Isaac as of 1st December 2007 (Part II)

Playpen fun time!

Here's Isaac having fun in his playpen. He'd read/lick his Elmo book and play with the set of 3 cloth cubes - except that he much prefers the green cover thingy which holds the 3 cubes. Don't ask me why. hahaha... anyway, he'd always play with them till they're all over his face! It's quite amusing hahaha... take a look yourself... :)

Pictures taken on 1st December 2007

Who's a Teochew Boy?

Isaac is a Teochew Boy!!! Both hubbs and I are Teochew. All four of my grandparents are Teochew; and all four of hubbs' grandparents are Teochew. Thus Isaac is as pure a Teochew Boy as can be!

And yes, we defintely plan to expose Isaac to the Teochew language. In fact, we're hoping to expose Isaac to Chinese and Teochew from a young age so that he can learn to speak these two languages fluently, and be effectively multi-lingual.

For those of you who know me personally, you know my chinese sucks big time. Well, yes, it HAS kinda improved quite a lot since I went Crescent and then JJ, and even much more when I got together with hubbs and actually married him. hahaha... In fact, most of you nice people out there would comment that my spoken mandarin is not THAT bad at all. Yeah my spoken mandarin's quite alright - conversational mandarin that is. I still can't forget the fact that I had to take my "A" Levels Chinese paper 3 times in order to scrape a pass so that I can go uni. tsk tsk tsk...

Well, at home, my parents speak mostly English, with a mix of Teochew. So we don't speak mandarin at home at all when I was growing up coz my parents themselves didn't really know mandarin coz they went to "English Schools" when they were growing up - thus they learnt English and Malay then (when we were for a short time, part of Malaysia). But then again, maybe it's just me, coz my sister's Chinese was almost perfect - she scored "A"s all the time!

Hubbs' side is almost totally opposite. His dad went to "Chinese School" and so is "Chinese Educated". So at home, they speak mostly Teochew and Chinese. So, hubbs' English is quite bad whilst his Chinese is very very good. Well, people also say that his England has improved lots since we got together kekeke...

As for Teochew, people tell me that when I was young, my Teochew was very fluent - coz I was brought up by my maternal grandmother (whom I call "Popo" !!!) and she spoke to me in Teochew all the time. I amtold that I was so fluent that I could sing Teochew songs! However, when I started schooling, I went back to live with my parents, and my Teochew deteriorated from insufficient practice. Now, am slowly trying to learn back my Teochew by practicing it with hubbs. Hubbs tells me that my Teochew has improved a lot since we got together. He's being nice. My MIL still has trouble understanding me when I speak Teochew.

Anywayz, we want Isaac to be fluent in English, Mandarin, and Teochew. Minimally. If he has capacity, I would like him to be fluent in Malay as well. Why? Well... coz both my maternal and paternal grandmothers are Nonya - Straits Chinese - so they both speak Malay. I was especially close to my Popo, and she tried to teach me some Malay when I was young. So... it'd be nice if Isaac learns some Malay. It'd be a tribute to my Popo! :)

So, this is our plan. We will assign different people to speak to Isaac in different languages. Exclusively. As much as possible. I'd be the one speaking to Isaac in English; hubbs in Chinese and my parents in law - Teochew. My parents would probably speak to Isaac in both English and Teochew. And we have a Malay family as our neighbours, so we hope they'd be able to teach Isaac the Malay language (they love playing with Isaac!).

So there it is! That's our plan. If we are successful (which I am sure we'd be), Isaac will be effectively multilingual! And most importantly, he'd be a rare TEOCHEW BOY!!!

Isaac as of 1st December 2007

Cough cough cough

On the night that I was away, 18th December, Isaac developed a cough. He started coughing that night. 19th, when I was back, he was still coughing. On 20th, we wanted to bring him to see a doctor, but the PDs were all closed coz it was Hari Raya - a public holiday. So on 21st, Friday morning, I brought him to see the PD in the morning before I went to work.

