chi-mish ...and other words

Funny funny words are now spoken by our little Kay.
Here's a glossary / translation:

1) Chi-mish = Finish
2) cho-church = chocolate
3) Muffin = Play the Muffin Man song (again ... and again ...we've heard it maybe over 100 times)
4) Try = Can I try whatever you have on your plate or that yummy can of pop?
5) Ants Come Up !! = Ants are coming in through our bathroom window ...and she is terrified.


Before haircut

After Hair-cut

We gave her a second hair-cut (trim to the fringe). Didn't take it too well, after finding all the hair falling onto her t-shirt. She is such a clean-freak...keeps pointing out "Dirty" on the floors. Yes, mommy is not cleaning enough.

And we finally sold her Bumbo Seat on Craigslist...this shows her sitting on it for the last time.
Her birthday is coming up in a few weeks...2 years old !

I'm glad my business website is up and running. Except that the web-developer is taking forever to import the blog over to the website. It's been a month and she still cannot come up with a solution. Sigh...it's frustrating.

Happy first Birthday !

March 18, 2008
A year flew pass and Kay just turned one 2 days ago. Was meaning to post something on the day of, but like the rest of the year past, it just slipped by. Many thoughts and many emotions running through my mummy brains right now....but rest assured, they are mostly good thoughts. Would like to thank all our family and surrogate families in Toronto, Singapore, NZ, Alberta and NYC for making this such a special occasion for us.

Well, like how they would do it at the Oscars, I would like to thank:
the group of stouffville mums & kiddos (Rossana/Niall, Eilla/Mina, Maria/Paige & Rita/Caitlin) for all the good times; Samantha & Rachel (her friend since I was pregnant together with her mum Sam); Lydia/David/Richard/lydia's mum (for the support and friendship); Art & Mike (for the many dinner parties and being great neighbours); Yolande/Jason (for helping me through some tougher days); Thuwaibah (for always being there ...somehow); Paul (for all the great advice and being a dependable friend); Elaine/Gab (for sharing Kay's first sushi & museum experince); Joyce/ChungWoh (our dear friends in NYC who are so gracious hosts and such great friends); Ivana/Dan/Neil (for shoveling our driveway and being fantastic neighbours); Granny Giggles/Lynn (for the spiritual and emotional support, advice and laughs online... and off); PoPo/Judy and GongGong/Henghuat for being there during the toughest months; MaMah/YeYe for being that loud voice on the other side of the phone sending their love; Cheeyuen's siblings Laihong/Lailing/CheeHwee for taking care of matters in Singapore and giving us peace of mind to start our lives here in Toronto....well the list goes on and is not in order of importance. Forgive me if I have missed anyone out but i'd like to thank everyone who crossed our paths and made a difference.

Kay's One ! ... as I've piped it on her birthday cake....a pretty ok first attempt i should say.
She has achieved so much in a year that it makes my own progress in life a little shabby in comparison. She is constantly learning with every step, every breath, every touch and every taste. I can see why some people make babies as a hobby :) it's pretty rewarding to say the least.

Well, thanks to everyone's contribution, Kay's Time Capsule is filling up nicely with notes, keepsakes, loud-singing cards, photos, a recipe book, CD, dried up umbilical cord!, size #1 diaper, poems, bracelet/necklace, mini scrapbook...and her first pair of shoes. It will be such a great memory for her when she turns 10 and for us when we turn 60.

Maybe it's appropriate to say Thanks and wish everyone a Happy Easter too ! Enjoy the long weekend and pray for Spring to come.

A New year indeed...

The year usually only begins for me after my birthday. Many thanks for the birthday wishes, coffee treats, lunches and dinners. My indifference to birthdays, especially my own, seems to have lost steam this year. I'm unusually happy. It was something my friend said that really sunk in and tugged at my heartstrings.

Every year I get older and every birthday I celebrate, will be another year I spend with Kay....and Cheeyuen. Thanks for putting this wonderful line together...Thubee.

Our 10th anniversary marked by the birth of Kay really is an extra special milestone for us as a family. I'm saying my prayers and thanks as I'm typing these words on my new Mac book. Haha, can't help but brag about it. Yes I have been spoilt, this year and every year by my dear husband. And that special locket will contain these beautiful memories forever and will one day be passed along to Kay.

It's been quite a holiday season for us. Trip to New York (thanks for the hospitality Joyce & Chungwoh), first Christmas tree, Dinners, Lunches, baking and making truffles for friends. Our only regret is not having family around. Times like these make it especially hard to ignore this reality. We are seriously thinking of sending Kay back to Singapore for her summer holidays once she hits 6 years old. It will be a great way to instill some independence and get her acquainted with family and traditions there. That is not too far away I imagine :) now that she's turning one soon.

