November is a happy month!

My boys have both grown so much while I was at work...

My little ZY turns five months today! :)

Recently, he has been pulling at his clothes - see, so sexy!

He's lifting his legs a lot more, especially when he's lying down, so he'll spin clockwise on his bed. One night, I heard him stir and turned on the camera to look straight into his face, which meant he had dropped off the bed! I rushed in to find him curled up on the floor between the two beds, head resting against his bed and legs stopped by ZK's bed such that he was facing the camera *.*

Attracted by Jigajung, he spins - lifts legs to his right, drops legs with a thump!

Tried unsuccessfully to capture a video of him flipping from front to back on 15 November - he stopped doing it when I started filming! A week later on 23 November at Mum's place, he flipped from front to back a couple of times. This was taken when I was trying to catch a video of him flipping:

I can hold my head up high now!

Later, he was trying very hard to flip when on his back. I decided to turn him to his left instead since he was always turning to his right. But I must have turned too hard - he managed to flip onto his front!! But that was with my getting the ball rolling so I'd watch out for when he does it himself.... Anyway, I took a short video of him flipping back onto his back:

Baby ball!

I attended a course last Monday and Tuesday and had two little cups of tea each day - my first full portion tea since 30-something weeks of pregnancy! I was worried of the effect of caffeine and I might be right - ZY kept waking up soon after going to bed in the evening, every five to 10 minutes for a good hour or so! Sito said it would take about a week for the caffeine to go away, and indeed, he went to sleep yesterday and stayed asleep for hours. Ok, so now I know, a couple of sips of bubble milk tea is fine - guilty of two or three sips so far! - but a cup of tea is not!

Found him asleep on his gym mat after I dolled up for work

ZY even wanted to stand! He can hold some weight on his legs now :)

Papa, I'm standing on soft ground!

I've heard many compliments on ZY's eyes. Mum said when he smiles, they became moon crescents. Tok once told me the same thing about my eyes - so ZY has my eyes? :))))

Sleepy eyes having fun with his bolster - his new and effective sleep companion

小马哥 likes his 小马！

And the big boy? We can carry out a conversation now :) That is, if he's not distracted by Apple - and I don't mean the fruit *.* Last Sunday, he wanted to watch Lion King on the Mac and refused to go to the potty. But he was in his underwear so he leaked a little on the chair and finished up in the shower when Sito washed him!

ZK didn't smile as much as ZY when he was an infant. But now he smiles easily :)

We haven't had much luck with potty training unfortunately. He's still not consistent. And he doesn't want to poo in the potty! But his lead teacher told me he asked to pee in the toilet and he did! She snapped a photo of him :)

Was this after he peed on Mum's sofa?? Forgot already..

We had vast improvements on the sleep front. So he has been coming in every night, and when he comes in, we have to turn out the lights else he can't sleep. But point is, he sleeps!

I need to be sheltered from the light..

(He got up five seconds after this photo!)

So he has started going to sleep on his own since my first Thursday at work. Sometimes, it still takes quite a bit of coaxing. Sometimes, he'll say "Mama, no more做工 :(" and insist on my presence. Sometimes, he keeps popping out to coax me in. But I think we're getting there. Except for naps *.*

Mama! :(

He eventually woke and came into our room. Luckily, he fell asleep again. Unluckily, I had to curl into an L with my legs dangling off the bed at the bottom left of the bed.

Spare a bit of space for Mama leh... :(

They never think of me, bleah! Though this is one cute scene :)

8 November - the day he finally wore and used his child concession card! Bought a Doraemon lanyard for his birthday this year but he wasn't tall enough to get a card yet then.

Papa, I'm over 90 cm now, you know?

We came back to our neighbourhood and decided on some ice cream at Wendy's! We had to eat quickly so ZK didn't eat too much *.*

I want I want I want ice cream!

So do I!

We had a parent-teacher conference two weeks ago. Generally good comments - kaypoh boy likes to correct other kids on how to hold crayons "like this!" :p And he likes to sing for his classmates so now we always get him to sing for us.

Singing in his diapers...

Got him to make faces too!

He has done better, especially his surprised face, but he was distracted by my camera... There's another video of him at his "stage", singing for us but that's rather long...

