Thursday, December 11, 2008

こんにちは赤ちゃん

I finally found the video, song and lyrics to this Japanese song, こんにちわ赤ちゃん ("Konnichiwa, Aka-chan" or "Hello, Baby") I first learned it from my Japanese teacher many years ago, and apparently Hui Ning loves it when I sang it to her...



こんにちは赤ちゃん

唄  梓みちよ(1963)

作詩 永 六輔
作曲 中村八大

こんにちは 赤ちゃん あなたの笑顔
こんにちは 赤ちゃん あなたの泣き声
その小さな手 つぶらな瞳
はじめまして わたしがママよ

Konnichiwa akachan, anata no egao
Konnichiwa akachan, anata no nakigoe
So no chiisana te, tsubura na hitomi
Hajimemashite, watashi ga mama yo

Hello baby, your smiling face
Hello baby, your crying sound
Your tiny hand, your round eyes
Nice to meet you, I'm your mama

こんにちは 赤ちゃん あなたの生命
こんにちは 赤ちゃん あなたの未来に
このしあわせが パパの望みよ
はじめまして わたしがママよ

Konnichiwa akachan, anata no inochi
Konnichiwa akachan, anata no mirai ni
Ko no shiawase ga papa no nozomi yo
Hajimemashite, watashi ga mama yo

Hello baby, to your life
Hello baby, to your future
This blessed happiness is papa's wish
Nice to meet you, I'm your mama

ふたりだけの 愛のしるし
すこやかに美しく 育てと祈る

Futari dake no ai no shirushi
Sukoyaka ni utsukushiku sodate to inoru

The symbol of two people's love
I pray to bring you up, healthy and beautiful

こんにちは 赤ちゃん お願いがあるの
こんにちは 赤ちゃん 時々はパパと
ホラふたりだけの 静かな夜を
つくってほしいの おやすみなさい

Konnichiwa akachan, onegai ga aru no
Konnichiwa akachan, tokidoki wa papa to
Hora futari dake no shizuka na yoru wo
Tsukutte hoshii no oyasumi nasai

Hello baby, I have one request
Hello baby, a little sometime with papa
A quiet evening, just the two of us
That's what I'd like, so good night!!

お願い 赤ちゃん
おやすみ 赤ちゃん わたしがママよ

Onegai akachan
Oyasumi akachan, watashi ga mama yo


So please, baby...
Good night, my baby. I'm your mama

The last two stanzas are hilarious, no? :-)

Friday, November 14, 2008

Roooooooolling

Hui Ning mastered the art of rolling over 2 nights ago and can't stop doing it. She rolls whenever she "senses" that she's on a large, wide, flat surface. She even sleep-rolls. Funnily enough, she never rolls if she's in her crib, as if she senses that there's no point trying. However, she does try to roll in the bouncer, much to the horror of all present! And on occasions when she's really too tired to roll over successfully, she gets really frustrated and babbles angrily. That's the double hair-spiral in action, I suppose.

Nursing tops from Blessedmums.com

A while ago Dr C told me about Blessedmums.com, where you can get some really trendy nursing tops. They're quite reasonably priced too, especially when they're on "crazy offer".

The website wasn't very up-to-date with information on availability and one of the models I wanted was all sold out, and another wasn't available in the colour I wanted. They were very fast in informing me via SMS  the very same evening, so I was able to specify my alternative preferences immediately.  They confirmed everything just as fast this time, and I received my orders 2 days later.

Monday, October 27, 2008

You talkin' to me? Huh? Huh?

I was sitting by Hui Ning's bouncer, reading the newspaper, when she got bored at staring at the world outside and started staring at me.

"Hmmm? Whatcha lookin' at, Hui Ning? Huh? Huh?" (complete with the head motion and all)

"Huh." went Hui Ning. Complete with a slight raise of the head.

*Blink.*

"What's that? Did you really talk back to me, kiddo? Huh?" (With head motion.)

"Huh!" (With head motion!)

"Huh?" *head*

"Huh!" *head*

"Huh?" *head*

"Huh!" *head*

"Huh?" *head*

"Huh!" *head* *giggle*

(repeat... for about a dozen times)

We both ended up giggling helplessly.