Right now I'm just wishing for this season of colds, teething and nasty coughs to be over for my precious little Kay. It's been dragging on for more than a month now. Dried up snort on her face has almost taken over her rosy cheeks and become a permanent feature. That said, nothing has dampened her spirits so far and nothing is stopping her from roaming around in quick steps on all fours. Standing up for 10 seconds on her own is the new record of the day. Maybe she would take her first steps by her first birthday. It's an extremely surreal feeling to see them gain this new independence. That baby that was so fragile, small and helpless is finally growing up. Kay is officially 10 months old today.

A month of craziness

Again time seems to fly by so quickly. There are so many things that happened in the past month that i don't know where to begin. First a quick note to say that I have fully recovered, wound-wise. The nurse stopped coming to visit me on November 19th. That makes it about 2.5 months since the first surgery. I'm glad it's over. It's been too long too painful. Anyway it's something that Kay has to be reminded of in future :)

Other then that we are also seeing many milestones for Kay. She is crawling really well now. And she is also pulling herself up and standing on her own without our help. Most mornings, I'll find her standing in the crib waiting for me to open her door. Sometimes with a big smile, sometimes screaming. But still as adorable as ever. She is a pretty happy baby, as long as she is played with, fed and rested. Not much complains except for her new found dislike for being in the carseat. It's been a struggle every time we get in and it often becomes a crying match until we reach the destination. I'm told it's a phase, so I'm just hoping it'll past soon. Oh, did we mention Kay cut her second tooth on the day my mum left for NZ? Yes,

October 27th - for the second tooth (bottom right). There is still no sign of the top teeth yet even though the symptoms seem to be persistently present.

November 22nd - Set up our first christmas tree. This year's theme is the Nutcracker & friends. Milo and Tea (our cats) have been catching the birds i put up on the tree. Every morning I find a "dead" one some where on the floor.

December 1st - Kay's first Santa Clause parade in Stouffville. It was freezing -15 degrees out there. She was mostly bundled up and quiet cos' of the cold...so we're not sure if she enjoyed it. It was a pretty big parade for a small town.

December 2nd - Kay's first encounter with Santa himself at daddy's Telus Children's christmas party. She didn't scream or cry on Santa's lap. Brave kid. It was fun...balloons, cotton candy, free food and good company.

Maybe i should start blogging with more dates....i'm realizing that I'm not recording down a lot of things and I forget.

Well, as you know the weather here is now getting pretty brutal. Snow storms for the last 3 days, icy driveways, slippery dirty roads, and a foot of snow in our backyard and garden. Now we wished we had a snow blower and a smaller driveway.

First Tooth and a new boob for mummy

It's so exciting, so joyful, so heartwarming and sometimes so painful (for me, at least). Kay just cut her first tooth today. Bottom right front tooth to be exact. And she is a happy chubby baby as usual, loving her rice cereal with peas and carrots. I actually love...I mean really enjoy making baby food. Steaming the bag of organic baby carrots, blending them with the Magic bullet and routinely spooning them into little containers. It's fun. So far we haven't bought a single jar of baby food, except for the cereals. So... Kay is happy and learning the game of peek-a-boo.

Mummy on the other hand is not so great. My big infection has finally become the "worse case scenario" according to all the handbooks and internet resources. But good news is there is nothing a little surgery wouldn't fix. So I went through that on September 12th and the real ordeal of dressing/ packing the wound starts. Dr Pallister told me it was the worst abscess she has ever seen and they drew out about half a pound of green pus. Not a very pretty thought, especially when they also have to pack the inside of the open wound with 4 metres of gauze-tape. And guess what, i have to continue doing this packing and unpacking everyday until the cavity heals from the inside out. Well, at least i don't have to do this myself, a nurse would visit me everyday until i recover. For a person who totally blacked-out at the sight of blood, the thought of all these would have killed me. But I think I handled it pretty well, especially when I've got such great support from Cheeyuen and also when I see the sweet, toothless smile on Kay's face. Well, guess i just needed to get the bad stuff out of my system so the good things will follow. Just doing my time for some bad karma I've acquired somewhere along the way.

Anyway, my mum is on her way to help out with my recovery and also with Kay. She might be at the airport collecting her luggage from the belts right now. Cheeyuen's gone to pick her up. It must be a journey of anxiety, worry and excitement for her and a pretty long one from NZ. Kay will be seeing her grandma for the first time when she wakes up in the morning. All will be better tomorrow. Right now I just feel blessed to have a wonderful husband who's been doing all the baby carrying-bathing-changing-feeding, cooking, working and caring for the past week while i was in pain ...and actually for the past nine years. Thanks hon. This will just be a post without photos, but with a lot of heart.

No pain no gain

Oopps... the little bald patch 'exposed' !


Kay on the throne...


ghetto baby


Kay and Gabe at the "sushi-nazi's" restaurant in Newmarket.




Kay the serious baby and Rachel the "wan-pei" baby


wow... it's literally 3 weeks of "pain in the boob" for me.
I have been suffering from Mastitis, apparently common in nursing mothers, with clogged milk ducts that turn into an infection. It's been pretty tough for Kay and I to go through this period. I had to take care of her alone with cheeyuen being away on business for a couple of weeks. And because of the antibiotics i'm taking, Kay has to be forced to go on the bottle 'cold turkey'. For the first few days, she was just wailing and screaming her lungs out, probably from missing the breastmilk and the closeness of nursing.

