Z is learning so fast! Z at 10 months plus

Z is learning & growing so fast that we were so shocked & impressed with his progress. This week has been eventful as Z is showing us many things that he know and new things that he could do.

Physically, Z is constantly practicing his stand and he is standing longer and more stable now. He has been sleeping between us on our bed since 6 months old even though we 'planned' to move him to his own room at 6 months when we first had him but that didn't happen :(( I love the idea of co-sleeping and its so convenient when he wakes up at night for feed. I could just breast feed him while lying down & I would usually fall asleep first before he finishes. I also loved the mornings when he wakes up & cuddle with me. It was really nice but we really have to move him before he gets smarter and refused to go! We were quite adamant to move the cot to his own room last weekend but failed to do that & again, failed this weekend. Hopefully we can move him to his own room by end of June. Am not looking forward to his long & probably frequent cries for being left in his cot & room in the first few days. Am visualizing very hard that this transition will be a pleasant one.

We have been putting him in his cot at night when it's time for bed & he has been pulling himself up & then fall on his buttocks & do it all over again, with both of us lying on the bed silently in the dark watching him & wondering/guessing how long he could go before he just lie down & falls asleep. Some nights he could go for at least 30 to 50 times I think. Usually after about 15 minutes of him pulling himself up & standing on his cot, falls on his buttock & up again, SJ would then try to persuade & coax him to lie down. It's so much work but SJ is really good at this. I usually gives up in less than 10 mins & SJ had to take over.

Here are photos of Z standing in his cot with his pacifier on one morning last week. 

Z also discovered drawers! His observation skills is amazing & he could work out how to open things by just observing what the adults do. It's quite scary knowing that he can imitate the adults so well. We have to be careful of what we do or say from now onward. Babies absorb everything like a sponge!

Z was opening & closing the drawers in our wardrobe. It's time to buy those child safety locks to ensure the drawers would not fall on him. 

Z can entertain and play by himself now. This is probably the best and most fun thing at the moment; he cannot run all over yet but he can sit down by himself without needing us by his side. He could sit in his cot in the mornings for a good 20-30 mins without making a noise while I take my own sweet time to get ready for work. 30 mins is a luxury for me, I used to be rushing like a mad woman & could get out in less than 10 mins. Things are getting better now!

Z is growing faster and I am having a hard time catching up with him. He is looking like a little boy & no longer a baby. I am beginning to miss the little baby Z but at the same time, am relieved that my little baby is growing so well. SJ thinks I would miss Z being a baby when he is all grown up. I guess by then, I would just look at my few thousands photos and posts in this blog over & over again :P 

Z is 10 months old!

He is turning 1 year in 2 months time! I have started planning a litte for Z's first birthday bash. His birthday theme is going to be 'Under the Sea' and I am going to make a all fresh fruits only birthday cake for him! So excited!

Photos of Z taken this morning. He was holding on to his pacifier, putting it into his mouth and repeated that over again. This is one of his favourite thing to do since he mastered this skill when he was about 7 months old. The best way to take his photo nowadays where he would look at the camera is by taking the photo 'with' him using the front camera. I guess he likes to see his face on the screen.

Z been growing and learning so much in these past few weeks and we were so amazed with his development. Z is crawling really fast now, he doesn't do the normal crawl with his knees but with the commando crawl on his chest. He pushes his body with his right leg most of the time and this resulted him moving towards one side which is quite funny to watch. He could turn around really fast and moves really quickly when he sees someone with a piece of food. He has also begun to hold on tables/sofas and pull himself up quite easily and able to stand unassisted for a few seconds.

He is able to identify the people and things around him. He would turn at every sound and he has an eye for details. He has started to babble and could babble words with 'ma', 'da', 'na' sounds. His existing 8 teeth are growing quite well and huge. He has more teeth coming out and he is interested in his banana teeter again. He abandoned his banana teeter for  while but started to chew on it again today.

