5 things you can only do with babies

Christmas is almost here and we have this overwhelming urge to dive straight into the Christmas spirit and buy all the candy canes, honey ham, ribbons, shiny balls and anything Christmasy that we see. It's really such a lovely time of the year! There are days when i wake up moody and i'll remind myself it's Christmas - and the day does really get better.

There are so many things i wished i can do with Shanah this season. I wished we could bake christmas cookies, colour christmas pictures, create funky homemade decorations and decorate the tree. But all these have to wait till she's alittle older. Just before i wished she could grow up faster, i'm glad i caught myself and read this article.

I'm loving these things that i can do with our sweet sweet baby.

1) Chomp and bite her little hands and feet.
We can't get over how cute her little fingers and wrists are, especially when they wrap themselves around your thumb, my heart just melts. And the tiny tiny toes are absolutely perfect. They are so tiny and lovely and cute and reallly tiny.

2) Sing my hearts out
I'm embarrassed to sing in public. With Shanah, i sing undisturbed to silly songs with my lyrics all wrong. Her favourite is Hush Little Baby where i changed all the gifts to anything 3 syllabus (chocolate cake, apple pie, lemon tart, something nice). When she's not sleeping or nursing she would stare wide-eyed and smile, and at that moment, you know that you are everything in the world to her.

3) Take a bathe together
Our little water baby loves the water. She would squeal and kick hard, splashing water everywhere. Such a joy to cuddle in the water.

4) Dream blissfully about how she would turn out
We both agree that she loves music and would be a world class doctor.

5) Be the number 1 coolest thing on earth
Her wide eyed stares, her smile as i walked into the room, her lovely lovely laughter when we perform silly antics, the warmth it brings when she leans her little head on my shoulder and how we snuggle up together in the nights... these are the really special things that i will hold close to my heart always.

Thank God for our lovely lovely little sweetheart.

It aint easy!

It's been an amazing 4 months for us. Every time I see Shanah, it just echos Psalms 139 to me, that indeed we are fearfully and wonderfully made.

He who finds a wife finds a good thing, And obtains favor from the LORD.

Proverbs 18:22

I was listening to a Pastor Prince sermon recently and he mentioned this verse. Indeed, it is the grace of God upon my life, to have found a wonderful wife. And I am the sort who likes to brag about God's blessings on my life. I've been to so many baby showers recently and I'm not trying to compare, but ask around and you will realise it aint easy to be a mommy! In fact, better ask your own! So I really thank God for His blessing to me :)

Even in a apparently textbook thing, where the government, every consultant and every textbook advises total breastfeeding, I realise that it is not even easy to sustain it. The time, the commitment, the tiredness - it really takes its toil on mothers. Even waking up in the night...oh my oh my....haha I definitely could not sustain that (after all I have work the next morning mah...haha!)

The best thing our Shanah could have is the best mommy - Matilda :) The favour of God is indeed upon our household :)

I'm not very sure why i'm up

It's 1.30am in the morning and i'm wide eyed. I'm pretty sure if i were to lie down i would sleep in five minutes tops. But it just seem so mundane to sleep when i have a night to myself where all the chores are done for once. Plus it makes sense to wait for the baby to wake for her feed rather than scramble about in my sleepy state.

Laundry.. checked
Ironing.. checked
Cleaning... checked

So here am i, after exploring all the usual culprits and placing a huge huge huge shopping restraining order on myself, i've decided to explore a old rather neglected hobby. I've been really looking forward to fiddling with this new program.

I'm not the most efficient when it comes to sharing photos on facebook. In fact, we uploaded our wedding pictures about 1.5 years after our wedding. Not a good idea when i was 38 weeks preggies and proud to be looking quite like an elephant.