So the teachers said he's ready for N1! I thought he was going to N1 next year but it's next week! As tmr is centre closure day, today was his last day in playgroup, awww... But many of his classmates will go to N1 with him.

Picking up toys with his friends at the end of the day

Also attended a curriculum talk at the centre yesterday. Quite an exciting line-up of  stuff for the coming year - guided reading pilot programme with the British Council, new Chinese curriculum, fun activities.. Managed to chat with his future lead teacher as well - she sounds passionate and fun, good :)

My space boy :)

Last weekend, he decided he didn't want the baby chair... And we ordered a full pasta for him! But I gave a lot to Sito else it was too much for the boy. Finally I didn't have to share my meal with him haha!

My hungry boys :)

ZK took this photo with Sito's help! :)

Twist!

This boy is super cute la.. On the morning of Sito's birthday, I was sleeping next to ZY when I heard ZK wake. I was getting up to go back to my room when I heard him go, "Mama, where are you?" :p Then when I changed into a yellow polka dot dress, he looked at me and went, "Mama so cute" like how I'd say "ZK so cute"!! He made my day man :)

Some time last week, he started asking new questions and expressing new thoughts. You know that song? You want star? I have star! Mama finish, I give you (cereal)... I hap (help la) you!

This morning, I was nursing ZY when ZK was at the play area as usual after his breakfast. He picked up a magazine from his box - the childcare magazine distributed by ECDA through the centre - and said "so many 姐姐" before starting to flip through the book. Then he found another magazine (cos they stuff one into each child's bag) and said his favourite "一样" - he likes to tell me "一样 Thomas", pointing to his water bottle while watching Thomas, or "一样 excavator", "一样 bear bear" etc when he sees similar things, though I'd always say in reply, "对了，跟 bear bear 一样喝 honey" :)

Now that he's starting N1 next week, I can't wait to hear and see more from him!

Have you seen my Page 3 boy? :)

Straits Times page 3 - the little baby up there? That's our little ZY :)

And here's me carrying ZY:

Source: Hey Baby SG50

You can also find this picture at CNA.

So my Corp Comms was looking for real-life models, and ZY fitted the bill! So we had a one-hour session on Wednesday morning. Happy to see two photos published :) Can't wait to get all the photos from my colleague!

Sito's 34th birthday celebrations

My Laogong has turned 34! And we celebrated with food as usual :)

Part 1 was two days before his birthday, at Jumbo where we had crabs! Actually, just one crab :p And we had a complimentary cake as Sito has a Jumbo card.

Wait, whose birthday was it again?

And the non-birthday boy had a great time devouring the cake too. We could tell that he was already full after a big serving of noodles and half the cake, but he liked the cake too much so he finished it *.*

I love chocolate cake - like Mama!

Part 2 was just the two of us, on his actual birthday :) I settled ZY and we told ZK that we were heading out and that he was to go to bed soon. He said ok and we left!

Happy birthday to my dear Sito :)

It was Prive Grill at Keppel Bay. The steak was smaller than we used to but the serving size was really just nice. And the steak was really, really good - yummm... Sito was presented with a polaroid of us in a birthday card. We have a number of these from different steak houses already :)

After dinner, we took a little walk outside the restaurant and headed back home to find ZY in our bed with Y patting him. She took him there to avoid waking ZK as he was crying. Poor baby... But he was quite happy to see us :) And Sito was happy to meet both his kids on his birthday :) (cos normally he doesn't!)

It was a much happier and relaxed birthday celebration compared to his 33rd, when we weren't sure if ZY, then a tiny bean in my belly, would be viable. We should feel very grateful :)

So that was quite an adventure. First of all, we went out for dinner without the kids. And, I drove us - at night, which was my first night drive, really... We think we could do more of this :)

First week at work

I survived! Kind of...

So we started ZY at IFC last week. IFC must have been quite tiring for him? He started sleeping all the way from 7.30 pm to anywhere between 2 am and 4 am when he woke to nurse before sleeping for another couple of hours. But many nights, he stirred every five or 10 minutes between 11 pm and midnight too..

But since last Friday, his nap in IFC got longer. This week, he has been taking 3/4-hour naps every day! Today, he came home with two bottles of milk - he didn't drink much cos he was napping! I've thrown away about 200 ml of milk already cos ZK didn't want. So today, I asked Mum to bottle-feed ZY with the leftover milk instead of nursing him, which means I have to pump pretty soon...

