"Pa pa!"
"Ma Ma!"
These 2 words that I have uttered countless times in my life to my dear parents suddenly become so precious and something to die for... when I become a parent myself. These simple words instantly became music to the ears when it is uttered from the mouth of my own child.
I have interviewed a couple of mummies and they told me that their children learnt to call "Pa pa" first.
And Charis is no exception too :)
On 6th May 2009 ~ 7 months 12 days, Charis lunged out "Bu.. Bua.. Ba.. Pah.. Pah!" We were first taken surprise, then got excited over her new found baby language. Daddy was beaming with smiles of satisfaction from ear to ear as she repeated those words, swinging her arms and legs. Mummy was happy too, and at the same time wondered when will be her turn?
Well, Charis didn't forget her mummy.
Last night on our way back home in the car, Charis was hungry and kept crying out for milk. I was trying to keep my composure and mixing the formula as quickly as I can in the midst of the commotion when suddenly Charis screamed out in frustration,"Mah.. Mah.. Mah!!!" Hey wait a minute! Isn't this supposed to be a picture pretty moment when I hold her in my arms, and then our eyes meet while she lovingly utters,"Mah.. Mah"??
None of that sort! Yet the imperfection didn't overshadow our excitement and laughter as she continued screaming for mummy... Ha ha... It's not fun when a full grown adult loses control and screams out at others, but it's cute when a baby does that cos that's who they are... No fear, no control, and they will always be free to display any kind of emotions or do anything they want anywhere and anytime :)
Becoming a parent allows me to understand what is thanksgiving in a new light - I am thankful for a smile on my child's face, thankful that she drank well and ate well, thankful for a good night's sleep she had, thankful for the sparkle in her eyes as we gazed at each other, thankful for those special moments when we lie beside each other and burst out laughing as soon as we turned towards each other, thankful for the babyish giggles when I tickled her.. Thankful that she knows how to utter "Pah pah" and "Mah mah" though she may not yet fully understand the meaning of it.. And many more.
There's a price to pay along the way cos life is never quite the same when I become a mother, but it also comes with a volume of joy and satisfaction indescribable.
That's parenthood. It's a unique blend of tears and joy :)
I shall bookmark this special day : 22 May 2009 ~ 7 months 28 days
Friday, May 22, 2009
Monday, May 18, 2009
Stuff I call Charis
A funny yet spontaneous thought crossed my mind a few days ago.. Hey, why not summarize all the affectionate names that I created for Charis so that one day when she's old enough to read it, she can have a good laugh about it?
Ok, i'll do just that!
Actually I think I am pretty good at giving names, and of course, nothing crude, just clean fun :) Used to give my sister, my dad and dear lots of nicknames which were inspired by different occasions and stuff I see. It's really fun :)
Stuff I call Charis on a daily basis, and each has to be uttered with a unique tone and pitch :-
1. Charis girl-girl
2. Girl-girl Charis
3. Darling girl-girl
4. Ling-Dar (reverse order of darling.. Hee)
5. Dar-Ling-Dar
6. Ling-Dar-Ling
7. Dar-Dar-Dar !! (you need to exclaim for this!)
8. Ling-Dar-Dar !!!! (you need to exclaim twice the intensity for this.. ha ha)
9. Daily "poem" that I talk to her, "Darling girl-girl, girl-girl Darling, Darling girl-girl, girl-girl girl-girl girl!!!"
10. I'll kiss and whisper this in her ear everyday, "Mummy love you, Daddy love you, Jesus loves you, everybody loves you!"
11. I'll ask her everyday, "How are you my darling? Are you a happy darling?"
Just a few days ago, when Charis was crying while I was tucking her to bed, I suddenly remembered the tune of "London Bridge Is Falling Down" and I changed the lyrics.. Hee hee
"God is watching over you, over you, over you
God is watching over you, my Charis girl.
Jesus Christ is holding you, holding you, holding you
Jesus Christ is holding you, my Charis girl.
Holy Spirit's touching you, touching you, touching you
Holy Spirit's touching you, my Charis girl."
Hope this will form part of your childhood memory, darling. May it be fun, memorable and heartwarming.
Daddy and mummy love you!!!
Ok, i'll do just that!
Actually I think I am pretty good at giving names, and of course, nothing crude, just clean fun :) Used to give my sister, my dad and dear lots of nicknames which were inspired by different occasions and stuff I see. It's really fun :)
Stuff I call Charis on a daily basis, and each has to be uttered with a unique tone and pitch :-
1. Charis girl-girl
2. Girl-girl Charis
3. Darling girl-girl
4. Ling-Dar (reverse order of darling.. Hee)
5. Dar-Ling-Dar
6. Ling-Dar-Ling
7. Dar-Dar-Dar !! (you need to exclaim for this!)
8. Ling-Dar-Dar !!!! (you need to exclaim twice the intensity for this.. ha ha)
9. Daily "poem" that I talk to her, "Darling girl-girl, girl-girl Darling, Darling girl-girl, girl-girl girl-girl girl!!!"
