How can I encourage Jilliane to be excited about Mandarin!
I speak to her in Mandarin & she blatantly ignores me. Exasperated, I sought help from Huang Ying, Head of Mandarin at Julia Gabriel. She encouraged me to read to Jillliane & use television as an aid. Yes! Tv! I like that idea :) It is assuring to know that tv when used sensibly, can be a powerful learning tool.
Out I went & bought my 1st ever Chinese songs DVD for jilliane. She wasn't too keen at the start, jumping around & couldn't spend more than 2 minutes watching it. But somehow a few days later she started to show more interest & soon she began to have her most favorite, 2nd most favourite & even 3rd most favourite song! She can sing 小星星 & 三轮车 on her own now! I'm sure many kids at her age can do alot more but for me, I'm just glad she has shown great initial progress. I've also bought a couple of Chinese books for her which she will bring to me on her own accord for me to read to her. This, to me, is good enough, at this point. I'm happy she now displays interest in this language.
Other ways that Ms Huang Ying shared with me were to label items in the house in Mandarin & to play games with jilliane in Mandarin. I've yet to do these as these would take alot more effort for Dw & myself to consciously & constantly speak the language. Nonetheless these are fab ideas which I will want to implement soon, when I've settled baby Jenson in his routine :)
Thursday, 24 November 2011
Coping with 2 kids
It has been a tiring 2 months.. Somehow when 1 thing goes wrong, other stuff just collapse all at the same time!
Firstly Jill has been having on off fever a couple of days after jenson came home & this fever lasted for more than a month ( only after a recent chest X-ray & blood test then we discovered it was due to bronchitis). On top of that she has ear infection & her visits to the ENT have cost me a bomb! Next our helper did something very wrong & we sent her back immediately. Needless to say, Jill has been very clingy & whiny which I don't blame her since she's sick & had to vie for my attention at the same time. But somehow i felt so guilty about not giving her my 100% attention that i finally broke down 1 night. Both Derwin & I were totally exhausted & really wanted to throw in the towel!
I prayed hard for God's protection & guidance. Through my prayers I was lucky to have received excellent tips from Ms Fiona Walker, Principal Director of Julia Gabriel, on how to shower my attention on both Jill & Jen.. Her idea on getting someone else to concentrate on my newborn was definitely very apt. Through God's will, I am thankful to have gotten a great stay in nanny to help us care for Jenson. Now I am able to shower more love & care on Jilliane & she's recovering well. Ms Walker also reminded me that it is vital to be understanding & give Jill a sense of security. With this in mind, I will always reassure her that mommy loves her and she is very important to me. I shower her with lotsa hugs & kisses. She's also a much happier child evidently as now she even tells me she misses her baby brother & will find every opportunity she can to kiss & "sayang" him. This is so different from the initial stages when she would cry whenever she sees me carrying didi.
It's time for Thanksgiving & I'm thankful for the wonderful support that I've gotten from those around me & I continue to pray for strength to be a good mum to 2 children & for my new helper to come in soon. And of course a good one too.
Firstly Jill has been having on off fever a couple of days after jenson came home & this fever lasted for more than a month ( only after a recent chest X-ray & blood test then we discovered it was due to bronchitis). On top of that she has ear infection & her visits to the ENT have cost me a bomb! Next our helper did something very wrong & we sent her back immediately. Needless to say, Jill has been very clingy & whiny which I don't blame her since she's sick & had to vie for my attention at the same time. But somehow i felt so guilty about not giving her my 100% attention that i finally broke down 1 night. Both Derwin & I were totally exhausted & really wanted to throw in the towel!
