Sarah@10 months

Sarah turned 10 months yesterday. So what has my girl been up to?

Well, now that she's able to crawl and cruise, she's taken her mobility to greater heights. She's a really curious girl with sharp eyes. Some days I find her "speed crawling" to the kitchen to play with the fridge magnets. Other days I find her standing on tip toes next to our sofa, trying to grab at some toys or item that caught her eye.

Busy exploring, exploring, exploring...


Last month she was into taking things out of boxes. This month, she has decided that she'll like to take things out and put them back again. We've got this stack of coloured cups of varying sizes which she loves. She'll just sit and start throwing the cups out one by one and then attempt to fit the cups back in again. The cups were hand-me-downs from Daddy's cousins and they've really been put to good use. Caleb used to love playing with these cups and now Sarah's the one who enjoys playing with them.

See my stacking cups? You can touch them...


Throw them around one at a time...


Shake the cups...


And even lick them...


And on top of taking things out and trying to put them back, Sarah has this fascination of stuffing things under the sofa, table, fridge etc. She'll try to stuff things under these places and then stretch her hand into the crevices and try to dig them out. I think it's just part and parcel of trying to learn and explore so I usually just let her do what she wants. She looks quite funny actually when I catch her doing it. She'll be on all fours, with her head tilted at an angle against the floor, trying to see if there's anything for her to dig out under our TV console. Unfortunately, I've never been fast enough to take a photo of her.

So other than standing and cruising, her other milestone this month is that she's learnt to clap her hands. And she's so happy when she's clapping her hands that you can't help it but clap along with her. Just this morning, when we got into the car and we played some kids songs and she started grinning and clapping her hands. Very cute lah!

We managed to take a video of her clapping her hands and also her standing unsupported for a few seconds whilst clapping her hands!


Well in the nutrition area, the girl's appetite's not too bad. She's still quite fussy about her food and prefers to eat sweet stuff rather than savoury food. On a good day, she can eat 2 small rice bowls of porridge for her lunch and dinner. And thankfully, she's drinking more water. I really tried very hard to get her to drink water. At one stage, I had to put water in different types of containers and use different spoons to entice her to drink the water. I also tried using the sippy cup but still didn't work. Until one day, she saw Caleb's water bottle and grabbed it, and started sucking the water out from his water bottle. That's when I decided to buy her the mag mag cup with a straw. Perhaps the theory that whatever Korkor has, she must also have works on her. I really dunno but whatever it is, at least she doesn't reject this bottle and would drink water from it. Caleb used to have the same bottle and loved it so I guess they do have some similarities after all.


Well, to end the post, I shall share more pix of my girl. Yup, she falls into the typical profile of a 2nd child who has significantly less photos than her bro. (Ya, Daddy's not been doing his job!)

I'm really demure and shy...


Look, I know how to pose...


Hey dude, what are you looking at?


I know how to have fun...


Do I look like tweety bird to you?


Mumm mummm mummm, I'm off to look for food...


Ok folks, that's all for this month!

Page Boy Song

Found this in an online player... so thought I'll share it. This is the song which debuted Caleb's page boy career :)

Day Out at the Beach

Today Daddy's JC gang decided to meet up for lunch followed by picnic at the beach. So after church, we went to eat Bak Kut Teh at Joo Chiat before adjoining to Playground at Big Splash for a picnic.

Here's our little group settling in at a cosy spot on the beach


Uncle Jere was in charge of bringing some snacks and he brought wine, fruits and chips. Our picnic food came complete with wine glasses and a very pro looking wine opener.


We were the only ones there with kids so we were in charge of bringing the barang to keep everybody entertained. I think we brought quite a decent array of stuff. Other than picnic mats, we brought tons of sand castle building tools, frisbee, balls, Caleb's bubble blowing tool and playing cards. I think it's been a while since Daddy's friends "played" with such stuff since most of them do not have kids and they appeared to be as excited as Caleb as we revealed our "entertainment" bag.

Here's Uncle Jere starting the ball rolling by kicking ball with Caleb. I think he lasted 3min with Caleb before he declared that he's done with his workout and needs a rest.



Daddy's other friend, Uncle Billy also joined Uncle Jere and he lasted for an even shorter time than Uncle Jere. Yah, so short that we didn't even manage to get a shot of him kicking the ball.