10. I'll kiss and whisper this in her ear everyday, "Mummy love you, Daddy love you, Jesus loves you, everybody loves you!"
11. I'll ask her everyday, "How are you my darling? Are you a happy darling?"
Just a few days ago, when Charis was crying while I was tucking her to bed, I suddenly remembered the tune of "London Bridge Is Falling Down" and I changed the lyrics.. Hee hee
"God is watching over you, over you, over you
God is watching over you, my Charis girl.
Jesus Christ is holding you, holding you, holding you
Jesus Christ is holding you, my Charis girl.
Holy Spirit's touching you, touching you, touching you
Holy Spirit's touching you, my Charis girl."
Hope this will form part of your childhood memory, darling. May it be fun, memorable and heartwarming.
Daddy and mummy love you!!!
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Pre Mothers' Day Celebration
On 3rd May 2009, we had 2 pre Mothers' Day Celebration.. Yes, we celebrated a week earlier to avoid the massive dining crowd almost everywhere on one of the most celebrated occasions. Heard on the news that the sale of flowers and chocolate for Mothers' Day never dropped during this economic downturn. Woah.. it certainly showed that mummies are worth spending on.
With our car sent in for major surgery?? - i mean engine overhaul, we were back to the good old days of driving our beloved "Ferrari", my father-in-law's pickup which had aged quite a bit in its performance since we drove more than a year ago. We were back to lane 3 and 70km/hr, but this time with Charis girl girl :)
So we drove to pick my mum and sis up at 1215pm and headed down to Lao Beijing restaurant at Tiong Bahru Plaza.
While waiting for the food, we started snapping away...
Since Charis can sit up relatively well, we asked for a high chair for her.. Doing pretty well.. but darling, what are you looking ha??
Now in Charis's 7th month, she is practically curious about everything, and touching everything! Actually there is a cute cartoon plate in front of her, so she's trying hard to get it :)
Taking a short break from all the busy hand movements. Anything yummy for me? I am salivating.. :)
Po po and Charis..
Po po, Mummy and Charis... Hello! Look at the camera, please.
Po po, Ah Yee and Charis..
An enthusiastic Ah Yee with Charis in her arms!
Close up shot!
I like this one :)
And it wouldn't be complete without a family potrait :)
Must also introduce the food... This is Claypot Fish Toufu with assorted vegetables. The fish is really blended in the toufu, very smooth texture and not too salty. Yummy :)
This is supposedly one of their signature dish "Three Cups Chicken" or 三杯鸡. It's really good, unlike the foodcourt version.
This is an appetiser, but arrived as the 3rd dish?? Never mind :).. I tried this garlic pork slices or 蒜泥白肉 years ago at Novena Square branch and it tasted fantastic! But not this time though, cos i found it a bit too salty. Prefer the garlic sauce to just thinly coat the pork slices and it will be so much better.
This is "French Beans with Minced Pork and Dried Prawns". Really quite tasty and go very well with plain rice.. 很下饭噢!
We also ordered "Xiao Long Bao" to try. Not bad, but not as good as 鼎泰丰.
There you go! Our maternal pre-Mother's day lunch!
Let's tuck in!
Just when the above seems like a food blog, we see Charis finally grabbed hold of the wet tissue. How to open ah? Po po, can show me?
This is how 小"大姐大" drinks her milk. One leg propped up on the high chair and glancing sideways with an attitude :)
A dedicated Po po who quickly finished up her food so that she can take over from mummy to feed Charis.
A short while later, Po po brought Charis out for a walk cos she was getting restless in the restaurant. After settling the bill, we then walked around the mall and ended our first part of celebration :)
After dropping my mum and sis, we then headed back home for a short rest and we went to pick up my in-laws for the second round of pre-Mothers' Day celebration.
We arrived at Sakura International Buffet Restaurant @ Admiralty Park at 630pm. Thinking we were early, we happily walked down the stairs to the restaurant entrance to see a queue forming at the "reservation" line. Dear and I exchanged glances and in our hearts, we said,"Oh no, we didn't make any reservation!". We had to queue at the "walk-in" line and were told we were 5th on the waiting list, and that's not all, the expected time we could get in was 730pm to 8pm!