Always the happy baby

As for ZK, he has been whining every morning! He started out crying when I left the centre. I had to prep-talk him that I would be sending ZY upstairs and then saying bye bye to him downstairs.. 妈妈要去做工... Now he's better but he would still whine a bit.

Our schedule is kind of fixed now. We leave the house by 7.30 am; I settle them in school by 7.45 am; I get to work by 8.30 am. In the evening, sometimes I get to shower before they come back. I clean and change ZY before nursing him and settling him to sleep. Next is dinner with ZK or while he's in the shower. Then I'll shower while ZK is watching his truck songs and spend some time with him in our room before sending him to bed. He usually wakes before midnight, sometimes way before midnight, and climbs into our bed.

But yesterday, I made a little change. I played with him and tickled him on our bed, then told him that I had to work - could he sleep on his own while I worked? I would go find him later... He pouted and looked a bit sad :( But eventually he said ok. We slowly made our way to his room and I gently said goodnight and left. And he fell asleep!

This evening, just before he fell asleep

When ZK woke at 2 am, I went in to nurse him. ZK happened to wake and when he saw me, he said, "妈妈来了, no more 做工..." I felt a little sad on hearing that... But I was glad he saw me. Just now, he said 妈妈做工 and I said yes and sent him to sleep on his own again. He asked for Y but I told him she hadn't had her dinner. Eventually, he went to sleep on his own. My big boy :) I'd better go in later - he remembers!

But yes, I really have a lot of work to do this first week! I spend an hour for two pumping sessions in the office so I have been packing work home every night. Wednesday, I was struggling to stay awake at the laptop. Last night, I dozed off sitting in front of a paper. I startled awake before 10 pm and decided that I was done! I didn't even hear Sito coming back but he was sound asleep when I woke at 2 am. So glad that the kids were kind to me too.

So yup, I guess, this is our new routine that's here to stay!

The best things stay in our memory

I have taken hundreds of pictures and videos of my kids but they are still unable to eternalise all of their cutest sides in pixels. Many times, I'm too busy enjoying the moment to whip out the camera so all their cuteness can only be etched in my mind. How I wish I could capture all their cute expressions - laughing or even crying - and the funny things they say/babble!

Just this morning at the changing table, I had this exchange with the toddler:

mf: 你的名字是什么？
ZK: *silent*
mf: 司徒震铠
ZK: 司徒震铠！*smile*
mf: 弟弟呢？
ZK: 司徒振扬！*a little hesitant*
mf: yes! 妈妈呢？
ZK: 司徒妈妈！*more sure now*
mf: *lol* 爸爸呢？
ZK: 司徒爸爸！*absolutely confident*

Gotta give it to him - he was not wrong!

Also, this morning, one of his classmates Ben was behind us. ZK saw him and suddenly emitted a very excited "faster faster faster!" I didn't know whether he wanted to be faster than Ben, or he wanted Ben to catch up.

And every morning this week, I walked in front of him on the way to school. To engage him, I'd go "司徒震铠 where aaaare you?" Despite telling him to raise a hand and say "here!", he continued to stick his head out of the stroller with this super cute smile when I turned back to look at him.

His brother? ZY was quiet when he woke this morning, just lying in bed eating a hand. When he saw me, he gave me his blur look before breaking into the sweetest grin as recognition kicked in. Some time last night, he woke to just babble and smile before going back to sleep. I'm sure that as he grows, he'll have enough some cute stunts like ZK now :)

Early mornings

I love the morning.

It has been a while since I'm up at this hour on my own; everyone else is still asleep. It has just turned light so it's a soft blue sky outside while the inside of the house is still dark. The birds are starting to chirp. Some insects are buzzing.

Oops, I hear the toddler!

Well, it was a nice 10 min!

Check out that belly!

Ok, so this is more than two years late but better than never!!

Back in Evanston, budding photographer C has been so nice to take maternity photos for me. She gave me a CD filled with HUNDREDS of shots! Here's a sampling - all photo credits to C:

Outdoor 3 May 2012

Went around Evanston with C and T one sunny day :)

At the lakefront

回眸一笑？:p

ZK, were you kicking me then?

Wa, my hair!

Playful mama!

I don't like grass but C had a cloth for me to lie on, phew!

