Chicken Rice Cereal

They other day when I was shopping at the Supermart for Ace's stuff, I saw something that REALLY freaked me out.. CHICKEN RICE CEREAL...

You see, I am vegeterian and became one for health reasons.
While I have nothing against the meaterians and I think that it is up to people's own free will to decide what they want to put into their bodies, CHICKEN RICE CEREAL REALLY FREAKED ME OUT!

Maybe you would understand why if I shared about my journey to vegeterianism with you...

You see, I was a meat lover. I ate anything and everything and lots of meat. Couldn't live without it!

Then I read a book called Fit For Life by Harvey Diamond. In the book, he says that our stomachs will secrete acid to digest proteins (meat) and alkaline to digest carbohydrates (rice). Usually, it takes our body 3-4 hrs to digest this food...

However, when you mix both.. as in when you eat a plate of chicken rice (chicken=protien, rice= carbo), your body produces both acid and alkaline at the same time and causes the alkaline to neutralize your acid. As a result, both acid and alkaline cannot do their job and the body finds it very tiring to digest the food.. it tries and tries but to no avail. After 12 hours, all you have left are a lump of fermented food inside your body and the body just gives up and let it pass out.

After I read that, I decided I dun want fermented food in my body and started to be a little careful about what I eat. Chicken rice seemed like a really bad idea from then on...

Then a friend showed me a video called Meet Your Meat where they showed how livestocks are killed so that we can enjoy our KFC, Mac Donalds.. and it really freaked both me and hubby out. I turned vegeterian instantly.. for one week.. until the fear and the images were no longer in my mind...

Then, one day while talking to a friend, I realized that her father (she is malaysian) is one of the biggest chicken farmers in Malaysia and that they are the top suppliers of chickens to KFC in malaysia.

She said, "Well, every month, this salesman will come with this encyclopedia of injections you can inject into the chickens. You wouldn't believe the kind of stuff they have. THey have things that can help the chicken grow from a chick into an adult within a mere 21 days (that is like less than half the time they will usually take okie!). And then all the chickens that go out from our farm are exactly the same size and weight. Too big, give it and injection and it becomes small. Too small, give it an injection and it becomes big..."

My god... can you imagine the amount of chemicals that goes into these chickens.. the final thing that made me decide to stop eating animals completely was this: HER DAD, a chicken farmer, actually FORBIDS THE WHOLE FAMILY TO EAT CHICKEN OUTSIDE. The only chicken they are allowed to eat are the kampong chickens they rear NATURALLY.

That's not all... when we eat all these chickens, the chemicals go not just into our bodies and stays there... it also gets passed down to our children's body when we give birth... so for the good of Ace, even before he was born, i stopped eating animals ;)

So you see.. chicken rice for adults to me is already very scary... chicken rice cereal for babies? That's really scary!

Aiyoh.. as I type, I am getting goose pimples already....

Chicken Little, anyone?

Care Bear Stare!

Thanks to Jez Ah Ma and Megan godma for their xmas pressies to Ace ;)

Jez Ah Ma bought Ace a truck that has sounds (can sing Old Mac Donald Had A Farm and produce sounds of 5 different animals and can move and even have blinking lights). I think he will enjoy that for quite a while.. now.. he learns to watch it move.. in time to come.. he will understand cause and effect and how to start or stop the truck.. even later still, he will be able to learn the sounds of the animals...

Megan godma bought him something like a truck too.. (see picture of Ace and his rumbling truck) when you pull at it, it will rumble away.. tat's very useful for when ace is a little grumpy.. he will be so amused by the rumbling that he will forget why he was grumpy in the first place.. hahah ;)

I think xmas is a time where many children recieve toys as presents. But after I hear this scary story, I plead with you to think twice when you buy toys for your nieces, friend's children, sons and daughters.

My mentor, George's son, Jensen, is about a year and a half. He is an intelligent and cute little boy who has a penchant for golf. Jensen's father used to be a health consultant. He and his wife are very concerned about the well being of Jensen and are very careful about what he eats, reads and who he plays with because they believe that things you come into contact with before you are 3 years old will determine what you become for the rest of your life.

Somehow.. someone actually gave Jensen an xmas present which was really scary....

Recently, there is a revival of the Care Bears polularity. (If you dunno wat a care bear is, you are either older or younger than my generation.. here's a pic of sunshine bear and lots of love bear for your reference) They are bears who have pictures on their tummies and these pictures will emit magical powers when they say, "Care bear, stare....."

