from DW to JD: Happy Birthday

DW

1 year has passed since you entered our lives. From the moment you entered our world, you greeted us with your cries, probably telling us that you have arrived. You depend on us to feed, bathe and clothe you, do every little thing for you and we had to decipher these from your different cries. Till this day, you still need us there for you, though it is much easier on us as we begin to learn more about you, but on the other hand you are also learning more things each and everyday and new actions and gestures emerge.

We worried when you did not start to roll over, and crawl when all your other peers started to do so, but miraculously once you started to roll over you didn’t stop, and you now crawl from one end of the room to another, laughing along the way.

You are our gift from God, and we want you to know that just as Jesus will be there for you, we will always be there for you, in good times and in bad, and we will do whatever we can to protect you from harm and provide only the best for you. The past year has been an amazing one, and we look forward to the many, many more birthdays, new years, Xmas… together as one big happy family.

Jilliane can self soothe! ~ almost

I'm glad to be able to say that my baby girl can finally fall asleep on her own. This means a great deal to both Dw & myself as now we can have a good night's sleep.

This was by no means an easy feat. We were hesitant to try the CIO method but yet we also wanted our much needed rest back. So we had to do what we had to do. Firstly, I googled for help and I came across Tammy. She was really helpful. She went through with me very patiently on the routines I had for Jilliane and after the fading method was not successful, we went on with controlled crying. Then I rang my cousin in law, Angelyn, for support. She was a great source of inspiration. When Jilliane was bawling continuously for the 1st night, she spoke with me and I believed she was praying for us at the same time. Afterall she and Ken-li had experienced this just about half a year back so she understood my apprehensions well.

My baby girl still does not sleep without wakings in the middle of the night. She still cries but most of the time she falls back to sleep on her own. Compared to what we had to go through previously, this is a vast improvement. Today is day 6 and we're counting down till day 14!

Light headed

I just had a bottle of beer. Haven't had one for a really long time. More than a year I think. And I actually feel refreshed! A mid-afternoon beer really makes a whole lot of difference! WOW!

Jilliane at 11 months

Short of a month away from her 1st anniversary on planet earth, she certainly had shown much improvement in the development of her motor skills. Those who have been speaking with me often will know that I have been worried that she wasn't as mobile as the other babies around the same age as her.

Come 11 months, she suddenly began to crawl as fast as lighting, she keeps pulling up to stand and when she does that, Dw says she looks like a giraffe whilst Dx says she looks like an ostrich. And sometimes she stands 1 leg off the floor and looks like a flamingo. Whatever animal you resemble, mommy is just happy with you growing a little more day by day.

As I blog now, we're just a week shy of Jilliane's 1st birthday and I look forward to that day with mixed feelings. I'm amazed at how time passed and how lovely my baby girl has grown. I have this tendency to think 1 year back what I was doing with her rolling around in my tummy. For eg, during the National Day Rally last Sunday, I thought back about a year back when we were cheering the Sg Table Tennis team to victory and I thought about my anticipation of PM Lee's speech on the baby bonus.

Today, I've this screaming monster at home who has taken over my place as Dw's princess and ET's & PW's baobei.

I've said it many a time and I'll say it again, Mommy loves you!

Weirdos

The bitch attacked Dw last weekend, attempted to bite him but lucky for him, his pants were thick enough to protect him that all the bitch succeeded was to make a small tear. Whatever drove the bitch to do that is probably she's nuts considering that she was unprovoked. Needless to say Dw was very very pissed and scolded the bitch. Who wouldn't? If it was anyone else, I think the police would have been called in and the bitch may have just been ordered to be put to sleep for irrational aggression.

What seems even nuttier is the bitch's owner actually scolded Dw for losing his temper, as in her words "she's only an animal" and had the awful cheek to come up to me to ask me to train Dw.. ??!!*@$%

So reminds me of a person I read about in an article a couple of weeks back in the ST -

ST: We saw a report quoting you as saying the government would take firm action to control fires only if the haze disrupted flights and sparked protests in Malaysia and Singapore.

Kaban: What I said was that this haze issue was being exaggerated domestically. Why are we ourselves making the noise? Even they (Singapore, Malaysia, other neighbours) are keeping quiet.

ST: But the haze has reached Malaysia, and to some extent Singapore. And some residents there have blamed Indonesia.

