New Mum On The Block

Ashley Turns One

09 December 2009. Wednesday

I seriously think that my blog's gone to Neverland. I've left blog world for so long, if they ever had a rule on dormant blog sites, mine would have vanished into thin air !

In my hiatus from blogsphere, both the kiddos have taken over our space and lives. Aiden turned 3 in June and Ashley's now 13 months old. How time flies. Hats off to mummies who have to work and get home to cook dinner, put the kids to sleep and then log on to blog. I seriously need time management here. By the time both kids are in la-la land, I too would have joined them, if not any earlier.

Last month, we celebrated Ashley's first birthday with family and close friends. Of course, the party would not be complete if we did not have red eggs (especially for 1st birthdays...) and loads of food. So I took the easy way out > catering from a reliable nyonya restaurant at Damansara Perdana. No mess & easy peasy. MIL insisted on making her curry kapitan even though we could have catered, but I was not one who was going to complain.

And of course, any parent who has organized parties for children would tell you their woes in creating goodie bags that caters to children of various ages and gender unbiased. I know I know..... you might think why would you have goodie bags for guests attending your baby's 1 year old??? Well, it's like this.... when your baby has an older sibling, and when your baby can't fend for him/herself, the older sibling will automatically claim that it's his/her party and therefore entitled to invite his friends. So our poor Ashley had to settle for her older brother singing the birthday song to himself, blowing her candle and cutting her cake (claiming that she's too small to hold a plastic knife - 'it's dangerous ah').

All in all, a good party. Oh by the way, most of Ashley's presents have been claimed (confiscated) by the tai-kor-tai.....

Ashley in her dress ready for her party

Yummy fruit jelly cake we ordered for her birthday. (Costs us a bomb!)

The 'morning after' ....opening pressies from uncles, aunties and friends.

Ashley is 3 months

13 February 2009, Friday

Here's a quick update of Ashley, she turned 3 months last Sunday:

Weight : 6.3kg

Length : 56cm

Diet : 4oz Breastmilk every 3 hours during the day

She can now sleep through most of the night, waking up only once for a feed. She smiles and coos at everyone that plays or talks to her. She hates being by herself and usually calls out for attention if left in the cot for too long. Ashley loves sucking on her fingers, especially her left thumb (just like her older brother).

Being a girlie girl, she still needs her beauty sleep so she actually sleep alot for a 3 month old; waking up in the day only for feedings and playing for at most half hour before wanting to go back to sleep again. At first I was a bit apprehensive as she may not want to sleep at night, however she seems to have no problem sleeping at night.

Here's a photo of Ashley taken a couple of weeks ago. Look how fat she's grown! Time sure flies and I'm trying to enjoy babyhood as much as I can - as I may most probably stop at 2!

Ashley wearing what-used-to-be Aiden's pyjamas

The Arrival of Ashley Chan

08 Feb 2009, Sunday

My hubby comments last night : " What happened to your blog? It's been idle for the past 4 months. As usual, must be a passing phase for you...."

No, it's not. It's just that I've been enjoying (err...ok, most days enjoy but some days I really want to climb walls) our little arrival. I've not blogged about her at all - not that I dont want to. However, I wanted to spend those precious 3 months with her as much as I can, before getting back to the grind.

Boy oh boy, I knew that it was going to be difficult with 2 children under age 3, but no one prepared me for the tired days and long nights. If I was not tending to aka breast feeding the small one, I'd be spending my time with Aiden. This left little time for me to rest, let alone shower or eat.... The most challenging time was between the second to eight week. Ashley was latching on the me every 1.5-2 hours and just when I had her schedule fugured out, she began to have colic for the next 3 weeks or so. Phew....

Well, it certainly is getting much better now, and our baby Ashley is also sleeping through the night. We lurve her to bits and really is the apple of our eyes. And the clothes....I know everyone's advice about buying too much, but those dresses, skirts, hairbands.....arrrgh! I cant help it!! I'm consolling myself that since this is our second baby, we're not spending on the big ticket items such as bottles, sterilizers, baby cot and other essentials.

I've just gotten back to work last week, so once Ive got my work sorted out, I'll be back with more updates on Ashley and of course Aiden.

Leaving you with Ashley (photo taken Day 20). This beautiful photo was taken by Jasmine & Sue who did a photoshoot of Ashley in December. I'll certainly blog more about this in the next couple of weeks. Thanks Jazz & Sue for leaving us with beautiful pictures of Ashley that we'll cherish for years to come!!!

Name: Ashley Chan Xinmei

DOB: 08 Nov 2008

Weight: 3.01kg

Short Takes

22 September 2008, Monday

Mid Autumn Festival

It was a quiet affair with my family. We went for a quick dinner in the vicinity of our neighborhood. It was also raining for most of the evening, so we were really confined to our car porch compared to last year where some of the children in our neighborhood gathered in my neighbor's house to celebrate the event.

This year, my parents bought Aiden a battery operated latern (Mickey Mouse in an Aeroplane) with flashing lights and music – 'It's a Small World After All'. Of course with no volume control for this made in china product, the song really gets to you after awhile!

what's left of our mooncake, by the end of the evening. Note : candles are from my wedding!

Aiden's lanterns from previous years...

Having a good time with the grandparents...

Hmm... can my Mickey Mouse move on it's own?

Dont Bug Me...

The Garden Helper

Aiden is a real helper around the house these days. He insist on helping me carry this and that around the house and proves his independence and capability by wanting to do most of the things himself, much to our amusement.

One of them is being our little garden helper. He loves to water the garden and insists on having his own watering can. He also forbids us to water the pots that he is attending to, and makes us stand far far away…