Haley’s FullMoon Party

Hello dearest friends!

So sorry for the lack of posting lately. Been busy re-branding my photography business as well as editing photos from my recent shoots. Work (both photography & diving) is picking up slowly and I’m beginning to accept students to do open water courses this July. I’m also acticipating my first dive trip (for this year) to Sipadan-Mabul-Kapalai coming September. Yay!

Haley has just turned 3-month old and she’s learning her basic skills pretty fast. Since birth, we’ve grown with her with much love & happiness. We’ve seen her first smile and her first chuckle. She has learnt on how to hold things with her little hands, and we especially melted everytime she held our fingers ever so firmly. She even learnt to sit up straight (with some assistance from us of course) at the tender age of 2-month old! Her neck is so strong now and she can sit up pretty straight without any support to her neck.

Haley’s favorite moments are bathing & watching Sesame Streets on the DVD. And she still loves my milk. Although she’s stopped nursing from me. So, I’m currently pumping my milk exclusively for her.

Just recently she’s learning to roll to her side and we’re teaching her to roll to her tummy with constant “tummy time” everyday.

Yesterday, I had the greatest shock/fright of my life when Haley wriggled herself out of her car seat & dropped face down onto the hard floor! And from a couch level at that! Praise the Lord Almighty for sending an angel to protect her as she didn’t get hurt. Not even a bump on her head. PHEW! I initially thought her nose would’ve gotten a major blow or her forehead getting a huge bump, or worse, suffer a concussion. But Praise the Lord once again for protecting my baby!

She cried so hard for about half a minute (or so…) and while I craddled her in my arms, she suddenly stopped crying & gave me the most beautiful smile which took off some of the anxiety I was having that very moment. I was trembleing all over & called my paed friend to ask for advice. I then broke down & cried & apologised to my baby profusely for letting this happen. Gosh… it was really a traumatising moment. Monitored her since then for signs of lethargy or nausea but so far so good. She’s been sleeping well, feeding well & playing well. Thank you, Lord! AMEN!

Anyway… as promised… here are pics taken from Haley’s fullmoon party.

Our friends bought 3 different sets of cupcakes for the party. They’re so cute & tiny!

And we had lots of balloons to decorate the party.

Most of our close friends & relatives came to celebrate with us.

Haley was asleep almost throughout the party. She refused to wake up even for the family portrait!

 

 And she FINALLY woke up near the end of the party.

All photos are by Andy Lim 

Okay… that’s it for now. Will try to blog again some time soon with more pics of Haley growing up.

There’s Something About Haley

• Since she’s a “big” baby (born at 4.2 kg), she gets hungry real fast and when we feed her, she guzzles down her milk like a sink hole! When she’s done, she’ll “flick” the nipple out with her tongue with such a force!

Sometimes when she “poo poo”, her face will go all red & she’ll start crying. After “poo poo”, she’ll make such a cute face with her lips all puckered up and you can really see how much relieved she’s gotten!

• Very recently, she’s gotten to liking her rocking car seat. She normally will stop crying after we put her in the seat. We think she prefers sitting up than sleeping flat down.

She doesn’t like dirty diapers, especially with “poo poo” inside. She’ll not stop crying until we clean her. However, she’ll tolerate some pee to a certain extend.

• She snores, grunts, whines, smiles and even chuckles during her sleep.

She can lift up her neck for a few seconds while lying on her stomach when she’s only a few days old. Lately, she can sit up straight for nearly a whole min without any support!

• She doesn’t like being swaddled like most babies. She loves sleeping with both her arms spread apart above her head.

We celebrated her “fullmoon” (1-month age) recently and she slept almost thru the party, waking up for about half hr before we took her back home to settle for bedtime. Hahaha… Have just gotten the party pics yesterday & will be posting some up soon.

Meantime, here are a few shots I took of Haley during the day she turned 1-month old. All shots were taken with my NEW Canon 5D MKII!

This is the "After I Poo Poo" look

Happy Birthday Daddy

Daddy would have been celebrating his 56th birthday today.

WE STILL MISS YOU SO MUCH!

Like Being In Jail…

• So sorry for the long silence… I had had the “baby blues” since my last post. I was pretty down then… have been crying a lot for no particular reasons OR for even the smallest issue. I got aggitated soooo easily, especially with the presence of my own mother & my in-laws in the house. Sometimes, just hearing their voices got me all pissed. I’m so ashamed of myself but I can’t seem to kick those bad feelings away. Thank God I do not feel the same of Haley, especially when she cries for food or diaper change. In fact, her presence seems to calm me down lots, so that’s a good thing.