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Hui Ning discovers new game

Hui Ning was begging for her meal yesterday morning. Begging so hard, she tried her old trick of rolling over onto her side, hoping a breast would somehow magically appear in front of her. No joy, so she tried harder — by seeking really hard with her little mouth ever more to a side, so hard she's almost burrowing her little face into the bed. (Erm... you're not going to find anything in the bed, darlin'.)

She was burrowing so hard that suddenly she rolled right over onto her tummy!

And she raised her surprised little head up high. And held it there for like 5 seconds. And somehow promptly rolled back onto her back again.

MC and I just stared at her dumbfounded, and burst out laughing. (Darlin', you're not supposed to do that yet for, like, another 2 or 3 months. You're just 2.5 months old...)

It took all of another 5 seconds for it all to sink in for Hui Ning. Then she burst into a brilliant, glorious, wiiiiiide smile. (Wheee!! New game!!) For most of the rest of the day, she tries again and again at repeating the feat, with only 1 further success. Needless to say she's excited and tired to bits by the evening.

Luckily (or not so luckily?) she forgot about her new game after a good night's sleep and didn't really try rolling over again. Otherwise we'd have to start re-arranging everything to keep her from rolling off her bouncer (them straps can't really keep her in, she has a way of wriggling her way out), the babysitter's big bed, etc....

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Daddy's li'l girl





She is truly her daddy's daughter, from looks to sleeping in style.

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Immunisation Shot at 2 months

Hui Ning turned 2 months yesterday, and we took her to the doctor's for her immunisation shots. As usual, she's simply fascinated by the bright lights and insisted we walked around to show her all the stuff while waiting her turn. 

The doctor and nurse were both impressed by her cuteness. And she herself even smiled at the doctor when he listened to her lungs and heart (all clear BTW).

And then came the shots... She howled, all right, but just for maybe half a minute. She let out a few more protesting yelps as the doctor moved away and the nurse and I calmed her down. 

(me: Mommy's here, and Hui Ning's such a brave girl!
HN: I didn't like that, OK.
nurse: Yeah this doctor's always jabbin' people. So bad.)

But all was well as we were leaving and she even deigned to look the doctor in the eye as if nothing ever happened. Even the doctor was impressed. "Alright already?! So fast?!"

Back home, she seemed extra sleepy. Meal, and then sleep at 1pm straight away. It could be because she's had an exciting day out (she's always sleepy after visits to the doctor's, so many things to see!), or it could be the vaccine taking effect. We're just worried that she'd be feverish later.

She woke up howling loudly at 5pm, tears running everywhere. We thought it's the fever, but turned out that mucus was blocking her nose again. (She didn't really have a temperature either.) I quickly cleaned out her nose and she quickly calmed down, though with a few pitiable sniffles.  A meal of breast milk later and she's fast asleep again. Though I was really a tad concerned about the swollen redness at her injection site; until I read that it's common at babycentre.

3.5 hours later she's awake again — and my god can the girl smile!!! And all that leg-kicking! Albeit the left leg, which received the shot, is less vigorous, but still kicking nonetheless. I feel as if she's a tad warm to the touch, but MC said she's just fine. She was so happy and playful anyway!

Gooooood girl, Hui Ning!

Monday, September 29, 2008

Mommy-is-So-Proud-of-Her-Darling Rant

(Yes, I am going into Proud Mommy mode. So there! )

Hui Ning started to half roll over when she was around 3.5 weeks old, i.e. rolling onto her side. Not just any random rolling over. You see, I usually breastfeed her lying down (I find her too heavy to carry, eheheh). She was especially hungry and was going "eeehhh~~ eeeh~~~ eeeeh~~" and almost on the verge of tears. I laid her down on the left side of the bed and was getting myself ready, when she raised her legs and with some effort, rolled over to her right side. And waited for me in that position without bulging. She did it again and again since then, always rolling over so that she'd be facing me!