They are really fluffy cute little creatures with very nice names like Tenderheart Bear, Sunshine Bear, Goodluck Bear.. etc... I for one used to love them.. whenever my TV broke down, I would do the Care Bear Stare stunt and hope that my magical powers will revive my tv... I even formed a Carebear Club among my kakis with me as Tenderheart Bear, the Leader of the Pack.. hahahaha

Anywayz, back to the story.... someone gave Jensen a carebear toy.. a well meaning gesture no doubt.. but it was a really scary toy lor...

It's a carebear that SINGS.. how does it sing? When you hold two of it's hands, you complete the circuit and it will sing.. this means tat an electric current will run through you and it will sing! Yikes! If you only hold one of it's hands, the circuit is not complete and no sound will come out!

Hiyo, I think if his parents knew this, they would probably ban him from playing with the carebear toy man!

I for one will NEVER EVER let my son play this kind of toys.

So parents, please check all the toys that you pass to your children! It is our responsiblity to ensure their safety and well being!

Got Kid Thousand Things Contented

There's a Chinese saying that says, "有子万事足". Loosely translated, it means "Got Kid Thousand Things Contented"...

Well, it is how parents always tell you that no matter how upset they are at work, how tired they are or how frustrated they are when they are outside... the moment they see their children and see him smile, it will feel like everything else is not important...

Today has been a heavy day... it didn't help that I slept late last nite and woke up rather early today to read my new book on coaching before Ace can wake up and disturb me.

After that, I was buzy writing articles for the blog, sending out pics of Ace to members of the Ace Admiration Club members and also taking care of Ace...

At nite, had consecutive 3 meetings... As the meetings were heavy, i left Ace in mummy's care... my gungho mother actually brought him to her religious meeting so I guess my son and my mum had some other meetings too...

As for my 3 meetings.. had one uplifting one that inspired me to strive for greater heights in 2006, one mundane one on some marketing stuff and one tiring one... which made me a little upset... cos my well-meaning intentions end up something else in other people's eyes... instead of helping her or making happy, it made her upset instead... oh well, I will try to improve on tat :)

I was also a little upset that someone told hubby that he said something that was not very nice and that it was not his usual self... call me protective... but well, I feel tat hubby is by nature a nice person.. but he aint god so his not very nice self usually happens when he is tired... (I should know.. i live with him leh..)

I am upset not so much that people 'criticized' my hubby.. I mean, we were talking about how we could all do better as a team and there can be no improvement with criticisms... more so.. i wonder if I could have helped hubby become happier, more relaxed.. and wonder if I have kind of neglected him with Ace around... (Hahah.. i think if he is reading this, he will say YES and say he wants to use his VOUCHERS..)

Well, i guess I am too tired lor.. energy is real low.. It's like.. hmm.. upset is too strong a word.. I just kind of feel disturbed lor... okie, I am talking in circles and it is 2.18am in the morning.. hahaha.. let's go back to the main point...

So when I came back.. I was not unhappy.. just perterbed and tired... but when I saw Ace and he smiled at me... like what my parent friends tell me... everything really seem to just melt away and dun seem to matter anymore!

I truly felt that "有子万事足"....

The conclusion? The fastest way to relieve stress is to seh kiah! Hahahaha....

Ace Goes Bananas!

Well, don't worry... cute little Ace didn't go crazy ;)

What I meant was that Ace has started to eat the Banana cereals that Ah Yee bought him...

Well, the way it happened was really farnee lor...

You see, I never like to eat bananas since young. Banana cake and goreng pisang (deep fried banana- it's a snack in Singapore) is fine... but NO NO to bananas. The reason? Well, I just found that it was very gooey and since it was difficult to swallow gooey stuff, I just hated it.

During my pregnancy, I never took any bananas. After Ace was delivered, I too never touched banana stuff... so you could say that when Ace took the banana cereal, it was the first time he was introduced to the banana taste!

And what was his reaction?

THIS!

Despite having such strange reactions/expressions towards banana cereal, he never once stopped opening his mouth to ask for more when he has finished the first mouthful.. hahahahah...

The verdict? Ace is tam jiak like me and max when we were little! Any food is better than no food ah! Good, then we wun have a fussy eater in our hands ;)

I Love To Bath!