Her voice turned hoarse and husky. Her poo turn dark green. Poor girl.
But she's doing really well now... almost fully adjusted to formula milk and getting into a good sleep schedule. She actually sleeps for 9 hours at night and naps really well during the day. She's back to being a happy baby and so is mummy & daddy.

Well, i'm still in the process of recovering and would probably start thinking about stopping nursing after that. I want to start enjoying my time with Kay and not deal with my own bodily pains for a change. There is so much pressure in this society to breast feed that it's become ridiculous. Anyway, i have already done my dues for the past 4 months, enduring the constant throbbing pains. So Kay, better be thankful to mummy.

She is our little angel. A very serious one, nonetheless, who likes to watch and observe and learn. Drooling and spitting up as we coax a little smile out of her. Watching her grow has been the most fascinating thing ever. She is now playing on her own on the exersaucer and making friends of her own. Well, I set up the playdates but she makes the friends. Rachel and Gabriel are her first two pals. It'll be fun to see how they grow up to be.

That's it for now. We just had BBQ with Yolande, Jay and AJ in the backyard. Need to take a bath and continue with our 6th episode of "24" on the computer. With Kay sleeping better, Cheeyuen and I are enjoying more time together doing our favourite past-time...watching TV serials.

The Sarong

Been using the Sarong over the last few days. The Sarong is amazingly comfortable for Kay and she loves to be in it – often keeps her sleeping for over an hour without crying. I think the snug feel of the sarong reminds her of her time in mommy’s womb.

The sarong was brought over from Singapore and it comes with an instructional DVD – DVD is actually quite funny as it shows us the features of the sarong, including the availability of a pouch that you can keep your cell phone and tissues conveniently. Of course these are the 2 most essential items that a mom/dad needs to carry in Singapore :-)

I like the sarong too – with the sarong, both my hands are actually free and I can actually do simple tasks like typing this blog entry. Pics above shows the Sarong in action (Paul is a witness to the Sarong's advantages)

Sleepless nights have just started!

Sching and I thought we have a pretty quiet baby - that thought was quickly banished on Kay's first night. She is pretty demanding when it comes to feeding, diapers , or just attention. All the advice/feedback from friends seem to make sense now :-)

However it is all worth it especially you see her. Some sample ones above.

Proud Parents

I am falling asleep as I finish this post - just want to share a couple of pics that shows how happy we are to see Baby Kay for the first time. Our lives have just changed forever!

The CALM before the PUSH

We like to display some pics that totally belies the whole traumatic(for me, at least) labour process.

Pic 1: Me sitting really relaxed reading the Expectant Father(thanks Lucas, for the book), trying to crap in last minute info on how to handle the birth process

Pic 2: Sching sucking on some popsicles to keep hydrated

Pic 3: The cool Jacuzzi tub that Sching did not get to use as she was on epidural.

These pics were taken at around Mar 18 - 3pm .

About Kay's name

This is what Kay's name will look like in Chinese - Lin Qi in Mandarin and Lam Kei in Cantonese. Lim is of course my surname and Kay means a kind of jade or outstanding; extraordinary; distinguished; admirable in Chinese.

Basically we started thinking about the name after we first moved to Toronto a few years back. As most of you will know, names are normally expressed as first name, last name in this part of the world. So a typical name like mine will be read as Chee Yuen Lim, with Yuen being normally ignored and Chee Lim is not exactly how i like to be called. I ended up combining Chee Yuen into a single word and of course Sien Ching has came up with something cooler like Sching. My name is still easy with friends but it gets a bit frustrating when I am speaking with strangers. So I have resorted to 'Nigel' when i am ordering pizzas or cabs, or anything that does not require me to be truthful.

Anyway, back to Kay - we decided to go with something simple to save her the frustrations of her parents, but more importantly, we like her name to somewhat link back to her Chinese name and voila Kay, as it sounds just like the Cantonese version. It will also make it easier for us to name her siblings(this is a BIG if) - eg Fay(next girl), Jay(boy), May, etc.

p/s:One more note for Singaporeans reading this, because of the Hanyu Pinyin name on my passport, I have Chee, Yuen, Lin, Z, Lim on my drivers license here - result of the Canadian Immigration when I first landed in Toronto, they actually went out of space because they cannot squeeze Lin Zhiyuan into my official documents.

Baby Diapers!!

With the purchase of diapers, baby wash, & baby lotion today, preparation for Baby Kay's arrival is almost complete! Kay has been moving around pretty regularly and it looks like she is almost ready to face the world. It's been a whirlwind few months, when we start stocking up on baby stuff - big items like stroller, car seat, crib, and a house at Stouffville but of course plenty of smallish items like receiving blankets, onesies(thanks to the list from Andrew). Definitely more things to consider compared to playing golf :-)