We suspect that she talks, albeit in her own language i.e. her own lexicon + grammar (a really simple one, we're guessing). She'd go into sudden bouts of loud babbling with a variety of sounds and even different intonations. (OK I'm probably too hopeful there, but hey, take another look at the post title While what she's trying to say is anybody's guess, there are two utterances that we're sure about.
  • "Hewwww" (like the Japanese "ヒュウー Hyuuuuu"): "I'd like my meal now, please." Usually uttered in a very sweet tone.
  • "Ow-wow" (or Ow-wow-wow-wow, depending on degree of annoyance): "Where's that milk now? Let's have it now, shall we?" Usually a short while after "Hewwww", in a firmer tone.
If the "Ow-wow" request is not honoured, it's "Eh! Eh eh eh eh eeeeeh eeeeeeeehhh~~~ eeeeehhhhh~" or even "WAAAAAAH!!! WAH WAH WAH" time. Go figure.

Hui Ning's also started to drool and blow bubbles with it. We didn't think much of it, until the babysitter told us that babies aren't supposed to start doing so until around 4 months old. (BTW she also thought that babies only start babbling around 2 months, but Hui Ning's been babbling since, like, 3 weeks.)

Then this happened last night, about 2 days short of her becoming 2 months old... We give her the pacifier when she's absolutely can't stop begging for one (which happens usually only at night). It kept falling out of her mouth though, and she kept using her hands to frantically "mop" all over her face to find it again.

MC told her "Why don't you use your hand to hold it in instead? Like this..." and took her left hand to hold it against the pacifier while it was in her mouth. That seemed to keep her happy for a while, and we thought that was that.

But there was more...

Roughly an hour later, Hui Ning's pacifier fell out again, though not far off from her mouth as she was in my arms. She actually picked grabbed the handle between two fingers — forefinger and thumb — and calmly put it back into her mouth!!

Was it a coincidence? Not really. That was using the left hand. About 5 minutes later it fell out again and this time Hui Ning used her right hand (again, forefinger and thumb) to retrieve and popped it back in. But as she got more and more sleepy though, she lost her "touch"... when it fell out as she became really drowsy and could only frantically wave her hands all over her face to try to find it again. Awwwwww.... At that point I just picked her up, pat her a little and she's off to Dreamland...

Thursday, September 25, 2008

I Make Milk.

WELL. Due to the current China milk scare, my former detractors are now saying that how lucky that I'm breast-feeding Hui Ning!

BTW, their gripes were that
  1. What if she refuses to take formula? (Well she will and does take formula, but she makes her preference for breast milk very clear.)
  2. What if she refuses to feed from a bottle? (She does feed from a bottle, and sometimes we give her breast milk in a bottle too, so that daddy can enjoy feeding time as well...)
  3. What happens when I resume working? (I've already got myself a milk pump! And there's a fridge + freezer at the office! Now all I have to do is get a place where there's some privacy, otherwise I'll... I'll... hide under the desk in my cubicle? I still fit in there, I'm sure.)

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Football Dads

I've heard of football dads — guys who can't wait to dress their babies in their favorite team colours. And as I suspected, MC is one, too!

So Hui Ning's first introduction to football was when one of the Olympic football matches was showing on TV, and I brought her out to the living room. MC took her over, pointed at the TV and said, "See? Football!" “看,踢足球!”

Hahahahahahahah!!!!

Her second brush with football, specifically with the EPL, was during the live telecast of Liverpool vs ManU the other night. This time MC took her in hand, pointed at the TV and said "See? Liverpool!" “看,利物浦!” (This time even his football kaki friend who came over to watch the match also cannot tahan...)

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahah!!!!!

Friday, September 12, 2008

Let's Talk

Hui Ning looooooves company. People talking to her, or holding her. And she'd protest loudly if she feels lonely...

It'd always amuse people when their first meeting her. Everyone would coo and gurgle and talk to her, all the while when she's smiling ever wider and wider and amuses people even more. Eventually though, everyone — and I really do mean everyone — have problem keeping up the conversation and surrender with variations on "oh dear, who's got all the time to keep talking and talking and talking to you darling? And I've run out of topics to talk to you already!"

I coulda told them that when she was 3 weeks old...

I've a good mind to read to her from the Lord of the Rings. We'll even go into the Appendices if needed. And after that, we've got the Hobbit, the Silmarillion, the Unfinished Tales, even Tolkien's Letters and the Histories of Middle Earth!

