Weekend wanderings: Confinement

While Junior J has been having a good time running around with his Ah Kong and Ah Ma at playgrounds, and having a splashing good time at the pool with his Papa... I've been stuck in confinement.  Not that I'm complaining of course, since Baby J has been keeping me up every night.  Whatever the case, its been nice snuggling with our newest family member, and marveling at how tiny those toes are...

We've been getting to know his little quirks too.  He seems to save most of his poop til after 12 midnight.  He poops projectile motion fashion, and once managed to spray Mama, the bed and Papa's pillow with poop (the first time this has ever happened in my few years as a mom!).  He makes these funny bird-like noises that we find adorable.  He's rather skinny, and so mittens don't seem to stay very long on him... and he has these amazingly long nails:

Junior J has been vacillating between loving and hating his little brother.  One moment, he's trying to beat him, the next moment, he's willing to give him little kisses.  So we're praying hard he'll be able to adjust to Baby J's presence soon...   

Have a blessed week ahead!

Baby J's birth story

Its already been 1 week since Baby J arrived!  Time really seems to have zoomed by.  Thought I should pen down his birth story before the post-pregnancy amnesia sinks in...

Those of you following this blog would know that the Braxton Hicks contractions for the previous few weeks were pretty strong (and we had a few false alarms too).  I wasn't too sure how to tell if it was going to be the real thing or not, and hubby kept asking me "How far apart are they?  Are they regular?".  Last Thursday, the contractions were coming on and off at a rate of 2-3 an hour, and I think I freaked my hairdresser out by constantly timing my contractions while he was trimming my hair (good thing I did get that haircut, since we ended up at the hospital the next day!).

Friday (21st Oct) rolled by, and the contractions were still pretty frequent.  My gynae did a check that morning, and told us it was going to be soon, probably the next day, or even that night itself!  Then she told us some bad news: she was going to be in KL to give a talk on Sunday, so she would have to arrange for back-up if I happened to need to deliver on Sunday.

What followed was a whole flurry of activity.  We decided to go for a nice lunch with Junior J (just in case it was Mama's "last supper" before she had to go on the confinement diet), then it was back home for the boy's nap.  We had to rush down to the hospital after the boy woke up, to sign the forms for the cord blood banking (we had totally forgot to arrange for this!).  Little boy insisted on playing at the playground after that, and since the contractions seemed to be getting more frequent, I decided to sit in the car to rest while waiting for them.  I started timing them properly, and realized with a start, that they were actually coming at a regular interval of 7 minutes!

We decided to risk it and went to drop off the boy at my parent's place (initially I had hoped we'd be able to put him to bed first, since he was used to us doing so), gobbled down dinner (my mum would have been most upset if we didn't eat since she had cooked for us, and even tried to make us "tabao" fruits along to the hospital!), ran back home to get some stuff, and rushed back to the hospital again, reaching there at about 8 pm.

Half an hour later, we were all settled in and I got my epidural (yes, I'm a ninny wrt pain, and anyway, the hubby says all his female anaesthetist colleagues opted for epidurals, which more or less vouches for the safety of the procedure).  My gynae popped by, did a check, and thought it'll probably take awhile, and left.  Thinking it'll be a long wait, the hubby settled down to clear some urgent work, while I was googling about how to push (again, it's post-pregnancy amnesia to blame).  Time passed rather uneventfully, except for the time I rolled to my side, and Baby J's heart rate started to drop dramatically (but that was remedied once I rolled to lie on my back).

Then at about 10 plus, the nurse did a check, and decided it was time.  She called my gynae, and then I was asked to wait until she arrived.  She came, and the pushing started.  A couple of eye-ball popping pushes later (I thought I was going to burst the capillaries in my eyes), and Baby J arrived, just slightly after 11 pm!

All in all, I'm really thankful that God saw us through those 9 months, and:

:: That the whole labour process was pretty quick this round (a friend commented that it took a shorter time for me to give birth than for her to finish her beer!), and recovery has been much faster as well.  I'm still not back to normal, but at least I was able to get up and about the next day.