I'm sensing that my tired brain is going into ramble mode soon. So before that happens, here are some pictures of our not-so-recent trip to Europe end of last year. I'll prolly be sharing more if i can recall the places we visit. Shanah was about 10 weeks-ish then, and we initially planned a really loong exciting itinerary (London-Paris-Rome-Florence-Venice) before cutting the entire trip down to London and Paris cos I couldn't take anything but Asian cuisine. The thought of anything western (except that western food store at the kopitiam) makes me nauseous. I know, of all places, in the culinary heaven of France. Throughout our whole trip, i was thinking about the promise a friend made, that he would pick us from the airport and bring us for supper at Bedok Simpang. I was like mee goreng mee goreng the entire trip. All i can say, poor hubby :) Oh, but at least i was still a nutter for the sweet stuff!

We ♥ camping

These days we spend more time sleeping on the living room floor then the Serta mattress we poured our life savings into. It just seems like the most natural and easiest thing to do when the baby needs to feed for prolonged periods at night. Momma gets to watch the telly as Shanah feeds and Papa doesn't have to entertain me because well, the telly program does the job. Everyone is happy. Or like Isaiah likes to say, when momma is happy, everyone is happy.

And then when I wake up at 3 or so for a feed, I can easily go about doing my business while everyone else sleeps soundly. I get to fold the clothes, pack the house, fill the water and do other household chores without screaming 'shannaaahhh mummmy's hereee!' every 5 minutes. I don't think our neighbours have a very good impression of me.

How life changes when you have a kid. Not every change is nice, dainty and sweet smelling like the baby but we embrace them all cos we are addicted to smelling her and watching her coo. I absolutely cannot resist showering her with kisses all the time. And when she smiles her special morning smile for mummy, my heart just melts.

Just last week, I placed Shanah on the bed next to me. Not too long after, she started to poo big time. I swiftly carried her for a diaper change. Unfortunately, the poo was (always) faster than me and our lovely clean sheet was adorned with a nice sweet-smelling circular stain.

Baby poo as i have learnt, is best cleaned when it's fresh. When it's kept too long, the stain gets stuck to the cloth and the poo turns colours, including luminous green. Very gross.

Anyway, after I was done with the clean-up, i happily placed the baby on the other side of the side of the bed, where she proceeded to spit/puke up her milk. Entirely my fault that she puked as she was fussing and i refused to get up to burp her. So well, we now have both sides of the biiggg bed stained with two huge circles and nowhere for us to lie. We proceeded to the hall, back to our trusty mattress and the telly, where we both watched ANTM cycle 16 marathon from 11am to 7pm. Bliss :)

He's my daddy

These days most conversations with friends would often include questions about daddy's involvement in caring for the little one. It's normal, considering the fact that we are still living in a rather patriarchal society. But thankfully for me, I married a super dad, whose talents includes diaper changing, bottle feeding, massaging and toilet cleaning. Come to think of it, my dad is a super grand-dad too - with all his visits and yummy dinners.

Here's seven reasons why Isaiah rocks our socks off:

7) He saw my insides spill on the table and didn't squrim

Childbirth can be rather revealing - of the placenta and other bloody stuff that is. First we wait 40 weeks for the child to come, then we wait for the cervix to dilate, then we push the baby out and finally all the bloody stuff comes out. Not a very good sight. But this champion here saw everything and didn't squirm or faint. In fact, he even wanted to take a picture of it. Thankfully he didn't.

6) He woke up for all the night feeds in the first month even when he didn't have to 

Thus far Shanah has been exclusively latched on, which means to say Daddy doesn't really have much of a job in the feeding department. In those first weeks where things were a complete blur (both because we didn't know what to do and were really lacking sleep), Isaiah woke up along side me to keep to company for night feeds. He rocked her to sleep after i'm done feeding and when she starts screaming. He changed her diapers, hoping to wake up her to drink more milk, while i rest in bed. And he walked her around the house for hours at end in the wee hours of the morning.

5) He willingly cleans all the toilets in the house and does it without fail most of the time. 