I prayed hard for God's protection & guidance. Through my prayers I was lucky to have received excellent tips from Ms Fiona Walker, Principal Director of Julia Gabriel, on how to shower my attention on both Jill & Jen.. Her idea on getting someone else to concentrate on my newborn was definitely very apt. Through God's will, I am thankful to have gotten a great stay in nanny to help us care for Jenson. Now I am able to shower more love & care on Jilliane & she's recovering well. Ms Walker also reminded me that it is vital to be understanding & give Jill a sense of security. With this in mind, I will always reassure her that mommy loves her and she is very important to me. I shower her with lotsa hugs & kisses. She's also a much happier child evidently as now she even tells me she misses her baby brother & will find every opportunity she can to kiss & "sayang" him. This is so different from the initial stages when she would cry whenever she sees me carrying didi.
It's time for Thanksgiving & I'm thankful for the wonderful support that I've gotten from those around me & I continue to pray for strength to be a good mum to 2 children & for my new helper to come in soon. And of course a good one too.
Monday, 10 October 2011
Arrival of Jenson Dylan Wu
Never in my life have I ever dreamt that I will go through actual labour without any pain relief. But with my son, I did just that. The whole experience was different from Jilliane's birth and now I finally can get tell people, what labour actually feels like, being totally conscious of the pain & noise around me.
After Cheng's wedding on 24th Sept, Dw & me sent Jilliane home, washed her up & prepared her for bed. We left the house close to midnight and headed to Mt Alv. We checked in abt 12.30am and we ended up in the same delivery suite as I did for Jilliane. Best part was, both occasions were on Sundays.
Midwife checked my cervix, not dilated so proceeded to insert the induction pill. If there's any advice that I can give to potential mums, I'll say, NEVER opt for this route. It's disatrous! Once the pill took effect, the contractions came, at intervals closer & closer. Unfortunately, these contractions do not cause the cervix to dilate so at 3am, whilst I was in terrible pain, I could not opt for epidural as I was not dilated. The pain was unbearable, I was biting myself, pulling my hair, basically inflicting more pain on myself in the hope that it will distract me from my painful contractions!
3.30am - nurse suggested giving me a pain relief jab on my thigh - pethidine. Ok, whatever that works, just bring it on! Sadly, it NEVER relieved me of any pain, but I did keep wanting to drift off to sleep. This drug is scary, I can't even control my eyelids. One moment I was awake, the next I was knocked out. Then the pain kicks in & I'm awake again.. & yes, NEVER eat or drink anything once you are jabbed. I puked like mad just after a sip of water.
5am - Pain just kept on increasing. Nurse suggested to check cervix again to see if epidural could be administered. But I refused as midwives checking cervix is 100x more painful than my lovely, gentle gynae. Afterall Dr Fong was coming abt 7am, if i weren't dilated at 3am, how much difference would it be at 5am right?! Wrong!
6.45am - Urge to push, told DW & the nurses. Had to check cervix and I was 10cm dilated!! Piangz! My heart sank, I knew this means no more epidural was allowed. Goodness gracious me. But a very nice Indian midwife very patiently taught me to use the gas at the right timings and God was definitely there with me, as the gas made me so high that the pain was alleviated and I started hallucinating about Bach & music scores. This beats alcohol anytime!
7.30am - Pushed as hard as I could, baby just refused to come out until Dr Fong threatened that he was going to send me for emergency C-sect.. oops, I panicked, that would bring my bill up to more than $10k!! no way! I pushed damn hard, and finally Baby Jenson was born.
True labour indeed... how did those folks in my grandma's generation manage to go through this 10x?!! I'm done with 2 kids!
Friday, 23 September 2011
From now till Sunday
Baby no 2's reserves are getting low and Dr Fong highly recommends to induce. I'm quite disappointed as I really wanted baby to choose his own birth date. Nevertheless, there's still a couple of days till Sunday midnight for things to occur naturally and I'm still keeping my fingers crossed and praying hard for a miracle.
Jenson (pronounced as yen-sen) Dylan Wu, we're looking forward to your arrival! Esp your jie jie who kisses you through mummy's tummy every night & is all excited to bathe you, clean your poop, teach you to walk etc. Let's just hope her enthusiasm doesn't wane!