:: That the epidural worked pretty well.  I had the minor side-effects like shivering, nausea and a slight headache, but the pain relief this time was really effective.  I was rather worried about this, since in Junior J's case the epidural didn't cover some of the pain, and they had to give me a second one... (it was supposedly what tends to happen to the spouses of anaesthetists, where pain relief procedures seem to go wrong!)

:: We managed to settle Junior J under my parents' care before going to the hospital (one of our initial worries was that we'd be unable to get them by phone when the time came), and even though it was his first time ever having to go to sleep without papa or mama being around, he was a champ and didn't give his grandparents any problems (in fact, he reportedly told them what to do in our usual routine!).

:: For the quiet week we had, since this round we decided to have a "no visitors rule" for the first week (save for very close friends), to let us settle down and allow for Junior J to get used to his brother's presence.

:: For our parents' help in taking care of Junior J, helping around the house, and my mum, who has been helping in the chores and cooking my confinement food.

So we are still one small happy family, but this family just got a lil' bigger!

Thankful Tuesdays: He's here!

Hello friends!  Baby J decided to join us very late Friday night... There's loads to give thanks for, but right now our brains are fuzzy from lack of sleep, so let's just say we're really thankful a smooth delivery and that the boy is healthy. :)  Thanks for the prayers and well wishes everyone!

Monday Made: Rainbows to chase the blues away

Hello!  I managed to scrap a little more before I popped (I'm pre-posting this, so chances are baby might already have arrived by the time this post goes live...).  So here's a cheery tag for a lil' girl, with loads of colours to suit the sunny chirpy nature of every toddler!

Everyone loves rainbows, right?  The clouds are cut from white cardstock and distressed with blue ink.  

Can you spot the rose in the girl's hair?
Chipboard stickers from My Mind's Eye, and that's a yummy American Crafts felt flower!

More flowers, a ladybug and some lace...

Most of you should know, scrapping in rainbow hues isn't my style... but I think I needed some cheeriness to distract me from all those contractions that were driving me nuts!

Again, the tag was made using an old CD-ROM as a base.  More of these tags here, here, here... and here!

Here's to a blessed week ahead!

Foodie Fridays: Soya & honey glazed prawns with spaghetti

I've hit a cooking rut these days, so we've been eating out more often.  Just the idea of having to waddle around the hot kitchen at 38 weeks plus makes me perspire!  However, I did manage to try a recipe out of a Simply Her magazine this week, and loved how quickly this meal could be prepared:

Soya and Honey Glazed Prawns with Spaghetti

(Adapted from a recipe from Simply Her, which initially included wasabi! 

 Serves 2 and a tiny tummy.)

Ingredients:

300g spaghetti 

300g prawns (peeled and deveined)

4 tbsp honey

3 tsp light soya sauce

10 stalks spring onion (chopped)

2 tsp sesame seeds (lightly toasted)

Steps: 

1. Cook spaghetti in boiling salted water according to directions on package.  Drain and set aside.

2. Butterfly prawns by cutting them down in the middle (optional).  Cook prawns in boiling water (I was lazy and just used the water used to cook the spaghetti!).

3. Combine soya sauce and honey in a small pan, add 2 tbsp of water and simmer for 5 minutes over medium heat.

4. Toss prawns in sauce with spring onions and sesame seeds, and serve over spaghetti.  (I poured remaining sauce over the spaghetti.)

This was a really fast meal to prepare, and Junior J liked the sweetness of the sauce, while I liked the extra texture the sesame seeds provided.  Definitely a keeper for those days when you are rushing for time!

Thinking Thursdays: Jonah and the great fish

The word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai: "Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it..."

But Jonah ran away from the LORD... and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the LORD.

Then the LORD sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up... So they asked him, "What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?"

"Pick me up and throw me into the sea," he replied, "and it will become calm."  I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you."

Instead, the men did their best to row back to land.  But they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before... they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm.  At this the men greatly feared the LORD...

Now the LORD provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah...

... and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the LORD his God...

And the LORD commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.  

Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time: "Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you."

... The Ninevites believed God... 

