Quality Times with the babies

I will say that the past few days with the babies were fantastic, though at the sacrifices of my work and sales. Sales is lowest for this month when compared to my past 6 years in the company. It definitely worries me but hopefully, things will pick up by March.

This place is like a training camp for me and Felin where we practiced with all the feedings, changing diapers, coaxing baby to sleep, washing, sterilizing bottles, etc... I will say that we are much more confident handling all these task after this 1 week.

It is interesting to see the babies growing by day and getting to know their character better. Joshua tends to be a bit insecure and like to be carried around all the time. But he seems to be one who understand what is happening around him. When he is hungry, he gives us no chance and time to prepare and will shout for it immediately. He tends to sleep more at night and less napping in the day and hence we need to keep him entertained during the day. As for Josiah, he can lie quietly and play on his own and stare at the empty wall for many minutes before he calls for attention. He seems to be like me who don't like to sleep during between 11pm to 2am. He is definitely a easier baby to handle compared to Joshua and his behaviour will encourage couples to have babies as its less tiring to take care of him. During the stay here, Joshua was taken care by MIL during the night where she bought him to her room as we took care of Josiah in a separate room. The first night with both in the room was disastrous where Felin and I couldn't sleep a single minute.

I managed to see some milestone for Joshua on 25th Feb where we tried to lie him on his tummy and his head really raised up high like a cobra. His neck is getting stronger. I tried the same on Josiah but he couldn't really lift up his head yet.

Joshua went to see a PD here to check on his eyes 2 days ago and as what we expected, its just some blockage of his tear duct. He weighs 4.65kg as of 25th Feb. Josiah last weighs 4.1kg on 18th Feb.

Its tiring for this 1 week but we do enjoy the time with the babies. Felin is surely more tiring than me because she need to wake up to express the precious milk for the babies every 3-4 hours. We sometimes just wonder how long it take for them to grow up but yet at the same time worry that we miss out the cutest part of their life.

Our first Chinese New Year with the babies

Our first Chinese New Year with the babies becomes a logistic challenge. Its the confinement lady final day at our house and we made full use of her to feed both the babies throughout the night. We slept from 1am to 7am with Felin waking up for only 1 expressing session. We knew the days ahead will become more difficult with her departure. I put an Ang Bao for both the kids under their pillow as their first 压岁钱. I wish them good health and may them grow to be righteous and useful people. We are not superstitious people but we shall maintain some of the traditional Chinese beliefs for our children to follow in future.

Since Chinese New Year eve, we have been packing for ourselves and babies for the 8 days Malaysia Trip at Felin's home. We were really struggling to identify what to bring and afraid that we did not bring enough etc... but yet we were also aware that our car was already packed to the brim because of the stroller and baby seats. We then started to pack for the things to bring for the CNY house visiting. I started to unpack all the babies shower gifts first and kept them properly. We got a bit too many clothing and not in time to wash and let the babies wear for CNY. We are contemplating whether to give to friends who are are just pregnant. We had got a bit too many clothes for the babies after receiving them from friends when Felin was pregnant. It looks like its our time to bless others.

On CNY, We were supposed to get out of the house at 11am but ended up leaving the house at 12:30pm. Just as we were about to leave at 11am, the babies need to be fed and after babies are fed, Felin need to express milk and after expressing, we realized the milk bottles need to be sterilized, etc... When all seems done, the babies started crying again. The situation was chaotic and our target time to depart are delayed by 1.5 hours. My family are kinda impatient with us and called us several times. Really so embarrassing.

The day seems to be good with the babies being photo-bombed. As I am still in a somehow embarrassed state, I did not take much pictures of the babies myself.

My sister happily carrying both babies

We visited Aunt and Grandma and stayed till about 4pm before going back home. The confinement lady got prepared to depart but the cycle of the chaotic situation started again and we only manage to leave for Mum's house at 7:30pm as my 2 cousins came to our house. I took the chance to send my confinement lady back home at Bedok.