Jenson (pronounced as yen-sen) Dylan Wu, we're looking forward to your arrival! Esp your jie jie who kisses you through mummy's tummy every night & is all excited to bathe you, clean your poop, teach you to walk etc. Let's just hope her enthusiasm doesn't wane!
Friday, 16 September 2011
What changes when you have a baby?
Came across these points in an article on Babycentre's website...
1. You finally stop to smell the roses, because your baby is in your arms.
W: Er, not exactly smell. I'm still not a fan of flowers but yeah, I do stop when I see flowers, but mainly is to educate Jilliane on flower types & colours.
2. Where you once believed you were fearless, you now find yourself afraid.
W: Oh yes!! Before, I would have ridden Gladiator without thinking twice. Now, I won't even ride it even if you paid me a 1000 bucks. What if it collapsed & I died & my kid won't have a mom to take care of them!!!
3. The sacrifices you thought you made to have a child no longer seem like sacrifices.
W: Hmm... nah, I still regard my lack of zzz & lack of me time as sacrifices.
4. You respect your body ... finally.
W: HUH??
5. You respect your parents and love them in a new way.
W: Oh yes, it's tough being a parent. Can just imagine all my shit mine had to put up with. But then again, it's a mutual thing..
6. You find that your baby's pain feels much worse than your own.
W: I definitely can vouch for this. I will never forget the day that Jilliane was hospitalised at 2 months for viral meningitis and she had to have a lumbar puncture as well as the antibiotic drip inserted via her foot. Man, I was in pain too. My heart broke.
7. You believe once again in the things you believed in as a child.
W: Haha, suddenly I'm once again excited by the appearance of Strawberry Shortcake & Noddy!
8. You lose touch with the people in your life whom you should have banished years ago.
W: Yes, but I shan't elaborate on this. Sensitive topic.
9. Your heart breaks much more easily.
W: Only if it concerns my little one.
10. You think of someone else 234,836,178,976 times a day.
W: Referring to the little one I'm assuming.
11. Every day is a surprise.
W: Er... maybe baby days, when we were amazed by simple things like flipping, pulling oneself up etc. But as days grow, expectations too. New single word vocabulary no longer surprises me. It's gotta be alot more & these certainly do not occur daily.
12. Bodily functions are no longer repulsive. In fact, they please you. (Hooray for poop!)
W: They don't repulse me but I'm still not thrilled by the sight of poop, other than if my little one has been having constipation and finally all came out. But then again, I would be thrilled myself if I finally pooped after a week's constipation :P
13. You look at your baby in the mirror instead of yourself.
W: As a new mom who wanted to do everything right, I certainly neglected myself at the beginning. But slowly I started to learn that I needed to take care of myself too & I didn't want to be labelled as a frumpy, grumpy, ugly mommy so I once again took care of myself, clothes, make up etc. That's something really important.
14. You become a morning person.
W: This one chop confirm stamp. Especially when my little one wakes up at 6am on a Saturday morning... I'm like WTF! When she's up, she insists we all get up too :(
15. Your love becomes limitless, a superhuman power.
W: Yeah, I shower her with hugs & kisses every single day. Many many of them. And I tell her how much I love her every single day.
:)
1. You finally stop to smell the roses, because your baby is in your arms.
W: Er, not exactly smell. I'm still not a fan of flowers but yeah, I do stop when I see flowers, but mainly is to educate Jilliane on flower types & colours.
2. Where you once believed you were fearless, you now find yourself afraid.
W: Oh yes!! Before, I would have ridden Gladiator without thinking twice. Now, I won't even ride it even if you paid me a 1000 bucks. What if it collapsed & I died & my kid won't have a mom to take care of them!!!
3. The sacrifices you thought you made to have a child no longer seem like sacrifices.
W: Hmm... nah, I still regard my lack of zzz & lack of me time as sacrifices.
4. You respect your body ... finally.
W: HUH??
5. You respect your parents and love them in a new way.
W: Oh yes, it's tough being a parent. Can just imagine all my shit mine had to put up with. But then again, it's a mutual thing..