I know the main reason for how I was feeling was mainly due to the hormonal changes in my body. In addition to that, my “imperfect” confinement practices made it worse for me. Why I say “imperfect”? Well… for one, both mum & mum-in-law do not know how to execute the confinement rules to suit my emotional & physical being. I constantly get direct & indirect naggings from both of them, at times making me feel so useless & stupid. Often enough, they made me feel like I’m going through a punishment for giving birth to Haley. It’s like being in jail with constant reminders of how unsuitable I am for being a mother. I get bossed around to the point of even the way I sit got naggings from them! Sit also cannot… sleep also cannot… go outside also cannot… this cannot eat… that cannot drink… WHAT THE HELL DO YOU WANT ME TO DO??? Sigh…

• Initially, I had constipation problem and doctor adviced me to get some fibers into my diet, such as vegetable, etc. I was DENIED vegetables for no particular reasons except that IT IS ONE OF THE CONFINEMENT RULES! I was adamant & kept asking for my greens and alas my mum gave in AFTER I told her that it’s doctor’s order to give me my vegetables! Being said, I was only allowed 2 species of greens in my diet then. To my relief, some new species of greens have been added into the list a couple of days back.

When something wrong happened, such as when Haley’s got nappy rash recently, I got the blame for it! Heck!!! I didn’t change Haley’s diapers until the 2nd week and when the nappy rash happened, I got the blame! How is that possible that it was my fault?

• Yeah… some of you might be saying that I should have gotten myself a confinement lady (aka CL) in the first place. Well… maybe I should have… but then again… how’d I know if the CL will do me any better? I’ve heard of sooo many horror stories about them as well. How they’re so totally against breastfeeding and how they’re so strict & inconsiderate towards the mother & baby, forcing the ridiculous confinement rules on them.

Ah well… my emotional state is recovering slowly now. This I’d like to thank my loving darling & friends who’ve given me constant support & encouragement. I’ve been praying a lot to the Lord to help me go through this stage with constant strength & perseverance.

Enough of my rantings. Here I’d like to share more photos of Haley taken recently by darling Francis & yours truly. Thank you for reading this blog.

Darling took this pic recently

Cuteness Overload!

Haley's attempt to lift her head up

This is how she looks after her "head-lift" exercise

My Angel

Her cute smile

Hairy Haley

Long Eyelashes

Cutey Toes

How It’s Been So Far…

• Haley’s got jaundice since 3-days old but doctors had done 2 blood tests & convinced us that there’s nothing to worry about as the bilirubin level is low, hence, her jaundice is considered mild. I’ve been told to stay off ginger if I’m breastfeeding as this’ll slow down Haley’s recovery.

I think I’ve got post-natal stress. Being in confinement isn’t helping with the stress but I’m trying to control it. I’ve been very tearful & annoyed with both my mum & mother-in-law with some of their ridiculous “confinement rules”. Thank God for darling who’s ever so understanding & supportive. And Haley’s presence do calm me down some what, especially when she looks at me with her big big eyes.

• My breast milk is coming along better but I’m still mixing Haley’s diet with formula milk. Haley’s such a big baby that she gets hungry so much faster than many babies her age. I find drinking fresh milk & eating oatmeal helps with the milk production. Next, am going to look for red raspberry leaves tablets as was told it also helps with milk production. I was told by my doc that she had papaya leaves tea when she had her kids but she sed it’s a very bitter concoction, hence, I decided not to try it. Hehehe…

I’ve been thinking of daddy a lot. Everytime I look at Haley, her nose reminds me of daddy. I wonder if daddy’s spirit is with us & I hope he’s proud of his grand-daughter.

• Haley’s been such a good girl, only crying when she has the tummy upset or is hungry. She’s such a good natured baby and I pray this’ll be her true nature forever. However, when she’s upset, she can be very impatient, especially when she’s HUNGRY!

I’ve been taking some pics of Haley recently and here are a few to share with you. Hope you like them as much as I enjoy taking them! I’m in love with our little girl more & more each day!

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26th March 2009

Our little girl, Haley Tan Hui Min, in bornt on this day which is ALSO my birthday. Her name means “A Beautiful & Intelligent Heroine”.

I had to go through an emergency C-Section as my cervix couldn’t dilate despite a very good & strong contraction cycle after 7 long hrs of labor.

I was lucky to have darling with me in the O.T. and when baby Haley came out, we were ecstatic! She was 4.12 kg heavy and that is considered a reaallllyyy BIG BABY! Lucky thing I went thru C-Section rather than natural birth. Phew…

Okay… many will ask WHO does she take after… well… here’s our current conclusion from several of our friends’ comments.

Overall she looks like darling Francis. She has darling’s cheeks, mouth, fingers and toes. I personally think she has my nose and my hair thickness although her hair style follows daddy. Ah well… they say babies changes in features from month to month, so let’s see how much she’ll change next month!

