Survival guide to life without Father and Son

Mountain Man and Boy went to Singapore for 4 days to settle some "business" on the new apartment we bought. Hooray it's officially ours!

I thought MM was so brave to offer to bring MB on his own, he has never spent alone alone time with MB so intensely before. And I have never left MB for so long before, the longest was when i was in the hospital giving birth to Lilybuff and even then i saw him during the day.

He was a bit sick on the night before he took off. He decided to torture me by not eating his dinner prior to the long midnight flight, i was so worried that he may have caught a nasty bug from me. I even contemplated not letting him go, but i did. I cried a teeny weeny bit.

Thank goodness he went because after he left i felt so sick i was/am bedridden for 3 days now. And the Singapore air is clear so it's probably good for his recovery. He had so much fun, and he ate so much, i really feel so relieved. I on the other hand am sick like a dog, i haven't gone out or met anyone or did grooming of any sort, and i still freakin wake up at 745am every morning, that's if i even sleep at all! 

Anyway, my survival guide to living without them both is simple, the iPhone! We've been doing "Face-Time" whenever we can, i think MB finds it fun. And MM's brother sends me videos of MB and Cousin Tim eating and playing and eating some more so that's been keeping me going! THANKS! 

And also, thanks MM for the respite. You are doing a marvelous job at this. Maybe you can take him to Spain next! 

Mother of 2

Sometimes I feel like an old soul i really do. My friends are mostly unmarried or just married, but here i am unable to join hen parties, attend weddings, go on holidays because i have 2 kids. I know that when my kids grow up and are able to care for themselves, i'd still be young and i'd have plenty of time to pursue unfinished business, but that day is so far away right now that i can only imagine that it exists.

Day to day i feel so pent up. I spend so many hours each day facing a toddler whom i'm constantly fighting with, a baby who just wants to suckle, and a nanny whom i can barely communicate with. My life revolves around domestic issues and i can't help feeling upset over small things like Mountain Boy refusing to brush his teeth. Sometimes i want to just get a life...

But at the risk of sounding like a cliche, i love my kids sooo much. They are so precious to me that i want to hold and squeeze and kiss them all day. How can your bane be also your boon.

Here's some recent pictures of us. Seeing these pictures do make me thankful of my beautiful family.

Trust me, it's hard to get both kids to look at the camera.

Mountain Boy is caught up with a Dora episode. Lilybuff just wants to suck on his hand.

I have a picture of me like this with my older brother.

The 2 boys wearing matchy-matchy adidas sweater. Mountain Boy just loves dressing like his idol.

The short history of Mountain Man

When he was a baby....

A lot of people say Mountain boy is a mini version of his dad, now you can see for yourself. If only i had my baby pictures on hand, you'll see that Mountain boy is a lot like his mommy too.

Isn't daddy cute?

A few nights ago, Mountain man and i were discussing possible activities for Mountain Boy's 1st year party.

Mountain man: *enthusiastically* Let's play musical chairs!

Me: Uhm...

Mountain man: You know the i first played musical chairs was also the first time i won at something. I never tasted victory before that...

I don't know if it's funny to you but we both burst out laughing hysterically. He must have been about this big then.

Siblings are...

...probably the best part to growing up. This is one of my favourite pictures of the brothers.

And this too. Mountain man still has the same smile today. But luckily he is no longer the big fat bully.

Boys to Men

National service is probably essential in whipping pampered boys into real men. Mountain man can take quite a lot of physical crap such as:

1. Carrying 2 backpacks on a back-packing holiday.
2. Sleeping on the floor, soundly.
3. OT the entire night and still go back to work looking fresh.

Why is his hat so big?
Graduating

Mountain Man did sometime in Australia, followed by an exchange programme in the University of Illinois.

I always laugh at this picture. It was the time when everyone thought curtain hair and chokers were cool.

Special thanks to my mother-in-law who put together Mountain Man's photo album for Mountain Boy.

Why Father's Day is potentially huge-er than Mother's Day in my household

...because Mountain Boy idolizes his father. Of course he comes to me to play and nuzzles for comfort, but his Dad is the real rock star. He would stand RIGHT INFRONT of the amplifier to support his Dad. He even peed on that particular spot he was standing on to mark his territory, as if only HE can have the best seat in the world. (I know u're wondering what kind of mother am i to let my son run wild without diapers but he had a rash on his you know what).