I don't mind leaves though :p

Mama needs to rest...

Love the light here

木漏れ日 (komorebi) or sunlight through the leaves!

ZK, say hi!

We like this gate

And that's a Kellogg brolly - good one, C!

Indoor 9 May 2012

It was the Wednesday before I left Evanston. C and L came over mid afternoon and we took more than an hour to set up the sheets and lighting, taking lots of test shots along the way.

Then we started with Sito in jeans and me in a tank top and jeans - yes, my pre-pregnancy jeans, unbuttoned.

We like to be goofy

Yyyyup!

Lovely shoes for ZK - but his feet were too big by the time I took it out *.*

Hugs!

Love this candid shot of us :)

A cliche heart shot but I like it anyway!

This is a preparation pose...

For this - topless!

There's a first for many things. I've toyed with this idea for some time. Well, I finally did it! I posed nude for maternity photos a la Demi Moore! Still kind of covered modestly during the photoshoot la...

There are many but I post only one - I shy...? Nah! :p

But when I finally put something on, I never felt more comfortable haha!

Took a few more shots before we called it a day. It was almost 7 pm and we were all so tired!

But thanks to photographer C who contorted herself on my floor to catch various angles and to super assistants L and T who helped with poses and styling besides the lighting, I have all these wonderful photos as a record of my big fat belly with the rest of me still quite tight, haha! Obviously I'm not so tight now after two kids *.*

I had wanted to take maternity photos for ZY, with ZK kissing my ZY-belly :) But we had no time so... Oh well, my belly didn't look different for both pregnancies! ZY, sorry but you'll have to make do with this set!

Getting ready for work!

I'm starting work next week!

The weighing scales told me I'm 4 kg above pre-ZK weight. Nvm the weight, I thought, cos I still saw a non-cylindrical shape in the mirror. Admittedly, the belly feels a tad too soft but I don't look too different, right?

Wrong! I must have grown wide overall cos I don't fit in those pencil skirts anymore :( I don't even want to try my work pants :( 

But hey, this body has popped out two kids. Surely I'm entitled to some flabbiness?

Anyway, I was thinking of refreshing part of my wardrobe and my boring look. I decided on dresses - perfect for busy mama cos no need to match top and bottoms! I bought three dresses in the past two days. One was a S from Forever 21 (I know, so ah lian..) and the other two were a 10 from Mango. I tried Lowry's Farm but I couldn't fit their L - bleah, not buying! Going to uniqlo at some point... 

Also got a new eyeliner and mascara - I figure it's easier to just draw a line and brush the lashes than to blend eye shadows... May get some blusher today as I'm running low. Now that I'm busy, I feel an even greater need to prettify myself. After all, my identity is more than a mum; I'm also the good old mf penning all this nonsense :)

Feeling fab on a Wednesday morning :)

My poor baby ZY

My poor ZY is battling his second fever now :(

He became feverish after his last feed at IFC - 37.7 deg :( But he was still smiling during his diaper change, which was good. As he measure 38.2 deg, I gave him some paracetamol and sent him to bed. An hour later, it dropped to 37.0 deg.

His first fever was only last Thursday, the day after his vaccination.

But he was still smiley and playful, though he preferred to be carried and to nurse.

And he remained strong!

He was fine the very next day. And father and son had some fun before Sito left for work :)

Close up - because he's so cute!

Sito just came home and I poured out my guilt about sleep training - both times ZY had a fever, it was after I let him cry it out :( Perhaps it was not the vaccination but the crying that caused the fever? But Sito said he probably caught something from school - he's cuter and more vulnerable than ZK who fell ill after two weeks..!

Anyway, hope ZY is good to go to school tmr. I have to make a trip to the office tmr!

My troublesome boy

Well, now that ZY is also in school, I have no time alone with him anymore. He'll have fewer photos of him and him alone than ZK =/ Can't be helped - second child!

So with that, I have consolidated my photo albums on my laptop. No more separate albums for ZK and ZY but a combined kids album. I'll also have fewer photo posts - or none! - on one child on his own. I'm getting too busy to sort them out to be very honest! I have even stopped obsessively re-aligning photos to the left since the makan post, just using the default centre alignment now.

But I have sorted out October photos so... Here they are for ZK!

On the potty at Mum's place - he simply could not poop in the potty!