Anyway… here are her pics at 7-days old. I’ll take more once I’m healed and can be more mobile.

Will update more later on what we’ve gone through ever since her arrival into our little family.

Dear Lord Almighty, we praise & thank you Lord, for the safe arrival of our little girl, Haley, into our little family. She’s the best birthday gift one can have and we pray that You will guide us to be the best parents she can ever have. AMEN.

Still Waiting…

In case you friends are wondering, (that is if there are still readers coming to this blog…) I’m STILL HEAVILY pregnant! From our last ante-natal visit, our baby girl is now about 3.5kg. Doc mentioned that she’s a big girl for mommy. Sigh…

My sleep is being deprived even before she’s out. I think my skin’s been stretched almost to its limit now, hence, the constant burning pain that lingers below my chest area. Sigh…

Baby’s due date is on the 24th March, 2 days short from my own birthday. We’re going for another ante-natal check-up tomorrow & doc will conduct an internal check-up besides the usual scan. We’ll then know what steps to take for the next week. Let you guys know once we’ve more news.

Dinner with Uncle Sam & Family

Last year, we had the pleasure of meeting Uncle Sam’s family who are now residing in Denmark. Uncle Sam is darling’s uncle from his mother’s side of the family. He moved to Denmark many many years ago & gave up his Malaysian citizenship to live in Denmark.

We brought him & his family to Riblee’s Restaurant for dinner during their visit. Great food & company. What more to ask for? Here are some casual shots taken during the evening.

Here is Jovi, Uncle Sam’s youngest grand-daughter. Such a lovely girl.

And this is Ben, one of Jovi’s cousin. He’s such a poser!

Everyone was just chatting away…

And lots of laughter!

I’m really glad that we had the chance to know each other even though we are living so far apart from each other. Such memories are precious & I am happy to be able to capture such moments with my family.

Updates…

Hello again!

Just a brief update of what’s going on with my life, my pregnancy & such.

I’ve put myself strictly on “maternity leave” since 2 weeks back. So this means no more photoshoots, no more going about doing errands… basically… PLENTY of rest & some exercise to prepare for labor. Our baby’s coming to full term in another week’s time, so, I’ve been warned to prepare both mentally & physically for the BIG DAY.

Baby bump’s getting tighter each day and our little girl is forever so fiesty inside, kicking & stretching ever so often which sometimes causes much discomfort & pain to my skin. But strange it may be, I LOVE it! Hahaha… I guess it’s a way to reassure me that she’s doing fine in there & getting ready for the big world pretty soon.

My breasts are getting oh sooo heavy & droopy. I fear that the droopiness will never go away, especially since I plan to breastfeed for at least 6 months or more. I’ve heard of some breasts firming programmes in the market but have yet done any research on them. Sigh… It’s not the “losing my beauty” part that I’m concerned about… it’s more of the discomfort that follows from a pair of droopy breasts. Arrrgh! For once in my life I’m not feeling very proud being a bustfull woman!

I tire easily nowadays too, so I try not to stress myself too much with things I normally stress about. It’s hard… but I’m trying…

and I realised very recently (few days back) that anxieties are kicking in as well. Beginning to have weird-stressful dreams. I get annoyed very easily too. Maybe it’s the thoughts (and fear) of the delivery procedure. Maybe it’s the thoughts of confinement which is beginning to make me feel like I’m going to lose my personal freedom, having have to follow certain “maternity rules” during the confinement days. All in the name of “for my good health & recovery” so I “do not suffer in my old age” later.

I’m told I won’t be allowed to eat or drink anything I’m used to… no cold beverages… not even my favorite orange juice or Ribena! No fast food (not that I eat a lot of fast food) but hey… no more western food for me! Oh my favorite ribs at Riblee’s!!!

I’m also told I’ll have to wear socks & avoid direct contact with wind! How bizarre is that??? The weather’s been scorching HOT for the past few months here in PJ and I’ve been sleeping in airconditioned room NAKED with no blanket! How am I going to survive this??? Oh God please give me strength!

Well… being the stubborn me… I’ll most try every means to escape from most of these ridiculous “rules” and bear the constant naggings from mum & the quiet scorns from my in-laws. I just don’t want to go crazy the time our baby turns 1-month old!

Anyway… enough rantings for now…

We are currently doing some research on Stem Cell Banks before deciding whether to have our baby’s stem cell stored for the future. Most probably we will but we’re just not too sure yet which banks we’re going for…

Okay… I’m running out of time to blog more today. Will try to blog again before I deliver, else, my next post will be of the welcoming of our little girl. So stay tuned!

The “25 Things….” Tag

ALRITEY! About a week ago, Alison tagged me on Facebook to list down “25 Things You May Not Know About Me”. At first I thought to just ignore it but as the days passed, more & more of my other friends are answering to such similar tag! Gosh… the power of internet (and Facebook) integrating & networking people all around us!

