Yee Sinn has been getting more and more curious about her surrounding. She likes to be propped up against us in a sitting manner to observe what’s going on around her. In fact, one of her favourite time is sitting on Papa’s lap during dinner watching us eat. I got her a bumbo seat and she seems to like sitting in it too.

Yee Sinn has lost interest in her food these few weeks. She has been fussing quite a bit while being fed. She will either use her hand to sweep the bottle away, turn her face left or right, use her tongue to push out the milk bottle teat or simply blow bubbles with the milk in her mouth. She just wants to play with her food.

So yesterday while I was on leave, I disciplined her for her bad behaviour. When she was up to her naughty antics, I looked at her straight in her eyes and told her very sternly “Lee Yee Sinn! No, don’t ever do that again! Mummy does not like you to do that.” I had to repeat myself 2 to 3 more times before she suckled her bottle quietly. Despite Grandma Lee commenting that Yee Sinn looked so pitiful sucking her bottle after we scolded her, I continued with the feed quietly to avoid getting baby distracted. Of course, we gave her plenty of encouragement when she suckled and even told her the reasons why she was scolded. Though they babies, I think they do understand what we do and say. Let’s hope she’ll behave these few days during her feed.

Yee Sinn turned 4 months last week. She is now an expert in flipping - lift to right, right to left. She’ll call for help once in a while when her arms are stuck under her chest. Once in position, she’ll move very quickly like a worm, to get from one end of the mattress to another. Sometimes I wish Yee Sinn could be greedier with her food. She is not a big eater to begin with and she gets easily distracted with her surrounding during feeding these few days. She has lost her interest in her milk and would rather suckle her fingers and thumbs.

Yesterday, Yee Sinn had a great time with Ah Gong. To our horror, Ah Gong introduced his favorite hobby to her – Watching TV. He was playing with her when suddenly he picked her up from the mattress and said “Come, let’s learn Chinese”. He put her on his lap and sat on his favorite chair before switching on the television. She seemed to be enjoying herself with the moving images and the conversations of some Taiwanese dramas. Both of them were glued to the box for quite awhile till Grandma Chang came back from her walk. Hubby and I believe that it’s good to put off introducing the TV to Yee Sinn as long as we can. Instead, we should be talking and playing with her so that she can pick up proper social skills. Even playing by herself would be better than watching TV. Oh well, the only consolation is Yee Sinn visits Ah Gong only once a week so we’ll close one eye for awhile.

Since I’m not getting a car for myself anytime soon, I’m so tempted to get one for my little girl. A coupe!!! Hee. Hee. Uncle Chen-Wei made a big big big mistake of asking me for my shopping list. Hope he’s reading this so that he’ll know that Yee Sinn wants a Little Tikes Coupe II. Not sure how he’s going to lug it back from US though….

Dolly Parton - I feel like Dolly Parton when I have back to back meetings with no time to release my engorgement. Still remembered there were times when I lament to hubby how un-sexy it is to be flat chested prior to my pregnacy days. Now, I do know what being top heavy feels like and sometime it can be a hindrance more than anything else. Hahahahha.

Having a kid can be very fun, especially a baby gir. It means I can indulge her in many many many cute girlie things. On Tuesday afternoon, I came across a Neo-Print machine while on my way to pick up lunch. I thought it would be cute to take a neo- print picture with my little girl. It was quite a task to get her to look straight into the camera. After trying a few shoots, we finally got the "almost perfect" picture. Too bad I was in grabby home clothes with no make up on. But it's ok as long as Yee Sinn looks better than Mama. *Grin* Papa have been complaining that I'm getting very vain with my girl recently- first the pretty pink dresses (with cute panties), the furry flower hair clips and now the neo prints. Oh well, I'm enjoying my time with my little princess while it lasts.

1 bag of rice and 2 packet of sugar - that's Yee Sinn's weight at the moment. She is approximately 6kg, a managable weight to carry her around. I have been putting her in the Babyrock Sling while running errands such as picking up the papers and getting my lunch at Toa Payoh Central. She is now so used to it that the moment she sees me taking out the sling, her eyes will light up because she knows she's going "kai kai".

As promised earlier, I've posted a picture of Yee Sinn's friend, Mr Frog and G-raft.

I gave hubby 10 out of 10 for helping to babysit Yee Sinn yesterday evening while I attended a friend’s wedding. He had a difficult time though, and that’s just because he wasn’t sure of baby’s schedule. If he’s reading this, Yee Sinn and Mama just want to let him know that it’s ok cos we’re all learning along the way.

I had an interesting encounter yesterday evening with the taxi drivers. I love chatting with cab drivers as they can be entertaining most of the time. During my journey to the hotel, the cabby was telling me how disillusioned he was with marriage. He mentioned how his wife from China left him 6 years into their marriage the moment she obtained her PR status. He was bitter about paying her child maintenance every month even though the kid belongs to her previous marriage.