Ace still loves to bath...

Whenever he is grumpy, throw him into the water and he will be very happy... just make sure the water is not too cold for him..

Recently, he has taken to kicking and playing with water while bathing.. so I decided to bring the camera into the bathroom to capture his new antics..

However, he surprised me by NOT playing with water tat day but by TRYING TO GRAB anything that he can!

He attemped to do tat at the water coming out from the shower.. and even attemped to grab is humble little penis! ;) hahahahhaa... Wonder if he finds it painful to grab so hard.. or maybe he is just shy and trying to cover up.. maybe he was trying to stop pee from coming out (he did tat once..) muahahahaha....

Oh well, I look forward to when he can play with his toys and we can have more fun during bath time.. ;)

I Wanna Watch TV!

I have always been a TV addict since young.

I love to watch tv. I watch anything and everything really. Give me an indian movie and I will happily watch away.. ask me to watch a documentary, I will be equally enthralled..

Strangely, the only time I watched less TV was when I was working in Mediacorp.. hahahah...

However, this is not a habit I would want my son to pick up.

The house rule laid down by Daddy is that Ace is not allowed to watch TV or even hear the noise of the TV. I remmebered that during my confinement, in order not to let Ace hear noise from the TV.. i will carry him.. face away from the TV and mute the TV... and I would simply kill boredom by reading the subtitles!

Poor confinement nanny had to follow suit.. hahahaha...

As Ace grew and grew.. the TV volume got louder.. but he still wouldnt get a chance to watch TV.. cos he will always be faced away from the TV..

Not that he liked to watch TV anywayz. Usually, he is just very enthralled by the noise that is coming from the TV and would look for the source of sound... after a while, he would get tired of it and play with himself again.. Eg, he found Chicken Little to be very boring. We allowed him to watch it cos it was a children's show. But he found his fingers more interesting than the show after about a minute of watching.. hahah...

Nowadays though, he will twist and turn his body into strange positions just to catch a glimpse of the TV. (See picture!)

Well, I shall have to watch less TV if i want him to watch less.. sigh.. LEAD BY EXAMPLE IS A MUST when you are a parent.. ;)

Ace 6 Month Report

View month 2 here
View month 3 here
View month 4 here

Name: Chua Yen Feng, Ace
Weight: Approx 9.98kg
Height: 71.4cm
Head Circumference: 39cm

Remark: 5th month injection was easy peasy.. cos Ace only slighly warm for a while and had no fever this time round... 6th month even better still, nothing... Nurse say he EVERYTHING ALSO BIG.. but dun worry, he is just huge and is not FAT!


PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENTS
Can flip very well liao.. Ace can flip forwards and backwards easily at will. He seems to like doing it best when he is hungry and wants milk.. it is his new signal for hunger. Also, becuase he can flip at will and can stay on his sides, he can now carry bolsters when he sleeps.. and he has the abillty to hold on to it, let go..lie on his back again and flip to his side again... Usually, he flips around instead of crawling around...

Can "Crawl": Ace still likes to swivel himself around when he is lying on his back. He can sleep parallel to me and end up perpendicular to me when I wake up! I also dunno how he do that! Also, he knows how to push his buttocks up using his leg power and push him arms around.. but he cannot co-ordinate them yet.. so cannot crawl...

Can Sit unassisted for a number of minutes... by using both his hands to support...

Can stand using sofa as support for a number of minutes...

Can start to eat semi solids like cereals, smashed toufu, scraped apples...

Starts Making More Sounds and can SHOUT VERY LOUDLY now.. Does it usually only when he is HUNGRY AND DUN HAVE MILK.. somehow, he has started to become fussy when he is sleepy... so i have been telling him tat good boys will just close eyes and sleep.. it's easy...

Can grab toys and will always put them into his mouth.. after which he will bang them, throw them on the floor and explore what happens.

BEHAVIORAL DEVELOPMENTS:

Will show sad face when I go out and say bye bye to him.. shows a happy smiley face when I come back. But when i leave, he doesnt make a fuss cos I will tell him when I am coming home.. if however i forget to do tat.. he will end up a little more fussy than usual and make daddy almost want to tear his hair apart..( even though is he bald , hahah..)

Is friendly and likes people to carry him. Is ok even if people who look very different come near him. Eg, my indian friend carried him and he was happy.