Friday, September 5, 2008

Wanted: Superheroine Moniker

Needing the service of a superheroine? Look no further than me, the... er... ah.... hmmm. I need a superheroine moniker. Any suggestions?




Hush. I just sneaked into the enemy's secret hideout and trying to find out where they're keeping the hostages.




I hear a scream! Hang on, I'm coming!




You ain't getting away, you baddie!




Take that! *POW* *SMASH*




Another day, another baddie in the garbage can. I'm off!

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Hui Ning Trivia

Where to start blogging about your baby? There're so many bits and ends and trivias about Hui Ning...

  • She's got two spirals in her hair!



  • She had her first smile at three days old, when her grandparents jangled a bunch of keys at her in the morning! This here is one of her sweetest smile caught on film so far, on the evening of the 3rd day.




  • She's strong. My husband told me she gripped the sides of the basinet as soon as she was placed in one after birth; and kept kicking when the nurse bathed and wrapped her up in a towel. Until now I can't quite hold her without a swaddle — she'd be a bundle of flying limbs.


  • She hates baths — and what's more, she's strong enough to desist: she tries to "stand" in the tub when we tried to sit her down. (It's probably those twin hair spirals at work; the Chinese believe kids with twin hair spirals are a handful.) The confinement lady said she never met a baby who hated bath times so much.


  • She can be impatient. She'd frantically waggle her head from side to side trying to grab a nipple, and when she can't get it after a few tries, she scrunches up her face and "stamps" her feet against thin air... She's more skillful at breastfeeding nowadays, but darling, I hope you'd grow to be more sweet-tempered. That's one of mummy's traits that mummy hope you won't inherit.


  • She gets really cranky trying to get to sleep. I often feel reduced to tears too... but everytime she wakes, she flashes that angelic smile and all is forgotten. Sigh.


  • She weighed 2.5kg at birth; now at 1 month she weighs 3.5kg! Not bad at all for a small-breasted mom's attempt at breastfeeding eh? (Although we do give her a supplemental bottle of formula or two at the times of day when my milk supply is not so abundant)

Sunday, August 10, 2008

What does it mean?

I've been getting questions on what Hui Ning's name means...

Wong 黄 : the family name.
Hui 慧 : wisdom.
Ning 宁 : tranquility, serenity.

Although we were looking more at individual characters rather than what they mean as a group while thinking of potential names, I like to think that Hui Ning 慧宁 means "having the wisdom to achieve tranquility of the soul". I really hope that she'd have a blissful, happy (but not blissfully ignorant!) life, able to take any stumbles and falls along the way without much undue mental and emotional anguish...

The Birth of Baby Hui Ning

!!!!Too Much Information (TMI) Warning!!!!

OK you have been warned. Proceed with care, those of you who aren't sure you want the details of the birthing of my little baby girl. Nothing too explicit, but still, I know some people might feel queasy.



12 days ago, on the morning of 30 July... (if you're wondering why I can almost pin down the times so nicely in the chronology, that's because there's a clock in my face, hanging on the wall right opposite my bed in the delivery room.)

6:05am: I woke up feeling a weird sensation. When I rushed to the toilet, it turns out that I've just lost my plug. Since there was no pain yet, I wondered if I should wake up MC (my husband) — when my water broke and started gushing out. OK then, no need for any more wondering. It did get MC into a bit of frenzy. He kept urging me to get going while I was still calmly (contraction pains hadn't started yet, you see) checking one last time the stuff to bring to the hospital...

6:30am: We arrived at the hospital. All the way the water just kept trickling and trickling, and I couldn't control it at all. Somehow all the traffic lights on the way turned red as we approached them... Luckily we didn't opt for a hospital on the island, otherwise it'll be an agonising journey, what with the midnight bridge closure and all.

6:50 am: My obgyn came in, looking dishevelled in a T-shirt (how do doctors in general and obgyns in particular get themselves going anyway?? Energizers??). I was only beginning to dilate, so he's a bit concerned if it's going to be a long labour. Yeow. In the meantime the nurses put on a fetal monitor, and the baby's heartbeats sound deafening in the room...

