Olivia’s Favorite Aunt

There seems to be a competition emerging even before Olivia makes her grand entrance. As I am the only son amongst 3 siblings and Mei with a younger sister, they all aspire to be Olivia’s favorite aunt. Hwee Yen has said she would do ANYTHING to ensure that she is Olivia’s favorite and Charlotte having had past successes with her friend’s children is definitely the contender to watch out for.

This certainly worries me as Olivia being the only grandchild from both sets of grandparents is destined to be spoiled but now with her aunty all contending to be the Chosen One – just like Monica is to Emma in Friends (Then again technically she is Emma’s only aunt). I guess this would be another challenge for both Mei and I.

However, being the brother in law that I am – always trying to get on Yen’s nerves, I have made it my sole mission to spoil her plans by plotting to tell Horror Yen stories to Olivia before she goes to sleep every night. Hehehehe!

Our Last Anti-Natal Class

I received a v-mail from my best friend in the States who sd he has been kept up to date with Mei’s pregnancy from my past blogs, what little entries I had, nonetheless, it inspired me to provide him with further updates.

We concluded our last of a series of 4 anti-natal classes during the weekend and the last one really freaked Mei out, especially Ai Ling’s version of a “hole-in-one”. As this is a family website - rated PG, I would need to keep this kind of stuff offline – see me in private.

Anyway, there is so much to think about from the type of pain killers to the post natal cares. What comes to mind are the challenges of breast feeding and the complications of jaundice to name a few. This pregnancy really gave me a whole new perspective of parenthood and what my own parents had gone through to conceive and raise me. Today I feel a greater appreciation for my mum and dad.

I love the nights when Mei and I are not too drained from the day and we would share about how we would like to raise Olivia and to picture what our family would be like with Olivia on board. I keep telling myself that I just can’t wait to be a father and then in Church yesterday we witnessed a little girl that was going on and on and on with her tantrums. At that very moment, I pray for God’s mercy upon us that Olivia would not be anything like that brat. Also it kept us thinking regarding remedies in situations like that.

Children need to be discipline but given the situation we may react differently as the saying goes “You should never judge someone until you have walked a mile in their shoes”.

Only time will tell. Sigh.... now I can’t wait for her to be 5 years old to see the outcome.

All Fishes Goes to Heaven

My fishes died today and it was a sad, sad day for my wife and I. We certainly loved those darn Kois even if they were a little “dong, dong” from time to time. I discovered their carcass this morning but had to rush off to work. At work all I could think about was that Olivia will grow up not knowing them.

I love fishes and they are my choice pets because they are soothing to look at, they don’t make any noise and they are don’t pooh so…….I take that back, they do pooh a lot, more that I imagined at first. They practically stink by the end of the week after I have their water changed and I hate to admit it but a part of me am glad that I don’t have to spend my weekend’s cleaning after them. On top of that, we need to give them a little credit, they are not as dumb as we think they are - they can certainly differentiate expensive from mediocre food. I am sure we all have that natural instict to do so.

Anyway, after this round – yes, yes it is the second incident that this had happened, I think I will wait till Olivia is a little bigger and when she is ready to take care of her own fishes, then I can enjoy the fishes and make her clean the pooh and change the water – my grand plan.

That is what your kids are for, hopefully she will only discover this blog when she is about 60.

Mighty Mouse

The first time I set eyes upon Barney was at SJMC’s gift shop over the weekend, my instant reaction was, “Why would anyone buy a purple bear as a present?” My wife instantly corrected me that Barney was actually a hot ticket item amongst toddlers today and in actual fact it was a dinosaur. Well I wanted to believe that this was just a one off isolated case and the owners of the gift shop just have bad taste for children.

And yesterday, I received the much awaited Standard Chartered’s Rewards Catalogue for 04/05 and there it was again “Barney – Soft and Silly” for 45 points. Arghhhh… whatever happened to Big Bird and gang? Elmo and Kermit the Frog? And my favorites “Mighty Mouse”. Are they suddenly passed now, after years of shaping and molding the youths of yesteryear? These were the epitome of children programmes. They were wholesome entertainment and educational to boot. Instead, today kids want B A R N E Y. Barney is such a whuss!! An annoying piece of lump!! The result of a cartoonist bad week!!