Dear and I quickly called the nearest outlet to see if we can make any reservation in time but they were all full. We were so concerned if an hour may be too long a wait when my Father-in-law suggested that we all wait at the park upstairs since everywhere may be crowded too. So we headed up the park and got a nice time enjoying the breeze, watching families having their day out..
And of course, we started snapping again..
We managed to catch this naughty look on Charis's face while sitting on Ah Ma's lap:)
Wah darling! What made you so happy? :) I suspect it has to do with daddy..
See that rattler in Charis's hand? It's a brand new toy bought by Ah Ma :)
Ah Ma happily feeding Charis girl..
Oh and where's Ah Gong? He had walked to the far side of the park already! We were so amused that we got to take a picture of this.. Ha ha..
In the end, thank God for His favor! With great persistence, dear and I went down to check on the seat availability again and the senior staff decided to bypass 4 other people on the waiting list and gave us 2 empty tables. It pays to stick around!!
With our car sent in for major surgery?? - i mean engine overhaul, we were back to the good old days of driving our beloved "Ferrari", my father-in-law's pickup which had aged quite a bit in its performance since we drove more than a year ago. We were back to lane 3 and 70km/hr, but this time with Charis girl girl :)
So we drove to pick my mum and sis up at 1215pm and headed down to Lao Beijing restaurant at Tiong Bahru Plaza.
While waiting for the food, we started snapping away...
Since Charis can sit up relatively well, we asked for a high chair for her.. Doing pretty well.. but darling, what are you looking ha??
Now in Charis's 7th month, she is practically curious about everything, and touching everything! Actually there is a cute cartoon plate in front of her, so she's trying hard to get it :)
Taking a short break from all the busy hand movements. Anything yummy for me? I am salivating.. :)
Po po and Charis..
Po po, Mummy and Charis... Hello! Look at the camera, please.
Po po, Ah Yee and Charis..
An enthusiastic Ah Yee with Charis in her arms!
Close up shot!
I like this one :)
And it wouldn't be complete without a family potrait :)
Must also introduce the food... This is Claypot Fish Toufu with assorted vegetables. The fish is really blended in the toufu, very smooth texture and not too salty. Yummy :)
This is supposedly one of their signature dish "Three Cups Chicken" or 三杯鸡. It's really good, unlike the foodcourt version.
This is an appetiser, but arrived as the 3rd dish?? Never mind :).. I tried this garlic pork slices or 蒜泥白肉 years ago at Novena Square branch and it tasted fantastic! But not this time though, cos i found it a bit too salty. Prefer the garlic sauce to just thinly coat the pork slices and it will be so much better.
This is "French Beans with Minced Pork and Dried Prawns". Really quite tasty and go very well with plain rice.. 很下饭噢!
We also ordered "Xiao Long Bao" to try. Not bad, but not as good as 鼎泰丰.
There you go! Our maternal pre-Mother's day lunch!
Let's tuck in!
Just when the above seems like a food blog, we see Charis finally grabbed hold of the wet tissue. How to open ah? Po po, can show me?
This is how 小"大姐大" drinks her milk. One leg propped up on the high chair and glancing sideways with an attitude :)
A dedicated Po po who quickly finished up her food so that she can take over from mummy to feed Charis.
A short while later, Po po brought Charis out for a walk cos she was getting restless in the restaurant. After settling the bill, we then walked around the mall and ended our first part of celebration :)
After dropping my mum and sis, we then headed back home for a short rest and we went to pick up my in-laws for the second round of pre-Mothers' Day celebration.
We arrived at Sakura International Buffet Restaurant @ Admiralty Park at 630pm. Thinking we were early, we happily walked down the stairs to the restaurant entrance to see a queue forming at the "reservation" line. Dear and I exchanged glances and in our hearts, we said,"Oh no, we didn't make any reservation!". We had to queue at the "walk-in" line and were told we were 5th on the waiting list, and that's not all, the expected time we could get in was 730pm to 8pm!
Dear and I quickly called the nearest outlet to see if we can make any reservation in time but they were all full. We were so concerned if an hour may be too long a wait when my Father-in-law suggested that we all wait at the park upstairs since everywhere may be crowded too. So we headed up the park and got a nice time enjoying the breeze, watching families having their day out..
And of course, we started snapping again..
We managed to catch this naughty look on Charis's face while sitting on Ah Ma's lap:)
Wah darling! What made you so happy? :) I suspect it has to do with daddy..
See that rattler in Charis's hand? It's a brand new toy bought by Ah Ma :)
Ah Ma happily feeding Charis girl..
Oh and where's Ah Gong? He had walked to the far side of the park already! We were so amused that we got to take a picture of this.. Ha ha..
