Boy, oh boy, it's CNY!

My goodness, what a fun and hectic Chinese New Year we had this year! Our progress was slow. Normally we'd be at my parent's place early morn, then we'd head off to go visiting, and we'd by done with my mum's side by 1 or 2 pm. This time around, both sets of new parents only got to the first pit-stop at 10am! Then some crying, some diaper changes, some feeds, then feed the adults, and cry, then change a diaper, then finally we're off! We only ended our visit to the last house on my mum's side around 530/6pm! And we still had dinner at Dad's place, followed by a gathering at our house with my friends!

Many many lo heis this year.

Numero Uno - Eve of CNY Eve: Reunion dinner at China Club with immediate family on both sides. ere we also celebrated Jon's birthday in advance.










Numero Due - CNY Eve: Reunion dinner at Segar with immediate family.












Asher looking like he's starting to get this whole lo hei thing.











Check out the Pun Choi that my mum and aunts made! Yum-mee!








New mums!











Couldn't help including this pic cos if you compare it with an earlier photo I took of him in the same outfit when he was just a week old, you can see how he's grown and filled out his romper!







Numero Tre - CNY Day 2: Reunion dinner at Segar with extended family.
Didn't remember to take any pics of this event, but my tummy is proof of it's existence.

This is what he wore on Day 2 of CNY. (This pic's specially for you Sheela!)









That's not the end of it though, there are at least 3 more lo hei sessions in store in the coming weeks!

We were quite excited to bring Asher on his first CNY visiting trip. Of course, to begin it all, we just had to dress him in red heh heh heh. I think he looks cute! But of course I'm biased. Anyway, Jon insisted we tuck in his shirt, which I think makes him look so toot haha, so I then insisted we at least fluff out his shirt a bit so he looks better :) Asher will thank me in future haha.

Before
After













I match Mummy...












...And I match my car seat!







Anyway, here're some pics from our first day of visiting:

The cousins decked out in red taking a nap before the big day









Asher had little clementines to pai nian instead of the usual kum which are wayyy to big for him








As we travelled from house to house, Asher was busy studying his new red socks :) He kept kicking up one foot, then the next, to look at them.










When he took a break from admiring his socks, he'd strike up a coo-ing conversation with me! It was really heartwarming :O)






Plenty of family photos
































This is what the pic looks like...











This is what we had to do to get Asher to look at the camera!!!








By the end of the day (which was around 3am) Jon and I were so zonked out! Asher was already in bed by then, but he was so tired out from all the visiting and attending various events over the long weekend that he was totally zapped at the end of it! He just slept and slept for most of Wednesday to recuperate :)

Aidan's One Month

Cousin Aidan is one month old! Well, my nephew, Asher's cousin :)

My parents organised a one month celebration for Aidan at Temasek Club and invited some family friends :) We had had another gathering over new year for our relatives.

It was gonna be challenging for Jon and I cos we hadn't attended any dinner events since we settled Asher's night routine. He's got a bedtime routine that works like a charm, and we were wondering if breaking from it would spoil his routine. We decided to experiment by juggling bits of his routine around and see if he'd still settle to sleep. It worked! Mid way through dinner we settled him to sleep in his pram, and he dozed off without a squeak! We were so pleased and proud of him :) That allowed Jon & I to go most of the dinner without having to worry about him.

I was really so pleased! That meant that we could attend other dinner functions as well!

Aidan, the star for the night, is super adorable and cuddly. We all agree he's very nice to carry :) Such a perfect, cuddly bundle!













The two boys got passed around and around as everyone took turns to carry them, and they were quite obliging, relishing all the attention. No stranger anxiety yet! Anyway, on a side note, it's really hard to take pictures of babies, especially two! Getting them both to look at the camera at the same time is quite a feat! :)


Asher, look here!











Aidan, don't cover your face!











Ah, finally!







Asher had his first lo hei too! It was almost Chinese New Year, so yu sheng was on the menu :) Yum yum! I always look forward to this dish during CNY!


Why are they throwing food around?









Anyway, all this is just a foretaste for the many celebrations to come in the following years! They aren't even 1 yet! There's the 2 month anniversary, 3 month anniversary, 4 month...Ok ok, I really don't think we're gonna celebrate every single one of those, but you get the idea :)

A-okay!

Went for my most recent gynae appt and was given a clean bill of health! Yay! I look forward to dancing again! Although now, the problem will be finding the time! Especially since I've gotta bring Asher almost everywhere I go since he feeds every two hours or so. Hmm...might still be a while before dancing will form part of my routine again :( Guess I'll just have to stick to dancing around the house!

Anyway, to celebrate my recovery we went to eat sushi! Not that I refrained from sushi and sashimi when I was pregnant, but jap food is always yummy :)

It's nice to be able to go out and about now and then with Jon and Asher. We've kind of become mall rats. But it's just so convenient! Park the car, roll out the pram, there are changing/nursing rooms, restaurants, etc. We do still try to go to the park of course, but we're starting to understand why we see so many families (with prams in tow) going to shopping centres.




