Jayna's First Month Celebration

My dear O-hime-sama (princess) is one month old! A pity our camera ran out of battery half-way thru the day and... Surprise, surprise! Our spare battery was flat too! Silly me... So we had to rely on my relative's camera later on which means we don't have all the photos yet. But I thought to upload those we have first. *smile* Here's a card we've made to explain the meaning of her name and why we chose it:

Princess Jayna @ 1 month old

Modeling for Avent pacifier? Haha...

My lovely children *swoon*

It's scary how alike Father and Son look...
As for Jayna, all my relatives commented that
Jayna looks very much like me when I was a newborn.
*grin*

So Sweet...

Daddy's girl...

Isn't she sweet?

Family of Four

One day, Joash woke up at 5 am and refused to go back to sleep. It was still quite a while before our confinement lady would come in for the day at 9am. Thus, we decided to start the day early by going to MacDonald's for breakfast. It was really enjoyable to go out for the first time as a family of four and we took our first family photo too!

Oops! We didn't dress up for the occasion...

Jaclyn: Isn't my new purple sarong sling pretty?


It's just soooo much less stressful
giving formula than breastfeeding...


Joash: Haiz... When will my sister finish her milk?

This is the way we... dig our noses!?!?!?


Joash: I can fly! Superman!
Joshua: You wish! I'm the one doing the heavy lifting...

My belated birthday celebration

On my actual birthday, I had to discharge Jayna and myself from the hospital and take care of her alone till Joshua comes back in the evening. When he came back with Joash from school, we were too busy cleaning up Joash's vomit (twice) and settling him to sleep (countless times) to do anything else. (He was feeling unwell then) I would have had no celebration whatsoever if not for the ARPC bible study group mothers who came over for a short while in the afternoon to bring me a birthday cake. I was very touched by their lovely gesture. :)

Therefore, Joshua decided to give me a belated birthday treat on Sunday at a super "atas" Japanese restaurant Kuriya which is so high class that they dun allow children younger than 6 years old to enter! So we left the care of Jayna to our confinement lady and Joash to my Mum-in-law and headed out to Great World City for lunch. The ambience, service and food were great and it was the most satisfying meal I had for the past 9 months. Even their toilet was very impressive with warmer for the seat and automatic washing and drying for the butt. *eyes big in amazement* It was definitely worth the $100 we spent for just the two of us!

Waiting for our main course to come...

We were so hungry and the food was so good that we forgot to take pictures of them till we were half-way through. LOL Felt like such a pig...

Salmon sashimi + teriyaki cod fish set and Beef shabu shabu set

Salmon sahimi!!!
My favorite: something I couldn't eat while pregnant.
I finally had a taste of it after 9 months of waiting!
Yapari oishii desune! (It's definitely delicious!)


Classy deco

Note: I was wearing a new dress my Sis-in-law got for me.
So sweet of her!

Thank you bear bear for the treat! Gochisou-sama-deshita! (It was a wonderful feast!)

Epiphanic Moments

These days I've been having moments of sudden revelation and insight. Here are two of them:

1) As I was watching Jayna sleeping peacefully in her playpen, I remember how I used to love carrying other people's babies and wished for one of my own. Old habits die hard and for an instant, I was strangely wishing that the sweet girl there belongs to me. It then hit me that she's really mine to hold and cherish. What's more, she's the second one!

God germinated in me a vision many years ago of having 4 lovely children and I'm already half-way there. It sure feels surreal that in a short span of time (about 2 and half years) of my marriage, I've become a mother of two. What's even more amazing is that God had granted the hope that my first born would be a son, followed by a daughter! Yet, I somehow feel as though it's such a natural thing for me to be their mother. It is truly part of the purpose of my life...

Psalm 127:3&4

"Sons are a heritage from the LORD, children a reward from him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are sons born in one’s youth."