By then, I was coughing a little already. Think I got it from Isaac. Over the weekend, Christmas eve, and Christmas Day, our coughing steadily grew worse, and now hubbs has got it too. We've all got the hacking phelgmy cough. It disturbs Isaac's sleep and he has been cranky at night coz of it. So, our sleep gets disturbed too coz Isaac wakes up more often, and it's more difficult to pat him back to sleep coz he is cranky. Think that contributed to my and hubbs' cough getting worse.

So today, hubbs and I dropped Isaac off at my in-laws' place, hubbs sent me to work coz I had urgent stuff to rush out. And he went to get us numbers at the doctors. Then he picked me up late morning, when our numbers were approaching. Went to see doc, had lunch, then came back to sleep off the flu.

I've MC for tomorrow, but I kinda need to rush stuff coz I'm gonna start at my new department come January. Not many working days left this year! Hiaz, think I'd just sleep late and go into office in the afternoon tomorrow.

HIAZ. I've never been on MC so often before. Am seldom sick, perhaps once or twice a year. Even when I was pregnant, I hardly took MC at all. Guess less sleep and all didn't help. The week before, on 13th Dec, I was on MC as well, coz I had very bad blocked nose - wait, oh, yeah - I got that from Isaac too.

Ah well. what to do, I'm always in such close proximity of him that I guess it's inevitable I'd get the viruses from him. hahaha... Though PD says that Isaac is doing very well even though he has flu - largely and probably coz I am breastfeeding him - and hence he has more antibodies and high resistance coz of that. hehehe... Was happy to hear that :)

Okay, so all that's where we've been lah - what with the boobsy retreat, Christmas and all of us being sick - hardly had enough time to rest, much less blog. We didn't even go to the Christmas night party we were invited for - we all stayed home to rest and to sleep!

Have to go sleep already, tired.

Will upload more pix of Isaac, while I go wash the milk bottles and pump :p enjoy!

Boobsy retreat!

It's been such a long time since I did a blog entry that even though I am on mc this afternoon, I decided I shall do an entry till I feel groggy and drowsy from the cough medicine I just took.

It's been an eventful week or so - and I'm not just talking about Christmas!

Did I tell you guys that I'm about to have a change in career path? Well, sort of. I'm going to join the asset management department from January 2008 onwards. It's kinda exciting coz I'm going to do asset management stuff, which is kinda different from lease management / marketing stuff which I have been doing since graduation. The flip side is that I really like the colleagues and the environment in my current lease management department, so I'm really gonna miss them. But then, still in the same company, so at least I can like pop by as often as I like (or as and when I am free, rather!)

Anywayz (see, side-track again), had an all day meeting with the new department on Monday 17th Dec, and on 18th and 19th, went with the new department colleagues on a retreat! A 2 day 1 night trip to KL by coach. "So good! overseas trip!" I hear some of you saying. But I dreaded going on the trip! I was sooooo gonna miss my Isaac, I thought!

Turns out that my boobs was on my mind more than Isaac lor.

I forgot that the coach trip to KL was a good 5 to 6 hours plus!!! And my mammary glands (defined here as:"any of the large compound modified sebaceous glands that in female mammals are modified to secrete milk, are situated ventrally in pairs, and usually terminate in a nipple." ain't that hilarious!?) needed emptying every 4 hours plus or so! I thought I might be able to last the trip up as I have dragged pumping times before for 5 hours plus, but no... coz of the rest-stops and clearing of customs etc, my mammaries started to cry out in pain as early as the Yong Peng rest stop. By lunch time, I was like bursting already but really didn't want to pump there (how to ask for a private room with powerpoint at a malaysian shophouse restaurant?! can't imagine myself trying to explain why I wanted the room for in chinese - "Auntie, wo3 yao4 ji3 nai3, you3 mei2 you3 fang2 jian1?" ?!?!?!?