On the way back, another cabby told me how hard he has to work to sustain his standard of living. He has 5 grown up children with 8 grand children. He mentioned how successful his children were and how much they were earning. When I asked if he has intention to retire, he just shook his head and said that he doesn’t get a single cent from them. He also revealed that he has been estranged from his family because he has another wife in Batam, whom he visits every week.

Everyone has a choice. To keep a marriage going, we have to make that choice in order to make things works. In the speech the groom’s father made, he said that it wasn’t easy for him and his wife when they got married. There were social pressure from inter- racial marriages at that time. But they held on and have been each other’s support and pillar of strength for the past 20 over years.

Growing together, showing appreciations and loving one another with all our hearts are some of our choices that we'll have to make to keep a marriage growing and going. I told hubby that it’s going to be a long journey but as long as we have each other, we’ll get there – Together.

Here are some photos that I took during the last few days. One of my favorites is the one with Yee Sinn and the yellow hair clip that I bought with my colleague during one of our lunch outings. It is wonderful having a daughter 'cos I can indulge her with these cute little accessories and other girlie stuffs.

Hubby and I went to the library this afternoon to return some books. We also registered Yee Sinn as a member of the National Library. She is now a proud owner of her very own library card. Hee Hee. I borrowed a huge giant book that has a cut out that allows us to put our faces through while reading to her. She looked kind of cute when we placed her face behind the pages. She doesn't really like it though. She kept pushing the book away when we were trying to snap some pictures. What horrible mummy I am... bully her for my own amusement. WAHAHAHHAAH.

Tomorrow is Mother's Day and this will be the first time my 2 darlings will be celebrating with/for me. I came across this poem forwarded by my colleague that reflects exactly how I feel being a mother. Happy Mother's Day to all!!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

Before I was a Mom,
I had never been puked on.

Pooped on.

Chewed on.

Peed on.

I had complete control of my mind and my thoughts.

I slept all night.

Before I was a Mom,

I never held down a screaming child so doctors could do tests.

Or give shots.

I never looked into teary eyes and cried.

I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin.

I never sat up late hours at night watching a baby sleep.

Before I was a Mom,

I never held a sleeping baby just because I didn't want to put her down.

I never felt my heart break into a million pieces when I couldn't stop the hurt.

I never knew that something so small could affect my life so much.

I never knew that I could love someone so much.

I never knew I would love being a Mom.

Before I was a Mom,
I didn't know the feeling of having my heart outside my body.

I didn't know how s! pecial i t could feel to feed a hungry baby.

I didn't know that bond between a mother and her child.

I didn't know that something so small could make me feel so important and happy.

Before I was a Mom,

I had never gotten up in the middle of the night every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay.

I had never known the warmth, the joy,

the love,

the heartache,

the wonderment or the satisfaction of being a Mom.

I didn't know I was capable of feeling so much,

before I was a Mom.

It's nice being at home again. This time round, I'll be on 1 weeks leave from work to take care of my Yee Sinn. Grandma Lee has gone to Hokkaido and Shanghai for a vacation and won't be back till the middle of next week.

It has been 2 days and I must say that I'm actually enjoying myself being a temporary stay at home mother. Like the Mastercard advertisements, spending time with my little girl is absolutely priceless. She has been talking and chuckling alot these days. She likes to talk to her friends - Mr Frog, G-raft and Pinky. I have been taking quite a few pictures of her and will be posting them soon.

Yee Sinn was a very brave girl on Saturday morning. She just gave a few squeaks when Dr Heng jabbed her. She was down with slight fever in the evening but all was well on Sunday. She enjoyed herself when she was at Grandma Chang's place yesterday as well. She smiled and chuckled heartily when her Ah Yee was playing with her. With her pleasant personality, everyone at home looked forward to having her as a companion. :-)

Hubby and I are so proud of our little girl. Yee Sinn is now able to hold her head up for a longer period of time. Also, she is now able to sleep on her own. The moment she starts yawning, we'll put her on her tummy. She'll usually fuss a little (but we pretend to ignore her), combat crawl a bit, before she falls asleep.

I didn't get much sleep last night...Not too sure what happened but baby kept fussing every 2 hours. She cried quite a bit each time so I fed her as her nappy wasn't wet. After drinking for awhile, she refluxed and caused quite a mess. Thank goodness she went back to sleep without much ado after each puke.

Yee Sinn will be going for her jabs tomorrow. Am kind of worried about her having fever again.... tell me when will be the day a mother stops worrying about her kids.

Let's hope all will be well this weekend. TGIF!