Anyway… here’s my share to the tag bug!

1. I’m a Malaysian Chinese-Bidayuh from the state of Sarawak. No, I don’t speak Bidayuh but I speak Mandarin & Hokkien pretty fluently.

2. Although I’ve stayed in the Peninsular Malaysia for almost 10 years, I still have not mastered in speaking the language of Cantonese. Shame shame…

3. I was a high achiever during Elementary & Secondary school days. Always top 5 in class. But I always feel that I’m dumb when it comes to the reality of life itself. But I’m getting wiser.

4. Was into Science fields throughout until the economic crisis in 1997 forced me to change my major (while in the uni) to business field. Took me quite sometime to grasp the new concept altogether.

5. My character & attitude can change from one extreme to another. Was a goody-two-shoes in the earlier stage of my life. Became adventurous with drugs, alcohol & in my social life during early adulthood. At the present moment, I aspire to be a better daughter, wife, mother, friend & business-woman. Too much, eh?

6. I don’t have any “real” qualifications (with certificates/documents to proof) except for my Piano education & my Professional Scuba Diving Instructorship. Couldn’t afford to complete my university degree (left while in my final year) & have yet done my MBA’s thesis paper to complete. Shame shame…

7. At this very moment, I’m thinking, “How the heck am I going to complete all 25 for this list?”.

8. I have very small feet for my height & weight. Size 5 and am flat-footed. Shopping for shoes is a hassle, but it is good for the money in my pocket.

9. I see myself growing old in a stumpy way. I’m pretty short & have humongous pair of thighs. Knowing the origin of my genes, I’ll end up being a fat midget as a grandmother.

10. I’m pretty adventurous in my food intake. In my younger days, my late father used to hunt all sorts of wildlife in the jungle of Borneo to supplement food on our table. Crocodiles, snakes, monkeys, squirrels, monitor-lizards, snapping fresh-water turtles, fruit-bats, etc. It’s legal to hunt them then.

11. I used to trust men easily. My heart got broken first by my very own father. When I turned 22, I stopped trusting men with my heart & I never thought I’d trust them EVER again. Then HE came along…

12. He was so pure & gentle with my heart, but I was adamant not to trust him at first. Took me quite a while to realize how precious he is and I finally married him.

13. We’re having a baby girl this coming March 2009!

14. I’m not quite sure if I’m ready to become a mother. I’m scared but I want to be good mother. My own mother is my role model. She has been ever so forgiving, understanding, unjudgemental & generous to her children.

15. Thank God that hubby’s been very supportive so far… I think hubby’s going to be a better father than I am going to be a good a mother to our children.

16. I hate clutters but I’m VERY GOOD in creating clutters! Hubby’s one cluttering master too in the house. Sigh… I wish I’m a better home-maker/decorator.

17. I love being in a company of fun, good friends. ALWAYS. Love to entertain guests at our home. HOWEVER, due to the increasing clutter, we entertain less now. Shy Shy… I’m dreaming for a new landed property some day. More space to have friends over for BBQ & friendly get-together.

18. I love listening to birds chirping outside our balcony. I believe them to bring good “CHI” to our place.

19. I love orchids. Heck… I love all kinds of colorful flowers! But I seldom buy them from florists cos I prefer them alive, planted in gardens or the wild. I feel sad whenever I see flowers eventually dried-up. That’s why I don’t buy flowers from florists unless for a specific reason.

20. I’m a late bloomer in photography. Always had an interest in photography since younger days but we’re just too poor to be able to nurture my interest.

21. Two men opened the door of photography for me finally. Hubby first “loan” me his (new) point & shoot digital camera indefinitely to do underwater photography. Mind you… we just started dating! Then, Daddy bought me my first DSLR Canon 350D as a birthday present. YES! I’m a very lucky gal!

22. I love weddings & babies especially. If I have all the money & resources available, I’d get married all over again. With the same guy, of course!

 23. I get my inspiration from Jenny Sun, Ann Hamilton, Anna Kuperberg, Trista Lerit & Gene Higa. I also dream to be a husband & wife photographer team just like The Altmix, The McLellan & Del Sol.

 24. I’m very good at planning things but I need constant motivation & “pushing” to execute them plans! So that means I’m pretty good at being a consultant & bossing people around to get things done. Hahaha… But having said that, I’m sort of a perfectionist, so I ended up getting on my knees & hands myself to get the job done most of the time. (With some grumblings of course!)

25. I can be thrifty on a lot of stuffs but I’d splurge on anything photography related, especially camera equipments. Hubby isn’t that happy though but I CAN’T HELP MYSELF!!!

PHEW! That’s it for now. Will blog again soon.