Visits to our Gynecologist

The last two visits to Dr. Siti has been great, we didn’t have to wait too long to see her, most of the time just barely completing our read of the morning papers. Olivia is progressing very well although her mother would need to come back for the works to check her blood sugar level but that is another story.

Anyway, Olivia has grown so much that it was hard for us to have a full view of her from just one scan. Today was especially great because we could see her facial image through the ultrasound and I could tell that she has my looks – what a cute and adorable baby she will turn out to be. 

I am excited, can’t wait, can’t wait, can’t wait, can’t wait, can’t wait, can’t wait… as I look at her I imagine her growing up, taking slow walks with me in the park, playing kite on a Sunday evening before we have dinner and coming up with relentless answers to feed her never ending curiosity of Why questions. (Just like me when I was young).

Mei and I have agreed that she'll be the "bad cop" parent and I will be the good one (although she may insist or tell you otherwise but I clearly remember it to be the case and she has no basis to argue for the fact that Pregnant Women are proven to be more forgetful). Anyway, I am sure we will both be great parents be it good or bad cop.

The Elephant Song

About the 26 weeks onwards, Olivia could hear and respond to voices and since both mother and daughter are always together for now, Olivia hears every conversation that Mei speaks. It is actually quite fascinating that when Olivia first arrives, she will be able to pick out from a crowd, her own mother’s voice and smell, the father although he has made 50% of the contribution, maybe more in terms of support and financial aid will not be remembered unless he puts in his equal share of TLC. By TLC, it means spending time with Olivia whilst she is still in the mother’s womb.

I don't know about you but I personally find it strange to be speaking to the wife’s belly button every night. "What do you say to the BB?"... By nature I am also not one who is extremely fond of the belly button especially my wife’s who navel sticks out like Pinocchio’s nose (Trust me that is exactly how it looks like when women are pregnant). Furthermore, I would run out of words describing Mei’s tummy to Olivia – there are only so many ways you can describe the tummy to your unborn child.

I have therefore resorted to singing a song that I learned whilst I was about 5 years of age. It is called the Elephant Song – strange words to the song but it is kind of cute. If you had watched the Elephant Show in the 80s you would know what I mean.

Now that Olivia’s reflexes are mature, she would abuse her mother inside out, kicking and punching just before Mei goes to sleep. To calm her down I would sing her the Elephant Song and low and behold she would remain really quiet. I wonder if she is soothed or absolutely terrified.

Anyway, I believe that when Olivia is physically in this world, apart from recognizing her mother’s voice, she would be familiar with her father’s elephant song. That is how she will know that I am her daddy. (Proud Grin)

The Godfather - Part 1

Let me tell you about the relationship I have with my 2 best friends - Parthiban and Wee Yee Tat, you can say we are like Joey, Chandler and Ross in Friends. (I love that series – watches every episode). They have such a history together and will always remain as great friends and that is basically the essence of what we have. I would however like to think of Parthiban as Ross because he is after all the one pursuing his PHD and although I would like Yee Tat to be Joey because we all know Joey is a little “duh” but I guess since I have the good looks and the charm with the women (Ahem), I will have to be Joey and Chandler of course is Yee Tat lah.

Discovering that I will be the first to have a child, both have expressed interest to be my child’s godfather. Of course secretly Yee Tat wants to take the lead on this one and have expressed interest to sponsor Olivia’s nutritional diet of endless supply of milk till she is 50 (I added the 50 bit). The reason I know this is because Yee Tat told Mei... wait till Parthi discovered what Yee Tat is working on behind his back whilst he is away.

No matter who the godfather is or are, I know that my best friends will equally be great dad’s themselves be it to my child or their own. If they suck at that, at least I know that for Olivia’s college fund, I will have 2 very willing sponsors.

Messy Child

Since we got married and shifted into our place in BU, we have not been the most organized couple. Sure it may look neat and tidy but it is only skin deep, there are lots of rubbish still hidden in one of those cupboards or in one of those boxes that are safely hidden away from our visitors’ eyes. So for the next few weekends I aspire to clean up our place to make room for baby stuff.

This week I managed to remove everything from our kitchen cabinets to reorganize them according to function and frequency of use. The less frequent we use them, the higher it should go. Also for Olivia’s benefit, all breakable and harmful objects should be out of her reach. I can see it coming; very soon we would need to start proofing our home.

I also discovered what my mother-in-law was rambling about, Mei being untidy and disorganized – I tell you it is all TRUE. Never saw it till it was too late. “Sigh”

Next stop, Mei's wardrobe, any volunteers?