The one who lasted the longest was Uncle Qicong. We'll have to give him the baby sitter of the year award. He was with Caleb for at least 2 hours just playing with sand and building sandcastles.

Uncle Cong and Caleb hard at work.



I'm really working hard helping Uncle Cong...


Carrying water...


Digging like mad...


And watering my name...


A very pleased Caleb with his finished product


Caleb and Uncle Cong posing with the fruit of their labour.


A close up shot of Caleb with his new favourite Uncle.


Me and Daddy asked Caleb what he and Uncle Cong were busy with and this is his version of the story. Caleb had asked Uncle Cong to build the wall of Jericho but Uncle Cong forgot to. Uncle Cong wanted to build a China wall (we think it's the Great Wall of China) instead but somehow he forgot to do that also. Uncle Cong told Caleb that they'll build a China castle but somehow they ended up with a Singapore castle. Caleb said it was a very small and short castle. He didn't like the look of it so he destroyed it. In the end, they built his name instead.

Actually halfway through their sandcastle building, Uncle Billy came to join in the fun and create some special effects by blowing bubbles. Somehow with the appearance of Uncle Billy and his special effects, a small group of bystanders started gathering to watch what they were doing.

See the 2 Indian men. There was actually a 3rd one and they just stood around to stare at them for quite a while.


And there was this lady and a toddler standing by to watch Caleb and Uncle Cong too.


Daddy popped by too to take some shots with his son... (notice I said "pop" by... Ya, he literally just went over for a short while and happily left Caleb with Uncle Cong for the rest of the time)


So whilst Caleb was busy building up his empire, Sarah had a little fun herself.
Well she did start off frowning at everybody at first...



Then she warmed up a little and chased some bubbles...


Then it was her nap time and she concussed and fell asleep for like half and hour. Of which me and Daddy were very glad coz with one kid asleep and another busy building his empire... haha... we were busy playing bridge with Daddy's friends and relaxing under our tree.

Well, all in all, it was nice spending time with our friends and just lazing around on a Sunday afternoon. I think we all enjoyed ourselves. For Daddy and me coz we got to hang out with our friends and didn't need to entertain the kids much. For Caleb coz he got to play with sand all afternoon. For Sarah... well, she's happy as long as she's stuck to me.

Ah, and we managed to get one of those rare family photos taken...


When we went home in the evening, Caleb told Daddy," Daddy, that was quite fun right? We should do it again."

Yup and actually the best part of it all... both kids were fast asleep by 8pm!

Page Boy Debut

On Sunday, we attended Auntie Jiali and Uncle Vincent's wedding. Auntie Jiali is Daddy's very good friend from his JC days and she had asked Caleb to be her page boy for her wedding.
So after service on Sunday, we made a mad scramble home to get ready for the wedding. I say mad scramble coz this is after we had passed Nic and Nat to Ma-ma. Other than Caleb being the page boy, Daddy was the worship leader for Auntie Jiali's matrimony ceremony so we had to reach the hotel extra early.

When we reached the hotel, Caleb woke up from his nap. So while Daddy went to set up and prepare for the matrimony ceremony, I was alone getting the kids dressed and trying to coach Caleb how to walk down the aisle and reminding him of his super important job as the ring bearer.

For the past month we've been playing the march in song (Cannon in D) in our car for Caleb so that he would be familiar with it. He really likes the song and would make us play it again and again all the way to school and home. So Caleb's job is to walk down the aisle carrying the ring pillow and walk beside the flower girl, Kaylene, who is Auntie Jiali's niece. During the rehearsal and before the actual ceremony, I reminded Caleb that he had to remember to smile, walk slowly, hold the ring pillow properly, wait for Kaylene and very important.... Don't lose any of the rings! Ya, I sound like one of those 星妈 who's very anxious about their child's performance. Well, it's Jiali's wedding and I really don't want to ruin the ceremony!

