Blessed Christmas 2008!

Without You, there's no Christmas! I'm sorry that this came rather late in my blog... but Lord, You know I meant it from the bottom of my heart... Happy Birthday! :)

Thank You Jesus for the year 2008. It has been a very different year for me. It's a year of much changes and challenges... yet I thank You, Lord, for being there with me through it all.

You are forever in my life
You see me through the seasons
Cover me with Your hand
And lead me in Your righteousness
And I look to You
And I wait on You

I will sing to You, Lord
A hymn of love
For Your faithfulness to me
I'm carried in everlasting arms
You'll never let me go
Through it all

It's not easy... well, who says it's easy being a mummy anyway? Who says it's easy being a working mum? But who says it's impossible to be a great mummy at the same time? Hehehe... :)

Yeah... the greatest change for me is the change of my role from just being a wife to being a mummy as well. The challenge comes when my priorities changed... my interests changed... my views and opinions change.... Many changes took place in me - be it my emotions, thought-patterns, my physical body (sigh...), and spiritually (having no time sounds like a very honest reason to give for me to be quite down spiritually, but it's not fair to my Beloved for He has given me all the time I want when I called upon Him).

Christmas is always a great time for me to reflect the ups and downs in my life as it's toward the end of the year... yeah... it's the time of the year when I'm praying for new resolutions for another great year ahead. Hehehe... It's also a great time to thank God for everything and everyone that He has brought into my life... for family and for friends... Well, it's Sarah's first Christmas this year, and that made it even more special for us as a family! :)

Lord Jesus, thank You for everything!

With much...
...from SRS :)

Protect your child against allergies

I found some guidelines for child's dietary which I believe every parent must know:
1. Exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months provides the ideal protection.
2. Weaning foods should not be given too early (Solid foods should be introduced at 6 months).
3. Avoid highly allergenic foods for the first year.
4. Add only one new food per week so that food that is not well tolerated can be recognized and removed.

Foods which are least likely to cause allergic reactions (to be introduced from 6 months):

• carrot
• pear
• rice
• apple
• prune

Foods which are usually well tolerated, but occasionally cause allergic reactions (to be introduced after 6 months):

• barley
• wheat
• oats
• turnip
• broccoli
• spinach
• cabbage
• plum
  
• banana
• peach
• apricot
• cherry
• potato
• corn (and corn oil)
• lamb
• beef
• chicken

Foods which are most likely to cause allergic reactions (to be introduced from 9 months):

• berries (strawberry & raspberry)
• legumes (soybeans, beans)
• egg yolk (must be fully cooked)
  
• fish

Foods which are highly allergenic (to be introduced from 12 months):

• peanuts
• egg white
• seafood (prawns, crab, dried & fresh scallops)
  

Baby diaper changing facility in Jusco IOI Mall in Puchong

I must share my experience in Jusco IOI Mall in Puchong... Ouch! Not so good for Jusco IOI Mall's management, but I guess they will do better with the new wing coming up soon. A little grace given since they are one of the oldest (or THE oldest?) Jusco in Malaysia.

Baby changing room facility? No good AT ALL! Poor poor poor facility indeed. Yes, they have toilets/washing area for toddlers (Good job on that... but what if your baby hasn't reached toddler's age?) Parents really do need to re-consider shopping in IOI Mall just because of that. It was our first time there since Sarah was born, and only shop there once or twice before that.

Last Saturday, after visiting my "sick" friend, Moomoo, we went to Jusco IOI Mall. Lo and behold our dear Sarah poo in her diaper and so... as normally the case, hubby & I went to look for the baby room (thinking that all Juscos are the same). We went around looking for the baby room (normally situated at the Baby department), but couldn't find it there. We asked one of the salesgirl and she told us it's at the washroom area. Okayyy.... we found the "baby" symbol that led us to the washroom.... but hmmm.... where is the diaper changing table?.... hmmmm.... I popped my head into the ladies washroom and found breastfeeding room with baby cot and some chairs... but hmmmmm.... how am I going to change the diaper? In the baby cot? Hmmmmmm.... I don't think I should do that.... And so... we decided to wash her butt in the toddler's toilet (and there is no place where I can safely put the baby bag+pants+socks) and hubby went to buy drypants so that we can easily change her diaper without having her to lie down.... and yes, we changed her diaper in the common waiting area outside the washroom. Oh boy! We have to carry the half-naked little girl out so that we could sit at the bench outside to put a clean drypants on her.