~ Extracts from Jonah 1-3 (NIV) (Read the full account here.)

~~~~~~~

I've always had mixed feelings whenever I read about the account of Jonah.  I picture him being vomited out, in a whole yucky, stinking mix of guts and slime, and whatever else that should be in the stomach of that great fish (unlike the pictures in most storybooks, of Jonah flying out of the fish's mouth onto a balmy beach with palm trees).  I wonder how terrified he must have been inside the belly of the fish (Was he all squashed up like a fetus, or was it big and roomy in there?  It really must have stunk!).  I wonder even more about why he sulked at the salvation of the Ninevites, after going through everything that he went through.  But one thing that the story does impress upon me, is how our God is always in control, and how He could turn one man's disobedience into saving grace for others, like the sailors on the ship (who might have never met Jonah if he hadn't run away).    

Little boy too had mixed reactions to the story.  Initially, he was rather frightened of the aspect of Jonah being swallowed up after disobeying God, and for some time refused to read the story.  Then recently, we've been casually discussing the story again, and mentioning that God provided the fish to swallow Jonah, who might have just drowned in the sea.  With this, he has been reading the story again, and asked to make the great fish.  So we did. :)

There are many theories about what kind of fish could have possibly swallowed a man... one of which was a whale shark, the largest living fish species.  So we made our fish a whale shark, and googled for pictures of the giant fish.  Little boy noted the grey body and white spots, and I noted the number of fins (This picture was helpful, and I think there are 8 in total.  I didn't stick on the anal fin, since it was at the bottom and would just make the fish off-balance).   

I got the idea of using paper plates from this mummy's version of a killer whale (And she obtained the template and steps from this site), and got the boy to paint the top paper plate and the fins grey (again, he used a paintbrush, followed by his hand-smearing method).  The next day, we did fingerprinting with white paint to make the white spots:

I found the plates rather hard to glue together, so I did it on my own (the easiest would be to make folds on the side of both plates, then glue the back and the sides together).  Since I used PVA glue, which takes ages to dry, clothes pegs helped to hold Mr Whale Shark together while the glue dried.

Then I scribbled a verse inside the shark's mouth...

The boy stuck on the eyes and did some touch-ups for me (I had to cut a larger tail since the first one I cut looked ridiculously small), and our great fish was done!

He's been having a good time re-enacting the story of Jonah, and now is asking to make Samson.  So I've gotta figure out how to make a long-haired fellow with huge biceps.  Suggestions anyone?

Messy Mittwoch: Dustballs, out!

I've been swinging like a pendulum for the past two weeks.  Ping-ponging between the two extremes of feeling extremely tired... and having these crazy bursts of energy where I start these cleaning frenzies in the middle of the night.

So since I've not been able to sleep, I've been able to turn this:

... into this.

This was our bedroom dresser.  Atrocious, wasn't it?  It used to be a dumping ground for stuff that had to go elsewhere, plus receipts and whatever else the hubby would empty from his pockets (those things sorta never got cleared!).  Now the dresser surface is clear, and I can finally use the CD player again!  There's also space for two more baskets, one for Baby J's toys (which have all been soaped and washed, yay!), and another to catch the normal pocket "debris" that comes out of the hubby's pockets (loose change, receipts and whatever else).  I hope the surface stays clear!

Thankful Tuesdays: Journeying with little ones

Snapped during a trip in Oz. :)

Little boy has been waking up the past two nights yelling "MAMA!  MAMA!!!" at the top of his voice.  He tells me he is "scared of a tiger" (we had been making up stories from characters of the Jungle book, and Shere Khan the tiger was one of them)... but after some hugs and a prayer, he tells me he is "not scared anymore" and then goes back to sleep on his own.  

It is times like this when I start to feel the responsibility of parenthood.  Of how little hands search for ours to hold so readily, and how little minds embrace what we say each day (and how careful we must be with our actions and what comes out from our mouths!).  And then I am thankful for this journey that is given to each and every parent, to be able to take those little steps with them towards independence.  And I am reminded that even with the potholes we trip over, be it potty problems or sleep training dilemmas, we are blessed to take this journey with our children.