Actually my fears were unfounded coz my son has got natural performing genes in him. He was very good when the actual ceremony started. He smiled (in a very shy but handsome way) and he walked slowly, and you can see he focussed very hard on carrying the ring pillow, and he checked to make sure Kaylene was walking next to him... and then... ... well, the aisle that Caleb and Kaylene had to walk was an L shape. So, after walking for a few steps, Caleb and Kaylene could see EVERYBODY looking at them along the aisle and Kaylene started to focus very hard on throwing out the flower petals and didn't continue walking. Caleb walked a few steps ahead of her, turned back and saw that she was lagging behind, and then he realised horrors of horrors, she had thrown out ALL the flower petals in her basket and they were still had a long way to go. So my dear boy, back tracked to where Kaylene was, put down his ring pillow at the side of the aisle and then started picking up the flower petals on the floor to put them back into Kaylene's basket so that she had more petals to throw. And he didn't gather the petals but took 1 petal, dropped it into her basket, and went to pick another one and another... It was quite hilarious but at that moment, we were all frantically beckoning the two children to continue walking coz the bride couldn't walk out if the children didn't continue walking.

Thankfully we were back in biz when Kaylene's parents stepped in and guided the children down the aisle. And as I said, my son's got natural performing genes coz he recovered very quickly and picked up his ring pillow and walked down the aisle when he saw that the flower girl was walking again.

So way to go Caleb!

Here's Caleb in his page boy suit.


This is actually the suit that we had to pay $30 for for his school concert performance 1 year ago. We decided to let him wear it again so as to increase the mileage of the suit. The photo doesn't quite do him justice coz in our rush, we didn't bring any cameras so got to depend on my handphone. And Caleb wasn't in the most cooperative mood before the wedding so that's my only clear shot of him. But he really did look quite handsome and suave when he smiled naturally.

See how my son has grown? This photo was taken 1 year ago during his concert. He's lost all his baby fats! And you can imagine how big the clothes are coz after 1 year, they're still too big for him. I had to do like 2 folds down his pants and 2 folds up his sleeves.


I told my son that he did an excellent job at the end of the ceremony and he was quite pleased. Anyway, this is just the start of his "page boy career". He's received another request to be Daddy's Cousin's page boy for his wedding in Dec. Yup, my son is following my footsteps to have a wedding "career". Moi used to get quite a number of requests to be my aunts' flower girl for their weddings during my "hey" days.

And see what I found!

That's me with my cousin posing as flower girls for one of our aunt's wedding.
And get this, other than the shoes and the socks, everything else was handmade and sewn by my mum and my aunt. Amazing huh!

Arrival of 陈男丁！

Announcing the arrival of my nephew 陈男丁! Ok, so his name is not 陈男丁...
Heehee...that's the name that Daddy and me gave him before his arrival (for being the only boy in his family).

So here's the latest addition to the cousins, Nevan Chan Yik Hei, who arrived on 18 Oct.


You can't really tell how big he is in the pix but do not be deceived. He is a pretty big boy at 3.5kg and 51cm. Kudos to Yeeyee for delivering him naturally.

We've all been super busy since his arrival. When yeeyee called to tell me that she was going to the hospital on Sat morning, I went down to her house to babysit the girls. After spending one whole day with 4 kids all 1 year apart (Nic, Caleb, Nat, Sarah), I felt really exhausted! It's really no joke. And this is with the help of 2 helpers. When I drove all 4 kids to Ma-ma's house in the evening to have dinner before going to hospital to visit Yeeyee, the car was really really noisy coz the kids were all chattering at the top of their voices.
After visiting Yeeyee, the girls came to our house to stayover. I was really thankful that Nat fell asleep on the way home coz that meant one less kid to put to sleep. Sarah was next in line to be put to bed. Then we got Caleb and Nic to lie in bed and told them that they were not supposed to talk to each other anymore and go to sleep.
I was very grateful they didn't act up and I guess after a full day of activities, they both fell asleep fairly quickly.

The next day was our church's 62nd anniversary so there was a special programme for children with lunch provided. We decided to bring all the kids to church with us so that Nic and Caleb could go to Sunday school. Well, it's really a very significant difference for us when overnight you have 2 extra kids to handle. By 7am the girls were bouncing around the house and that woke Caleb and Sarah and then it was a mad rush to dress all the kids, feed them and get to church on time for the service. After service, it was lunch time and it was again a mad rush to feed all the kids and then pack them off to take their afternoon naps. Familee had a wedding to attend that afternoon so we passed the girls over to Ma-ma. Ma-ma watched the girls till bedtime and sent them to my house to stay over again. When we came home from the wedding dinner, it was almost 11pm. Caleb and Sarah were knocked out already and so were the girls. But still, we needed to get washup and clean up our kids for bedtime and the last thing we had to do before going to bed, (by then it was past midnight) was to wake Nic up to pee since she's toilet trained.