Happy when he sees other babies or children and will smile at them and lunge at them to hold their hands...

Likes music and whenever he hears music.. will start waving his arms and kicking his legs.. seems to have penchant for Dragos Da Tin Dei...

Knows how to pretend to cough to gain attention...

Is looking more and more cute manz!

Merry Xmas!

Merry Xmas to all...

May you have a wonderful year ahead!

Where's My Milk??!!

Yesterday, something really funny happened...

Daddy was back after a long day and because I was using the comp to do work, I asked him to go sleep and dun fight with me for computer to read his soccer news... You know how when you are in the middle of some inspiration and doing stuff, you lose the momentum when people disrupt you right?

As Ace was already asleep right in the middle of our bed, Daddy climbed into the right side of the bed and fell asleep.

Suddenly, in the middle of the nite at around 2am when I was happily typing away, Ace suddenly woke up and did his flipping stunt.. I think he dreamt of food and wanted to have some milk....

He turned to the left side where daddy was and stuck his face to daddy's back and tried to find the nipple! But he couldnt find it. After a while, he gave up and turned to the right, where there was only air! But he still couldnt find it.... so he turned to his left again.. and he kicked and kicked till he swivelled 90 degrees and his legs were on daddy's back, and his mouth was kissing our pillows...

Then I lay down on his right and poked his arm with my fingers and told him, "This side this side.." and swivell him back.. and he happily sucked..

I tried to pull out again to watch his reaction and he turned to Daddy and tried to find milk again... it was hilarious! Hahahaha...

How Do You Sleep?

How do you sleep?

I read somewhere (Sleep Position Gives Personality Clue) that if you sleep in a particular position, it shows certain traits of your character.

I have mentioned before that Ace sleeps with his legs and arms wide open like me right?

But Ace's latest habit is to sleep on his side cos ever since he can turn to his side (either side) very well with ease, the little show off has been doing it again and again and again, even in his sleep...

Well, according to the studies, this means that Ace is "tough on the outside but sensitive at heart. He may be shy when he first meets somebody, but will soon relax..."

Well, let's see if he grows out of it...

PS: Me and Max are sometimes starfish and sometimes foetus.. just like Ace :) hehehe...

Ace Loves To Do Housework

If Ace's reaction to a mop is anything to guage his future characteristics, I am happy to announce that Ace likes to do housework ;)

Or maybe he is just amused to see me do housework... (just like Daddy.. hiaks... cos I ONLY do housework ONCE IN A BLUE MOON.. so dun call me a housewife! call me a HOMEMAKER:))

I have noticed that whenever Ace is restless and noisy, he would quieten down if i made him sit in his highchair and watch me wash plates, wash clothes or hang clothes to dry...

The other day, i had guests coming to my house in the night. We had agreed to play the cashflow game at our place with our friends and my house has not been packed since the last time i had guests at my place.. i think tat was like about 4 mths ago.. hiaks hiaks.. so you can imagine the amount of rubbish being piled up all over the house..

But boh pian leh.. people are coming.. i tried my best to dump what i could in our bedrooms and study room( hahaha.. just close the door can lioa mah) and then proceeded to vacumn, wipe, clear all the stuff...

By the time i reached the mopping stage, Ace was already very bored and he demanded that i carried him by crying out loud.

Alas, mummy was running out of time. Only one hour left and my first guest will start to arrive and so mummy had no choice but to carry Ace in a carrier while she mopped the floor..

Initially, Ace was very curious and he kept staring at the mop... and then he attempted to touch it and move it like he saw me mop the floor.. and when all the moping was done, he somehow seemed to sense it and starting smiling and waving his hands and feet :)

Ok girls, here's another cute-looking SNAG who can do housework... anyone wants to book him first? ;)

Ace Admiration Club Cheerleading Team

Ladies and gentlemen,

I welcome.. AUNTY Pamela.. to the AAC (Ace Admiration Club). She has just chided me for not sending her any pictures of Ace because in her own words, "You should know I fell in love with him at first sight mah!!"

Anywayz, for members of the AAC, I present now to you... a new cheer for Ace.. proudly created by my very old, but very creative father.. hahaha.. (Ace's grandpa lah)

It all came about when grandpa was playing with Ace.

He would make funny faces and funny sounds and Ace would giggle happily.

Then one day, out of nowhere, I heard him reciting the following cheer:

严锋， 严锋，谁最威风?
严锋，严锋， 我最威风!

