strong

Diaper sizes from NB to S, then M and now L,
You turned into someone we knew so well
That cheeky grin and mischievous smile
We really got used to your “bulat” style!

First you rolled over, and then you were sitting
Before we knew it, you were an expert at crawling!
Cruising and then standing and babbling to talk
We’re now eagerly awaiting the day you learn to walk!

A year of sleepless nights we endured
Why you can’t sleep through yet, we’re not entirely sure
You certainly are a picture of energy
A chatterbox too, yes you’re a talkative baby!

You’re a food lover, you’re not at all fussy
Your favorite is of course, when you dine at Mommy’s
Now that you have 4 teeth and of course still counting
We anticipate days ahead of more yummy eating!

Our darling Ethan boy, as you turn one,
Daddy and Mommy are as proud as the sun!
For what we once called our bundle of joy
Has now been transformed into a big boy!

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