On Monday morning, the girls were up just before 7am and the whole cycle began again. Brush teeth for all the kids, change them, feed them and get Caleb and Nic ready for school and Nat ready to go home coz Yeeyee was going home with Baby Nevan. When I sent Nic, Caleb and Nat out of the door, the house was all of a sudden so quiet with just Sarah crawling around. And I was thinking, wah, peace at last! Haha, after that I told Daddy, wah, I continue like that I'm going to fall sick. And it's madness to have 4 kids one year apart. They're either tearing each other apart and snatching toys or scolding each other or when they play well, they make a lot of noise. The only time when I can get them to be nice and quiet is when I've got structured programmes for them like storytelling or painting. But I can't do that with them for 2 full days! Probably it'll be easier when they're a little older and need less supervision.

Anyway, though it was quite tiring for us, I think the girls enjoyed staying over and Caleb enjoyed having his cousins stay over with him too. Haha, now I'm waiting for my turn to send my kids over to Yeeyee's house to stay over. Then, she'll have 5 kids all 1 year apart to watch over! (Ya, think Yeeyee can see the evil grin on my face already!)

Assuming Daddy Duties

As inadequate as I felt when I first became a daddy, I'm glad I've been given the opportunity to assume daddy duties over my children.

With Caleb it was easier, after all, I was the confinement "lady". Still, it took a great deal of "letting go" by the mummy, since her natural instinct was protection over the children (yah, even over the daddy). She had to "will" herself to allow me to be the one pacifying him, even though I couldn't do as good a job as her, and took longer for him to quieten down. She had to "teach me how to fish instead of giving me the fish" when I didn't know how to carry him in the most comfortable position (for Caleb and for me) or when I didn't know how to bath him properly. So while she was "suffering" from giving me the chance to be the daddy I ought to be, I was learning (albeit slowly, but better than never).

With Sarah, all seemed easy and wifey didn't even need to "let go", since by then, I seemed pretty adept at the basic tasks. But alas, putting her to sleep was a totally new experience altogether (which is why I still think our blog name of a "new" daddy is still quite apt, cos there's always something new to learn about being parents everyday). You see, the mummy had been putting Sarah to sleep all these while, while I was the one handling caleb at this time (each taking one) and it seemed pretty easy for Gen to put Sarah to sleep. There was a night when Gen went out and I had to put Sarah to sleep when she cried buckets and screamed non-stop looking for the mummy. Even now, when I try putting Sarah to sleep, there's still that period when she'll struggle and want mummy. Her last record was 3 hours of crying and screaming from 10pm to 1am, just a few weeks ago. All that time, the mummy was sitting at the other end of the room (hidden by a separator), heart-wrenchingly allowing me to learn how to put Sarah to sleep on my own. It's getting better, but Sarah and I still need more opportunities to bond in that respect. As Gen mentioned before, I'm currently still Sarah's "play-boy" while Gen is the "comfort-woman". I'm gonna have to try harder to be the "comfort-man" too :)

I'm by no means the most natural at handling children, but through the patient guidance from my wife (yah, she literally orders me to do certain things which I'm not even aware needs doing), I've at least been able to help out a bit here and there.

Here's an encouragement to all wives and mummies... sometimes it's not that the men don't want to assume some duties, it's really because we haven't got a clue where to start. Tell us, and I'm sure the husbands/daddys will be glad to learn (even though it might require you to close one eye, or even both eyes sometimes). Sometimes, we do good, sometimes we do badly or even give up, but encourage us, tell us we did well (just as Gen does most of the time, even though I was practically helpless), cos that will motivate us to try again and again and again. As Caleb says, "You never try, you never know!"

An Afternote From The Mummy:
I don't order Daddy to do things here and there... I prompt him gently and make suggestions (coz after all, I'm the "submissive" wife who (makes weak attempts to be the "Proverbs 31 woman") and acknowledges that Daddy is the head of the family and should be respected. Of course, when things don't go the way I want it, I PROMPT HARDER!...
(Haha, I'm joking lah... I'm really the nice, docile, domesticated wife.... RIGHT DADDY??!)