Actually the other nice part about going out is that I get to dress up haha. Staying at home, you just end up wearing t-shirts and shorts all day long. It's so silly, I know, but it's just nice to wear something nicer now and then :) The other day I opened up our shoe cabinet and looked at all my lovely, neglected, high heels heh. Haven't worn them in months! Besides the fact that it's not advisible to wear them when pregnant, my feet couldn't fit into some of them (without stretching them out at least!). I couldn't resist slipping my feet into them - and they fit! Yay! I got to wear one of my low heeled opened toe shoes when we went out that day. It's great to wear something other than my brown flat sandals that are falling apart at the seams, literally!

But I don't think I'll be roaming out in high heels soon. Again, cos I'm usually out with Asher. Don't wanna risk a fall - I may dance (and hey, I think I can be quite graceful when dancing), but I somehow have a knack for falling and spraining my ankles... One of those strange oxymorons of life.


What are high heels, Mummy?

New Year @ Fajar

The first day of the year was spent at my parent's place at Fajar with many of our relatives. It was a chance for them to ooh and ahh at Aidan, the latest addition to the Quah family :) He was born on 18 Dec 08! Nice date huh? He's a cute lil fella who loves to sleep :) I think it's great that the two cousins are born so close together! They can be playmates!


Hi there!











My brother with Aidan, and I with Asher :)










The two little boys in the classic frog pose :)







As Asher's growing more aware, Jon and I have realised that he tends to get over-stimulated more easily than in his first month. Whereas he enjoyed lots of company previously, and probably still does, he gets more cranky after a noisy session now. Was reading that in the early days babies can still tune out stimuli, but now as their awareness of their surroundings increases, they take in everything, and it can be quite overwhelming for them.

So we'll just have to manage his activities a bit more to make sure he's not too stimulated. Keeping him in a quieter room when there are lots of people around seems to help.

Anyway, this little boy thinks he's really grown up already. When my dad tried to read him a picture book he kicked up a fuss, but look! He was happily 'reading' the Straits Times :)


"I don't wanna read books for babies!"









"Yeah! This is more like it!"







Anyway, just some other pics from that New Year's day :)


Adults are so boring..












BLLLLeeahhhhh












I'm growing longer! (Funny how for babies we say 'long', then when they start to walk it's 'tall')








More smiles!

First Christmas

Asher's first Christmas was pretty exciting for a little boy I think. On Christmas eve we went to Grandpa's house, and on Christmas day we visited 2 houses. and he received his first Christmas present ever!

Was good to spend Christmas Eve with family, catching up, chatting, and just having a very pleasant time. Asher was in a fairly good mood and was a very good boy throughout.

Then on Christmas day itself, happily decked out in his Christmas outfit we headed for Aunty PS's house for a popiah party. Normally he's quite happy with company, but for some reason he was quite fussy there, and we had to spend quite a bit of time soothing him. Still, that didn't stop us from playing board games with the others :) Nice to meet with friends on Christmas for some cheeriness :)

But the journey between the two houses was far from cheery. Asher had a dirty diaper when we left the first house, and we thought we could change it when we got to our second destination. But Asher was totally unhappy with that decision. He then went on to make his (very noisy) point by shrieking all the way from Simei to Woodlands - a good 25mins! Our poor ears!!!! He was inconsolable! I literally had to use my fingers to cover my ears for a while to give them some relief! For a small boy, he really had big lungs! Thank goodness we got to the second house eventually!

Asher spent the rest of the evening sleeping in the sling while Jon and I had yummy Christmas fare at Aunty E's house.

Anyway, interesting little piece of trivia (for me at least). Aunty PS bought cupcakes spelling out 'Merry Christmas'. Do you know that from those alphabets you can spell "My Asher"? :) She was packing them for us to bring back when we discovered that. Actually, she was going to spell out 'Cry Asher', but decided to go for 'My Asher'. Makes no difference though, he still ended up crying after the visit! :)










So he received his first Christmas present from Kong Kong and Po Po :) A Christmas stocking! We couldn't resist stuffing him into it hee hee. I would have stuffed him in further if not for his poo-ey diaper. Didn't want any accidents!



I have a present! Do you?








Hmm...what can it be?










I wanna open it NOW!









Mine! Don't touch!









See how big it is!












My first Christmas!

Hello, Hi and Smiles!

Asher's been smiling! And he's been mouthing the words 'Hello' and 'Hi'! Really!










It came as a surprise! At the changing table after putting on a clean diaper, he suddenly mouthed "hello" in reply to my "hello" and gave a happy, toothless smile! :) It seems he's always so happy after diaper changes that that's one of the places he often shows off his smile. So the changing table has become a place of great sorrow (being peed on, having pee all over, etc), as well as a place of great joy! :)













It's even more endearing when he initiates the hellos all on his own! I foresee many cheeky and fun-filled days ahead!

Christmas Musings

Now that I've a kid of my own, it gives a new perspective to Christ's birth. Jesus was a baby! A baby! Just like Asher! I mean, I've always known that, but it never really hit home that he was just a small, helpless, infant.

Then I'm wondering. Did Jesus cry a lot? Did Mary and Joseph have a tough time getting him to sleep through the night? Did he have colic? Or was he really a serene and peaceful baby as all the pictures of the nativity scene show? I wonder how he was as a baby. One the one hand, he was here on earth just like any of us, so he could be just like any baby, i.e., coming with all the usual babycare woes. Or, he could be divinely good natured, didn't cry for no reason, slept through the night easily, etc.

Hmm...

It's a whole new look at Jesus as a baby! There are no answers I'm sure. Just one of those many questions to ask God next time :)