Z has learnt to crawl and sit up by himself. Bedtime is harder as he would sit up and continue to explore his surroundings instead of going to bed. We know it will get worse when he starts to stand and walk. We made the biggest mistake by letting him to fall asleep on our bed a few months back. Ever since then, he loves the warmth of our bed and been sleeping between us. Each time we put him into his cot, he would wake up quicker and wailed when he knows he is not in our bed. Our plan is to move the cot to Z's room soonest and to sleep train him to sleep by himself as soon as possible. I like the idea of co-sleeping with him but I know that Z needs to sleep by himself soon because it would only get harder when he is older.

Z is still not sleeping through the night yet. Yes, this is part of being a breast-fed baby. Breast-fed babies will sleep through the night slower which I am fine with it. I used to plan and think of ways on how to have Z sleep through the night as soon as possible but decided to stop thinking about this when Z was about 6 months old. I just thought when Z is ready, he would sleep through himself . Maybe he would sleep through the night when we move him to his own room, . I have got used to waking up a few times at night. My sleep deprivation is not bothering me anymore and I can function quite well during the day. Lack of sleep and breast-feeding has resulted me back to my pre-pregnancy weight in 4 months!

My baby is growing so fast! There are so many things I want to do with him and for him but there is just not enough time!! Being a working mom is definitely not easy. I love what I do and I love my family but I could only pick one at one time. It's really too bad that I can't be super great in both at the same time :(((

My first Mother's Day!

A year ago on Mother's Day in 2012

and this year, it's such a special Mother's Day because it's my very first Mother's Day! 

SJ was away for a business trip and I spent the whole of Mother's Day Sunday with my Mom. It was simple and nice to be able to spend some quiet time at home. The past few months have been crazy busy as I've got busier with work plus maintaining a house is no easy job. This Mother's Day brought a whole new realization to me: Being a mother is probably one of the toughest job ever. It's difficult and satisfying at the same time. All in the name of LOVE. 

I want to dedicate this Mother's Day to all women out there who are struggling with infertility, miscarriage and infant/child loss. I am so thankful and grateful to have this wonderful experience of being a mother and I appreciate my mother even more now. These statements are clearer to me now: You'll never understand the sacrifices that parents make until you become a parent, and Daughters appreciate mothers more especially after they become mothers themselves. Now I wonder if Sons feel the same towards their parents. 

Hope everyone had a meaningful Mother's Day. A constant reminder to myself: I should appreciate my parents and people around me all the time before it's too late. Everyday should be special! 

Ending this post with a picture of my ever-young looking dearest Mommy with her favourite person at the moment, her grandson!

Z is 7 months old!

Z's typical morning:

Z usually wakes up about 7 plus in the morning. I would usually try to coax him to sleep more by breast feeding him and it worked sometimes. I would then proceed to clean him or bath him at about 8am. After that, I would have to rush because Z can only play by himself for a short period of time. I had to quickly clean up and dress for work.I'd put Z in his cot and give him a toy to hold. He would keep quiet for about 15 minutes on a good day. Now that he is able to sit unassisted, I would place him in the cot while he entertains himself. He is such an inquisitive boy that he is constantly intrigued by the tiny details around him which I found to be very entertaining.

On a lucky day, I would be able to catch his cute little actions on my camera or phone-camera; this was taken yesterday morning on the day he turned 7 months old.

Z was trying to 'catch' the teddy on the sheet. He was scratching and touching the brown bears. 

When he realised that I was watching him, he stopped immediately, sit up and looked at me as if he was doing something naughty. 

With the next few seconds, he gave me a huge grin showing me his teeth. 

After his short huge grin, he went back being distracted by something else; the label on his bunny security blanket. It's amazing how easily distracted Z could be.

I could really just stare at him the whole day ;) 

It's Friday tomorrow! Happy weekend everybody! :)

The day Zachary was born..

