The Pacifier

Nope, much as i like it to, this post does not have anything to do with Vin Diessel *drool*. Rather, it revolves around a boringly exciting tale of dinner and a pacifer.

So we were out for dinner at Greenwich V yesterday night cos I was so sick of eating tingkat and of rotting at home. In the usual confusion of last minute preparations for going out, I forgot to bring an absolute essential when going out with K - her pacifier. Unlike her gor gor, she is a pacifier 'addict' and will cry if she doesn't have one in her mouth when she is trying to fall asleep or soothe herself.

We got to our destination relatively quietly but once seated at our chosen makan place (which serves pretty darn good food at the prices charged by the way), the addiction kicked in and K started making disturbed sounds in search of the pacifer that we did not have. The disturbed heavy breathing changed to soft wails and everything went downhill from there. Papa tried rocking her in his arms while Mummy rushed down to the *thank goodness there was one* supermarket to get a replacement pacifer to detonate K.

When I got back with the magic item, K was sleeping in Papa's arms (which made me go -__-|||) but woke up once she was placed back in the pram. As if nothing ever happened, she went right back to sleep again with the pacifier comfortably in her mouth.

Lesson learnt: Rock on Papa Yeow!! Wahaha...

The Replacement Mute Button

K's First Shoes!

Bought K her first pair of shoes from Mothercare yesterday (I'm a sucker for anything with the magic word SALE on it!).

It is your typical ballerina flats - pink, sweet with the cutest ribbon in front. Ordinary girlie stuff but for someone who has been buying boring boy stuff for 4 years, this mummy is gleefully rubbing her hands in anticipation of all the pink, fluffy stuff she can buy now. In the words of a friend,  I'm happily 'playing doll'!

Anyway, I tried it on for K this morning but it was unfortunately too big for her at the moment (I bought for size 6 months). The length is still ok if she has leggings or socks on but as you can see in the picture, there's a downside to having French Beans appendages sometimes and K's little feet is too slender to fit the wide-toed shoes for now.

Note to self: Need to buy a new shoe rack for the kids cos Mummy is occupying 2/3 of the existing shoe cupboard. She did try asking Papa Yeow to make room for the future influx of shoes but...."No way! Why don't you throw away some of your shoes instead??"

Sure Mr Yeow, I can do that. But my part of the shoe cupboard is self-regenerating.  Once an empty space is detected, it gets locked in auto-pilot and a new pair will appear to fill up the 'undesirable' empty space within a few weeks. HA!

A Rose By Any Other Name...

"What's in a name? A rose by any other name would smell as sweet. "

I was having a chit chat with a girlfriend who is expecting her second child in mid-October this year and the topic of baby names came up. One of the names that made her list was Joy but unfortunately she was told by her dad that in Hakka, this name sounded like a certain part of the male anatomy which made her pregnant in the first place. Being Hakka, this is likely to cause many raised eyebrows from her relatives of she really decided to name the baby Joy.

Baby names. One of the fun parts of having a baby. Or at least I had fun trying to come up with names when the gender is revealed (it's a girl! *happy dance*) The names that made my list were:

1. Raven (shot down by the Husband *spoil sport*),
2. Amber and
3. Mystique (the latest instalment of X-Men of which I was a huge fan of was playing in cinemas at around the same time)

After a month of deliberation, we settled on Kylie even though I am not a big fan of her more famous name-sake Kylie Minogue. In the Husband's words: "Please lah...by the time she grows up, u think anyone will know Kylie Minogue meh??"

Time went by and 'Kylie' was officially on Baby Girl's birth certificate. Being too 'free' at home, I started playing Word Association with my mental self and realised that her name actually sound like Kali, the Indian goddess of Destruction & Change. Not a very pleasant association if the stories I heard have any truth in them. Even worse, Kylie's initials are pretty close to a certain type of lubricant too...

Ha!

Pre-delivery days, I was having lunch with an old friend and one of the topics that came up was how T was such an easy baby to care for and I was hoping that K will follow in his footsteps and be an easy baby to jaga as well.

The friend's reaction? "Ha! 世界上哪里会有这么好的事, 所有的便宜都给了你占去?" Not exactly word for word but the gist is there; that I wont be so lucky to have 2 easy babies to take care of.

Despite her tendency to make me jump out of my skin with her yells and addiction to the pacifier, K really is a sweet baby to have, especially when she is in a mellow mood and makes all these cooing sounds. Mummy goes 'awwww' when this happens. *meltz*

Well Ms Extra-Terrestrial, luckily for my sanity and unfortunately for your prediction, you were wrong! 傻人有傻福, 谢天谢地。。。

Sleepless Nights and Sleepless Days

So the Husband had to work late last night and I had to take up night feeding duties alone. As T was bunking in our room with the A/C on, I decided to save on the electricity bill a little (last month's bill post - confinement nearly gave the Husband a coronary. . .) and brought K into the room with us.

Remember how K has this unnerving tendency to yell her head off even before she is fully awake? Well, the tendency has not gone away and last night was no exception. Only thing is, her yells were loud enough to wake the dead or in this case, her big brother. T usually sleeps very soundly at night and nothing short of a thunder storm (which he is super afraid of) can wake him up. That was why I took the gamble of putting K who is not sleeping through the night yet in the same room as T. Unfortunately, K has a power set of lungs and managed to wake T when she started yelling.

Luckily enough, T is not a grouchy riser and the first thing he did when he woke up to the first notes of K's yells was instinctively to search for the pacifier and stuff it into the perpetrator's mouth. This happened not once, not twice but three bloody times and Mummy is in a grumpy mood today cos she is worried abt her firstborn's lack of sleep. These are unfounded worries though, cos T seem none the worse for all the disturbed sleep last night.

Lung Power

K has developed a rather disconcerting habit lately of screaming at the top of her lungs before her eyes are even fully opened as she wakes up from naps.

As u can imagine, this makes people around her (i.e. moi) jump, especially if one minute she is sleeping soundly in her day bed and the next minute she is yelling her head off. More so if I am somewhere else in the house doing chores.

The other member of the family, Furgie is unfazed by it though. Probably because she has also given K a run for her money by making the latter jump with her barks when folks pass by our door.

Who needs a defibrillator when u hv K?

How Do I Love Thee?

To all papas out there, Happy Father's Day!! It's your special day today where your kiddies give thanks for all the hard work that u have put into the family. Kinda like Thanks-giving, except without the turkey and burning of ovens worldwide.

 

This blog entry is dedicated to the silent hero in my house - Mr YSY. Counting this year, we have been married for 7 years and parents for 4 years. How time does fly...

 

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways:

1. For being the stoic pillar of support when I am down and needs assurance that things will be ok
2. For being a calm anchor on days where my Aries side shows and I am being ditzy/unrealistic/impractical
3. For quietly tolling for a better life for the family in the rat race that is Singapore
4. For quietly getting things done without asking for anything in return
5. For being a father figure to T and giving him that kick up the a** when discipline is needed
6. For nights of staying up to feed K though u hv to get up early for work the next day (World Cup matches notwithstanding)