A mutual friend once asked why I was against the idea of having a part time cleaner come by. I don't like our weekends being confined to waiting around for our house to be cleaned up. Plus, I can do the housework, it's exercise for me since my gym membership is non-existent now. My record time for cleaning the entire house is 45 minutes. I can even add polishing the parquet to my list of abilities.. i just can't do the toilets. In comes my lovely husband who scrubs the loo down to a T and says he's the expert in it :)

4) On weekends, he takes over the diaper duty and does it with minimal squirming. 

When momma gets lazy and daddy gets moving to let momma sleep in for the extra 5 minutes.

3) He cleans Shanah up for bed despite her screaming into his face sometimes. 

Shanah gets fussy at night. After sometime we figured that it's prolly because she's over tired. So when daddy starts the night routine of getting her cleaned and dressed for bed, she sometimes screams non stop and kicks her legs in fury. Despite a whole day at work fighting his own battles, daddy patiently calms Shanah down and cleans her up so that momma gets sometime to clean herself up.

2) He gives momma time to bathe her luxurious 15 minutes bathe while he tries ways and ends to calm the grumpy baby. After that momma sometimes get a feet massage while she feeds the baby

Refer to point no. 3

1) Most of all, he loves the ladies in the house very very much. 

I know you loves us so very much. Thank God for you :)

The simplicity of things

One thing i wished i had done when i was pregnant with Shanah was to blog about being preggies. In fact, the pregnancy was the main reason for the initial hiatus - i was really grumpy. Add on nausea, worries and even more worries, it just wasn't very fun to be around me. No prizes for guessing who bore the brutal end of the brunt.

Motherhood is teaching me to slow down (except for the housework bit). I can't hurry her along and make her grow faster, neither can i will her to learn how to sit up and play by herself. But one thing i can sure do is to enjoy the precious moments. I love watching her sleep, not because it's all quiet and mommy gets to continue her floor cleaning project she started 3 hours ago, but because it's in these moments that i feel my heart bursting with so much joy, love and gratitude, for such a beautiful gift from God.

There are different seasons in life. Some seasons are for working our butts off while others are for celebrating and spending a hefty sum of money getting married. I think my season right now is to slow down and enjoy watching my little girl grow. These days i wake up to a gentle smack in the face from Shanah followed by smiles and giggles from her. I think it's the best way to wake up :)



There is a certain simplicity and joy in enjoying the moments where we are in right now. Sometimes we get too caught up wondering about the what ifs that we forget to enjoy what we have in our hands and to make the most out of it. For starters, where i do get preggies with no. 2, i'm gonna enjoy being preggies and actually write about it so i'll remember how nimble my body was when i'm eighty. But till then, I'll just spend more time staring at the little one as she wraps her little palm around my finger.

 

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. John 10:10

it's been quite awhile, about 9 months to be exact

We have lots of things up our sleeves in the past 9 + 3 months. Most of it involves me looking like an elephant and swaddling around like a duck. In recent days, my slimmer self has semi-returned and most of our time is spent staring at a pint size princess that looks like this:

Welcome Shanah Lucy Das, our (almost) 3-month-old champion. I'm not too sure if I've seen anything lovelier, cuter and more beautiful than this awesome gift from God.

Now that my house is in a considerable mess and I've come to terms with it, I figured that we should start once again to talk about our daily life and the wonders that surround it. How far we have come since the days where we prepared for the wedding and lived our lives as 2 people conquering the world. Life does get better, we are trusting on it! 

thinking of quitting your job?

Something worth reading to spur you on:

My three bits of advice to avoid ending up in a career disaster zone like me | News | www.eFinancialCareers.dk

GUEST COMMENT: My three bits of advice to avoid ending up in a career disaster zone like me