We stayed till about 11pm before going back home for the final preparation to go back Malaysia and we finally departed from home at 1am. Its our first long road trip and glad everything went well and we reached Felin's Malaysia home at 2:45am. The traffic was fantastic with few cars on the road. The babies slept during the journey and they seems to enjoy to be on the road. They cried when we are at the customs waiting to chop passport.

Here we are, now at Felin's parent's place. I need to be more hands-on to help Felin here. My initial plan to spend time reading and setting out my long term work plans looks difficult as I need to help out quite a fair bit and I do not even have time to sleep. I am able to write on this blog today is because Felin's Sister is able to help out today before she goes back to work tomorrow. Every help is useful to give us a breather.

Felin's niece helping to carry Josiah as I was writing on this blog

There are so many things we are supposed to do in Malaysia over this one week but with the babies, every outing becomes a problem for us. We were supposed to go service my car, to renew Felin's passport, to do our banking stuffs, etc... The next 3-4 days will be tough as help gets lesser and we shall be waiting for the arrival of our domestic helper before going back Singapore.

Babies brought us good luck?

Mum and Dad came over at 10am today to help us take care of the babies as we need go shopping for CNY clothes.

Felin and I were finally able to take a breather and eat at our favourite Sushi Express in Tampines 1 for lunch. She had endured not eating raw Salmon since pregnancy which is nearly 11 months of "No Sushi" days. Its only $1.50 per plate of salmon sushi and sashimi and we eat countless plates. Really enjoyed our lunch that day as sushi are our all-time favourite food.

We then started our shopping and I spent $207 for 2 shirts and trousers at G2000. For spending more than $128, I had a lucky Dip chance and see what I won. I posted this picture in Facebook and everyone commented that my babies brought me luck... lol...... Woo Hoo.

The Babies First Month Shower - 15th January 2015

Its finally the Babies First Month Shower. We took time and effort to prepare for the day despite our busy schedule taking care of the babies. All of us helped out in some ways. I ordered food from Casserole Catering and the cakes from Sweetest Moments. Glad that many of my guests commented that the food was yummy and the portion is just right. Just that the finger food part went out quite early. The Rendang Mutton was solid! As for the cakes, I had ordered 77 boxes and unfortunately still not enough to give all my guests.

 

Jimmy, Dad and I went collect the cakes at 9:30am and we were surprised that Dad's Toyota Vios is just enough to transport those 77 boxes of cakes. The whole car was packed to the brim with the cakes on Jimmy's lap. We reached the function room by 10:45am and Dad proceeded to buy balloons.

 

 

 

Guests started to come in from 11:30am onwards and I am busy all the way from that time onwards. This event is going to be the biggest for my babies. I don't think there will be a bigger event for them till their wedding in future. Everyone was eager to meet them and take picture with them and I was busy collecting gifts, Ang Baos and to chat with the guests. As there was so many of them, I couldn't really chat with each of them for more than 3 minutes.

 

 

At about 1:30pm, its the baby dedication time. Angeline and my cell group members came up and we sang worship songs followed by prayers for the babies, Felin and myself from Alec, Foong Peng and Angeline. Alec and Foong Peng are very good example of the type of parents we will want to be. They are able to lead the children to be Godly, intelligent and pleasant people. Felin and I want to bring up our children to have traits like their children too.

 

After the baby dedication, most people started to leave but there still a few who came relatively late. We packed up the place and more people came up to our place to continue to see the babies.

 

We ended the whole thing at about 4pm and Felin encountered the problem of engorgement due to delayed breast feeding which we took nearly 8 hours to resolve after Joshua's 2nd feed. Thank God all ended well after a tiring day and its time to count Ang Bao and take pictures of all the gifts we received.

 

 

We really thank God for granting us with a successful babies first month shower celebration. He blessed us with good weather, safe journey for all guests, just enough food without much wastage and the babies who behaved really well and let everyone to carry around. We enjoyed the day and certainly a day to remember. Thanks everyone for your generosity too. All Ang Bao proceeds will be deposited straight to the babies bank account and we will not keep a single cent from it.

