brotherhood - aden and gibson

Baby G has arrived!!!

Yes, my dear Baby G has finally arrived on the 7th Aug 2012. Remember Mommy wanted 6th, 8th or 9th? He decided that 7th is better for him...

My birth story for Baby G

I really thought I was going to see Dr G. Tan on the 8/8 and may have to be induced as Baby G would have gone passed 40th week by then. Hubby and I were still going around Ikea and Compass Point to shop. On the 6th, we did the usual super-marketing at Compass Point and Hub got me 3 boxes of Durian. Yum! :)

So we had dinner and I came home eating 1 box of durian by myself. We decided to sleep early that night as all of us were superbly tired and drained out. Lights out at 10pm.

All of us K.O. by 10pm and at around 11.30pm, I was awaken up by mild contractions. Thinking that it could be false contractions like those I had from 38th week onwards, I tried to go back to sleep. However, the contractions seemed quite frequent, like every 10 minutes. I decided to wake Hubby up. He told me to time my contraction for the next half an hour and since I cannot sleep, he woke up to accompany me. I was feeling unsure and I asked Hub if we should try to go back to sleep and wait til 7am, send Aden to school then make our way to the hospital. But as the contractions get more intense, I called up my mom to take care of Aden instead. About 1am, my mom arrived and by then the contractions were about once every 5 minutes!

We made our way to the delivery ward at the hospital, the nurse told me to change into the hospital robe. The nurse checked that I was already 6cm dilated and my first question was, "Can I still have the epidural?" She told me she would have to call Dr G. Tan for approval and very soon the anaesthesist came. He was the same anaesthesist 3 years ago!

Honestly, time passes so quickly and it felt like a dream. The epidural took effect slowly and very soon Hubb was telling me that he could see a little opening down there and baby G's head! :)

I was curious so Hubb took a picture of my down there. It's really amazing! :) *for safety purpose, picture was deleted immediately after viewing*

When I was all ready to push, the nurse called up Dr G Tan. She appeared shortly, looking as great as ever with her smiley face, I was reassured. After about 2 1/2 hours of labour (from the moment of admission til Baby G pops!) , Baby G has arrived!

I really want to thank God for all that has happened. The kind of family I have now is what I have always been yearning for. My hubb, my sons, they are my life. And I am very thankful of Hubb for going through all these with me. Its really very fortunate and blessed as I have 2 beautiful birth experiences so far. Thank God for my wonderful gynae Dr G Tan, who never fail to give me the assurance and support.

As for now, I have to get use to caring an infant all over again...

39 weeks and 6th day...

Hello Chewies, Mommy is still not popping! WHY?!?!

Baby G, are you playing hard to get? :p

If Baby G is going to be like Kor Kor, I should be popping today! :)

WHY?

Aden was born on 24th Oct 2009, 2 days before the EDD. We were actually planning for a caesarean as Aden was in the breech position prior to the check up. However, he decided to turn and choose his own birth date instead! Dr G Tan was commenting that Aden is a 'miracle' boy! :)

Hence, if base on my first pregnancy experience, Baby G should pop today as today is the 6th Aug 2012! Exactly 2 days before the EDD!!


So let's cross our fingers and wait...

It's a waiting game now...

Lying on the bed right now, feeling a little teeny weeny bit of super mild contraction. Baby G is 39 weeks and 1 day old in my "oven" now. I was joking around with friends telling them that it must be super comfy inside that both Aden and Baby G love staying til the very last minute.

Yesterday when we saw Dr G Tan, I was already 3cm dilated! She gave us 2 choices, either to induce as Baby G is already considered full term, or stay home and wait til something happens! We decided to wait as I want a really really natural birth process EXCEPT with the help of epidural!

However, I woke up this morning feeling a little uneasy as I was afraid that if I continue to dilate unknowingly without contraction, will I still be in time to take the epidural? And I've heard of birth stories where the water bag burst suddenly! I don't wanna be caught in that situation and be in a mess! And what if it happens in the middle of the night, I would have to wake everyone up and my poor little Aden would be so so tired. So many things to worry about and I don't know if I am making the right choice now - that is to waIt.

And as I am typing this, I hope Dr G Tan didn't go to the hospital just for me. We actually decided to induce this morning and called up the clinic to inform. And since Dr G Tan has already mentioned to us that she will not be free from 7pm to 11pm, she told me to go to the hospital after 11pm. Oh my, just hope she call up the hospital before heading there.

Alrighty, I better catch some sleep now. Will Baby G be out tomorrow?

Stay tune...

39 weeks...