This happened exactly 7 months ago, on the 20th of July but it feels like it happened very recently. Can't believe that 7 months have passed! Was just looking at his photos which were taken when he was born and he has changed so much!

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On the 19th of July, Thursday:

So, SY was right! We told baby that we would induce him and force him to come into this world if he didn't give us any signs that he wants to be out naturally before 20th July. Contractions happened on the 19th July and he was not induced! Read this post on the date we picked for induction.

I woke up at about 9am and show appeared (bleeding). I told SJ that but we didn't have any big reaction; that was a sign that baby could be coming anytime soon. When a show appears, the contraction could take from hours to days to occur. We went to Antipodean, Bangsar for our huge breakfast. It was yummy! I was about to enter the confinement period for one whole month right after delivery, I just had to make sure I get to eat my favourite foods on the day before I deliver.

After our yummy big brunch, we drove to Amcorp mall in PJ because we decided to get a good camera on that day. I have been telling SJ that I always wanted to get a better camera because the current one that we have does not take good clear photos in low light. Told him I 'needed' a good camera to take baby photos :)) and he said, ok! He started to search for the camera model the night before. He even posted that question in Facebook and many suggested Canon G12 and we decided to get that! Found out from the internet that the shop in Amcorp mall gives one of the best prices for cameras. 

I was so happy and in good spirit because we have a new toy! :) Spoke to Dr Choong briefly while I was at the camera shop to explain to him about my condition. I was supposed to go into the labour ward in preparation to induce labour that very Thursday night after dinner. Since the show appeared that morning, we thought maybe we should wait for another few days because natural would be better for both mommy and baby. Asked Dr Choong for his opinion but he said it was entirely up to me. Dr Choong voiced that he preferred me to wait for baby to come out naturally. 

After that, we did some errands; stopped by at the lighting shop to confirm the lights for our new home. At about 2.30pm, I felt a regular rhythm of hardening and releasing of my tummy. It felt like baby was stretching really hard in my womb, which I initially thought it was baby kicks but realized that it was contractions because it occurred on a regular pattern. The contractions were 20 mins apart. I quickly messaged my friends and family members with this new update. My mom was asking me to quickly rush to the hospital because she was afraid baby could be popping out anytime.

We went home to rest. I had a nap but was woken up by the pain whenever the a contraction happens. Had my shower, washed and dried my hair. The Chinese's confinement observes that new mothers are not allowed to wash hair during the one month confinement period because it could cause rheumatism. We packed 4 bags of things to bring to the hospital. It was like we were going on a holiday because we had so many things. We had a bag of food; bicsuits, instant cup noodles and even isotonic drinks which we barely touched when we were in the hospital. I read that we won't be given any food when we were in the labour room and I should eat a little so that I would have energy to deliver the baby. So, the kiasu me packed a lot!

My mom-in-law was so anxious that she advised us to bring our dinner to the hospital instead of having it at home. At about 7pm, my contractions were about 15 mins apart, we had dinner at home and we watched an episode of CSI before we decided it was time to leave to the hospital at 9pm. The antenatal class instructor advised us to only leave to the hospital when the contractions were 8 mins apart.

Reached Pantai Bangsar at about 9.30pm and I was ushered to the labour room. 

Wires were being stuck on my belly to monitor baby's heartbeat and contractions, as shown on the machine located on the right side of the above photo. The nurse or midwife confirmed that I was already dilating and there was no need to induce anymore. Yay!

Just the two of us. Third member of the family would be joining us soon!!!

 In front of my bed was a small little bassinet where my baby would be placed inside when he was born into this world.

After the initial 30 mins of monitoring, I thought I would be transferred to a nicer room with an extra bed. During my tour when I was about 5 months pregnant, we were shown different rooms with an extra single bed for daddies to rest and there were tv in the rooms. I thought those rooms were great because SJ could rest and I could probably distract myself with the tv but I was told that I had to stay in this labour-delivery room until the baby arrives. I was shocked and feeling a little sorry for SJ because he had to sleep on the plastic chair. Tried to negotiate with the nurse that I wanted a better room but was unsuccessful because she said I would had to move back to this room when I deliver which could happen anytime soon.