So today, I am thankful for all the little rays of sunshine that stream in on us in this everyday journey:

:: God's steadfast love... and mercies that are new every morning.

:: How we can point the little boy to God as a source of hope and strength (he declares at night "God and the star is watching over me!").

:: Sunrises and sunsets and painted skies.

:: Chit-chats with the hubby at night after a long day.

:: The spontaneous hugs and kisses from the boy, who declares he's "hugging baby!".

:: Squirms and kicks from baby that remind me we are going to have another companion for this journey.  Very very soon.

:: Everyday messes that show that little hands are being busy...

Look Mama... I mix all the paint up!

:: The stuff kids can come up with at play:

Clipping the cushion's nails, using a clothes peg as a nail clipper...

Random picnics and birthday parties that happen at anytime of the day.
All you need is a mat, some furry friends, and some good food.
(Apples, carrots, pineapples, grapes and cucumbers, based on colours!)

:: Piping hot milo at night, and the smell of coffee on sleepy mornings.

:: Thoughful friends who shower you with love in all sorts of ways... 

:: Playdates where little ones learn to share.  Where the fun is doubled and laughter is unlimited!

What are you thankful for this week?

Weekend wanderings: One last blast!

This weekend was a busy one.  Even though the hubby had to work on Sunday, we managed to:

:: Meet Baby J on the ultrasound screen, followed by a walk in the Botanic Gardens (in the sweltering noon heat!) for lunch.

:: Squeeze in some art and craftiness...

Junior J helping me to dye pumpkin seeds in preparation for a playdate craft activity.
But our attempt failed since the seeds didn't take up the food colouring,
so I think we'll just dry them and paint them instead...

Since the seed experiment didn't work, we ended up just sticking to good old playdough (we used Kanten Clay).
Junior J had loads of fun playing with dough with his friend S, and mama had a nice evening with chatting with friends and enjoying the yummy pizza they brought over!

:: Have good meals with loved ones (lunch at Porpor's, a visit from the hubby's uncle's family, and pizza with friends when the hubby was working)...

:: Pay a visit to a fire station with friends...

Our friend H with baby I, who was rather fascinated with her helmet! 

... where the kids got to learn more about all the rescue vehicles and how everything worked...

Trying out the hose.  The look on the boy's face says it all.  He didn't want to go up on the tall ladder though!

... and also got fire helmets of their own:

The open house was really good since you really get to see everything, from the classic sliding down the pole demos,
to exploring all the various tools and vehicles.  For more info on these open houses, click here!

:: And do lots more packing for baby's arrival:

The hubby and Junior J sat down and folded this "towel tower" (as they termed it) in preparation for  Baby J's arrival.
And I managed to pack and clean some more (the nesting instinct is kicking in very hard!)

We had quite a blast. :)  (And its probably going to be the last weekend that is so action-packed, at least for awhile, until we get used to being a family of four!)   How was your weekend?

Eyes all squinty from being blasted by the giant fan on the ventilation vehicle at the fire station.  Junior J loved this!

Foodie Fridays: Fried noodles!

Its been getting harder to cook and wash up since my ginormous belly (everyone is asking when I'm going to pop) is getting in the way.  Once in a while, hubby very nicely helps out with the cooking, and loves to whip up his own version of stuff.  Here's his version of fried noodles, which the little boy also likes (and I like too, since I only have to chop up stuff, and its a one dish meal in itself)...

Fried Noodles
(Serves 3-4)

Ingredients:
:: 4 cloves of garlic, sliced
:: 1 medium onion, diced
:: 1 packet of Hokkien noodle (soak before cooking)
:: 200g minced pork
:: 1 medium carrot, sliced into strips
:: 100g French beans, sliced
:: 100g button mushrooms, sliced
:: Dark & light soya sauce
:: Black pepper
:: Balsamic vinegar
:: 1/2 cup chicken stock

Steps:
1. Marinate minced meat with a dash of light soya sauce and black pepper, set aside for 15 minutes.
2. Cook noodles in boiling water until almost cooked.
3. Fry garlic and onions in a frying pan until fragrant.
4. Add minced pork to pan, fry until almost cooked.
5. Add carrots, french beans and mushrooms, fry for additional 3 minutes.
6. Add noodles, half a tablespoon of dark soya sauce, a dash of balsamic vinegar, and 1/2 cup of chicken stock, stir-fry until ingredients are well mixed.

