Tyler's first mail

Alan got a little excited about getting Tyler's first official letter in the mail. I thought it was quite a comical picture of Tyler in his favorite position with his first mail in his hands.

Our baby has colic.. :(

Tyler has been the perfect easy-peasy baby to care for in the past few weeks. But in the last few days, he has become rather fussy sometime between 9 pm to 12 pm. Our otherwise no-cry baby would actually cry(OMG!!!) during these hours, while Mommy, Daddy and Grandma pull all kinds of stunts to try to soothe him.

After a few days, Grandma finally thought he might have colic. We read our books and the symptoms sorta match. So, that's our suspicion.

During this time, I usually let him try a few what i call "labor positions" which i find quite amusing. hehehe.. he is pretty cute doing it. He'll be draped across my lap, sucking his hands. Makes it look like he's kneeling and saying a prayer.

Although it is not continuous crying of 3 hrs, it still breaks my heart a little that my baby looks kinda miserable during this time. Let's just hope it goes away soon, eh?

Thanksgiving 2007

This year, we decided to have Thanksgiving at Ricky and Delina's house just to avoid the big hassle and because we can only sit 6 at our table! Just to make sure ALL of us got the Thanksgiving we are used to, I made a menu with everybody's expected food item and gave it to Ricky who still graciously agreed to host the dinner( even with 2 turkeys!!! ). To help out, all of us were given 1-2 dishes to prepare each.

Thanksgiving morning, Ricky called me up with some bad news. Turkey was still frozen at 11 am when we're supposed to eat at 2 pm. I had murder in my mind and was not afraid to voice it! Ricky took it well and calmly assured me things will be OK.


The turkey is thawed!!!

We all gathered at Ricky's about 3 hrs later than planned just to give the turkey some time to defrost(which thankfully did). Sabrina dished out some kick-ass queso with chips to help tide us over while we cooked our Thanksgiving dinner. One turkey in the oven, one turkey in the fryer and many hours later, everything was finally ready(not without some chaos, mind you)!


Tyler(who was the perfect gem) and Alan enjoying their 1st Thanksgiving together

We ate our delicious Thanksgiving dinner while Ricky and Delina told us about their engagement story and latest adventures at some therapy session. We, of course, were merciless with our smart ass comments!!!

After dinner, we sat and chatted and played pool till late. All in all, despite the rocky start, it was a really pleasant and fun Thanksgiving!


The group of us before the feast. Addy is taking the picture.

PS:Working mum, did we mention that for the last few years Alan has been working on a time machine, this year he perfected a big enough machine to take a few people and 2 turkeys to the future !!

Our own little snow angel

We had our first snow for the season and Alan thought it was time for Tyler to make his first own snow angel. I thought the following was a funny pose. Reminds me of the Stupendous Man pose from Calvin and Hobbes.

Little Man

Our little man is growing! He weighed in at 8 lb 7.7 oz today at our lactation session.

He's definitely behaving like a real man too! He shouts around when he's hungry, demanding his food. Burps out loud to show his appreciation for fine food and farts so loud he would make a big man tear up in his eyes!!!

Photo of our little family

Here's a picture of our little family. A rare moment for all of us to be awake, dressed and non-fussy at the same time!

How is Siew Gin coping ?

This is probably one of the FAQ when people call - how i'm coping or how I'm enjoying motherhood.

We are super blessed that Tyler is quite an easy baby to care for. Fusses when he is hungry, that's it. He just loves to eat, i think, just like his mom. Therefore, so far, it's been a relatively transition for me.

And because I'm nursing, weight has been coming off me quite fast and I was thrilled to find out I was able to get into my pre-pregnancy jeans and pants!! Might be a little tighter than before, but hey, it's a good start! My weight hovers around 100 lbs this week and i still have a little pouch to work on. But I'm giving myself till 1 month after birth to start taking more drastic measures like exercising!!



So, most days i just spend the day goofing about with Tyler when he is awake and sometimes try to get some stuff done. MIL and I have a few scrap book projects that we would like to finish before she goes home and we have made it out to the shops a few times. And we also took Tyler out with us once to one of the breastfeeding classes at the hospital, where i felt a little intimidated by other women's giant babies!!!!

All in all, i feel great and motherhood has been a very positive start of a journey.

But every now and then the lack of sleep during the night does catch up with me!!



Tyler and I passed out in front of tv...

Tummy Time for Tyler...

... and amusement time for Mommy and Daddy!!

Well, to help build up strong muscles on the back and neck, we decided to put Tyler on his belly for some tummy time which turned out to be some really amusing times for Mommy and Daddy. Grandma says that Tyler will have his revenge one day! Tyler didn't seem to mind.. what a trooper!

How did Alan and Tyler spend their Saturday Morning?

Alan showed Tyler the subtlety of getting a good tan!!

Tyler - the super model baby

Today we had our professional photo shoot for Tyler. To make him look smart, we thought it's time for him to take his first sponge bath. Grandma Evelyn did the ceremonial bath because Mommy did not know how to. Man, did he smell yummy or what?