Loosely translated, it means:
Yan feng (Tat's Ace's chinese name), who is the most outstanding?
Yan feng (Tat's Ace's chinese name),I am the most outstanding?

Cos Ace's FENG... rhymes with the words'威风' (outstanding)...

I think the standard MOVEMENTS to go with the cheer is to raise your hands.. or rather Ace's hands when you say the words '威风'.. hahahhaha

Ok, so let's start practising now.. everybody together.. a 1, 2, a 1, 2, 3, 4......

I Want To Sit Up

I am sooooooooooo envious of Christine!

Baby Waden (her son, who is only 2 days younger than Ace) can sit up on the mattress for around 3-4 minutes at least. Such a clever baby!

I tried letting Ace do that but he can only sit without support for some 30 seconds. After that he will try to reach out for his toes (to put them into his mouth) and he will topple over.

I am not saying tat Ace is not clever lah. Babies are all different mah ;)

Anywayz, recently, Ace has shown more and more signs of wanting to sit up.

Eg, when you put him into the blue bouncer, he will not want to lie down and will attempt to sit up in the bouncer. Clever baby Ace will even use leverage.. and hang on to the metal frame of the bouncer to lift himself up.

However, meal times are still an issue. I read somewhere that you should feed your baby on a highchair to establish meal time habits.

However, whenever I put Ace on the highchair, he will lean over the suck on the edge of the chair. Before I can deliver the food to his mouth, he will lean over all the way to the edge of the chair. And then his head will be facing down by then. Like that how to feed?

And then I thought very hard about how to keep him upright....

And here's the solution: I tie his body to the back of the highchair with my shawl! Hahahhaah (:ook carefully at the pic, you can see traces of the scarf ;))

When my mum saw this, she told Ace, "这样的方法，你的MUMMY也想的出来..."

But then it gets the job done and he seems to know now that to feed, he has to lean back... I am quite proud of my solution actually ;) When he gets used to leaning back and has a stronger back, I shall realease him from my shawl..hiaks...

I hope this happens soon, don't you?:P

I Want To Do It Even When I Sleep

I read the other day that children may have sleeping problems again once because they have reached a certain development milestone.

"Some children may wake up in the middle of the night again becuase once they have mastered a certain motor skill, they may be so happy that they want to do it again and again at every chance that they get. Even in the middle of the night..."

Wah lau, no wonder Ace kept waking up those few days.

Some time ago, Ace managed to be able to flip to and fro effortlessly.

When that happened, he suddenly would wake up in the middle of his nap of in the middle of the night to flip over. And I tot what was wrong with him...

Anyway, Ace likes to flip over and be on his tummy now... He will lie on his tummy, lift his head up and smile and smile and smile.. and then when he is tired, he will put his head down to rest for a while....

He is also learrning to crawl now. He will kick his legs, bring them together and try to lift his buttocks up. He already can do that now. Now, all he needs is to co-ordinate his hands and start supporting his weight on his back and his hands and move his hands and I think he will be ready to crawl.

Probably by Chinese New Year, he will be able to crawl lor ;)

What Are You Having For Lunch?

FYI, Ace has been having rice gruel + VP (VP gives him all the nutrients tat he needs and helps him to detox faster) for lunch...

His training started about 3 weeks ago where I will on and off feed him like one table spoon of gruel at each meal time.

As of this week... he has finally started to take MORE of it.. I now mix like 2-3 tablespoons of the powder with water to make like half a bowl of the gruel stuff. Then I crush VP and add it in cos if not the gruel will be very bland. Since VP is good for him and he likes the taste, I tot i would save the trouble of feeding him seperately and just put the VP into the gruel....

He is doing a good job so far... has improved in terms of speed.. but he hasnt quite gotten the idea that when food goes into your mouth, you are suppose to suck it in.. he still likes to push his tongue out as when he is drinking milk.

At other times when he is "hungry", he will try to munch on his hands and fingers. Recently, he has even graduated to munching on his toes. Apparently, i think his toes tastes better than his fingers cos i see his toes in his mouth more often than his fingers.. hahaha..

He really eat till like it is very delicious lor.. maybe one day when I can put my foot into my mouth.. i will try and see whether it is really delicious or not.. hahaha.. but as of now.. my bones are too hard to be so flexible.. hahahah

Like That Also Can Sleep

You know how when a person is tired, you can sleep anywhere and in any position right?