Woke up in the morning with a little spotting.

Went to pee at around 12plus noon and the toilet bowl was bloody!

Would it be D-day?

Stay tune!

I'm on my way to see Dr G Tan now. :)

it's a home run now!

Yes! I'm in my final trimester of pregnancy and Baby G is 38 weeks old in my womb! I'm excited about giving birth once again yet at the same time I know I am so going to miss this fluffy feeling of having a little one kicking. The feeling is so surreal and amazing!

Now that I have to see Dr G. Tan every once a week, she told me last week that I was already 1cm dilated!! However, Baby G hasn't fully engage yet so I shouldn't be popping that soon! I WISH! I hope Baby G can let me have a little more "me-time" and "Daddy-Mommy time". I'm really hoping that he will only come out in August! :)

We were talking about it the other day with Dr Tan and she was saying 6th Aug is not bad as "6" in Teochew is pronounce as "Luck"! BTW, my EDD is 8/8/12. :) And 8/8 means "Huat Huat"!

So whether is it "Luck/Huat" or "Huat/Huat", Baby G, you decide!! :)

Aden's words... (Part 2)

Okay, it's a super duper hot day today and both father and son are taking their afternoon nap while I'm here blogging with Baby G （most likely sleeping too!)

So back to Aden's words Part 2...

Aden is really talking a lot now! He's so good at talking that many times I don't know if I should be laughing or to be strict with what he is saying. I have to give credit to the Child Care Center that he is currently attending as I really think that the teachers are teaching him well yet at the same time he is also learning a lot of "not-very-nice-attitude" from the other kids in school.

Take for example...

1) Eh! 干什么! 我跟Mummy讲, 跟Papa讲。。。

My little man has learn to be a complain king. Whenever someone interrupted him while he is in the midst of playing, he would say, "Eh! 干什么! 跟Mummy讲, 跟Papa讲。。。" I have to admit that I kind of like hearing him saying this because he sounds really cute.

2) 小心啊! Wet Wet!

This little tot is quite a sweet boy. Whenever it rained and the floor is wet, I would always tell him this. "小心啊! Wet Wet!" And one fine day when we were walking back home from the car-park, he held onto my hand and told me to walk carefully! Oh my, my heart melted instantly!

3) “不要Mummy冲, 我要Aden冲” ，“我要Mummy出去。”

I believe tots at this age are curious and playful. Aden has been wanting to bathe on his own and we have been allowing him to bathe himself now, but of course under our supervision. Whenever I suggest for him to have a bath, he would quickly say, “不要Mummy冲, 我要Aden冲” and once he stripped himself naked, he would rush into the bathroom and wait for me to turn on the tab for him and he would then ask me to get out.

4) Hello! 喂! Police! Bye-bye! . . . Police 来抓你了!

Calling police was taught by my FIL. I dislike the idea of teaching Aden to use the phone to call the police! I cannot imagine if it were to happen! But thankfully Aden doesn't know and wasn't taught what number to call (yet). However, he sounded really cute whenever he picks up his toy phone and started pressing some numbers, put the phone to his ear and go, “Hello! 喂! Police! Bye-bye! . . . Police 来抓你了!”

5) 不是美佳，是美猪! (~_____~)|||

Yes, I've been telling Aden our names and then one fine morning after we woke up, I decided to test him to see if he remembers our name. And he started calling me "美猪" which makes me laugh really hard because nobody has taught him this at all! And my little teaser knows that I will not get angry with him calling me "美猪" and whenever he feels like teasing me, he would go, "不是美佳，是美猪!". But of course, whenever he wants anything from me, like a toy or a candy, he would reverse it and say, ""不是美猪，是美佳!".

Our Image

I've been contemplating for a while as to whether I should blog about my miscarriage experience. It was a painful experience that nobody would like to go through, and unfortunately, studies show that 10%-15% of miscarriages happen during the first trimester.

I've decided to blog about it as I want my dear child to be remembered always and be part of our memories in this blog.

"My dear child, wherever you are right now, I believe we will meet each other again."

So let me begin...

It was in Aug 2010 that we found out that I was pregnant again. The emotions were different compared to us having found out about my pregnancy with Aden. With "Image", Hubb and I were worried, unprepared but of course there was still a little sense of joy. Soon, we made an appointment with Dr G. Tan and had the confirmation about the pregnancy.

This is "Image".

p.s. if I'm not mistaken, "Image" was made in Europe. :p

Anyway, we were not quite ready for another child because Aden was not even one year old, couldn't walk on his own and still require us to carry! And both of us were not mentally prepared for another one due to many other factors like finances, work, and desired lifestyle.