2) I've become much more prayerful as I realized that my Holy-spirit prompted instinct is to talk to God about it whenever I face a problem. It is hardly because I've become more godly or whatsoever. It is because I've become more and more aware of my need for God and His guidance. I can do my part as a steward of my children by researching on the best method to raise them but it is only God who can cause them to respond well to the teaching and training. I've also become even more firm in my belief in the power of prayer from the corporate body of Christ and it is such a joy to see how God answers when we approach Him in the name of Jesus! Hallelujah!

Philippians. 4:6
"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God."

Self-feeding

Ever since a couple of months ago when Joash started to show interest in self-feeding, he had been slowly but surely making progress. Though we still have to clean up a bit after he finishes and he's still prone to some accidental spills when he's in a hurry, he is already getting a lot better at it, to the point where we could mostly leave him alone to finish his meal.

The next challenge would be toilet training but that I foresee will take a much longer time as he does not seem ready as yet...

Big and small

Joash has been learning about comparisons such as big/small, soft/hard and smooth/rough in school. His favorite so far is the word 'big'. One of the mornings, while preparing Joash for school, Jayna pooped. So I changed her on the changing mat. Seeing his sister there, he started climbing onto the changing table to lie down himself too.

But alas, Joash! You've long outgrown the changing mat already! You are too... BIG!!!

small...

...BIG!!!

Gifts

Although I had asked everyone to give cash instead of gifts (cos we are short on cash but have everything we need for baby already since it's our second one), we've seen many interesting gifts from our friends and family:

1) Pretty dresses and accessories
I guess no one but me can resist buying pretty clothes for baby girls! :P They are simply too adorable. Anyway, for a baby so young and squirmy, I prefer rompers or onesies which are much more manageable... The dresses will only make sense when they can walk and show off the loveliness of the clothing.

2) Diapers of various sizes and brands
Kinda hard to keep track of the sizes and they come in small packages so it's harder to store them. Some brands are just no good. I wouldn't have bought them if I had a choice...

3) Soft toys
For some strange reasons, they are all animals. I think I can start a zoo collection for Jayna. I sure hope she likes soft toys. Joash hated them...

The zoo in the making

4) A blue bouncer which looks like it's for a boy from Ngee Ann Poly.
This is by far the most amusing gift. And also I already have a very good bouncer so this has become a white elephant. Some more, my storeroom really have no more space to keep it. Well, at least it matches the children's room... heh heh...

See the label on the seatbelt? It says B. Boys!!!


Joash: Hi there, sis!
Jayna: Yo bro, what's up?

All in all, I appreciate the well wishes behind these gifts but what I love best is the gift of my friends' and family's presence. I really wouldn't mind if people come by empty handed as the company is much more precious to me. *smiles* Thank you, those who have visited me!

Mug Shot

Somehow, her hairstyle reminds me of Joshua's... Hmmm...

The Drama Princess

Why is Jayna not the drama queen? Because I AM the drama queen!!! So she can only be the princess... LOL She is a lot more expressive than Joash was at the same age. In the past, many had asked me why he kept frowning. I told them that he barely had two expressions: the frown or the blank look. He only managed to smile after a few weeks old.

She has also another nickname- the rabbit. Why? Because she nibbles. What took Joash 5 min flat to devour takes more than half an hour for Jayna to finish! She REALLY takes her own sweet time to finish her feed... So now I have a chipmunk and a rabbit. Long live animal farm! *bwahahahaha*

Jayna: Mummy, let me strike a pose first...


The sleepy and wistful look

The Prima donna stance

Jayna: Okay, I surrender! Pls dun shoot!

The "Oops I did it again" look

The ballerina pose

Jayna: Mummy, is my ribbon put on properly?

The Lord has blessed us with lots of hand-me-downs and the children's wardrobe is now full of clothes for both Joash and Jayna till a long time to come! Thank you, those who have a hand in filling it up! *bow*

It looks complete

I had been waiting very long for the final cuspid to emerge from Joash's gums but to no avail. It remained hidden, showing just that little whitish bud beneath the surface of the gums. Thus, I was surprised when I saw the tooth out in the open when I came back from the hospital. The tooth has broken through at last! So now his set of teeth looks complete when he smiles. :)

Saying Grace

I've been wanting to post a clip of Joash "saying" grace before a meal for the longest time but it had been difficult to capture him without him being distracted by the camera. When I eventually got a good shot, I hadn't the time to load it up. Well, here it is. For now, he can only say the words 'pray' and 'amen' while I fill in the rest.