So, no choice, tahan all the way to KL. Practically grabbed my key from my colleague's hands, rushed upstairs into my room, and immediately started to set up the equipment to start pumping. It was truly sweeeet music to my early a few moments later - I never found the sound of the machine pumping so pleasant and soothing before.... ahhhh..... I happily pumped away for quite a while... (coz got a lot of milk mah) Suddenly, I had a horrific thought - "What if my pump died on me?! I'd be pumpless in a foreign country!? OH NO!?!?!? Immediately, I switched off the pump for awhile to let it rest. Then I swore to myself that I must always bring my trusty manual pump with me every time I leave the country! Which on hindsight, I should have brought with me, coz if worst come to worst, I could always drape a cloth on myself and pump on the coach! Desperate times calls for desperate measures, you know!!!

So for the entire retreat, I was very conscious of my boobs... Of course, I missed hubbs and Isaac terribly. So with Isaac, hubbs and boobs on my mind, I hardly enjoyed the trip at all. Couldn't wait to go home. Was wondering why I even brought my camera along - coz I wasn't interested in taking any pictures at all. Only till at night, after I spoke with hubbs on the phone and was about to go to bed, did I realise why I brought my camera... to see Isaac's pictures and videos!!! Was soooo glad that I had my camera with me then!

With all the pumping, I also tried my best to bring as many blue ice-blocks as I could, so that I could bring back as much milk as I can. Even had to get the hotel staff to place my blue ice-blocks in their kitchen freezer to freeze it, as the room's minifridge did not even have a mini freezer compartment at all.

I'm happy to announce that I didn't have to throw away a single drop of milk. Managed to bring enough storage to store all the milk I pumped during that 2 day 1 night trip. Here's the only picture I took in my entire trip! My milk!!!

Singlish from ang mohs!

Someone sent this to me recently, I think it is hilarious! It's a couple of skits done by kids from an international school in Singapore.

I've always been quite fascinated as Singlish as a language. Someone once pointed out to me before that Singlish actually has its own grammatical rules! And it's true, come to think of it. I mean, like, someone can actually speak "wrong" Singlish. why? coz they got the Singlish Grammer all mixed up! hahaha... not to mention they sometimes don't have adequate Singlish vocabulary to express themselves properly and accurately.

Haha shan't hold you up much longer - enjoy the videos! :)

Singlish Security Lecture



Singlish 101

Shio-nek oei!!!

Isaac has many names. I call him Isaac, most of the time. Well, most people do.

Our friend, Andrina, calls him Emmanuel (Isaac's middle name) coz she thinks that Emmanuel's a very nice name.

My nieces Rebecca and Isabelle calls him Baby Isaac. Actually, we found that a lot of people naturally called him Baby Isaac. As in, everyone automatically adds the "Baby" in front. We were thinking of all the other babies, and we don't ever recall automatically adding the "Baby" in front when call them... but it seems to be the case for Isaac. It's like Natalie, my youngest niece, was born 3 months after Isaac. But we'd all naturally go:" Hi Natalie! Hi Baby Isaac!" hahaha... dunno why also...

My mother-in-law calls him a variety of names. From Wenyuan (Isaac's chinese name) to "Te-Kiah" (piglet!) to "shio-nek" (in Teochew, it means "my precious"). This last name was coined by hubbs, I think. At least, when I first heard it, he was the one who said it. Gollum never fails to pop into my head everytime I heard hubbs go:"Shio-nek oei!!!"

I think it's quite cheeem Teochew, coz I'm Teochew and I never heard of the term shio-nek. Then again, my Teochew's not fantastic. Anywayz, I enjoy putting an angmoh('english') slang onto the term and call Isaac:"shio-nek..." - until hubbs told me:"Wait he thinks he's called Shawnette ah..." hummphh, well HE started it...

Gen, hubb's cousin asked one day:"Does Isaac have any nicknames?" I said:"Oh yes, he's called Shio-nek!" Gen:"Short neck?! hahaha you guys are so mean! his neck is not THAT short!" Me:"what??? oh!!! no, no, not short neck! SHIO-NEK! teochew for 'my precious'!!! hahaha..." Then we all turned and looked at Isaac's neck... hmmm....................


Couldn't see any neck. But heck! We're NOT calling him NO-NECK okay!!!

He flipped BACK!!!