But I think Ace and Daddy really win HONOURS for their stunt that day for sleeping JUST LIKE THAT...

I mean, for Daddy, it has been a rather buzy week and he has actually been quite tired. He was lying on the mattress and playing with Ace. They were having fun talking and laughing with each other and suddenly, Daddy (who was playing the role of some monster i think) tried to hug him and turn him to the side...

The moment he turned, Daddy just fell alseep!

The most beautiful part of it was that because Daddy fell asleep, Ace fell asleep too... so when mummy came back into the room where they were playing, they were alseep in this strange embrace...

Wah lau, like that also can sleep ah! I tot I sleep with hangers on my bed or sleep in one position and never move for whole nite is considered very clever liao..

Well, i guess 一山还有一山高.. hiaks:P

2 Botaks

PS: This is one of mummy's favourite picture :)

Chua Xiao Long

Ace is a very active baby. His current favourite past time is to kick his legs.

Like an energizer bunny, he never seems to get tired. When he is on the bouncer, he is kicking, when he is on the bed, he is kicking, when I am carrying him, he is kicking... when daddy is carrying him, he is kicking...

He just never seems to stop. Even when he flips himself over, he is still kicking!

I guess all the exercise helps his legs to get strong (he can stand with a little support under his arms for 5 minuites now) and helps him to grow...

But sometimes, he just randomly kicks and his power legs are really quite painful. I know cos I ever kenna on my tummy and even on my breasts!

"Ace, can you please dun kick mummy's neh neh.. wait no milk how????"

He just continues to smile and kick and do his wun ying tui (shadowless kick) kungfu stunt...

The other day, Daddy was playing with him... and mummy was busy taking photos of them playing together...

"Kick, Ace, Kick... " Daddy was encouraging him..

"Good boy, good to exercise right... " and before Daddy could finish his sentence...

"UMPH!"

Oops, Ace kicked Daddy in the groin!

"Hiyo Ace, cannot like that, you dun want didi and mei mei (younger siblings) is it???" Daddy asked him.

Ace just grinned and carry on kicking.. muahhahahaha....

Tarepanda Ace

Well, ever since his 4th month injection, Ace has started to do the M-shaped mouth while leaning on the shoulder look very often.

The other day, while I was carrying him, Daddy suddenly shouted excitedly, "Look, mummy, he looks like tarepanda!!!"

Alas I was carrying him on my shoulder and his face away from me so I got daddy to quickly take a picture of him...

Here you go.. look like tarepanda or not? I think only thing is tat his head is too round.. cos tarepanda's head is oval shape one... hahaha

Pretty Neighbours To The Rescue!

Mummy and Ace salutes her pretty neighbours at #03-569.

Thanks for rescuing Ace's Baby Mat :)

Well, what happened was tat it was the time to wash Ace's baby mat again. So mummy being hardworking that day, decided to wash the mat together with his smelly bolsters and pillows.

After a good wash, mummy hanged the mat on a bamboo pole and put it outside to dry cos the weather was really good. It was warm and windy and mummy cannot imagine Ace without his baby mat that day cos it was INJECTION DAY...

You see, Ace's baby mat has got special functions... it gives out far infra red rays and also negative ions and it:
- encourages detox (of the chemicals)
- gives cells energy (to fight diseases)
- promotes better sleep
- relaxes cells and the blood vessels (for better circulation of blood too all areas of body including brain)
- helps ace to build stronger muscels faster... 2, 3 days can turn his head a little liao...

Mummy also uses it when she has got aches during her pregnancy... sitting on it helps to relax the nerves and all tat and the aches will be gone very quickly!

Alas, mummy was busy doing other things when the sky suddenly turned dark and the wind grew strong. WHen mummy looked out of the window, OH NO! BABY MAT AND BOUNCER CLOTH WERE NOWHERE ON THE BAMBOO POLE!!!!!!!

OMG! The bouncer cloth is ok.. but BABY MAT??! I need it so badly tat day!! And hor, not to mention, the baby mat costs almost $800 okie!

When mummy looked out of the window, she realized that blue bouncer cloth is gone and baby mat was hanging dangerously on her neighbour's window.

As if by instinct, Ace seemed to know that he lost his precious mat and he started to cry.. mummy quickly woke daddy up and asked him to take care of ace while she went down to try to recover the mat.