My plan was to walk a lot while waiting for baby's arrival. I was walking around the room for a bit, stopped in between when the contractions comes and practicing my breathing but when the water bag breaks at about 10.30pm, it was almost impossible to move. Water was trickling continuously and it was so uncomfortable to even move a little. I was advised to just sit or lie down :(

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On the 20th July, Friday: 

At about 2am, when I was at about 5cm dilated, the pain was rather unbearable and I was not able to get any rest with the contractions that I decided to get the epidural. The epidural took about an hour to arrive and the anesthetist told me that I would still feel the pressure of the contraction but the epidural will take the pain away. A catheter was inserted to my back to numb the bottom half of my body and I would not be able to leave the bed at all because the epidural solution would continuously flow into the body. Babycentre explains epidural very clearly: http://www.babycenter.com.my/a542571/epidural

The epidural effectively removed the pain and I could sleep for a good few hours. SJ was sitting beside me the whole time observing the contractions and baby's heartbeat monitor. I was in so much pain without the epidural when the contraction number went to 60 but with the epidural, I could still sleep soundly even when the number went above 100. 

I had a fever at about 4am and I was shaking uncontrollably. I was feeling so cold and my teeth were chattering but it stopped after I had some paracetamol. At about 6am, Dr Choong came in and told me that my baby's heartbeat was beating faster than usual. Baby was in distress and it could due to my fever. At that time, I was 8cm dilated and if I did not reach 10 cm in another 2 hours, Dr Choong suggestted caesarean. 

9am came and Dr Choong examined me and I was still only 8cm dilated. He said he would let me wait and take my time if my baby's heartbeat was not beating so fast but because my baby was in distress, he strongly advised us to have caesarean to get the baby out fast. We agreed and preparation for surgery started immediately.

I was pushed with my bed to the operation theater  This was my 2nd time being in the OT, the first when I had my thyroid surgery in April 2010 but this 2nd time was quite an exciting and happy moment because I was nearing to meeting baby! The hospital staffs were fussing over me, preparing for the surgery that they almost forgotten about SJ. They left him standing outside of the OT. Dr. Choong was about to start when I reminded him to bring my husband in. 

Operation started at about 9.30am and baby came out at 9.49am! I could see the digital clock clearly in the OT and I could see a little from the reflection of the lights above me when Dr Choong pulled the baby out. The moment baby gave a really loud cry, we were relieved because baby was ok! SJ immediately took out the camera and followed the nurses. Our first born, Zachary was born! He was weighed 4.15kg and 51cm tall. I was so thankful that Zachary was a healthy baby.

The nurse brought Zachary to me so I could kiss him before they took him away

Our new precious!

It was love at first sight!

Yay! All good! 

That was 7 months ago! This past 7 months was probably the most special 7 months in our lives. It's really amazing that this tiny little human being could bring so much joy to our families and it such a blessing to have him. I hope I am doing alright as a Zach's mommy. SJ was amazing and very supportive throughout the labour and delivery. He is such a hands-on daddy and he is my pillar of support. I am really lucky to have him! :) I hope Zach would grow up to be like his Daddy. 

Happy Chinese New Year 2013!

It's the year of the snake and it's also Zach's first Chinese New Year (CNY)! His grandparents were more excited than him and we as parents were worried about the fireworks that could cause sleepless nights. My mom bought 3 sets of new clothes for Zach and I was rushing to buy a dress just days before CNY. 

This CNY is definitely the busiest ever with our new house and new baby. We had visitors everyday since CNY day 2 but it was fun. It was really good to catch up with many people.