7:10 am: I feel the contractions starting, but not really painful yet.

8:20 am: OK they're getting painful now. The nurse handed me the anthonox gas mask and it did help, somewhet. This hospital allows husbands in the labour room, so I've got a hand to squeeze on too.

9:00am: Apparently I've dilated 1.5–2cm; my obgyn proclaimed it "not-too-bad".

10:40 am: AAAAAAAARRRRGGGGHHH the PAAAAAAAIIIIIIN!!!!!

11:00am: I pleaded for an epidural. The nurse told me that my dilation was progressing well (6cm now) and it might be over in another hour. But with the pain I'm feeling at this point I doubted that I'll have any energy to push when the time comes (since the pain gets progressively more intense after this). Plus my muscles are way too tight, and I tense even more whenever a contraction hits — not a good thing. So I asked for the epidural anyway.

11:20am: Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhh relief. after the epidural. Just 5 minutes before I was moaning like some pitiable kitten and almost on the verge of clawing someone and wringing their limbs off or strangling their necks.

12:00pm: I'm starting to feel some pressure down there, but it's not time to push yet.

12:15pm: The nurse told me to start pushing whenever I feel the contraction/pressure. It's getting close.

12:45pm: The obgyn came in again, apparently it's time! After some preparations, the obgyn sat down and 3 nurses huddled round and everyone started urging me to push! Push! PUSH!!!

(TMIIf you must know, it was like a bad case of constipation. And the earlier contraction pains were like bad cases of period cramps.)

12:58pm: She's out! Hui Ning came into the world, a small bundle of 2.5kg, gasping for air when I saw her, but otherwise not making too much noise (unlike the cliched loudly wailing baby you always see in movies). A nurse wheeled her out to the next room to be bathed etc, with my husband in tow.

Later he'd tell me that almost immediately from birth, Hui Ning had her eyes opened wide and gazing at everything in her sight, even grabbing at the nurse's fingers as she bathed her, gripping the sides of the bassinet, etc. She was even kicking off the nappy and towel when they tried to wrap her up.

Back in the labour room the obgyn continued his work... OK I guess this part is so TMI I won't relate it here to jaga the faint-of-heart readers. Later the nurse brought little Hui Ning back to me.

She is soooooo beautiful, with her large, bright eyes and soft hair. She's the splitting image of her father, especially her lips...

Sure, any mom would gush about her new-born babe, but gimme a break, this is MY baby and I have a right to gush about MY baby. Geeky moms gush about their cute babies too, see. Hehehe.

Monday, August 4, 2008

Welcome, Baby Hui Ning!

Notice the change in the blog title?

Yeah, baby Hui Ning arrived roughly a week earlier, at 12:58pm on 30 July 2008. My water broke around 6a.m., so I guess my labour wasn't too long for a first child...



I'm still pretty exhausted (and time-constrained!) to blog much -- you know the drill In the meantime, here are some photos.

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

38 weeks



Until I saw myself on film I had no clear idea how big I've actually become....

1.5 weeks to go (assuming we're following strict due dates)! :D

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Counting Down

About 2 weeks to go now. My tummy now feels pretty solid all the time. We've packed the hospital bag, but always feeling as if we're forgetting something or other... well you know the feeling. In the meantime, my obgyn says everything seems to be going pretty well. Hope it stays so (and for all future proceedings too)!

Monday, June 16, 2008

32 weeks

32 weeks and I'm at 54kg. Yeow. That's around 15kg weight gain – with the baby at an estimated 1.6kg right now. Doctor says that's pretty average.

The hospital's finally scheduled an intensive antenatal class for 5 and 6 July, a month before my EDD. Registered today, and fingers crossed that we'll be able to attend it in time!

Friday, June 6, 2008

30 weeks




I'm really bulging.

Monday, June 2, 2008

Sleepy.

I'm getting sleepier and sleepier everyday. Easily tired.

When I told my doctor this morning, he said it gets worse.

Guess my GAIM status message will be permanently "sleeeeeeep" until delivery then — and then some!

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Laksaaaa!!! Sushiiiii!!! Waaaaaa!!!