Isaac flipped! He flipped BACK this time!!! I'd been telling him for ages:"Isaac, can you please learn how to flip back? so that you won't wake Mummy everytime you are uncomfortable on your front and want to flip back..." Then hubbs would always say:"Not so fast one lah... he'd be about 6 months before he learns how to flip back onto his back..." HA HA HA! Alright, Isaac!!! SHOW PAPA!!! You did it!!! Well done! hahahhaa...

Isaac flipped on Sunday afternoon 9th December 2007 - that makes him 4 mths and 3 days old when he flipped back. I was just talking to him, with him on his front. Then suddenly, he just tipped over! hahaha I was so excited I went to get hubbs to come see. Then I flipped Isaac over to his front, and asked him to flip back again, so that I could catch it on video. And he did! hahaha... WELL DONE, ISAAC!!!

bloggered!

I've been bloggered. I'm always composing blog posts inside my brain nowadays. But I haven't got enough time nor energy to blog as much as I want to. It's tough working full time, looking after Isaac at night, and being the 24 hour on call CEO of PamMI Pte Ltd, you know.

Initially, I thought now that I'm back at work, I might be able to blog everyday during lunch. However, that was not to be as I would usually wolf down my lunch so that I can go and pump milk.

At night, usually by the time we settle Isaac and get him to sleep, it'd be 9plus or 10plus - sounds early to you, but by then I'd be so tired already. Sometimes, I just fall asleep along with Isaac. Most other times, I'd have to get up to wash and sterilise the bottles and pump funnels for the next day's use. Recently though, hubbs has been very sweet, he'd wash and sterilise the bottles and pump funnels for me, so that I can just bathe and go to sleep.

Coz I do the night duty you see. Nowadays, Isaac doesn't really cry at night. I'd hear him fidgeting and will just pick him up to feed him. He'd be drinking sleepily and would fall back into sleep after he's done. This is unlike the past, where Isaac used to have trouble falling back to sleep and would cry and cry. hubbs would help me out by rocking back to sleep. So, now that Isaac doesn't cry at night in between feeds, hubbs gets a full night sleep.

But if I succumb to temptation to sleep early every night, then I wouldn't have time to blog! So, I'd have to sacrifice sleeping time to blog lor... so poor thing, right? kekeke... Well, it's not that I'm "very free" - but that I make the effort to keep blogging. I dunno how long I can keep this up, but at least, it'd be good for as long as I can. Something is better than nothing, right?

Some people comment that blogs are so silly, and a waste of time. Perhaps, for some people, and some blogs. But I feel that it's nice to have a blog to chronicle the growth of Isaac and ourselves. Yeah, ourselves. Think we're growing to be adults! HAHAHA... oh, you know what I mean. It's no mean feat being parents. And nothing beats being one to really know and understand how difficult it is. Challenging but fulfilling.

Kids nowadays are so lucky, isn't it? When they grow up, they'd have thousands of photos of themselves to look at, videos to see, and some even have blogs to call their own. I feel that this is a way to let us remember how we were like, too. How things were like. How it was going through the tough first few months, the fun of watching and witnessing Isaac's firsts, the pain and tediousness of breastfeeding, the feelings of "fresh parents" learning our way through Isaac.

I mean, humans all have amazingly short-term memories. We all kinda forget something we're not in the midst of. Like now, I can hardly recall how frustrating and tiring it was during the first two months. No, I don't mean to say I've forgotten it all, but that, I'd lost memory of the intensity of those feelings.

I remember, when I was a teenager, going through the usual growing pains and teen-angst period of my life, I used to like HATE my parents (now I don't lah). So I would constantly tell myself that I have to remember my feelings as a teenager, so that next time when I have my own kids, I would understand how they feel. Well, I bet you in 15 years time when I'm yelling at Isaac for something he should or shouldn't be doing - I don't think I'd remember how I felt like being a teenager.

Also, it strikes me how, when sometimes I ask my colleagues, friends or relatives what they did with their kids when they were young and had a certain problem I am now facing with Isaac - they would answer:" Oh I can't remember, it was so long ago."