Nevertheless, what's done cannot be undone. No matter how unprepared we were, we had to be responsible to our child.

During the first appointment with Dr Tan, everything went on as normal as when I had Aden except that I clearly remember her telling me that I have to be very careful during the first trimester as miscarriages happen. Her words left a deep impression in me but I didn't give much thought about it until later on.

After the first appointment with Dr Tan, I started taking folic acid daily. However, as the days go by, I began to feel uneasy. Call it the mother's instinct. Words cannot describe the kind of uneasiness I had. There were a few night I even woke up with nightmares and weird dreams. However, I didn't thought that I would suffer a miscarriage as I am young and healthy.

On that faithful 9 Sept 2010, Hubb and I went for the second appointment at Dr Tan's clinic. The ultrasound scan revealed that my baby's heart had stopped beating and the size of the fetus showed that it grew 'til about 8 weeks old. By then, I was supposed to be in the 9th week of pregnancy.

I was devastated and heartbroken. I lost my child 1 week ago without even realizing. What kind of mother am I. I could not control my emotion and I kept crying. Dr Tan suggested that I should do the 'dilation and curettage' (D&C) procedure ASAP to clean up the womb else the body will discharge "it" as a foreign tissue and I will go into extreme pain like menstrual cramp.

We fixed the appointment on 11 Sept 2010, Saturday. I can never forget that faithful day when I went into TMC with a heavy heart. I felt like I was going for an abortion except the fact that my child is no longer alive inside me.

It was a terrible wait at TMC. Thankfully Hubb accompanied me throughout the ordeal. I don't remember how long we waited but it seemed forever. I was then pushed to the OT alone and laid outside with more waiting. I couldn't help but sob quietly and I felt really terrible. I dislike waiting. Part of me wanted the procedure to be done quickly, yet at the same time, I couldn't bear to part with my baby. The OT was filled with tears of joy and sadness. The joy came from the cries of the newborns who were born via caesarean and the daddies and mommies. I was the sadness.

After a long wait, I was pushed into the OT. That was my first time in a OT, well, I'm not sure if it would be my last. It looked scary though. I was greeted by Dr Tan who told me not to worry and that it will be over soon and the anesthetist told me that the injection will be a little painful like ant's bite. Before I knew it, I was in "coma" and woke up when the procedure was done. I didn't feel any pain at all except extreme fatigue. I guess it must be the anesthetic and my broken heart.

Hubb was waiting for me patiently and the moment I saw him, I broke down again. We stayed a little while as the nurse said that I had to rest. I'm really thankful for a very supportive husband.

We then went to pick Aden from my grandma's place and made our way home. Everything went on as usual and I tried not to think about it. However, it was easier said than done. Soon, I sank into depression. I couldn't sleep at night and kept crying. I blamed myself for not taking care of my body and caused this to happen. In short, I was living in denial.

Thankfully, this painful ordeal didn't last long. I had a lot of supports from Hubb and my dear Mom and little Aden. Though he was young, Aden seemed to know something was amiss. Whenever he saw me crying, he would call upon me in his sweetest voice and gave me a big bear hug.

Also, surprisingly, I discovered that I was not the only one who went through this. Some of my friends who are mommies now began to share with me their personal experiences as well. I was not alone.

It may be a blessing in disguise.

To our Image,

"If tears could build a stairway, and memories a lane, I'd walk right up to heaven and bring you home again."

With Love

happy 26th birthday & 3rd yr wedding anniversary!

Last Thursday Hubby and I celebrated my birthday and our wedding anniversary! How time flies! Thinking back, Hubb and I have been through many ups and downs together. There were moments for happiness and arguments, laughter and tears, heart breaking and love-makings! All these are memories and moments like these made us stronger as a couple.

Hubb bought a cake (my fav! Rive Gauche!) on Wednesday, hoping to surprise me but too bad, I opened the fridge anyway. As we're sleeping pretty early these days, Aden and Hubb sang birthday song (and Baby G dancing in the tummy) and we cut and ate the cake before the clock strikes twelve!

And my goodness! Hubb surprised me with yet another Chanel loot! :p Honestly, I wasn't expecting anything from Hubby as I had already told him I want nothing expensive. Maybe just a Braun Hair Brush that's worth less than a hundred dollar. But anyway, I was moved to tears when I saw the Chanel paper bag that Hubb brought into the room.