Well, check out some photos I got... Yep, after changing Sarah's diaper, I went into the washroom area again and took some pix for the purpose of me blogging about it. I guess, this would mean - to everyone out there... "Don't mess with Bloggers!" :p

Top left: Entrance to the Toddler's toilet+sink
Top right1: "Wash butt" area
Top right2: Small little toilet bowl for small little toddlers








Bottom left1: Baby symbol for the washroom
Bottom left2: Baby cot+chairs
Bottom right: Entrance to the breastfeeding room (in the ladies washroom)

[+video] A day in Tesco...

Little Sarah's first time sitting on the trolley. She was excited!... but only for awhile (sigh...)

Hubby and I was contemplating whether to bring the stroller along, while doing some shopping... finally we decided, why not put her in the trolley and see how things go from there.

We experienced before having to carry her, push her stroller, and push a trolley at the same time in the supermarket! I guess many parents experience that before. Our babies just wanna be carried, and that could be a stress when time is a factor, plus having our hands full at that same time too!
We used to carry her along in a baby carrier like this... (pix on right taken when she was 3.5 months old)

...but time will tell when we can't carry her like this anymore as she grows bigger in a few more months. Well, few days ago we went Jusco IOI mall after visiting a "sick" friend in Puchong and thought of using this carrier again while doing some shopping. Thank God it still fits! Hahaha!

While she was sleeping...

I was gazing at her beauty.... I was admiring her character (of never giving up!).... I reflected back the day when she was born when my gynae, Dr Tan, said that she was a "fierce baby" the moment he carried her. Well, he was definitely right about that. Sarah's a person with strong character as far as I can tell.

When she's hungry, it would mean "I'm hungry NOW! I wanna eat NOW!"
When she's sleepy, it would mean "Take me to bed NOW! Don't even think of feeding me or playing with me, cuz I'm tired and I'm sleepy! And I wanna sleep NOW!"
When she has something in her hands, it would mean "I'm not letting it go... it's MINE!"
She has never given up in all her ventures... so far. When she falls, she will pull herself up again. That's something I really admire in her character.

She was sound asleep at 10.30pm. It was almost an everyday habit that we hope to establish. No more using the sarong to make her sleep at night as we felt letting her play about on her own on the bed will eventually make her sleep within half an hour... and sometimes within 10-15 minutes, which is a great achievement, knowing her sleeping patterns since birth could be really stressful for us parents (and grandparents). But I thank God that things are much better now. She's growing well and it's in our daily prayer that God will continue to bless little Sarah with a healthy development of her body, mind, soul and spirit. It's also not easy for us parents to be role models to our children. Many times, very naturally, we let situations and emotions take over the better part of us. We pray that God will intervene in that as well so that hubby & I will be great parents and role models to our little girl.

Blessed 60th, Mummy!

Last Saturday, we celebrated my mummy's 60th birthday! The family, together with uncle & aunt Chew had buffet dinner in Renaissance Hotel. Hmm... no picture of any food this round. Dono Y, but didn't even thought of that! Boy.... we must be super hungry! :p

It was a great time spent as the family get together in this special occasion... :)

Little Sarah & the Christmas tree in the hotel lobby

SIL, Peggy & Paul... & of course his transformer toys!

After having our stomachs filled, we finally remembered to take some pix of the occasion... :p

Happy 60th Birthday, Mummy!

Little Sarah's new car!

When Ah Ee saw my previous post about Sarah's "L" license, she immediately thought of buying little Sarah a car... quoting one of her SMS-es to me: "Gotten a so-called beauty 4 sarah.. it's only 4 a toughie like her can ride it. Haha... looks like a lil boy's tool le." Hehehe... indeed it is!

Sarah was so happy when she saw the car. Too bad we didn't manage to capture that look on her face but she was laughing and showing such joy seeing the new car! Hahaha... Thank you Ah Ee for the beauty! :)

Little Sarah & kor-kor Paul excitedly checking out the green beauty - car inspection?

Little Sarah riding on her green beauty... Yep, it was kinda too big for her and so her leg didn't touch the ground... she only use it to aid in her walking for now.

Happy Fullmoon to bb Maximus!