by Anonymous 14 September 2011

I’m looking for a new job. Over the past year I’ve met recruiters, spoken to friends and trawled the web to no avail. Here are the three big mistakes which I’ve made and you should avoid:
1) Avoid stagnating in the same firm
Now that I’ve been working (hard!) for almost five years in the same company, it should not have been too difficult to get a job offer. But alas, I have not even gone to a single interview.
Why? Well, because what I have done over the past five years has added little value to where I want to be. This is especially so in the current “middle child” phase of my career – I’m either too junior or too experienced for the roles that would get me ahead. I either take a plunge in salary and start from the bottom, or stay until the next recession knocks everyone around like a game of musical chairs.
2) Everything you do must boost your resume
In hindsight, this one seems so obvious. But in five years, I never paid attention to my CV. You must ask yourself everyday whether the things you do at work are actually doing anything to add value to your resume, in case you find yourself in the job market.
3) Be a fisherman, not a fish
I have met several recruiters recently. I’m not out to dish dirt on them, but I wonder whether I am the one casting for jobs, or if I am the one on the hook.
After talking to one particular recruiter, I keep getting forwarded emails from colleagues who have received a one-line email from him about how this particular job would be up their street. But more often than not, these positions are not even in the same field as the recipient.
If that’s the way that recruiters get contacts, I wonder whether that’s how they treat resumes coming their way. Perhaps they just throw them up in the wind, with many landing in the reject bin. I would have expected some greater pride in their job. It is important, therefore, to find a recruiter who doesn’t treat you like a fish.
So, here I am, still on that quest for the promised land of a better job. Will I find it soon? I’m not quite sure. But I’m taking what I’ve learnt and I’m trying to do things differently now. If I get there, I’ll let you know.

Shanah's Baby Dedication!

Today was Shanah's baby dedication :)

It was just a simple act of coming in front of the church and being prayed for by the Elders and Leaders of the Church, but it was a reminder to us that God made us to be part of a family. Everyone is important, everyone has their place.

If you are someone who doesn't feel like you "fit in" in your Christian community, just know that God wants you to be part of His family. It isn't about one church or another, but you are part of God's family. And just as He gave us natural parents, so too He wants us taken care of and part of one local church family. It takes time, it takes effort - just like any human relationship.

We are all Christians - but we are not Christ Himself - none of us are perfect. So let's make room for mistakes, for different, for any other labels there are...cos at the end of the day - God loves us, more than we as parents love Shanah (and we oh so love love her!)...BUT GOD loves us way way more, in terms that go beyond human understanding.

Just experience and accept :)

There is hope

saw that line posted on the POD outreach blog.

3 simple words, but so powerful :)

Thank God He gives hope to the hopeless and help to the helpless.

She's so beautiful

"When I see your face
There's not a thing that I would change
Cause you're amazing
Just the way you are
And when you smile,
The whole world stops and stares for awhile
Cause girl you're amazing
Just the way you are"

The lyrics are exactly what I think of her :)

Shanah Lucy Das is officially 19 days old today! It's been an absolutely amazing journey and experience! Crazily messy, sometimes dirty, sometimes unsure - but in the chaos, there's a simple joy knowing that every moment Matz and I have with her is unique.

So thank God so far, thank you everyone :)

hello little one ♥

Hello little Shanah Lucy. We're all really excited for you to come so that we can count the number of tiny toes and fingers, kiss your chubby cheeks and smell the sole of your lovely baby feet.

But till then, I'll just have fun carrying you wherever I go. You are getting heavier by the day, but it's so nice to know that you'll always close to my heart ♥

Blessed Valentines 2011!

It's been some time since we last blogged, so well, hello everyone! :) There has been many changes since last year, and while we are ready to share all about it, work and other stuff call for a greater priority. Hopefully with more time to ourselves, we can finally start sorting out the many pictures and sharing alittle of our lives :)

Though i'm proud to say that i've finally cleared the SD card from good ole trusty Nikon and create 15 (yikes!) folders of photos. Apparently the last time i officially cleared and stored everything properly was like, last November, before Europe!

Meanwhile, Blessed Valentines all. I shall shamelessly share my lovely bouquets from the even lovelier husband who unbashfully showers his wife with so much love :) The first one came last Friday, in time for Crazy Love, while the second one was a total surprise on Valentines day itself. Now each time i look at it at home, it warms me up inside.

Now, whoever you spent this Valentine with, remember that Jesus shall be your eternal Valentine. He has tonnes of flowers and an everlasting love for you and me.