Done! :)  This is great for days when you just want something simple, yet filling, but don't want a pasta dish.  Have a blessed weekend folks!

Thinking Thursdays: One big happy family (Making the Roly Poly Bird)

After we were done with Trunky the elephant, little boy asked for Muggle Wump the monkey from "The Enormous Crocodile".  That one was pretty easy since we had a Makedo cup critter kit for a monkey (ok, some descriptions say its supposed to be a cow, but then it looked like a monkey to me), so the critter became Muggle Wump.  When Muggle Wump was done, little boy thought long and hard, and declared "we have all the animals, but NOT Roly Poly bird!".  So you know what I ended up doing...

Roly Poly bird was tough in the sense that he ideally should have spindly legs like all birds... but those skinny legs don't hold up very well!  In the end I got fed up trying to prop up a body with those pipe-cleaners, and decided he'll have to be in a permanent "sitting" position (little boy declared he'll teach the bird how to walk and fly!).  We started off with this base:

Body made of scrunched up paper balls, which we covered with tape.  Legs made using pipe-cleaners,
wings cut out from cardboard, and tail made from a bunch of ribbons.

And little boy busily got down to painting the bird (I wrapped up the tail and legs in cling-film so that they won't get painted on!).  He chose green for the chest, blue for the rest of the body and red for the wings.  Initially, the painting went well...

And we managed to get through applying the blue and green without a hitch:

Then he remembered his hand-smearing paint technique, and started getting more red paint on his hands that on the little bird!  (No pics of that though, I was too busy trying to make sure the wings got painted!)

After Roly Poly more or less got his colours, we left him to dry, then glued on eyes and a little beak.  Here's how his tail looks like:

And here's the entire family of animals from the story!

Humpy Rumpy the hippo, The Enormous Croc, Trunky the elephant, Roly Poly Bird and Muggle Wump the monkey.

Now I think we're going to move on to more Bible-based crafts instead, since we've not been doing much of that recently.  I'm just glad we managed to make the whole family before I popped!

Messy Mittwoch: Simple solutions

Hooray!  We're finally a little more ready, room-wise, for Baby J.  The cot in our room has been cleared of stuff (it used to hold piles of clothes, plus odds and ends), and the baby things we need to use for the first few months have all been dug out and washed.  Now I'm just waiting for a sunny day to sun the mattress, and to figure out what to hang up for this little boy's mobile.  Junior J had a flock of paper cranes and a hot air balloon... and I'm wondering if I should hang this and this up for his little brother.  (Am thinking it'll look more balanced it there are three, but I'm not sure if I have time to fold another!)

And on a not so related note, we've had quite a few friends remarking on our little shoe rack for Junior J when they come over, so I thought I'd just share it here.  I've always found it hard to store his shoes, since all those small footwear seem to get all jumbled up in a regular shoe cupboard, so we just lined them up on a sturdy shoebox near the door.  It more or less fits 4 pairs of little shoes/sandals, and the boy can get at them/return them easily.  Nothing fancy, but I love how it works out!

Ok, I need to go and put in a few more things into my "hospital bag" for D-day.  You'd think packing the bag this round would be easier, but I can't seem to remember what were the things I packed/needed last time!  Guess the good thing is the hospital tends to provide many essentials (like baby diapers!), but do share, what were your essentials in the "hospital bag"?  (Ours would probably include the teeniest, tiniest onesie possible, since the last time Junior J was just too small to fit into the stuff his clueless parents brought along!)

Thankful Tuesdays: Let go and let God

Picture taken in Melbourne, in one of the parks.
 I can't remember which though!

Saturday came with pretty bad contractions, which were so frequent that we thought it was time to go down to hospital.  So we did more packing... but the contractions went away, so I guess Baby J decided to stay put for awhile (to our relief!).  The exhaustion these days has been pretty bad, and I've been falling asleep both in the mornings when the boy plays on his own, plus during his naps.  There have been a few "oh no, I don't know how things are going to be" kind of moments, like last night. That was when I realised that we will be going to have #2, and would then have to pack up our house a few months after, survive an 8 plus hour drive to visit hubby's parents with the two boys, drive back, unpack, pack again, then promptly move half-way across the world.  Again with everyone in tow.  Suffice to say I freaked out.

