Chinese New Year

This CNY is destined to be different from other CNY which we had before. Though Xi is a CNY baby as well, she was born on the 11th day of CNY in year 2007, so we got to celebrate CNY until she was born.

Ru was born 6 days before this Ox year, so my entire CNY will be having confinement.

So this CNY, hubby was the one bringing Xi around for visiting. 1st day they went to my in-laws' house for visiting, and 2nd day to Pontian my parents' house. Xi was as happy as ever without me for both visiting, but upon reaching home and saw me, she back to her clingy self and cried for me to carry her and took a long time to pacify her as i still cannot carry heavy stuff not to say a 14kg toddler.



However, I am thankful that Xi is a loving sister to her little meimei. Whenever meimei cries, she will tell me and go to the playpen to see her sister. When she sees me breastfeeding meimei, she will sit beside us and play by herself, or come over to cuddle and sayang her meimei.




I wish both sisters will always be loving towards each other.

A letter to Xiao Ru

My little Angel,

Mummy is pumping milk for you now while writing this letter. Just now the nurse said you are drinking 3 oz now, so mummy has to work harder to provide you with enough milk.

Today is CNY eve, but we have to leave you alone in hospital due to your jaundice. Yesterday 小舅and 小舅母came to visit us, we noted your eyes were yellowish. Mummy has noted you looked rather yellow but thought it was a passing phrase and you should get better in a few days time. But seeing it was getting yellowish, we decided to bring you to hospital to check. Mummy quickly packed youe clothes, towels and diapers, and daddy and the confinement aunty brought you to the hospital. Nurse said better to leave you in the hospital for the phototherapy for one night and could only confirm the level of your jaundice the next day morning after blood test, which is today.

Mummy was feeling so sad at the thought of having to leave you alone in the hospital, but was hoping we can bring you back today so that we can celebrate your first cny with papa, mama and jiejie.

Sadly, your jauntice level is slightly above the acceptable level, so today we have to leave you in the hospital again for a 2nd night. Just now mummy, daddy and jiejie went to see you. Mummy couldn't help but cried at seeing your little body naked with eyes cover and under the light. Nurse said you are doing well, just drank the breast milk which daddy brought to you this morning. And you were passing stool which is a good sign.

Baby, tomorrow is the chinese new year. We hope you can come back with us tomorrow.

Before you were born, mummy always wondered whether mummy has another 100% of love for you just like how much mummy loves your jiejie. But once you were in mummy's arm, mummy knew how wrong mummy was in the past, and the 100% of love was born the moment you are mummy's daughter.

Baby, sleep well. We will go see you tomorrow and hopefully can bring you home so that we can shower our loves to you.

With lots of love from your mummy.



P/S: Xiao Ru has been discharged from hospital on the 1st day of Chinese New Year! :)

Sisters... Who is who?

The sisters on their 1st day. Do they look alike?


Xi (left) and Ru (right)

Welcome Baby Yun Ru!

The long wait is finally over and here comes the new addition of our family, Princess #2 - baby Yun Ru on 20 January 2009.


Here's my birth story:


20 January 2009

3am: Wake up and felt the urge to poo.

3.45am: Contractions started to kick in. 10-15 minutes intereval.

4.30am: Chong awake and told him baby should be coming out these two days, felt excited.

5am: Decided to wake up for final packing instead of wait for day bright, as we were to head to JB for delivery. Had "bloody show" when washing up.

5.45am: Left home. Was lucky that Xi was not awaken by our noise when packing up. She only awake when papa carried her to car seat but soon fell asleep again when the car started moving. Went to Chong's office at Robinson Road first to collect his laptop, then to Bedok my office to collect my laptop and stuff.

6.45am: Reached 阿姨's house and passed Xi to her. Kissed Xi goodbye and told her mummy loves her very much.

7.30am: Reached JB. Went to a nearby coffee shop for breakfast. Had a big pao and milo. Contractions getting closer in interval but still bearable.

7.45am: Admitted to Clinic Chu. Put on CTG.

8.15am: Nurse checked, already 5cm dilated.

8.30am: Cleared bowel and changed to sarong. Went staight to labour room. Nurse said should give birth anytime in the morning. Contraction still manageable.

9am: Nurse checked. Still 5cm dilated.

9.20am: Dr Chu came. 7cm dilated, and he broke the waterbag to fasten the contraction.

10am: Contraction peak and felt strong urge to push! Nurse checked, 9cm dilated already. Was told to push when the urge came.