Zach is 30 weeks old and is turning 7 months old on the 20th February! Zach has learned to sit very well and do his slithering crawl in this past few months; he was basically pulling himself with his hands while his body was gliding on the floor. He is also able to turn over and over again very quickly. We cannot leave him on the bed unattended anymore. Floor is the safest place for him if we need to leave him alone even for a few seconds. Next, to get a play yard so he would not crawl to 'dangerous' areas. His two middle bottom teeth are pretty huge now. His top middle teeth are cutting out now. So are the ones beside the middle bottom teeth. My baby is growing too fast!

Photos of Zach taken during this CNY. I have misplaced my Canon G12 battery charger and couldn't use my camera during CNY :(((( These photos were taken by Iphone4.

Wishing everyone a wonderful snake year ahead! Gong Xi Fa Chai!

Happy New Year 2013!

It's the 4th day of 2013! As I am typing this, I have just spent an hour and a half doing my work in the middle of the night. These work has been super overdue since before Christmas. I have concluded again that it is impossible to do any work from home while taking care of a baby. Also, I'm typing this from my home office on my new desk in my new home!

2012 has been a super special year for me and probably the best year of my life. Never knew that having Z would bring so much joy to our lives, which includes both set of grandparents. This is way above my expectations. The beginning was really tough but as Z grows older, he is such a joy to look at. Maybe Z isn't such a difficult baby and that's why we enjoy having him so much. I think I have said this sentence probably more than twice everyday to SJ; 'Our baby/Z is so CUTE!'. HAHA. And SJ agrees! We are such vain parents! Maybe most parents feel the same way too! I look at Z when he is sleeping and look at his many photos in my phone as well. I have got so obsessed with him that I took more than 3,000 photos of him since he was born and that's less than 6 months!

The second best thing that happened in 2012 was we finally moved into our own home on the 22nd of December! :D This project of pulling an old house down and rebuilding most of it took almost 1.5 years. There were so many challenges in planning and completing this house that there were times I was so worried if we could move in comfortably. So glad that our house turned out pretty well. It's not perfect but we're really happy that we have our own 'nest' now :)

That's the family and personal part of my life. Career wise in 2012, not so good. 2012 is definitely the most relaxed year that I've had since I started the life insurance business almost 8 years ago. I would never take a holiday at the end of the year as it's the closing period but we went to Singapore on Christmas day this year! It was Z's first holiday! I have definitely neglected my fellow agents and response time to clients were much slower than usual. There was a vicious cycle going on almost everyday; I would take my laptop out in the morning but could not open it at all during the day because I was so busy tending to Z and the new house. Then, I would keep telling myself I would catch up on my work at night after dinner for a couple of hours. By the time we finished dinner, I would be so worn out that I told myself that it's pointless working with a tired mind and I need my energy the next day because I cannot sleep while the baby is awake. So, I would tell myself, 'tomorrow lar'. Of course tomorrow comes and it goes in that cycle all over again. There were times I was quite depressed about it and I would be so irritated and annoyed. When I was angry and annoyed, the person that I would blame and be angry at was SJ. Really poor SJ. He has been really sweet, as always to just accepts it calmly. There's good news, my agency has growth compared to 2011 even though I did not work as much. I guess my team is more independent than I thought and could possibly work better without my presence.

I always love the beginning of the year. New year, new beginning and new hopes. It is always exciting to plan because I'd have something to look forward then. 2013 is going to be the year that I am going to focus on my career. I did not work much since I got pregnant. I told myself that when it's time to rest and appreciate the changes in stages of my life; being pregnant and a new parent, I should really enjoy those moments. I hope I could make 2013 be the best year in my career but I know its not going to be easy to juggle between raising a baby, managing a home and building a career. So much to do! Thinking about it gives me both excitement and stress! The first week of January is almost gone! :S 

Here wishing everybody a wonderful 2013 and may 2013 brings lots of laughter and joy!