Joash in tux

Sat night was my brother's wedding (too bad Jayna and I couldn't go) and Joash was all dressed up to attend it with Joshua. See how smart he looks! A pity, he could not be the page boy as they had to come back early cos I was suddenly down with fever and was alone at home with Jayna... *sobz*

Family Time

Saturday was our first real family time with everyone home. Joash finally had the chance to interact with his new sister in earnest. It's so sweet to see them together! I'm looking forward to the day they can play with each other and have lots of fun together. :)

Let's pose together!

Joash: Oh, dun cry, dun cry... Gor Gor sayang...

Joash: Come Mei Mei, I kiss you! *muack*

My Prince and Princess

Jayna: Let me wink at Daddy...

Welcome to the world, Jayna!

The birth story

0700
I was woken up by a contraction and thought that it was yet another Braxton Hicks (False Labor) since I had been having a few such episodes which lasted a few hours with irregular contractions. I was looking forward to eating a nice birthday lunch, which my in-laws would treat me to. (It is a tradition in Joshua’s family to celebrate with a birthday meal on the Sunday just before the actual birthday for the birthday person)

0800
While we were preparing to go out for church service, I realized that the contractions had been pretty regular for the past one hour (perhaps about 10 min apart) so I started counting the minutes in earnest and true enough, the intervals were even beginning to shorten to 6-7 min apart. Alarmed, I alerted Joshua and we decided not to go to church to make sure that it was not a false alarm.

1100
Joash took his nap, leaving us parents the time and space to discuss whether we should cancel the birthday lunch and head straight to the hospital. Unlike in Joash’s case, the water bag did not burst and there was no bloody show thus we had a hard time making the decision.

1230
The intervals shortened to 5 min apart. It was then we took Joash, who had just woken up, to my in-laws’ place for them to take care and drove to NUH, hoping that it was the real thing so that we wouldn’t have to head back and make a wasted trip.

1500
It took quite a while to get admitted and for the gynea to come and check me. I was verified to be in labor at 4cm dilated. Learning from experience, I tossed the idea of braving the labor pains out of the window and opted for an epidural.

1600
I had the epidural at 5cm dilation. I was rather nervous but it proved to be quite painless. With the pain relief in place, Joshua and I enjoyed the rest of the labor watching a Jap drama series together on his laptop. Too bad I was hungry to the point of having gastric. My last decent meal was the night before. I had to stop watching the show as I endured a different kind of pain! Hahaha…

1900
I was finally fully dilated and it was time to push! Apparently, I was pushing quite effectively. After three pushes, the nurses asked me to stop pushing and wait for the gynea to come as they could already see the head. Joshua had the luxury of slowly admiring Jayna’s hairy head while we waited. After the gynea came, it was simply a matter of a few more pushes before Jayna came wailing into the world! Praise God!

Jaclyn: My precious princess! You feel sooo warm...

Presenting... *Drum Roll* My cutsie fuzzy bunny!

An hour after delivery

The aftermath

Though the labor itself was quite pleasant since there was no nurse from hell and epidural at the last min (9 cm dilation), the after effects of the epidural hit me really hard. I could not eat despite being so ravenous and vomited out milo and papaya on 2 separate occasions. The nausea and dizziness reminded me of the torture I experienced daily during my first trimester. I felt so ill and uncomfortable that I couldn’t really rest till almost 1am. After the effects of the epidural wore off, I could finally feast on milo and crackers! (They only had those 2 things in the middle of the night :P)Thank God that this time round, the episiotomy was small and I recovered quite quickly from the pain. The gynea took such a long time stitching me up as she had to explain the process to a houseman. I felt like the frog specimen in a science experiment! Made me glad that I was given epidural or I can’t imagine enduring the ‘surgical procedure’. LOL