Kaban: There are also hot spots in Sabah and Sarawak.It is a matter of what direction the wind is blowing in. They need to base it on an investigation to say the haze came from Indonesia.

ST: How about Singapore, which is near Riau?

Kaban: Like I said, it depends on what direction the wind is blowing.

ST: What is the government doing to try and reduce the forest fires?

Kaban: That (task) is technically under the domain of the regional governments. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has told regional governments to act fast.
Don't ask the central government to do everything. The central government is only helping. The national police have sent helicopters. The Forestry Ministry also has permanent teams working on the ground.

ST: What is your advice for people in Sumatra and Kalimantan?

Kaban: People need to be assisted by the regional governments. They need to be given adequate tools so they will not do slash and burn... There are a few success examples like the one in Oki area in South Sumatra.

ST: Must we wait for protests from abroad and flight delays before doing anything?

Kaban: It shouldn't be like that. Like I said, it is mainly the responsibility of the regional governments.

*%#@*! What's Up with these PEOPLE?!!!

Cheesecake

Took some time off last week to bake a cheesecake. Perhaps it was due to the hot weather and the adding of so many ingredients, that by the time the cake was ready to be consumed, I was too burnt out to have the appetite for it.

Dw & dad loved it, why shouldn't they? This contained 4 packs of Philly Cheese! No joke, it's a super expensive and a super high fat dessert. Now I'll willingly pay $6.50 for a slice of good cheesecake, anything less, will most probably contain less than satisfactory ingredients. I know that for a fact as I've spent about $50 on the ingredients, not including the flour, eggs which I "borrowed" from my mom.

I'm not sure if I will bake a 2nd one in the near future, but if I do, I will cut the biscuit crumbs by 50g (that means less sugar too) and will leave the cake to cool in the oven 1st to minimise cracking.

Mauritius

Digital cams are great, esp if we put in a memory card with huge bytes. We get to take photos after photos and when we're done for the event, we just upload all into our computer. Sounds good eh. Unfortunately, not that great if the photos were taken for an occasion that will only occur for that one time in our lives.

Reason for me lamenting about this is because, 3 years down, I've yet to print my honeymoon photos. I wanted to go for a unique trip, something different from my usual holidays where I'm either dashing from one state to another or zipping in & out of shopping centres. So we settled for somewhere in Sud D'Afrique - the Mauritius. Somewhere serene, somewhere that's not too commercialized, somewhere that's far away from the hustle & bustle of city life. A beach holiday is one which hardly comes to my mind when I'm contemplating a getaway.

I never regretted this trip, except that maybe 5 days would have been more than enough. We chose the 8 days one, certainly not expecting that our return flight would have been delayed by an extra day as Air Mauritius did not have sufficient planes available. Yes, that is how laid back that country is. But the people were beautiful & warm. The sea was blue and so inviting. I spent my time sitting at the patio reading my book or shopping at the hotel boutiques whilst Dw was at the beach trying out the various sea sports. Not that we didn't want to spend time together, but even newly weds need time alone. This was healthy. Afterall, we watched TV together, we had dinner together, we went on excursions together and we have many many years ahead with each other. "I promise to love you and honor you, in good times and in bad, sickness and in health".

This was a truly unique experience for me. I, for one, am afraid of what's under the sea. To me, the sea is another world. A world where we humans should not encroach in. Anything that happens under the sea is way beyond our control. This is why I will never dive. I do not know how to work a snorkel. I tried but I just can never grasp the technique of breathing through that pipe & huge frames which cover my nostrils. It took a lot of persuasion from Dw that I finally gave in and went for the under the sea walk. Needless to say, I was still panicking seconds before I submerged. But once in, I was awed. I have never been that near to corals, I have never been so near fishes and walking on the seabed for the 1st time felt so surreal! Up till this day, I'm still grateful for the invention of this excursion, which otherwise, will not allow me to come up close with these live sea creatures. Somehow seeing them through submarine window panels or glass bottom boats is not the same.

I'm looking forward to my next holiday. This time round with a baby (or by then toddler) in tow. It's really a pity that the KL trip had to be forfeited but to look on the bright side, it could be a "lagi shiok" one.. I'm certainly looking forward to C's wedding in the UK. :)