Mummy saw that a kind soul had picked up the blue bouncer cloth and put it on the pipes.. thanks, kind soul. She picked it up and started to stare at the baby mat hanging on neighbour's window...

Now you must know tat mummy is very bad with directions... she looked up, counted the number of floors and tried to figure out which neighbour it was and which door to knock on...

She then climbed up the stairs and knocked on a neighbour's door.. after 5 min, no one opened the door..

Feeling that something was not quite right, she ran down again and counted the windows and tried to sort out the direction. It suddenly dawned on her that she was knocking on the WRONG DOOR! Heng ah.. no one was at home...

She then proceeded to the RIGHT DOOR and started knocking but to no avail. AFter 5 min, she decided to change plans.

So she went back downstairs, stared at the mat and tried to think of other ways to retrieve it. She had to get it now.. cos she was bringing Ace out for his jab already and had a meeting at night. Who knows when the neighbour will be back!

The bamboo pole wouldnt help cos hey, it's the 2nd storey lor.. mummy dun have super long hands... Spiderman was away saving the world...

Then suddenly, she was hit with a great idea! :)

She looked up and realized tat the neighbours on the third storey were probably at home cos their clothes were all out of the window... and if they would help use a bamboo to push the mat, it would drop on the floor and mummy can pick it up easily...

Plucking her courage, mummy knocked on the door of #03-8569 and waited patiently.. after 5 min of knocking, someone suddenly opened the door.. PHEW... and guess wat.. inside was a very pretty malay mummy with her 3 pretty daughters...

Mummy explained her problem and they offered to help her immediately.

Such nice neighbours...

Anyway, the ending was that mummy saved the mat in time but since it was dirty, mummy had to wash it again.. since it was not dry yet.. Ace had the luxury of sleeping on mummy's bed in the night cos Mummy and Daddy had their own piece of super big KIKO BEDPAD :)

Anywayz, Mummy shall send them a thank you card quickly to thank them for their help :)

Ace Can Fight!

Hahaha.. of cos I didn't mean that my little sweet bundle of joy is physically fighting...

What I meant was that Ace has managed to build the antibodies in his system such that the 5th month jab was *phew* chicken feet!:P

We went the the doctor as usual in the afternoon...

Ace was smiling happily at the nurses and everybody else and happily kicking his legs despite me telling him that he is going to have an injection... he made the nurses so happy when he gave them his killer i-am-going-to-charm-your-pant-off smile...

And then the needle went into his thigh.... "WAH!!!!!" he cried for like 5 seconds and after that stopped and refused to smile... and gave us his M shaped face.

I then breastfed him while I waited to see if he had any reactions. He seemed ok and so me and hubby went NTUC to buy groceries before we headed home.. halfway in NTUC, he fell asleep in Daddy's arms...

When he reached home, he was slightly warm and so I sponged him and fed him 2 VP and let him drink LOTS and LOTS of kinertec water.

Then we went out for dinner and met up with my mentor... he was kind of grumpy during the dinner cos he wanted to sleep... and finally when he slept, we finished our dinner in peace and went back home...

Back home, he was happy again and started to giggle and laugh with his daddy... there were no signs of fever at all! Even his injection wound didn't really seem to hurt cos he did not cry when I tried to touch it.

I think it must be cause his immune system has been built up well and now that he is stronger, he takes less time to fight the virus.

Anywayz, I will continue to vigilantly feed him VP...

hooray!!!!! 6th month injection does not cause fever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SAY GOODBYE TO FEVERS FOREVER!!!!!

Keep your fingers crossed for me ok?:P

Torturous Teething

Ace has been suffering from the tortures of teething... as a result, me and daddy suffer right along with him!

I mean, I have always been happy and proud to tell people that Ace is a very nice and very happy baby. He is.. he is always smiley and is always happy. Mostly, he is happy to either play with people or with himself and he seldom cries unless he is hungry...

However, having gone through two post injection fevers, I now know that Ace is a very grumpy baby when he is not feeling well.

Few days ago, when his 5th month injection was due, he started to be feverish again. It started with his head being quite warm for one or two days. But he had no fever. Just a warm head and he was smiley as usual.

Then one day, he just woke up and decided to GO FOR IT! He started to turn feverish.. and the part of his skull where there is a hole (you know tat baby's skulls are not fully formed at birth right?) is pulsating because instead of the sunken hole, you see his brain protruding and pulsating. Gee, tat's scary!!