6. You find that your baby's pain feels much worse than your own.
W: I definitely can vouch for this. I will never forget the day that Jilliane was hospitalised at 2 months for viral meningitis and she had to have a lumbar puncture as well as the antibiotic drip inserted via her foot. Man, I was in pain too. My heart broke.
7. You believe once again in the things you believed in as a child.
W: Haha, suddenly I'm once again excited by the appearance of Strawberry Shortcake & Noddy!
8. You lose touch with the people in your life whom you should have banished years ago.
W: Yes, but I shan't elaborate on this. Sensitive topic.
9. Your heart breaks much more easily.
W: Only if it concerns my little one.
10. You think of someone else 234,836,178,976 times a day.
W: Referring to the little one I'm assuming.
11. Every day is a surprise.
W: Er... maybe baby days, when we were amazed by simple things like flipping, pulling oneself up etc. But as days grow, expectations too. New single word vocabulary no longer surprises me. It's gotta be alot more & these certainly do not occur daily.
12. Bodily functions are no longer repulsive. In fact, they please you. (Hooray for poop!)
W: They don't repulse me but I'm still not thrilled by the sight of poop, other than if my little one has been having constipation and finally all came out. But then again, I would be thrilled myself if I finally pooped after a week's constipation :P
13. You look at your baby in the mirror instead of yourself.
W: As a new mom who wanted to do everything right, I certainly neglected myself at the beginning. But slowly I started to learn that I needed to take care of myself too & I didn't want to be labelled as a frumpy, grumpy, ugly mommy so I once again took care of myself, clothes, make up etc. That's something really important.
14. You become a morning person.
W: This one chop confirm stamp. Especially when my little one wakes up at 6am on a Saturday morning... I'm like WTF! When she's up, she insists we all get up too :(
15. Your love becomes limitless, a superhuman power.
W: Yeah, I shower her with hugs & kisses every single day. Many many of them. And I tell her how much I love her every single day.
:)
It's about there...
Had a false alarm yesterday... leaks started again but decided against going to the hospital, just in case it wasn't time. Mother's instinct also told me it's not time. So we just did an urgent walk in at Dr Fong, just to make sure that all is still in order.
Nah, not dilated yet but Dr Fong can now feel baby no. 2's head. It's about time he says, be prepared for some action very soon.
Ahhhh.. when?? Ah Cheng's wedding is on 24 Sept, it'll be nice to attend but I'm getting really exhausted with the heavy front load. Baby's 3 kg as of yesterday.
Anytime soon...
Nah, not dilated yet but Dr Fong can now feel baby no. 2's head. It's about time he says, be prepared for some action very soon.
Ahhhh.. when?? Ah Cheng's wedding is on 24 Sept, it'll be nice to attend but I'm getting really exhausted with the heavy front load. Baby's 3 kg as of yesterday.
Anytime soon...
Monday, 12 September 2011
A little update on my pregnancy
I'm in week 37+... Dr Fong says cervix is still pretty far back, so I should be able to last another week at least. So there goes my "chap gor meh" baby.. Jilliane was born on the 1st day of the 8th month, so I had initially thought if baby no. 2 pops on the 15th day of the 8th month, it would be perfect..
In any case, any day works fine for me. As long as my baby comes out healthy & happy. Sleeping at night has been difficult. Once I get up to pee in the mid morning, I hardly fall back asleep till 6am. I seem to be constantly out of breath throughout the day and no sleeping position seems to work. Well, we're pretty much in the doldrums if we really want baby no. 2 out soon.. it's a case of getting it over & done with OR let's get as much sleep as we can now!!!!
In any case, any day works fine for me. As long as my baby comes out healthy & happy. Sleeping at night has been difficult. Once I get up to pee in the mid morning, I hardly fall back asleep till 6am. I seem to be constantly out of breath throughout the day and no sleeping position seems to work. Well, we're pretty much in the doldrums if we really want baby no. 2 out soon.. it's a case of getting it over & done with OR let's get as much sleep as we can now!!!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)