The Bub in the Belly

Today was a public holiday in Singapore on account of Deepavali. Yesterday, Ryan went to school in his kurta to mark the occasion. We bought it two years ago for Deepavali in 2010 and yes, it still fits!

We woke up early enough today to laze about in bed. Here's a shot which Ryan took on Richard's phone while they were cuddling.

We made good use of the holiday. It felt just like the weekend, actually. We hit the mall early in the day for brunch as well as to pick up some necessities from the supermarket. When we got home, Richard and Ryan set up the Christmas tree - a bit early this year but when it comes to Christmas, it's better to be early than late!




Some furniture was being delivered in the afternoon so we stayed at home till dinner. Ryan went to bed when we got home from dinner and I squeezed in some sewing. I finished a pair of pants for Ryan - will share here when I get him to model them for me.

It's always a little strange, having a public holiday in the middle of the week. Ryan kept talking about going swimming, and I think that's because he usually goes swimming on Sundays. Richard tried to pacify him by suggesting we take a swim in our condo pool but, unfortunately, the weather didn't allow for that.

As for Rachel, wow... our babydoll has really started crawling! No doubt about it! If you set her down on the floor and walk away for one minute, you can bet your bottom dollar that she will be in a completely different place when you get back. Also, she has started holding on to her milk bottle! Richard was feeding her breastmilk from the bottle while I was busy putting Ryan to bed and he said, as she drank from the bottle, she took the bottle in her hands, pulled it out of his hand and continued drinking. I think we're going to have our hands full with this one!



Anyway, back to work tomorrow. It's a short week for us as we will be travelling on Friday.

Ryan had a couple of highlights this weekend, starting on Friday evening. He met up with his pals, Brayden and Rou Ern, at Shann's place and they played and played and played until half-past 11 at night. It always warms my heart to see how happy the three of them are to be together.

The adults had a good and relaxing time too. It was a nice way to wind down after a work week. I was dog tired by the time we got home though, which was a result of the lack of sleep over the past couple of nights taking its toll. I finally succumbed to a phlegmy cough that night and that pretty much set the mood for the weekend - we decided to stay home as far as possible. We did get to all of Ryan's classes (although just barely for violin) - we are travelling next weekend, so we hope not to miss too many classes.

The other highlight for Ryan was trying out his new kick scooter. We bought it some time back but only set it up for him this weekend. He has been watching other children on their kick scooters with a lot of interest and so we thought it would be a good gift. True enough, he was very excited and happy that he had one of his own to play with. We took it out for a spin to Telok Kurau Park and back, with Ryan grinning the whole time.

I sewed up another circle skirt for Rachel - double layered this time. I quite like the pop of green.


Nothing much more to add so I'll just post some more photos of Rachel. These photos give me the impression that she's dancing and twirling in her skirt.

As for Rachel, well, the same applies. We are finding our favourites, just as Ryan and I have our specials. Rachel's current favourite is this beautiful song: "Autumn Leaves" (from Paolo Nutini's first album titled "These Streets"). The moment she hears it, she calms and stills immediately. Do have a listen. I hope you like it as much as we do.

It's not a traditional lullaby, it's not even a children's song. It's actually a really sad, emotional piece, written for Paolo's grandfather when he passed away. We have never limited our repertoire - good music is good music, and I believe that all human beings, including children, can appreciate good music.

Incidentally, Ryan's favourite song from Paolo Nutini's first album is "New Shoes". He asks for it often, "I want to listen to 'put your new shoes on', Mama" and we like to sing it in the car.

Sorry, I don't have the links to the songs, but you can find them easily on any internet search engine.

Do you have any special songs that you share with your children?

We brought Rachel to the PD yesterday for her routine vaccinations (two jabs and one oral). As usual, we didn't have any questions to ask, and it was over fairly quickly. It was a casual consultation - the main purpose was to do the vaccinations. We did get her weight - 6.65 kg - but not her length/height. Dr Ngiam also told us that we can start her on solids in about a month's time.

I'm not sure how long I want to continue with breastfeeding. With Ryan, the issue never really came up because I knew I was going to breastfeed Rachel anyway. Now, if we stop at two, then I will have to make a (hard) decision as to when to stop breastfeeding. Ah well, I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. It won't be for some time yet.