 



They are one full month today!!!

Its 12th February and they are exactly 1 month old today. I don't know whether to comment if time is fast or slow. One month seems fast but many things seems to have happened. It seems quite long ago that we are still in hospital and I can't remember how many tiring nights we went through. Yet, how come its only 1 month?

2 days ago, we followed the Chinese one full month and I was tasked to cut the babies hair for tradition safekeeping. It was not too easy to cut their hair because their hair are so fine and yet they kept move around. I do not want to cut too little nor too much or else I'll leave a patch on their head.

 

We then proceeded to get out of the house for a short walk. It was a rather sunny day and the glare are probably not too comfortable for the babies.

We came back shortly and continue to take pictures. It was so heart-warming at times to see our parents so happy with the babies. Make us feel that the hardwork are all worth it and the children had bridged us and our parents closer.

We also love some of the photos and find them hilarious.

 See what? Not happy?

 

Better don't fool around with me!

 

 I am the champion!!!

Feeling demoralised over the weekend

Felin had her first breather on Sunday. Its her 28th days after her delivery and considered a full month. We went to Suntec City to shop for Babies clothings for their coming babies full month shower. We managed to get some beautiful clothes from H&M and they cost $29.90 but the unfortunate thing will be that these clothes can only be worn for only 1 or 2 times because they will grow so fast that they certainly can't fit after 2 months. Anyway, we like them and bought it. Mummy and Daddy also managed to get some clothes for Chinese New Year too. Its such a nice feeling having the time to go out with Felin again.

During the weekend, I stayed home to help with family chores, I somehow felt lousy on my job and I can't stop the feeling that I'm the most useless and lazy person at home. I try to think what need and ought to do and sometimes take instruction from MIL. When I try to do what I thought is okay and being questioned, I'll be seen as if I never use my brain to think before I do it. When I take instruction to do things and I didn't ask for the reason and just do it, I may missed doing something related to that task and when I did not do it and pressed for a reason again, I looks very stupid. Whenever I'm do something, I seems not able to do it well. When I carry the babies, I also don't know why they will cry whenever I carry them and when someone else do, they will stop the crying. Makes me feel that the babies just don't like me. Simply felt very demoralised like I can't even do simple things and I have no common sense.

On Sunday, MIL told me that help will be gone soon and I need to work harder to learn the ropes. That evening, I was eating a bit slower and after meal and she told me that I will not have the current luxury of eating slow in future. Could be well meaning advices but I start to stress myself that I shouldn't be enjoying my 6 hours sleep daily when the rest are just sleeping like max 4 hours stretch.

On Sunday night when I was changing diaper for Josiah at the bay window and stood up after changing. MIL thought I'm leaving the baby alone and shouted at me:"Don't joke with this type of thing! What if the baby fall!..." I wasn't leaving the baby alone! I was standing up to see if the cot is ready to place the baby back. I talked back, "I'm not joking. I'm serious with what I'm doing. I'm seriously wanting to learn but I'm just stupid and slow" I walked out the room after putting the baby back to the cot.

I admit that I'm not a detailed and hands-on person. I'm not a fast learner and yet not as hardworking as I should be. I blamed myself for not able to wake up at 3am or 5am to feed the babies and I have the luxury to sleep more than 6 hours per day. I'm simply not doing enough and its right that she gives me all the "Warnings" ahead.

Now I understanding better why some mothers get depression and why some fathers are not so keen to help at home. When everyone is tired, we can get more sensitive on certain issues. However, ultimately, if I don't do my job as a Father, I can't leave Felin alone to face it.

Snoring through the night

Another week just passed and we survived again. If not for the confinement lady and MIL, I don't think its easy for me to get back to office and work in the day and yet stay sane. MIL is going back on 15th Feb after our baby shower and the CL going back on the 18th Feb. The domestic helper is coming only end of Feb. I really smell trouble ahead and my February sales is going to be hit big time.