It's a wallet and Hubb said that it is to match my bag. It's a long, calf skin, patent wallet in lavender color. (Forgot to take picture!) To be honest, I do like it the very moment I opened it up but I already have a LV long wallet so another long wallet is not a very practical choice to me. Thankfully, Hubb said that we could go down to Chanel the next day to exchange for another design. *Hooray!

I felt rather bad because I didn't pick the original wallet as my final choice but Hubb was cool about it and I eventually (incidentally) chose one that is slightly more expensive than the original one. *Oopsie!

I, too, gotten Hubb a gift though not a surprise at all. We went to Hello! Singtel Shop and I got him the Samsung S3. Initially Hubb wanted the blue one but he felt the urge to change the phone ASAP 'cos the Samsung Note resale price is dropping like crazy! Well, he's a happy man now!

We ended the day with a sumptuous dinner at Crystal Jade and some play time at the playground with Aden. It's always very heart-warming to see the 2 (very soon there will be 3) most important men of my life having fun and wrestling with each other on the bed at night.


p.s. i love you

Thank you darling for all your love and support all these while. Thank you for tolerating all my nonsense and always here for me whenever I needed you. Thank you for working so hard for the family. ilyvm

30 weeks

We're gonna see you in less than 10 weeks time, Baby G!

The feeling of becoming mommy again is overwhelming! It seems like yesterday when we just found out that I'm conceived with Aden korkor, and now I'm having Baby G didi!

How time flies!

This pregnancy is definitely much more challenging compared to the first. Not that I have bad morning sickness (thankfully!), my emotional health kind of suffered.

During the first pregnancy, everything seem to be going on so smoothly. It could be due to the "honeymoon" feeling we had as we just got together and got married, bought a house and arrival of Aden. Everything was good!

As for this pregnancy, not that Daddy and I are no longer in love (we are very much more loving actually!), things are more settled down and we have to manage a lot of things in every aspects of our lives. Hence, there are moments when my hormones decide to take charge and negatives thoughts began to fill my mind. But I know I have to overcome this and Daddy is in this with me. :)

One more thing to cheer about is my pregnancy weight! Yay! At 30 weeks, I've gained 10kg so far. I don't remember how much I put on by 30th week during the first pregnancy but by the time I gave birth to Aden at almost 40th week, I put on close to 20 kilos! So 10 more weeks to go and I hope I can maintain or maybe, just maybe, another 2 kilos more.

Another milestone in our lives. It will be challenging for sure but I know the Chewies can overcome this together. After all, haven't we been trying many new things together? :)

Aden's words... (Part 1)

I've been wanting to make a compilation of Aden's dictionary but with him attending Nursery now and learning more words day by day, I'm having a little trouble keeping pace with him.

At 2 1/2 year old, I believe Aden is really talking a lot. When he just turned two, he was not talking much yet and I kept asking the child care teachers if I should bring Aden for assessment. As time goes by, I've learnt that kids really do learn at their own pace and it is just a matter of time.

Now that he is talking and singing, some times I do wish for a quieter moment. Talk about life being an irony.

Anyway, here are some words and sentences that my darling boy, at 2 1/2 year old, is always saying...

1) 鸡鸭包 (Jiggle Bell)

Don't ask me why. I don't know! He came back home one day and started saying "鸡鸭包, 鸡鸭包!" Hubb and I were looking at each other wondering what the heck he was saying until months later when he was playing with the iPod touch and singing "鸡鸭包" with the Jiggle Bell tune playing. (And yes, it took us many months to finally figure out what he was saying, or rather singing...)

2) 我有 Mummy, Papa, XXX

XXX means whatever things he sees or he likes, he will input that in. So for example, if he sees an aeroplane in the sky, he would say, "我有 Mummy, Papa, Aeroplane". Or "我有 Mummy, Papa, Hold Hand". =D

3) 你, 我, 他

I think it's a little tough for a 2 year old to understand the difference. My boy always cracks me up whenever I ask him "你要 Mummy 喂你吃吗?" And his reply would always be "我要 Aden 喂你" where he actually meant that he wants to feed himself. (~_~)??

4) Papa 气车

At 2 1/2 yo, my dear son is able to recognize numbers, alphabets AND CAR LOGOS! When he sees cars on the road, he would proclaim loudly "不是 Papa 汽车!". And when he see a Mercedes Benz of a different color, he would go "不是 Papa 黑色/红色/黄色 or any other color other than white!"

5) Eh, 我的位!