So, as a family, Alan and I were dressed all smart in black while Tyler was in his casual onesie because we didn't know what the photographer had in mind.

When we got there, the photographer said she usually likes to photograph babies naked(not her.. the baby!!). So, we took off his clothes and diapers and walked into the lights. Uh oh.. As predicted, before anything was snapped, Tyler, thinking it's funny, lets go of some massive poo'ing action, making a mess on my new shirt, my pants, all over the backdrop. Geez.. Chaos broke loose with everybody running all over to wipe up poo with wipes and cloth. But as pros go, the show must go on....

Alan and I took turns to have pictures taken with our little star and when Daddy was holding him, he gave a majestic show of pee fountain, reaching about 3 ft!! By then the photographer gave a shrug and said, they'll just wash the backdrop after the shoot.

The photo shoot lasted about 1.5 hrs minus about 15-20 mins of feeding time. It was an attempt to make Tyler go to sleep for a particularly hard shot. But he must take after his Mommy, who loves her pictures taken, refused to sleep. Grandma got her turn for some pictures at the end and requested that her grandchild be properly dressed.

All in all, it was a fun experience and i'm not sure why i didn't take any pictures while we were there. So, we'll all have to wait 2 weeks for those pics to be processed...



Tyler all completely zonked-out after the shoot....

Thanks for all the wishes and flowers!

Just a quick note to everyone who sent in their wishes and blessing and also those who came by with flowers to visit - THANKS!

Here's some flowers sent by my group at work - Thanks guys!!

Who won the Tyler Pool?

For those who entered the Birth Date Guessing Pool, you are all losers except Terry, my best friend from San Diego. His guess was on 10/30/07 at 11 pm. So, he was 6 hrs off from the actual birth.

Steffen who had guessed 10/31/07 at 4 pm came a close second and had the weight guess the closest.

MIL has a blog too!

For many of those who have met my MIL, you'd think she's quite cool. Well, she's gotten cooler!! She's got her own blogsite! Ever ready to learn, she's off and running with her blog site after a couple late night editing sessions with me.

Check out her blog - it's got quite a few good pictures of Tyler too!

www.evelynandpatricksnews.blogspot.com

The Great Debate

So, all this week, MIL and I have been involved in this great debate whether Tyler looked more Asian or Caucasian. I totally think he looks pure Asian, whereas Alan and his mom said that he looks absolutely Caucasian. They even tried convincing me that he has blue eyes! Some funny glasses they must be wearing, i say.

What do you think?



What does Tyler think about all these??
Will that milk-lady(mommy) stop nagging at the diaper-man(daddy)!!

First week with the baby...

Our little zonked-out boxer!

After a short ride from the hospital, we got home to a tidy, clean house, thanks to MIL and not forgetting a bunch of nice roses and card from Alan. I'm quite the lucky girl!

But here's the low-down for the week:

1) I'm recovering well, actually ventured out on my Saturday(day 3) to go buy a breast pump with MIL. Tried not to look too hurt when the woman in the shop thought i hadn't delivered my baby. Her excuse was, "you look well for someone who just had a baby!!!". Besides i had already predicted that it would happen and mentally prepared for it.. :)

2) Tyler is adjusting well to life outside the womb. Eating, pooing and peeing well. Still a little jaundicy, but it's at a healthy level. Overall quite the contented child. But how can he not, with 3 people constantly fussing over him??

3) Alan is doing a jolly good job at helping out with diaper changing, baby cooing, and running errands. It helps that he's besotted with his son.

4) MIL also a great help around the house, with Tyler, washing up, good consultant etc. Helps me take care of my other baby too, though the constant tea-making is going to set a bad precedence for me. Alan's going to expect tea made for him all the time now...

5) Breastfeeding is going well. However, the every 2-3 hr wake up call throughout the night is not my favorite thing. But again, it's definitely more satisfying than waking up every night to go pee during the 3rd trimester.



Hmmm... I was worried about taking too many pictures of Tyler that i ended up with not very many pictures at all. I'll work on that this week.

Baby's First Ride

People always put pictures of their babies in their first ride in the car seat and so, i'm just following suit.

But i thought it was quite funny when Tyler was in his car seat, he looked like he was strapped up to go to space, and he didn't seem to mind it much.



First ride thru air in daddy's arms..

Hospital Stay

Tyler, Alan and I stayed at the hospital for 2.5 days and though Tyler and I had rather good sleeping arrangements, poor Alan had to camp on a not-so-soft sofa-converted-bed.

Overall, I think the hospital stay was great! Room service everyday, good food, nice friendly nurses etc. I learned a lot about personal and baby care from the nurses that it was quite comforting.






MIL came to spend time with us everyday and spend her time cooing at Tyler and walking around the hospital with me to get my exercise in.



Anyways, all good things come to an end and we got "kicked out" on Friday. I took a hot shower and put on some lippie, looked miserably at my big tummy and bravely took our first steps out of the hospital as a family of 3.