They're off-limits to me since my pregnancy started. The sushi because raw food are a big no-no, and I do prefer the raw fish type sushis, so I can understand that. The laksa though...

MC thinks it's because of the laksa leaves. Dad thinks it's the pineapple slices. Mom said she's heard nothing like that and it's all balderdash. The doctor scratched his head and said that Well, what I really want is probably to avoid any conflicts, so just keep quiet and don't argue lah, since it's not like a staple diet anyway.



Of course MC promises me that I can eat all I want once the baby's here – pity him, he can't really have any of those (and crabs too!) if I can't eat them. But once the baby's here, and since we want to breastfeed, I wonder if the yummies will still be forbidden?

I waaaaaant laaaaaksaaaaaaaa......

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Wow. You're A Spirited One.

For the past one week the baby has been moving so much I'm getting tired and exhausted, even though I'm not the one doing all the rolling/fluttering/wriggling!

The good side is that daddy finally got to feel the li'l 'un actually wriggling under his palm...

Saturday, May 10, 2008

Gmail's on to me!

I've started getting ads about baby food, playpens, blood stem cell banks etc in my Gmail! They're on to me!

Friday, May 2, 2008

iGoogle Artist Themes

iGoogle introduced some themes by contemporary artists recently, and among the collaborators was Anne Geddes:

One of the world’s most respected photographers, Anne Geddes creates iconic, award-winning, internationally acclaimed, and beloved images. Her imagery captures the beauty, purity, vulnerability, and preciousness of children.

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Starting Engine...

(TMI Warning Ahead!!)



Guess what? Even though I'm really small-chested (somewhat "improved" after pregnancy) I've started producing drips of colostrum yesterday!

What's probably more amusing is that when I told my husband he went "stop squeezing it all out now!!!"

Friday, April 18, 2008

Telepathic baby?

After lunching at a shopping mall today, I was going to head straight back home when suddenly a niggle prompted me to go browse the shelves of the in-store bookshop instead.

"Oh alright, just a quick browse..." I thought, since that I've always found that particular bookshop lacking in variety. All school reference books and stationery and nothing else, so to speak.

So imagine my surprise when I saw a copy of Dr. Spock's Baby and Child Care! For one thing, I thought the series was discontinued. For another thing, I never expected this particular bookshop to stock anything useful (I hope the outlet manager doesn't read this – or do I hope (s)he is? )!

Hmm. Did my baby know about it and urged me to go upstairs so that I'd save some money to get this pocket edition (cheaper) of a classic instead of other books instead?

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Beached Whale Alert

Note to self:

Never lie flat on your back, however tempting the idea may be.

Especially when you know there's no one around to give you hand to get up (or even roll-over!).

Saturday, April 12, 2008

A lifesaver blog in the early days

Early on in my pregnancy, I thought I was going nuts because I couldn't stand white rice and had a really windy stomach – with gastric on top of that. My husband bundled me off to the doctor, only to have her throwing me out of her consulting room.

Yeah I thought I was weird. My mom never had stomach problems during both her pregnancies, just the vomiting. My mom-in-law is an even luckier soul, she didn't have any morning sickness for all her three kids!

So I thought I was really weird. Till I came across of nine months... and beyond. I'm not alone in my quirks! Her posts were really reassuring to read in those early days.

Saturday, April 5, 2008

22 weeks

This is how I look like now, 22 weeks into my first pregnancy:


Yes, I've got oily skin. With spots. And my bump is kinda pointy (don't ask me how to tell a pointy pregnant bump from a rounded one; I'm told that mine is kinda pointy). And yeees I know quite a few people who're going "I toooold you it's gonna be a booooy!"

Well, the truth is: we don't know yet. And I don't think we're going to know for sure until the birth – my husband wants it to be a surprise, despite my mom-in-law's asking everytime we visit her.

Friday, April 4, 2008

What, another blog?

And you're not even posting regularly on the other blog!

Yeah, well. Just in case I get the urge to blog about fluffy stuff. You know, especially about the baby, and all. And fluffy stuff just doesn't go with the other blog.

Just imagine... baby talk? Whosum ooglum cutesy baby-booo?

...

Nope, definitely not on the other blog. So here we are then!