Shake shake, shake that cute lil bouncy booty.

Mountain Boy practicing on his Xbox drums.

Mountain Boy: Dad, can you slow down.

To celebrate Father's Day, a bunch of Mommy friends and I planned a surprise "Daddies Only" visit to the pub to watch the Japan/Holland match, front row seats and first 2 drinks included. Mountain Man was honestly surprised when i announced at 630pm, in the midst of a massive housewarming party, that he could stay out as late as he wanted and not worry about cleaning up, bathing and putting Mountain Boy to sleep.

I think he was so touched he may have cried on the way to the pub.

Anyway, a father's day is not complete without tacky gifts. Here's a pair of matchy-matchy father & son water bottles. Mountain Boy was quite the trouper when he waited almost 40minutes at the kodak shop to develop these photos. He was so exhausted that he fell asleep on his stroller afterwards.

Here's what you've missed.

Dear Mountain man,

While u're hard at work, Mountain boy has been a good kid. He took a glorious 2.5hr nap in the morning, and a 1 hr nap in the afternoon. He finished all his porridge (like you he likes anything with tomatoes in it) and he popped many more of that vegetable snack thingies. He played, and laughed and was lovable as ever.

I had lunch with the mommies today and i shared with them that i was afraid that Mountain Boy would become a cry baby. He always whines when he "doesn't get what he wants".




After more in-depth analysis of the reasons behind his cries (thanks to the wonderful mommies), I've come to realise that i've been tempting Mountain boy with the wrong things to make him crawl. I've been using camera, handphones and dirty slippers, the things tht i don't want him to play with. So when he does crawl to the item, he'll start wailing if i take it away. So terrible of me. I've told the ayi that we need to stop tempting Mountain Boy with forbidden fruits!

This is the picture u took of him yesterday. He does look kinda angelic after his bath...



Anyway, here's Mountain Boy pulling himself to a stand in his cot. He has been demanding to stand all day. He can do it over and over and over again, i wonder if his thigh muscles will ache tomorrow.



He stuck his tiny hand out to steal the bottle when i placed it there momentarily. Of course i had to make him reenact a few times to take a picture so he got quite fed up by the end of it.

Before he slept, we both prayed for you. I told him that you love him and that he is very lucky to have a you as his father! I am so sweet right...

Okay, see u soon. I am going to sleep now.

oo,

your wife.

Sugar Coated Words

3rd March 2010

Me: So... It's your birthday today, what are your thoughts?
Mountain man: Well... I can be richer. But i cannot be happier....

I looked at him in awe.

Mountain man: that was a pretty good line wasn't it. Hehehehe...

12 March 2010, 7am.

Tamagotchi: Maaaa....

He wasn't looking at me when he said "maaa..." but i'll put it down on record that he called me first.

A new play area

Since T has started to flip, it's time to upgrade his play area into something a little more "vast". So i bought a huge child friendly playmat (like one his cousin Timmy has in Singapore) and dedicated a play corner to T, right next to Daddy's drumset.

See how happy he is...

It's even big enough for Daddy to lie on! Mountain man is so sweet, he's trying to tell T a chinese story with his broken chinese. 这个狮子设么设么设么....

T getting real high with daddy

This is evidence of how T enjoys being "scared".


After close to 30 minutes of non-stop laughing, he demanded some cuddle time. Look how he got his Dad to carry him!

Celebrating 100 days

T turns 100 days (thereabouts) today. Apparently babies in China don't really go out before they turn 100 days, so this is a key milestone for them.

Happy 100 days to our little family!

Don't they look cute? Awww.... somebody pls tell me that T's looking more like me now.

Hands on...

T is developing his motor skills quickly in the 3rd month. Other than putting his hands together and playing with his fingers, he also yanks my hair out, pulls my shirt, pokes my face.

Luckily, he also seems to have a flair for music. He realised that constant banging results in music.



Daddy teaches T how to be a pro-drummer.

The Robot Whisperer?

Remember the robots i pasted in his room?

The nanny told me one morning that T loves staring and mumbling to the robots during his night feeds. I didn't believe her... I thought she was exaggerating, it's pretty common for moms/dads/nannies to overstate the abilities of their kids.