10.05am: Doctor came in again and was instructed the correct way to push. Baby Yun Ru was born a few minutes later after a few hard pushes, weight 3.2kg and 55cm long.

Now the real challenge of taking care of a new baby and managing a demanded toddler has finally begun. Wish me luck!

Baby Yun Ru on her 1st day... And with mummy.

Dance dance baby!

Think it is typical for toddlers of this age love to sing and dance, the same for my little gal. She will sing and dance and jump here and there at the same time! One thing we are still trying to figure out is the songs which she is singing. She seems to be repeating the same songs but we just could not figure out yet what songs she is singing. She told us she is singing baby songs not the Hi-5 songs which she loves. Haha...

Xixi's 1st session at JG playclub

Finally the day my Xi was to attend her 1st session at Julia Gabriel bilingual playclub on 10 January 2009. Have been wanting to send her to school since she was 18 months old as we want her to be more independent and be more sociable by mixing around with kids of her age. Her papa was away, so I brought Xi there myself. Luckily the mei mei is still guai guai inside my tummy as I do not wish to miss her 1st class.

The class started at 9am. We left our Clementi home early at 8.05am, as this mama first time drove there so to play safe, we left early. It was a smooth drive using our GPS and we were the first to reach. Xi has been there before last Sat with me and her papa for the orientation and glad to see that she likes the place.












Peeping to the classroom during orientation.


The class has 18 toddlers (and 18 parents or caretakers) and 4 teachers (2 English and 2 Chinese). The teachers are Teacher Sue, Teacher Siti, 姜老师 and 洪老师. They are so enthusiastics and lively!

We started with free play where the kids have some time to settle in and get acquainted with the people and the environment. There are toys like stacking blocks for the kids to play freely and it is one way to ease them into the programme and to stimulate conversation and interaction.









Free play with toys before the class started

The teachers did an introduction of themselves and all the kids in the class, with each kid a piece of card written their English and Chinese names and their photos. When it was Xi's turn and Teacher Sue asked what is her name? I was glad that she answered immediately "Xi Xi".

This was followed by tabletop activities whereby the kids are invited to gather around the tables for art and craft activities. Two tables are set aside for art and craft. For this lesson, one was for painting of palms with washable blue or purple paints then placed the palms on a piece of plain paper; and another one was for gluing and painting of a telephone. Xi chose to participate the palm painting which i thought will be a disaster as i know she hates to be dirty! Indeed, she refused to paint her palms initially until much coaxing, then she finally let me paint her right palm and placed on the plain paper, but immediately she asked to be washed. So her 1st art work only has her right palm painting.

After the art work, it was Magic Box. Magic Box is a circle time when the kids and the parents were to sit down on the rug and practise focus, participation and turn-taking. Each lesson, the Magic Box will contain objects and puppets related to the concept of the week. For this week, the letter of the week is "h". So inside the Magic Box was a Harry Horse and hammers which both start with letter "h". Teacher Siti has also stamp letter "h" on each of the kids' hand. We have never taught Xi on alphabets before the lesson. Hopefully as the class progress, she will have a better grasp on the alphabets introduced and related to the objects.











The letter "h" on her hand.



Then it was Playclub Bears. 姜老师 and 洪老师 put on chicken and mouse head costumes and performed a short story on both chicken and mouse on their 1st day to school. The 老师introduced "你好" and "再见“ in this lesson. After the class I encouraged Xi to say "你好“ to her 姨姨 and papa, and she now can say and use it very well!

Music time is a fun and energetic sing-a-long session where everyone participates with their voices and bodies. The teachers created a lively musical environment to encourage physical expression and to enhance the kids' enjoyment and learning of language. Xi was most happy during the music time as nowadays she loves to sing and dance. But her poor heavily preggie mama had some hard time trying to keep pace with the music and lead her to dance and jump, haha...

The kids were given light snacks which consisted of some cornflakes, small sausages, watermelon and water or juice. The kids were encouraged to make choices of either water or juice, and say "thank you" or "谢谢“ and to eat independently. They are also encouraged to give the empty plates to the teachers after they finish.

It was finally outdoor play towards the end of the class. Xi likes the slides since the orientation last week. She was still a bit timid to slide down. But with a help on hands, she played the slides happily.










Playing with the slide during orientation.


The class ended at 11am and when asked Xi whether she wants to go school again? She answered immediately "要“。:)