Last week was bb Maximus fullmoon celebration! Congrats to the new daddy Jin & mummy Danielle!

We had lots of makan and many babies to play with. Yep! There were many kids and I think at least 5 babies in the house (born this year) and that includes Sarah & Janson! It was so cute to watch them all together, and yes... 20 years from now, they will probably be studying in the same university! Hahaha!

That's cutie pie Maximus! Roaring away... and the proud daddy looked on... :)

Princess Sarah, Hansem Janson &... err... a cute kid! Hehehe...

Janson: Speak NO evil!
Sarah: Hear NO evil!

A small gathering of the IJ girls of Melaka.
(Picture on top: from left) Yvelyn, Yuin Ai, Me & Sarah, Danielle and Mui Mui.
Hey Mui, you did it! You managed to "bribe" my girl with your hp! Hehehe... :)

[+video] NO, I'm NOT letting it go, but...

It's the part of her that only those at home can see.... and now, the www! hehehe... :)



Yes, this is the possessive nature of every human being... and it can start from as young as little babies! Well, one day when little Sarah grows up, she would need to learn to let go of certain things in life and react to the situation in a more positive way. Hehehe...

Yes, Sarah... Mummy's learning it too... slowly, but surely! :)

[+video] YES! She did it! (at Month 8+)

Amazing to daddy's eyes... amazing to mummy's eyes... amazing to everyone's eyes! 8-)

Daddy did it at 10 months old.... Mummy did it at 10 months old too! But she beat daddy & mummy and did it at 8 months!

YES, little Sarah added more steps to her walking venture! We're all so proud of her!

Thank you, CK (Pek-Pek), so so much to loan me your camera to capture this moment - It is definitely creating history in our Sarah's life journal! Oh... and thank you also for becoming the "facilitator" in her venture! :)

All I want for Christmas is my 2 front teeth! (At Month 8+)

Another tooth is growing! It excites me to see little Sarah is cutting her 3rd tooth. She's definitely feeling uncomfortable at this stage. Her appetite for porridge dropped too! Poor girl... Well, the funny thing is.... her appetite for any other thing remained the same... except porridge. Hmmm...

Well, if all goes well, I guess she will have her 2 front (top) teeth for Christmas! Hehehe... :B

Little Sarah's first few steps (at Month 8+)

Last Friday, I saw little Sarah engaging into her walking adventure. She let her hands go and took 2-3 small steps forward before she fell to the ground, and almost every time she stands up, she will start clapping her hands. It was as though she knew she had achieved something and she clapped her hands to tell herself that she's doing well!

I believe in a matter of a few more weeks, she will start walking all by herself. Will continue to encourage my little girl. She's doing mummy and daddy proud... :)

"Rhinorrhea"

Rhinorrhea, commonly known as a runny nose, consists of an unusually significant amount of nasal discharge. It is a symptom of the common cold and of allergies (hay fever). The term comes from the Greek words "rhinos" meaning "of the nose" and "rhoia" meaning "a flowing."

Taken from wikipedia.

Yep.... my nose is running as I am typing this. (sob! sob!)
2 days ago, I got a sore throat (immediately after eating a couple of biscuits!). I blamed the biscuits for causing me such pain especially yesterday when I woke up in the morning. It was my first experience getting a sore throat after munching some biscuits... as what DanLion says, "u better blog about this, say what biscuit so that the whole world will know about this dangerous biscuit!" Hahaha... that's our DanLion! :)

I shared this with Becca last night and she said it happened to her before and therefore she tries avoiding biscuits whenever possible (there goes the biscuit industry! :p)! Hmm... actually this is interesting. I never knew that my throat can get hurt by eating biscuits... my first experience... and that's why i am blogging about it! Hehehe... Becca said that one of the reason my throat got sore was because I probably had it already - just that the biscuit kinda triggered it further. Eeeks! Can't blame the biscuit fully then... I guess it was due to tiredness over the weekend. Plus, having a long day yesterday (you can read it in Danlion's blog). We had to rush back to VVC for music practice after the AV setup in Pavilion. Another long day, and that's why somebody was also very tired this morning! So last night on the way back, i got hit by rhinorrhea. So, yes.... i got the whole package (minus the cough!)