My cheeky little one is always "fighting" with me on the bed. I normally sleep on the left side of the bed and poor daddy is currently sleeping on the mattress on the floor 'cos my darling son refuses to sleep by himself. Thus, the cheeky monkey has 3/4 of the bed to himself so that he can do a 360 degree turn every night. At times when he wants to tease me, he would go to MY SIDE of the bed, lie down, cover himself with the blanket and proclaim loudly "Eh, 我的位!".

6) Eh eh eh eh wooooooooool

Doesn't it ring a bell? No?
Bah Bah Black Sheep, EH EH EH EH WOOOOOOOOOL...
Need more explanation?

7) 大大, BIG BIG!

Ever since Aden knew that he's going to be a BIG brother, my little man seems to have grown in his BIG BIG world. I started teaching him to call himself "Aden Kor Kor", and soon I began to realize him associating many things and himself to 大大! He would call himself 大大KorKor, or when I asked him what he would like Didi to give him as a gift, he would be saying, "我要大大汽车/Truck/Aeroplane or etc." (Well, he can't really make up his mind as of now.)

8) Poooooooooooooo

This is quite disgusting but hey, who doesn't sh*t and fart? We taught him this pretty early and it really made up laugh out loud even 'til today.
It all started one fine day when Daddy farted and I looked at Aden and asked, "What happened? 谁?"
And Aden replied, "Papa".
I asked again, "Papa做么?"
And Aden cheekily went, "Papa poooooooooooooooooooooo".

That's all I can think of for now. There are definitely much more hilarious and entertaining words/sentences coming from my cheeky boy..

Til then...

Happy 30 months old Korkor Aden!

Dearest son,

Mommy fell in love with you more than 30 months ago when you were still in my womb.. and I'm loving you even more than before! You've brought much joy and happiness into our lives!

Thank you for being such a sweet boy from Day 1.
Thank you for sleeping through the nights from 2nd month onward.
Thank you for being quite an easy baby else we wouldn't have brought you to the other side of the earth!
Thank you for the endless hugs and kisses that you are always so ready and generous with.
Thank you for being such a wonderful son to us.

WE LOVE YOU!

With truck loads of love,

Mommy & Daddy

24th Week!

Hello Baby G!

Mommy is here again! :) You're officially 24 weeks old in mommy's tummy! And we're going to see you very soon my dear! You have been very active in mommy's tummy and I can't describe how I love having a little one kicking. Daddy can never understand. Mommy always feels that 38 to 40 weeks of pregnancy is way too short!

Well, our "expected" meet-up date is 8 Aug. Would you like to be a National Day baby? It's really up to you to decide. Mommy can only hope for it to happen... :p

Anyway, mommy would like to share an incident that happened yesterday.

Mommy was on the way to the office yesterday traveling by the MRT and I noticed a 8 yo little girl looking loss and helpless. She alighted at the same station as mommy. Seeing her alone and helpless, mommy approached this girl and got to know that she's a tourist from Thailand and got separated from her family. Mommy brought her to the station control and waited until her mother arrived. Upon seeing her daughter, the mother gave the little girl a big hug and I could see tears well up in their eyes. Before I realised, I had tears in my eyes too! The mother thank me and we went our separate ways.

Hence, mommy learnt a lesson.

Most parent's first reaction would probably be screaming at the top of her lungs upon seeing the child and start reprimanding the child and blah, blah, blah.

Yet this Thai mommy's reaction was giving assurance to her daughter that everything is alright.

Our actions and reactions toward things can be very different and they bring upon different outcomes.

As the saying goes, "Action speaks louder than words".

What else can be more assuring to a child other than receiving praise and hugs from parents?

That is why Korkor never fail to receive hugs and kisses from Daddy and Mommy daily.

Daddy, Mommy and Korkor are looking forward to see you soon! Be prepared to receive loads of big beary hugs and wet kisses from us! *Muackkkkkkkk!*

With love,
Mommy

Mommy is back!

Hello darlin' children,

Mommy is here again after MIA for so long. :)

Well, the inital set up of this space was to dedicate to Korkor Aden but now that Didi Gibson is kicking furiously in mommy's tummy, to be fair for us, let's make it a space for mommy to rant about you kiddos! HAHA!

Let's just hope mommy will bring this space back to life and by the time you little kiddos grow up to young gentlemen, and hopefully a demure lady (mommy's crossing fingers!), this space will be filled with sweet memories for all of us, the chewies IMAGE. Yes?

So to kick start this new journey once again, your kiasu mommy has once again set up a gmail account for Didi Gibson (gibsonchew@gmail.com), just like what I did for Korkor Aden.

p.s. In Singapore, we have to do a lot of "chopping" in advance. :)

'til the next post, much love from mommy.