It is so difficult to coax the baby to sleep and they will just ee ee eh eh the whole day and night, rotating between Joshua and Josiah. They will feed every 2.5 to 3 hours and the feeding time take at least 30-45 minutes including the burping time. Even when they get into bed, they will eh eh again within few minutes and we have to pacify them again. Sometimes its also because of the wet and soiled diapers that they cry. I am feeling very tired rotating between the 2 of them even with so many people around. Felin told me last night that I simply snore through the night even when the babies are crying during mid-night. I think our babies are not very difficult but not easy as well. I somehow feel that if we are taking care of only 1 baby, it will be pretty easy and enjoyable but when the load is double, it can become quite exhausting.

The Chicken Essence and Bird Nest Daddy is enjoying cos Mummy don't like them

While writing this post, both of them are rotating the ee ee eh eh and I have to pat them to sleep every 5-10 minutes. I simply don't have much time to do my own stuff while at home due to those carrying, patting, feeding, diaper changing, coaxing, etc...

We have another week to plan for our baby 1st month shower party. The current head count stands at 113 and I somehow worry that it can be overcrowded. I'd ordered buffet lunch from Casserole for 100 pax and ordered 77 cakes from Sweetest Moments. The babies never encounter so many before and they need to stay strong and healthy over the next 1 week. We are also thinking what clothes to wear for ourselves and for the babies now.

Its quite interesting to see how fast they grow, especially Josiah. Just happy that he is getting rounder and heavier.

 8th Feb 2015

16th Jan 2015

Babies are 3 weeks old now

I'm counting weeks again but this time counting babies age by weeks and no longer their time in Felin's womb. I started this blog when they are 7th week in Felin womb and its now their 3 weeks old in this world. How amazing things had been turning out to be and I really thank God for helping me all along. The worry of a parent started as soon as I knew their existence and my worry about them now is their health and well being. I just have to do my best as their caregiver at this stage.

My family have been supportive and I am able to get back to work relatively quickly. I go work at 10am daily and try to be back home by 9:30pm everyday so as to spend some quality time with the babies in the morning and evening. I also try to avoid working on weekends so that I can spend the full day at home.

What happened over the week? Need a recap...

* I had purchased the AIA healthshield Gold Max A with Max Essential for the babies when they are 16 days old, hopefully they can be covered from 1st March onwards. Just need to trust that they will not need to visit the hospital prior that.
* I started to plan for the babies 1st month shower. We initially wanted to organise in March but Mum and Dad insisted that it have to be done as close to 1st month as possible. We estimated a crowd of 100 pax and we did some research during the week on Buffet, Decoration and cakes.
* We are most likely getting from "Smiling Orchid Catering" and the cakes from "Sweetest Moment". Wennie will be helping us with the banner and I'll check out on the balloons, etc... this week.

Mum celebrated this year's birthday with the babies. Our family came together and my cousins happened to drop by our place to visit the babies. This year, its quite a number of us indeed. Mum really enjoyed a lot...

I sometimes just feel that the babies arrival makes my relationship with my parents closer. I really appreciate how they had taken care of me and helped me during all these weeks. Its just like how I need to care for my babies and do not need to ask anything back in return. I think I only need them to be happy now...

As for the babies, they tends to get quite cranky in the evening between 7pm to 1am and all of us have to stay awake to cuddle, sing, talk to them. We suspect that its probably due to colic during evening time. We then gave them the 12am to 1am feed before they wake up again at about 3-4am for the next feed with formula milk. Felin will wake up about 4am to express milk for their next feed at 6am-7am. God had supplied Felin with just enough milk for the 2 babies even with their increased appetite over the past 2 weeks. Thanks to MIL who helped us with some of the mid-night and early morning feeds and my sister who visited us last Friday to help me. MIL will be back Singapore on Monday and our work will be relieved again.

Its a routine recording all these feeds and I'm always curious on how much milk they increased daily.

As for today, we spent the whole day for the babies and the fun part is while we try to take picture for their passport today. They are simply so adorable...

They are simply so adorable and its good that we enjoy them as much as possible at this stage...