At the moment, I'm latching both of them, sometimes simultaneously, although Ryan only at night and when he wakes up in the morning. I have to say that I don't like tandem nursing and I try not to if I can. In all the years that I nursed Ryan at my breast and now Rachel, I have always found our sessions a time to cherish and a time for cherishing my children. I have never felt like a "cow" or a milk bottle. However, when I tandem nurse, I feel exactly like a "cow". I can't move; I just sit there and focus on making sure that the two of them are comfortable, that they are not getting in each other's way, and able to access the breast comfortably to achieve a good latch. There is not a lot of focus on bonding. To me, it feels purely functional and I don't like it.

In other more uplifting news, Rachel has been crawling with her bottom off the floor! She has been at it for a couple of weeks now. A step up from leopard crawling!

As the world knows, superstorm Sandy slammed into New Jersey and New York last Monday evening (29 Oct) with torrential rains, howling winds and widespread flooding. Lower Manhattan was plunged into darkness, with the Goldman Sachs tower shining defiantly in the stillness. In addition to loss of human life, "Sandy is estimated in early calculations to have caused damage of at least US$20 billion. Preliminary estimates of losses that include business interruption surpass US$50 billion, which, if confirmed, would make it the second-costliest Atlantic hurricane in history, behind only Hurricane Katrina." (quote from Wikipedia).

Just a year and a half ago, we were in Manhattan, New York, celebrating the successful raid on Osama bin Laden's location and remembering how 9/11 fit into our life back in 2001. We visited the Tribute WTC Visitor Centre and we were in awe at how 9/11 marshalled so many people to help and to pray and to hope.

Tragedy has struck again with this superstorm. There is widespread damage, destruction and grief. Inasmuch as I cannot truly put myself in the shoes of those affected, I know that there are people whom I hold dear, very dear, and I would be completely broken if they were ever taken from me. So my heart goes out to those people who have suffered and sustained loss. I am halfway around the world from the disaster but it moves me nonetheless.

I would like to rationalise these things, but I can't. Maybe there is no rationale for them, divine or otherwise. Still, I can't accept that something so devastating can be so meaningless. And so, I'm heartened to read reports like these: "A Hospital Flatlined: Inside the NYU Langone Medical Center Evacuation" showing us that tragedies can mobilise people to care for one another, to show kindness and selflessness. Ordinary people doing extraordinary things. So perhaps, just perhaps, in a world that is becoming increasingly disconnected and impersonal, these tragedies serve to heal fissures and chasms among us, so that we remember not to focus on race, religion or status, but on humanity and kindness.

Let's send positive prayers and vibes.

Rachel our babydoll has been making progress with her motor skills. She has moved from fiddling with her hands and fingers to fiddling with her feet and toes. She is reaching out to grab stuff and can transfer from one hand to another. She flips with ease from back to tummy to back again and can stay on her tummy with her head upright for longer and longer periods of time. In recent weeks, she has started to giggle - a delicious gurgly sound that rumbles up from her belly, the very essence of joy which I wish I could bottle up.

As for Richard and I, well, I think we are both tired. Physically and mentally tired. We joked about going away on a holiday without our littles. A holiday just to sleep. It would be really, really nice, to put it mildly. But we know we'll never do that. We'd miss the littles too much. Really miss them. And that's precisely the irony that is parenthood. No matter all the trouble or hassle or worry or stress that comes with children, there's always the good stuff and the good stuff always, always outweighs and makes you forget the bad.

Sometimes, after lunch, instead of me going back to work and Ryan going over to his nanny's, we would both take the day off and go home to play! Yippee!

Ryan's latest joy is Play-Doh!



The husband and I refreshed our crowning glories last Saturday. We both needed haircuts badly.


Squeezing in some fun in the sun before the rainy season kicks in.

Here's Ryan on the way to an audition! Ryan has been pretty busy with his "career" lately. In fact, earlier today, I got a request for a second-round audition with him and the casting people were even prepared to go to his nanny's place to see him. They were willing to wait for him to finish his nap and asked me what time they could turn up. I told them to go around 7 pm, which is what they did. Looks like Ryan's already calling the shots!