Baby Netanya

On 9 March 2006, God placed a special gift into my arms, my baby girl, Netanya was born.
When the nurse place her on me right after the delivery, there was no words to describe the kind of emotions that overwhelmed me. There was this great relieved that she is healthy, and the excitement of being a mom again, and the anxiety of wanting to do everything right for her, and the uncertainty of how I'll cope with a jealous toddler and a baby's needs, and the overflowing love for her and of course the physical tiredness of having just gone through labor. Unlike the first time, I also experienced a certain peace and assurance that everything will eventually be alright.


Some things that I tell myself:
Learn to enjoy each moment
Every parenting difficulty is a challenge that will eventaully work out
One step at a time, one day at a time
Your children are not perfect, be patient and love them for who they are
You are also not perfect, don't expect yourself to be able to do everything right
Every new day is a fresh start, don't be angry that the kids woke you up the night before

God's grace is always sufficient!

I got a ticket!!

Oh what rotten luck!

I just got a traffic ticket for making an 'illegal' u-turn. I made an u-turn at a traffic junction. The moment I turned, I saw a man in blue about 20 feet away from my car, signalling me to stop. This is the first time I've ever been pulled over by a police officer, it is a terribly lousy feeling when that happens. The car behind me who also did the same thing was also pulled over for the same offence. I swear there isn't any 'No U-turn' sign posted there, but since it is never wise to argue with a police officer, all I could do was to apologize and quietly accept the ticket. I don't even know how much it will cost me. I'll have to wait at least 10 days for the processing to be done and then I'll know the fined amount.
Arghhhh!!! ##@#@@xxx&%@$%^%@@##XX !

The last lap

Just a few more days and I'll be officially considered full-term, the magical 36th week mark. As the days go by, the wait seemed harder. The discomforts of the final weeks of pregnancy are increasing by the day. My tummy is heavy and the pressure of the baby's weight on the pelvic gets more and more intense. It hurts when I stand too long, and it is hard to even put on my socks and shoes. I really don't like feeling clumpsy. My sleeps are often disrupted by frequent visits to the bathroom, increasingly noticeable contractions (Braxton Hicks), nasal congestions and leg cramps. Maybe this is the nature's way of conditioning my body for the months of disrupted sleep ahead after the baby is born. But the hardest part would be not being able to play with Russell like I used to. When we sing "Ring around the rosie", Russell always requests to crawl around the rosie and hop around the rosie, but I just can't do those actions anymore. Sometimes he wants me to jump and roll around with him and I have to tell him that mama can't do that. He doesn't fuss but I know he feels a little disappointed. Because of all these, sometimes I hope that the baby can out as soon as possible. At the same time, I also hope for longer one-on-one time with my son. Anyway, it's not up to me to choose, God has His perfect timing.

Another exciting thing to look forward to is my mother and brother will be arriving this Saturday. Yeepee! I'm going to get lots of pampering from my mom...hee hee heee....And Russell will have so much fun with his uncle. Guess for the next 2 weeks, I won't have time to do much blogging.

Happy Valentine's Day

What a sweet surprise! Hubby brought home a bouquet of iris for me yesterday. I didn't expect him to buy me flowers, not that he's not the romantic type, just that we have agreed not to get each other anything this year. So it was really a very pleasant surprise and the flowers are so lovely! At dinner time, Russell with his mouth full of food suddenly blurted out, "I love you, mama. I love you, dada." Hmmm....seems like love is in the air all around us!

Hey! He can sing!

For sometime, I actually thought that Russell might be a little tone-deaf. Most of the children around us who are about the same age as him can sing or at least hum a tune. But he, though he loves to dance and clap with the music, has never opened his mouth to sing along. When I sing his favorite songs, I tried to encourage him to sing by leaving out words here and there so that he can fill in the blanks. But he would either shout the words, or stopped and wait for me to continue. Once in a while, he would recite the lyrics some songs but there was no recognizable tune to it.

Last Saturday morning, while I was making breakfast and he was playing by himself, I heard him sing! "All night, all day, angels (mumble,mumble).....my Lord" I dropped whatever I was doing quietly, not wanting to interrupt or make him feel shy, I stood there and enjoy that moment. This was the first time I heard my son sing and I actually thought he sang pretty well. (Ahem! Sorry, I can't help being a proud mama.) He was swaying his body and clapping his hands as he went, "All night, all day, angels (mumble,mumble).....my Lord", over and over again. Apparantly he only remembers the first line of the song, but that was good enough for me. Someone ever mentioned to me this and I quote " No matter how badly the mother sings, her voice will still be the most beautiful voice to her baby. And no matter how badly your child sings, his voice still sounds like those of angel's."
Wish I had a videocam then to record down his first debut.