I was proven wrong a couple of nights ago. He really does stare and speak to the robots, ALOT.



We even captured it on video. Just view the first 10 seconds...


According to Mountain Man, he remembered "hallucinating" and imagining stationary dots move around in his room. So err... maybe it runs in the family.

Imagination from Daddy, chattiness from Mommy... Oh dear...

Playtime with Papa....

Look ma.. i can fly!

The son doesn't seem to like xbox very much...

Quick update:

Went to the PD for 2nd month check up and 5-in-1 vaccination. All is well, he is 63cm and 5.9kg. He earned praises from the PD for lifting his head quite high when put on his tummy, he also "sat" for quite long when being pulled into the seating position.

The vaccination didn't go too well though. The first jab was followed by a high pitched shriek and his face turned purple! Mommy who was holding down his legs couldn't help but cry with him (so embarrassing!!!). I had to ask mountain man to take over for the 2nd jab while i hid in the corner to wipe away my tears. Poor T exhibited bi-polar behaviour the whole of yesterday, his smiles were followed by sudden sobs as the memories of his painful experience haunted him . hik hik...

Daddy, Daddy Cool

Mountain man looking all suave while T sleeps comfortably in the Baby Bjorn.

Botak Boy

T's signature hair was shaved off this morning. In China, we can hire specialists to come to our home to cut baby hair (and the very first haircut is free!). So I made an appointment yesterday and was told to wait 3-5 days for a free slot. But the call came earlier than expected, i totally wasn't ready to bid farewell to T's natural mohawk.

Here's us getting ready. Apologies for the pjs. i didn't even have time to change.

The first cut. ARGH!!!

All of his hair could fit into one palm. Can u see his hairline?? Just like his dad's!

Complete! My little shaolin monk...

Looking all handsome.

From the same mould

From left: Mountain man, Tamagotchi, Grandma

My favourite boys

T's getting really active these days, he tends to kick off his blankies and expose his bottom half. So CN decided it's time to wear pants! Hooray for me cos i bought SOO many funky baby pants. This pair is red with clover leaf prints (not polka dots ok!)....



Playtime with Daddy...

See who blink first...

One for Aunt Cami. He loves the mobile! thank you!

Kekekek...

The Father

Before the arrival of T, i've had numerous talks with Mountain man on our relationship, like how it may change after the baby comes. Maybe we'd quarrel over the baby too much, or we'll be so consumed with the baby that we'll forget about each other.

But i must say that it's been better than i imagined so far. Mountain man has been the BEST husband i can ever ask for, and he's also an eager new dad who is very willing to put forth his every effort.


Thing about natural birth (a period which i'd like to call "The great squeeze") is that the father can witness the whole process. And it's really important that he maintain a positive disposition cos he needs to channel it to the mother and create a condusive birth environment. He held me and encouraged me throughout the great squeeze and that really really helped.

This sight provided humour in between the SUPER PAINFUL UNTIL I CANNOT DESCRIBE contractions . He looks cute in a shower cap right doesn't he!

During the hospitalisation (a period which i'd like to call "walking through burning coal"), T was with us the whole time. Unlike in Singapore where baby gets wheeled in only when requested and feeding times, we pretty much were left to tend to T anyway we wanted. The task was daunting but i'm glad we did it. Most importanly, it bonded this new little family unit together.

Anyway, after the great squeeze, i was pretty much bed ridden. or rather, position ridden cos i couldn't even move in my bed. So besides feeding, he did everything else- run interferance with mother, meet up with doctors, paperwork, care for me and care for the baby. By the end of day 1, he was the expert diaper changer (T pooped 5 times the first day). He stayed up with T when i was knocked out from the long breastfeeding sessions. He bascially did EVERYTHING i requested him too. Even if it means getting up from deep slumber just to adjust the aircon by 1 degree.

Not only that, he comforted me through the baby blues and always assured me that i was doing a good job.

So, I've learnt not to underestimate the role of the father during this whole process. I'm glad i went through it with Mountain man. I think i can do it again... once i forget how SUPER FUDGING PAINFUL the contractions were.

This picture was taken on Day 2. Look how comfortable and happy T is in Daddy's arms.