So, I think this blog is good, in that sense. It'd remind me of this period of time. Of when I first became a mother. Of Isaac in his first few months of life. Of how hubbs and I handled the things that came our way. And hopefully, when Isaac reads this next time, it'd show him how much we love him, and we hope he'd love us equally much in return. [I hope he'd love me as much as hubbs loves his mother. No, wait! I hope Isaac'd love me MORE than hubbs loves his mother! fwwahahhahaha...]

postscript: To all those who say:"Wah, Pamela, you really very free hor, write so much." I have this to say:"I am not FREE. I make it a point to write. I make an effort. I sacrifice sleep to write. I sacrifice going out for lunch to write. I sacrifice watching the news with hubbs to write. To have time to write, hubbs and I have to live with a mess of clothes that are not folded, a living room table which is messy, a dish-holder filled with dishes waiting to be put back into the cupboard. I ask myself:"15 years from now, will Isaac appreciate the writing that I have done here, or will he commend me on a neat living room table and neat stacks of folded clothes when he was 4 months old." The answer is clear :p Besides... you all very FREE hor? Keep coming to read my blog... :p

Isaac is 4 mths old today!

Four months ago, today, on the 6th of August 2007 - Isaac was born! Seems like such a long time ago already! Here're some more smiley pix of Isaac ;p

pictures taken on 22nd November 2007

Am too tired to post, but I thought I HAD to post something on Isaac's 4mth old birthday (since I missed out on posting on the first three months already :p)

Mummy & Isaac

picture taken 18th November 2007

FINALLY - a decent picture of Isaac and I. Decent, meaning, I don't look FAT. Actually, think I don't look half bad in this pic - even though my hair's a mess and I'm all sweaty hahahaha...

People are starting to say that Isaac is beginning to look like me! What do you think? :)

August 2007 Mummies Gathering!

On Saturday just past, we had an August 2007 Mummies Gathering! We're mummies from the SingaporeMotherhood Forum - August 2007 MTB thread. See, that's all of us above, with our babies. A pity some mummies left before we took the picture.

It was quite an interesting experience, this gathering of forummers. It's like we all kinda knew one another, and yet for many of us, it was the first time that we were seeing each other. So it was kinda exciting yet awkward at the same time. We were like strangers, and yet we weren't. [at this point - hubbs, who has been watching me type this entry, comments that I am very longwinded *grrrrrrr*... it's called being descriptive, silly!!!]

Anywayz, it was a weird feeling. I'd almost wish we were all back in front of the computer, all on the forum page. I felt like I wanted to be part of every conversation, to listen in on what everyone is saying, and talking about. Just like in the forum. Then it struck me how voyeuristic it is, to be part of a forum group.

I was thinking, then, what would be a good venue for a gathering for forummers like us. Then this image popped into mind: a large meeting room with a large round table and all of us at a seat, with our computers, typing on the forum, but looking up to see each other's faces whenever someone posts something, to share smiles, laughs, groans, knowing looks, "me also!!!"s and "ah yoh"s etc etc...

hahaha that was just a thought... then of course, we can all take a break by going to the buffet table and coagulating into the various groups that had organised our mini-bulk-purchases be it for milkbags or guccibags or eyebags (haha the last we all have already!)

Well, all in all, it was pretty fun. We all finally got to see each other in the flesh, and our little bubs too. :) can't wait for our next gathering :p

Here's Isaac looking cheeky in the stroller. He was alright for the first half hour, then he got kinda cranky and wanted to sleep. Napped in hubbs arms for a good part of the gathering, then woke up just as everyone was leaving. tsk tsk tsk...


Isaac in the bumbo. Think one of his legs is fatter than the other, coz one side could get in fine, but the other had difficulty going in! :O He seemed to like the seat fine though. Here he is staring at the satay that his Papa is offering him... He doesn't seem to realise that it's food... guess it looks kinda different from Mummy's n*pple ;p (yes yes dun be grossssssss...)

And here's Double Isaac!!! :) Nining with Ike (short for Isaac) and me and Isaac!!! :)