In the end, thank God for His favor! With great persistence, dear and I went down to check on the seat availability again and the senior staff decided to bypass 4 other people on the waiting list and gave us 2 empty tables. It pays to stick around!!
Monday, May 4, 2009
Charis Is Now 7 Months and 8 Days!
People say that children grow up real quick. I must say that yes it is, the days are long but the months and years are fast.
Seven months of training has certainly helped me to be more confident as a new mother. I remember those initial months of clueless guesses as to what Charis wants whenever she cried. Is it because she's hungry? Having wet diapers? Discomfort? Or just seeking for attention? And to top it off, I read that mothers can actually differentiate the various cries of their babies, but I couldn't at that time. All of the cries sounded the same! That was so stressful!
However, as time goes by, I began to pick up certain cues of my baby. For example, if Charis sucks on her thumb or rubs her ears, she is sleepy. If she bites on her fist, she is hungry. If she lets out fussy cries, check her diapers or if she's feeling warm. Nowadays when Charis cries, most of the time instinctively I will know what she's crying for. Ok, this will carry on until she learns to speak :) Not bad for a new mummy ya? Parents are indeed made, not born. The maternal instincts may be innate, but it will require much "trials" to make it sharper and more sensitive.
Oh by this time, Charis has achieved a few "first" major milestones in her development:
First solid food : 9 March 2009 - 5 months 12 days
First successful roll over : 20 March 2009 - 5 months 23 days
First time sitting up (w/o support) : 2 May 2009 - 7 months 07 days
Here's some recent pictures:
Charis's first solid food - Bellamy's Organic Rice Cereal.
Subsequently, she has been introduced to potato, pumpkin, avocado and carrot. Now her main cereal is self-toasted and grinded 五谷米(five cereal-unhusked rice) and 糙米(unpolished rice) prepared by my mum. I cook it over low fire and add some expressed breastmilk to the consistency needed. I tried it too and taste yummy! - totally original :)
Charis at 6 months. Puts a smile on my face to see her smile so heartily :)
Charis at 6 months plus. Hands up!... Oh I mean legs up! Burst out laughing when we first saw her doing this on the rocker. One of her many "patterns".. Ha ha..
This is one of Charis's favourite moment with Daddy, touching his chin and brushing her hands to feel the spikiness of his moustache. Is this infant exfoliation? :)
Charis at 7 months. She can now sit upright on the rocker. So now she can have 2 options - either lie down or sit up.. Ha ha
See the blurred image of the rocker? This is because Charis got so excited when the camera is in front of her, shaking vigorously.. very 激动.
Seven months of training has certainly helped me to be more confident as a new mother. I remember those initial months of clueless guesses as to what Charis wants whenever she cried. Is it because she's hungry? Having wet diapers? Discomfort? Or just seeking for attention? And to top it off, I read that mothers can actually differentiate the various cries of their babies, but I couldn't at that time. All of the cries sounded the same! That was so stressful!
However, as time goes by, I began to pick up certain cues of my baby. For example, if Charis sucks on her thumb or rubs her ears, she is sleepy. If she bites on her fist, she is hungry. If she lets out fussy cries, check her diapers or if she's feeling warm. Nowadays when Charis cries, most of the time instinctively I will know what she's crying for. Ok, this will carry on until she learns to speak :) Not bad for a new mummy ya? Parents are indeed made, not born. The maternal instincts may be innate, but it will require much "trials" to make it sharper and more sensitive.
Oh by this time, Charis has achieved a few "first" major milestones in her development:
First solid food : 9 March 2009 - 5 months 12 days
First successful roll over : 20 March 2009 - 5 months 23 days
First time sitting up (w/o support) : 2 May 2009 - 7 months 07 days
Here's some recent pictures:
Charis's first solid food - Bellamy's Organic Rice Cereal.
Subsequently, she has been introduced to potato, pumpkin, avocado and carrot. Now her main cereal is self-toasted and grinded 五谷米(five cereal-unhusked rice) and 糙米(unpolished rice) prepared by my mum. I cook it over low fire and add some expressed breastmilk to the consistency needed. I tried it too and taste yummy! - totally original :)
Charis at 6 months. Puts a smile on my face to see her smile so heartily :)
Charis at 6 months plus. Hands up!... Oh I mean legs up! Burst out laughing when we first saw her doing this on the rocker. One of her many "patterns".. Ha ha..
This is one of Charis's favourite moment with Daddy, touching his chin and brushing her hands to feel the spikiness of his moustache. Is this infant exfoliation? :)
Charis at 7 months. She can now sit upright on the rocker. So now she can have 2 options - either lie down or sit up.. Ha ha
See the blurred image of the rocker? This is because Charis got so excited when the camera is in front of her, shaking vigorously.. very 激动.
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