People around me, better beware!
Drink lots of water, wahlup VitCs, wear face mask if possible, etc etc... :p

International Convention 2008

It was a joint convention held by The Latter Rain Church Malaysia & The Way Church, Singapore in Port Dickson last week, starting from 24th to 27th November. A different convention this year for me as I went there without my hubby dearest and also had to be away from my princess for a few days. I went there with sifu, Andrew Coomby, and his crew to setup the sound system on 24th morning. Things were alright when we did the sound check and all. Sifu then rushed back for his other appointments for the day, leaving me there in God's hands. So unfortunately, the system seem to be giving some unwanted humming sounds when the meeting started that night. I was on the line with Andrew half the sessions just trying to trouble shoot what went wrong. Well, to cut the long story short, we actually had to live with the hums every now and then. We tried every way to destroy it but nothing seem to work.

Thank God I had Joshua from Singapore and Gabriel to help me out here and there... Well, at least I don't feel alone riding on this troubled water! I honestly felt quite stress having to deal with this technical issues that is beyond my capabilities, more so alone... but God knows... He brought "angels" around me to help me as much as they possibly can. After that first night, I felt less stress. Stress only comes when the situation seem to go against me. Well, I wouldn't say that we have conquered the storm (technically) but I know to some extend, I conquered the situation - not allowing it to take over my emotions.

On the video side of things.... we had lesser video crew on board this round. So... yes, to cut another long story short, we were short-handed. But uncle made this "robotic tripod" so he could control one of the camera from a distance! What a brilliant guy! Olivia & Veron were crew this round too... I on the other hand was available to stand in for anything that needs my service, since Gabriel volunteered himself to be the sound guy! hehehe... So, yes... I was here and there - making sure that the recordings are done properly, tapes are changed, the audio levels are right, doing switching when uncle is busy answering some business calls, be the main camera-gal when Veron was on duty for switching on the 2nd day, sound engineer when Gabriel is busy taking photos, behind the mic when the singers went into the "tunnel", troubleshooting here and there whenever needed, etc etc... I think overall, it was fruitful for me when comes to service. Praise God that I can avail myself to do much for His glory! Well... post-production busy-ness after this!

The worship was great. Personally I felt "free" during the last night. Hmmm... I actually managed to loosen myself up and jumping up and down like a young gal (yeah, i know i'm not that lightweight now but somehow I felt light then! hehehe...) Also, a note of thanks to Caleb & Debbie for coming back from Oz and leading in worship. We've not had such worship for a very long time and we knew something was broken loose during the convention. God bless them! :)

Hmmm... no pix taken during the convention. We had many other photographers then. I had my camera but it was in my luggage bag from day1 and never been brought out. :p
I played around a little with Gabriel's SONY DSLR, but it was only for a short moment. I guess my focus was on other things... Well, we'll see if I can get some copyrights to some pix from Gabriel later! :)

OK... so there goes my report on convention. Needless to say... I missed hubby and princess a lot in those few days. However, I managed to catch up with some other members during my stay and a great fellowship with Steph too during my way back to PJ. It's been a long time since I really had that. Well, once awhile we need to give time to the people around us and do some catching up of each other's lives in the midst of our busy-ness... with our family/work/ministry. All in all, YES - I was Blessed! :)

p/s - thanks Dan & Marilyn for your prayers! :)

On being sticky...

Little Sarah's been rather sticky to me these few days after my absence for 3 and half days of her life. Not sure whether she was actually afraid of me going MIA again... or just another phase of her growth and understanding of having mummy around or not... She was also behaving slightly different last Sunday in church towards people around her. She would normally allow all the aunties & uncles to carry her and play with her (without seeing mummy-la), but this time, she seemed to be looking for me at all times. Even daddy sometimes couldn't handle her. But then again, we thought maybe she was tired... maybe she was sleepy.

Last night when we went back to my in-law's house, little Sarah put on her sticky mode again and kept wanting me to carry her. She was alright at first when we put her in the high chair, but not long later she cried to be carried. We fed her with porridge... and even that, before finishing half the bowl, she was already crying to carried up. It wasn't like her at all to do that. Oh boy... I hope she doesn't get too attach to me. Anyway, the good part about all this is... she's pretty attach to daddy at night too - so that's a relief for me. At least daddy can help put girl to sleep if mummy's too tired by night.

Well, will update more about her development in days to come. I pray that she will grow up healthy and wise! God bless little Sarah!