And I hate to take care of Ace alone when he is feverish man!

He will start to cry and wail and keep wanting me to carry him. Sometimes he is not satisfied if i carry him, he will cry until I start walking around while carrying him.

He refuses to fall asleep on his own and is only willing to do so if I rock him a little, walk around and then give him milk so that he can suckle on my breasts.

I guess his gums must be feeling sore because he keeps wanting to be fed. It is almost as if he is a never ending whole that refuses to be full. He keeps wanting more milk.. or rather more suckle.. even when he is so full that he is vomitting milk.

I feed and feed and feed and feed until I was so tired but he just wouldnt let me off.. even in the middle of the night, he will wake and keep wanting to be fed.. again and again and again.. if I don't feed him, he cries so loudly that I fear he will wake the whole block up. My nipples felt like they don't belong to me antmore after a few hours and he still wouldn't stop!

Even the teething toy fails to amuse him for long. He quietens for a while to chew it and after a while starts to cry again.

Poor mummy tries to amuse herself by staring at the teething toy because it enlarges the view of his gum and you can see Ace's single little tooth trying to protrude out from the gums.

My only solace is in the fact that this is just a phase and it is not the first time I am going through this. But it is a trying phase. There are times I wonder if my son will stay like this and drive me insane.

Daddy isnt spared either.

There were two occasion during this period where Ace was teething that Daddy had to take care of him alone and when I came home, Daddy complained to me, "Ace bully me!"

"Your son cry like he got no father like that.." he complained..

When I told my mum, she said, "No lah.. he got no mother and looking for mother... he just wants to suckle and be comforted..."

Well, as I write this, I getting ready to bring him for his 5th mth jab.. I pray he wun get achy and feverish a again.. there are just so many bad ace days I can tahan in one month man!

Pray for me, will you? ;P

No Milk Is Good Practice For Ace

Ace has taken to sleeping on his sides with a bolster... while he sleeps, he will turn to his side.. turn back on his back again and turn to is side again.. I guess it signifies that he can flip to and fro at will...

And since he has been able to do this, he has been practising alot during meal times...

Whenever he is hungry.. if he happens to be lying down for some reason, he will turn to the side and make noise to indicate that he wants his milk. I guess this is cause I always b/feed him in the sleeping position with the both of us turning to our sides facing each other... It's a lazy person's invention.. hahaha.. a routine i invented when he still wanted night feeding...

Imagine at night or in the morning.. when you are sleeping... when he cries for milk... all you need to do is put him next to you, turn over, unbutton the necessary and wah lah, he can do the rest...

Anywayz, whenever he has no milk, he still start turning to the sides.... because he has been crying for milk so much (partly he is growing, partly cos he is teething and likes something in his mouth), he has practiced the sideway turn so often he will now do the following:

- Turn to the side and make noise that he wants to be fed...

- If no milk fed, he turns back on his back and cries louder..

- If still no milk, he turns to the side and flips himself right over and then pushes himself up using his arms...

- stares at you and cries... UNTIL you FEED HIM..

Hiaks, i think it is good practice for him.. :P

Greedy Ace 2

Ace has started to take solids!

We have started to feed Ace with rice gruel and also sweet potato..

Alas, Ace doesnt seem to know how to swallow very well... yet he is one HUNGRY HIPPO! ;)

Whenever you feed him the food.. he will lean forward to the spoon once he sees it.. and in the end, he is leaning forward in his high chair and can barely swallow his food.. so I have to carry him when I feed him so that I can keep him away from the spoon and bring the spoon to him instead...

And as he can swallow verywell yet... he will always end up having rice gruel all over his face after his meal...

And the moment i take the spoon away from him, I cannot afford to wait one second before i scoop up the second spoon becuase he will keep making noises to indicate that he wants his FOOD!

Sigh...

Well, at least he doesnt have a food problem...

I still remember that when I was little, my sister had a HUGE problem with food... she would refuse to eat and would take like 3 hours to take one meal.. can you imagine one meal has to be reheated 3 times while my mum tries to amuse her with candle wax, flour dough and many other toys just so that she will open her mouth, chew, and swallow??:P

Me? I love food! I eat anything that is given to me...

I guess that is why my sis and me were very different in size when we grew up.. hehehe...