When Olivia grows up, there will be No Barney in our home or any of those scary looking Tellytubbies. Those Tubbies will just gives you nightmares and every time I see them it just makes me want to scream.

What role model will Olivia have when she grows up? I guess it is up to my 20 year old "Mighty Mouse" to save the day whilst we look for a true blue 21st century hero for her to connect with.

Simply Amazing

During one of our Anti Natal classes, we watched a video of a water delivery, amazing. The mother was placed in an oval bathtub with warm water. Apparently the water helps balance off the pain and baby gets to come out to an environment that is similar to the mother’s womb. For Olivia’s benefit, “No you were not brought by the stork although we may have told this to you at the early stages of your childhood” – This site will eventually be introduced to our girl, when she is old enough to read.

I am digressing again, where was I… Water Births… yeah and research has shown that babies have a natural ability to hold their breath whilst under water and are natural born swimmers. It is just that they forget after abstaining from water for a long time. It may not be breaststrokes or butterfly but to them it is definitely their own freestyle from what we saw.

I just want to say that our God is simply amazing; He is the master planner, the great architect and the best contractor. Just trying to understand the whole area of conceiving and giving birth to a child is really mind blowing. Did you know that all babies would need to crawl out from a tunnel and it is the process of doing so that helps equip the baby to breath in our world. At the same time, the tunnel is curved so that the process is steady, this would ensure that baby’s brain is not damaged due to the speed of the delivery. Also as the opening is oval in shape, the curved tunnel helps stop baby from sliding out. Once the baby’s head protrudes out of the opening, all babies have a natural instinct to turn to make way for the shoulders to come out through the opening. Babies skull and backbone is also soft to ensure that it does not act as a resistant during labour. Babies also have a layer of wax that acts as a lubricant and a protective seal from the diseases of this world… now can you understand why God is just so amazing. He thought about everything.

Only in the 20th century are we spoiled for choices and the producers of formulas would have you think that formulas are the best dietary supplements for babies but research proved otherwise where the mother’s breast milk will evolve to include special nutritional needs for the child from the time the child is born till she is weaned at 2 to 3 years of age.

The first feed is a clear substance called “Colostrums” and it is the most nutritious milk for the baby, it has all the antibodies that baby would need. The woman’s body will also be conditioned such that every time baby gets hungry, the milk will flow.

Do you ever wonder why 9 months – it certainly feels like a long time to wait.

According to Parents.com, at 6-month (24-week) old, the fetus is able to live outside the womb. That means that if Olivia is born now, he will be able to manage with a little help from the doctors. He'll be able to develop quite normally with the help of medication. So technically, 6 months is enough time for babies to stay in a womb.

Doesn't that make you wonder why babies are born only after 9 months? Why not 6?

I think that's just the way God planned it. For Mei and me, 9 months gives us some time to get our acts together. 6 months ago, we would have made shitty parents. Now, we've gotten considerable less shitty. In another 3 months, we can almost be certain that in the future, Olivia can grow into adulthood without ever needing therapy someday!

And having to go through an emotional rollercoaster for 9 months also helps us to appreciate Baby better. If babies can be made in a day or two, I don't think anyone will care too much for babies.

Thank God for 9 months.

Wonder Mum

Mei has been great, not only has she started growing into her role as a mother (and by that I do not mean putting on weight because she is pregnant) but she constantly talks and prays for our unborn child. When we talk about our future as a family, I am constantly reminded that she is the Bestest Wife in the whole wide world (even if it is in my small world) and I am the luckiest man alive. There is not a single day that passes me by that I don’t thank my Creator for helping to match make us and for bringing us together as one.

She often tells me that it is quite scary taking on this new role but I know she has all the right ingredients that will make her a role model mom even if it is just for Olivia. At the end of the day what is important to us is that our daughter is raised right with strong values and strong principles, everything else is secondary and that is our mission for Olivia’s life. Knowing my wife she may not be the most organized person, she may not be the best cook but I am convinced that she was brought into this world to take on this role as the mother, a friend and as a protector to our child.