Potty training has led to ZK deciding to wear ONLY his underwear.. On his bed - I was so scared!

He also wanted to cut his own fingernails. His already quite ugly nails took a turn for the worse *.* After that, I handed him YouTube and held the cutter myself!

Yes, something like this, with me sitting behind me and looking for his nails...

PS: That was a cute top from GuGu! Love it when ZK pulls the ears of the monkey :p

"Elephant..." Um, yes, indeed. Let's review hiss drawing in a few months' time. But his pen grip is not bad!

That was Deepavali, I think. Thought we would go to the supermarket as he had not been there for a while. He still remembered the little playground on the way and wanted to ride the 马! Yup, every ride-able thing is a horse...

He wouldn't let go of the peanut butter even at the cashier! Auntie had to ask him for it... Then he took the bag, so uncle at such a young age haha!

He also took photos with my phone...

He finally understood the camera - now he will say 拍照 and 照片 :) He would even smile for the camera! :)

Like this:

Not like this - he was full and tired at lunch. Check out his round belly! Love it :p

Yes, he can eat a lot of his favourite noodles... And biscuits and chocolate from Halloween! But he doesn't like to brush his teeth. Rather, he wants to play at the basin. We brought him with us to the dentist last Saturday to watch Sito and me getting our teeth cleaned, and to have the dentist tell him to brush his teeth. I try to remind him of that when he refuses to brush properly. Luckily there was a little keepsake - a lion finger puppet, 小Lion - from the dentist to act as a concrete reminder of his first meeting with a dentist.

He loves the troublesome trucks from Thomas and acknowledges himself as a troublesome boy, hoho!

He has really grown so much this year, especially in terms of speech. We stopped watching Thomas for a while cos I wanted to limit his screen time. But I had to put it back on when I removed his high chair to keep him in his seat *.* The upside was that I realised that he could now sing along! He likes to ask me to sing "Troublesome Trucks". One day, I told him to sing it himself and he told me, "铠铠不会唱" - I was quite surprised as I had not heard him use 会 before.

And it's quite hilarious when I sang the song slowly - it wasn't good enough for him. "Faster! Faster!" Hoho!! And then there is the "Ready, go! The wheels on the bus...." in super fast mode! Next, "Wiper time! The wipers on the bus..." If Sito or I were to doze off while with him, he'll look at us reproachingly, "No sleeping!" It really is quite fun listening to him and chatting with him now :)

This is my baby singing a part of his fave song:

Besides speech, his motor skills are also improving. Just two weeks ago, his gesture for "good" was to point with his index finger. Then he learnt to keep that in and signalled with his thumb instead, but in a closed fist. One day, he came home with a beautiful thumb-up! And then we taught him that he is now two years old, which began as four :p By the past Sunday, he could do a "two" with his left hand but still needed help with his right. Now he's learning to stick out his pinky for a pinky promise :)

In another note, the school has a new check-in/out system by taking photos of the kids using an iPad. So every day, I get two emails telling me that ZK has arrived/left the school! This morning's picture showed him digging his nose *.* ZY had his photo taken as well but perhaps they haven't set up the emails yet. Well, that's partly why fees go up next year right?? *.*

ZY goes to school!

It's ZY's first day at infant care today.

Where are we going, Mama?

I tell you, I want to carry him up again!!

My two little boys in their respective strollers - oh, and Lion went to class with ZK as well!

ZY was sitting a little too upright as the seat was blocked by his huge pack of diapers behind, oops...

So we reached the centre at 745 am. ZK got clingy quite immediately so I let him follow us upstairs where I passed ZY to the carer and told her about his routine. ZY was smiling at me while I talked :) Gave my second child a kiss and left with the first in my arms.

He couldn't leave my arms *.* And he started crying. I sat him down to sweet talk him. The class was also just moving to their classroom at the next house. So I squeezed a verbal acknowledgement out of him, that he would stay in school while I went to work. He let me put him down in his classroom but shortly after that, he started crying, less intensely, phew! And the teacher managed to ushered him in.

And I was left with...me time!

Packed off maternity and outgrown baby clothes into vacuum bags. Repaired a bit more of our bed - more on that later, perhaps.. Hand expressed some milk - I'm growing to like using my hands instead of the pump, except that it took more time as I could only do one side at a time. And then it was off to a deep tissue massage downstairs! And that turned out to be the best massage in my life man! Relaxing and not oily at all. Unfortunately, I probably won't have the time to go back for a while...