The hubby says I tend to be all "doom and gloom" (which makes all these thankful posts essential for me!), as I usually expect the worst to happen.  (He on the other hand, is the exact opposite.  This also means I tend to be a very through planner, though I get really stressed in the process, while he is a "play by ear" kind of person who tends to forget stuff... We more or less work well together, though we tend to drive each other nuts sometimes!)

Anyway, I am still trying to let go and let God, and perhaps this time of many question marks would be a long-drawn lesson for me to keep trusting in Him that knows our tomorrows.  So this week, I am thankful for:

:: His everlasting, never-changing nature.  That while circumstances change, we can still hang on to God and know that He is holy and perfect and loving.

:: The hubby, who reminds me to enjoy the journey.  Who also has been really patient and helpful around the house now that normal chores are getting harder to do, and is currently Junior J's self-declared "best buddy".

Junior J demonstrating how he got his face blue.

:: This little boy, who has been such a good boy for the past few weeks.

:: Little random collections around the house that make my heart smile.

:: Friends, who willingly agree to be put on call to baby-sit at anytime of the day/night, in the event that my parents are not contactable and I have to go to the hospital...

:: Rainy days that are perfect for reading Bob books in bed, and having mock picnics using the blankets.      

What are you thankful for this week?

Thinking Thursdays: Meet Trunky, the blue elephant

We were so heartened by our success with making Mr Croc that Junior J asked to make "Trunky" next (that's the elephant hero in "The Enormous Crocodile").  It took quite awhile for this fellow to come together.  Firstly, I wanted the elephant to match in size with Mr Croc (so that he can pass as having enough strength to fling the croc to the sun to be "sizzled up like a sausage", yes, I'm anal like that), so I thought it'd be best to go with another toilet roll as the body base.  Then elephants tend to be rather rounded in many aspects, and have all sorts of fiddly bits like a trunk and tusks, which I had to figure out.  And to top it off, I had absolutely no idea what materials I could use to make those stumpy legs!

In the end, after agonizing over it for a few days, I went with hosepipe for the legs, and this "skeleton" came together:

I did the base without the boy since it was alot of trial and error!
The body consists of a toilet paper roll, and the legs, hosepipe.
Then to give Trunky a more rounded look, he got two wads of paper stuffed into both
ends of the body.  The head was made from another scrunched up paper ball,
and the trunk was a rolled up strip of used paper.
Everything was held down using tape (again, use masking tape so its easy to paint over!)

The boy then got some PVA glue (white craft glue) and an ice-cream stick, and got down to smearing glue on the legs and on strips of paper:

We basically more or less "bandaged" the fellow up in pieces of paper and tape (I thought it would have been cleaner than trying to do paper mache with all those soggy strips of stuff), so Trunky ended up like this (we taped down flaps of paper as ears too):

Then Junior J got his paint and paint brush and got down to painting the elephant.  I went off to warm up his milk for supper, and came back to find him doing this instead:  

He had gotten impatient with using the paintbrush, and had started smearing paint on his hands, and then rubbing them on the elephant!  It seemed to be more effective though, so I left him at it, and we only stoppped when the boy got really dirty (it was bedtime anyway).  There were still alot of wrinkly bits of paper (thanks to the scrunched out paper balls) which were hard to paint, so I ended up covering those parts with tape and touching up those areas with paint.  Oh, and we also added a tail, which was just pieces of twine braided together.  The boy painted that as well:

Then Trunky was left for blind to dry overnight, and we gave him eyes and tusks (again, just scraps of drawing block rolled up and glued on) the next morning:

So now we have an elephant to protect all the little kids from the ravenous appetite of the Enormous Crocodile.  And if you are wondering why he's blue instead of the usual boring grey, well, the boy insisted that Trunky be painted "blue like Sidney" (another elephant, but from another book).  I'm wondering what animal he'll ask for next.  Hopefully, its not something complicated like an armadillo!