So what I really wanted to say is that Daddy has been great! He has an extremely teachable heart. Really. Ever since the time I told him that I wouldn't marry him unless he changed, he has been very, very teachable ever since then. I'm the one whom he prays to have a teachable heart all the time now... (I'm working on that area...) But so far, it has worked out for the both of us. I tell Daddy the help I need to keep everybody sane and he has been embracing it with a can-do attitude. And like he said, some days he passes with flying colours and makes me feel so blessed and loved by him. And other days, he just doesn't get it right coz he really isn't a walking encyclopedia of baby care and baby items. But on days like these, we'll just laugh it off or be more patient with each other. Parenting is really a journey that we're walking through together. There are some areas which I'm better at (like baby care) and there are other areas which he is better at (like disciplining and acting as escalation manager and getting the kids to let their hair down).
It's a high calling to want to bring our kids up in a safe, stable and God loving environment and I really can't do it on my own. And I'm sure God didn't intend for me to do it alone too. So I really thank God that I've got Daddy to walk through this journey together.
Really Daddy, you've been an ace and we love you!

Sarah and Godma Joy

So during our visit to 8Q SAM, Sarah's Godma, Joy came along. Ok, actually she's the one who invited us to go to the museum in her bid to support our friend I-Shan, who's a curator there. And how best to support I-Shan's children's day programme, other than bringing along lots of kids!
Anyway, it was also Godma Joy's attempt to bond with her God-daughter. (Yup, I told her that with the title of Godma, it comes with responsibilities and Joy has assured me that she'll be a very "positive" influence to my daughter, and she'll introduce "happening" things to her. So I guess going to the museum together is not too bad an attempt.)

Anyway, here's Joy attempting to take a photo with Sarah.
For a split second Sarah was ok.


Then, she realised I wasn't the one carrying her...


Then, she started to squirm...


And then... well, Mummy got to carry her...


But ok lah, it was still good attempt on Godma Joy's part.

See towards the end of our lunch together, Godma Joy was doing a better job bonding with Sarah and was able to bribe feed Sarah some banana puffs.

Lesson learnt from Mummy and Boy

We sometimes learn significant life lessons from the things that we go through in life. Here's something that I've learnt about God's love for us through an episode involving Wifey and Boy.

#1 The Request
Our little boy woke up yesterday afternoon wanted to have something to eat. So wife asked him what he wanted to eat, and he said he wanted an apple. Happy that Caleb wanted to eat, wife went to dig up the last apple that was in the fridge but found out that it was already rotten, and so told Caleb that he can't eat the apple.

#2 The Demand
Caleb got quite unhappy at that and demanded that he must eat the apple. But wife was insistent that it was not good for him and didn't want to give it to him.

#3 The Anger
Caleb then got angry and put on his pouty lips and angry face (something like the picture below perhaps). He told wife that he was angry with her, and when asked why, he said because she didn't allow him to eat the apple.


The Lesson
Sometimes, our interaction with God is like that, isn't it? We ask, then we demand, and when we don't get what we want, we yell and scream, we get angry with God. But see it from God's perspective.

#1 The Delight
God delights in us going to Him as the Father to ask for things. If it's good for us, He is more than willing to give it to us. Luke 11:11-13 "Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"

#2 The Loving Refusal
But God knows that some things are just not good for us. We may not know it, but these things will hurt us. Just as the bad apple will give Caleb a bad tummy, our wants may not be good for us. It is because God loves us so much that He does not want us to be given things that are not good for us. Just Caleb needs to trust his mummy that his mummy knows and loves him so much that she doesn't want him hurt, we need to trust God who is all-knowing and all-loving.

#3 The Patient Father
When we get angry with God, because we don't get our way, no matter how good, how noble or how right the request/demand may seem to us, God doesn't punish us for it or gets impatient with us. He continues to love us, continues to guide us in making the right decisions. Sometimes He may show us why he refuses our wants, sometimes He may not. But His patience and His love will continue to flow and shine through, and He will not refuse us things that are good for us, even if we continue to demand also for things that are bad for us, which He obviously won't accede to.