Came back to pump cos I didn't manage to express much from the left earlier. Eventually had a late and quick lunch in town before my facial. That was probably my last facial in a long time too... And then I shopped a bit and of course I ended up at Daiso *.* By the time I got back home, I accumulated enough milk to pump out 260 ml - woot! Never had so much before!

Bummed around a little and it was time to get my babies home!

ZK started crying again when I went upstairs *.* Y pacified him. No complaints from the carers, just that he had difficulty sleeping in bed so he was on the bouncer a lot. Well, it's a new environment. Will see how he fares in the coming days. ZY started crying as we talked but was pacified shortly after I picked him up. My baby :)

Mum came by as well. When I start work, she'll be helping to pick up the kids - thanks! - cos it'd be 7 pm by the time I get to the centre from office. With her help, we can all meet at home at 7 pm.

So when we got home, I changed into home clothes and changed ZY while ZK had his dinner. Managed to nurse ZY to sleep, yeah! And had dinner next to ZK who was having his post-dinner raisins by then. And the nightmare started after his shower.

He wasn't very quiet during quiet time. So ZY woke. And could not be pacified by his pacifier :( So it's time for sleep training! Second time I'm doing it - first was on Tuesday, which was kind of successful though I fell asleep and didn't monitor him much! ZY slept after five minutes of crying.

ZK looked sleepy so I tried my luck. He said ok to me going off to shower and even waved bye bye. But he started wailing after I left the room! Guess what? ZY woke again :( So I let the poor boy cry again - closer to 10 minutes this time. I left the room when ZK slept.

So today, the first day of rehearsal for resuming work, was quite good, considering that ZY was alright in school, and ZK didn't fuss much - bedtime is standard, crying at the centre when I'm around is also standard *.* Just now while he was having his mil, I prepped him for tmr, that I'll send them both to school and LEAVE, and that there is no need for him to cry as I'll see him at the end of the day. Let's see how tmr.. And of course, hopefully bedtime will be better tmr too...

Kiddy routine

Failed to put ZY in bed as ZK had impeccable timing for when he decided to say something - when his brother was on the verge of dozing off. So I sent him to Sito while I finally coaxed ZY into lala land.

When I came out of the kiddy room, I found ZK and Sito in our bed, lights off. Um, didn't look good. ZK refused to budge and signalled for me to lie down. Oh well! So we told ZK that we got to do some chores outside and left the room. And he fell asleep!

It shows me one thing - ZK doesn't need to sleep with us; he wants to sleep in our bed!! *.*

Sundays can be a little challenging, putting both kids to bed together. Saturdays are the easiest cos I outsource ZK to Y while I bathe ZY etc :p Usually, I can quite easily put ZY in bed when ZK has fallen asleep.

Weekdays will be tricky. In the past 18 weeks with ZY, I showered before/after I bathed ZY, put him in bed before ZK got home, put ZK in bed. That usually worked though sometimes ZY didn't fall asleep early enough or ZK woke ZY up. But most of the time, ZK could observe "quiet time" while ZY was sleeping, which meant some real whispering and some ZK-whispering aka normal speaking in cute tone :p

From tmr, ZY will go to IFC, which means that I may have to send both kids to bed at the same time! Ok, for a start, I can still nurse ZY while ZK has dinner, and pray that ZY falls asleep before ZK gets in. But once ZY starts having dinner, it will be a mighty challenge! Let's see how when we get there...

For now, ZK's routine is pretty fixed - one mid-day nap, sleep between 8 pm and 6 am, three square meals a day with morning and afternoon snacks. This probably wouldn't change even when he enters N1 next year. Yes, he's going to be in N1! So fast...

And ZY is consistently napping four times a day - first and last at 30 min and the other two anything from 30 min to three hours! I think he may drop a nap when he settles into IFC but we shall see. He nurses at about three-hour intervals in the day, right after waking up from sleep/nap or a while after that. He doesn't really nurse to sleep, as in, I can burp him like crazy and he stays asleep but the moment I put him down in bed, he wakes *.*

Ok, I'm abruptly ending this cos ice cream is on its way :p