En Xi's first holiday @ Star Cruise

We have been planning our first holiday with En Xi for a while. We settled for a cruise holiday, cos it will be more manageable with her nap and feeding routines. Also, a short weekend trip will be the perfect fit since we wanted to rope in my family members. It's something I've always wanted to do, but it's so difficult to get everyone together for a trip with the the challenges of trying to coincide our leave. I'm so glad that we finally made it happen!

Shou Cong sneaking a tickle at En Xi

Shou Rui: That's 1..2..3 bananas.

En Xi: ok...what's banana?? can eat??

The most enjoyable part of the trip has to be our KTV session. From Mum's classic oldies to my 5-year old nephew's fav nursery rhymes of "ABCD", I have never covered so many genres of songs in one session. My 2-year old nephew even had a starring role of being the backup dancer while his brother was rapping away a Jay Chou's number!

Finally "singing the same tune".

En Xi up and awake at 11pm.

En Xi also had her first swimming attempt at the jacuzzi tub. She started off being slightly uneasy, to getting the hang of it. And finally, she got so comfortable with the warm sensation that she was dozing off on our way back to the room.

I like jacuzzi!

She also garnered a lot of attention among the passengers, smiling practically to everyone that she meets along the way. The consistent remark we get is En Xi's iconic punk hair.

Say "Winnnnnnkkkkk"

The future IR is behind me!!

The funny things

Many parents will also agree with me that no matter how cute other babies may seem, somehow, you will find that your own little one will be always be the most adorable being in the entire universe! We will always have endless reasons to be proud of our children.

Every baby is unique in their own way. Thou they will eventually feed, crawl, walk and eventually debate over the smallest things like anyone else, there's always a little something that makes that moment only unique to them at that moment. This posting will recount some of these moments we have over the past few weeks.

1. Steady..1..2..3..sit!
I'm always amused by how flexible a baby is. Especially when they start to twist themselves into challenging postures (for adults like us..) such as reaching for their toes, as thou it's some yummy lollipop.

I can do a hurdle stretch!

see..no hands..no hands...

Having said that, En Xi has moved on smoothly to her next major milestone, being able to prop herself up in an unaided siting position. The funny is part is when she tries to balance herself by holding out with her arms and juggling like a wobbly jelly.

2. Tinkie Winkie

Recently, we also realised that she will wink her right eye when the camera flashes at her. Initially, we thought this baby was trying to be cheeky! Then only to realise from the Doc that it was because she had a superficial scratch on the surface of the eye, causing it to be highly sensitive to high beams.

I'm casting for a role in Pirates of the Baby Caribbean..

3. I want to play..at 5am
This playful baby is also observed to be waking up more often during wee hours of dawn. I suspected that it's probably because she is ready for more solids, so took the heed from one of my friends to add a dinner session of solids. Hoping that this will to give her more energy to last thru the night. But it didn't work.

I decided to embark on another experiment - to feed her with water when she wakes instead of nursing her. This will "trick" her into thinking that there will not any milk served if she wakes up at night. That...didn't work too.

Maybe she is punishing mummy for not being around with her in the day. oh well...this is the time that we have to stock up our Brands Essence to see us through this period.

4. Baby can read!

We got her first texture hardbook to get her started on her tactile skills. She likes to hold the book by herself, get cranky if we tried to take it away from her. I think she probably thinks that the items in the books are edible, and presume that we are "snatching" her food.

D for dog...

Let's turn the page...

Mummy..did you hide my teddie bear in the book? naughty mummy..

We also noticed that she seems to have taken an interest to the stories that we read to her. Particulary the story for "Little Red Riding Hood" & "Jack & The Beanstalk", she will always beam with a big smile when we read the title to her.

Rewind to past 4 weeks

Mummy..when are you going to be home?

Edwin & myself have been extremely busy for the past 1 month, and we haven't had the time to update our blogs with En Xi's phenomenal growth.

These are the times that I feel extremely helpless and guilty for not spending enough time for our darling. Many a times, our darling will be fast asleep by the time I reached home. All I can do is to sit by her bed and marvel at how our little girl has grown by leaps and bounds before
I know it. It also made me realised that while I'm busy catching up with project timelines at work, I actually missed out the most important timelines of her growth.

Well, I guess this is the agony that most working mothers go through. I can also appreciate the efforts of some mothers who choose to give up their career to by a stay home mum - kudos to all of you out there!

Here's some of the long overdue pictures that we will like to share with you.

Hat shopping @ MotherCare - we always wanted to get a hat for En Xi to go with her sun dress. Somehow, we feel that she seems to look rather boy-boy with the hat. Luckily En Xi is blessed with bountiful amount of hair since she was born, so that helps to add to the "girlie" look. Her all-time standing hair has also somehow became her trademark.

The white & sweet one?

..the denim one?

...or maybe the pink & dainty one?

Let's take this! It's a goes well with my sundress!

My hair is finally flat!! (but not for long)

First try with solids - Glad that En Xi is rather receptive to her solids. In fact, she is a glutton! She is always grabbing the spoon, and can't wait for us to feed her. Sometimes, she even whine when we are not feeding her fast enough, what an impatient munchie!!

What's this white funny looking thing?

Let's try it..

I like it!! More more!!

Tough times

Honey..don't mess with me

The past 2 weeks has been a tough one for both myself and Baby En Xi. My viral fever came and goes over the weeks. My doc suspected that this could be due to the drop in my immune system, attributed to the late nights at work and interrupted sleep from the night feedings.

As for En Xi, she was noticed to be exceptionally cranky at a certain time in the evening. We thought it was due to her teething problems, since she was shafting her hand into the mouth whenever her crankiness acts up.

Tortise teether tastes good!

But mummy's fingers are still the best!

Else, she seems to be quite a happy baby, picking up a few new-found tricks over the past month. She can actually point her finger at us to suggest “one” and also very amused when we play “peek-a-boo” with her.

See...I can point number ONE!

Introducing my new toy - Mr Bumbo

Her face and arms were also ridden with mozzie-like bite marks, which just multiplied with the day. Ah Ma noticed that she was unusually difficult last week, and she got so agitated during her feedings that it started to worry us. I happened to be at home, and also noticed how her cries was escalating and could only be pacified by nursing her.

Off to the pediatrician - we realized that En Xi was having an attack of eczema, that was aggravated by the dust mites on our beddings (something that children are particular vulnerable to). Also, all the crankiness was as a result of the oral thrush that had built up over the weeks, which cause her to feel painful whenever she feeds on the bottle. Poor baby – but we are so proud of her cos she was coping so well that we didn’t realize the seriousness of the issue. I was intending to wean her off when she is 6 month. But since En Xi seems to be quite an allergic child, I decided to continue to breastfeed her at least till she is 1 year old upon the advise of Doc Tan.

We’re glad that En Xi is recovering well now. We went on a shopping spree over the weekend at Mothercare to celebrate our angel’s smooth recovery. There is always a reason to shop!

I'm a SuperBaby!

The Wang Family

It’s been almost a month since we posted updates, sorry for the silence! It’s been a hectic month for me, as work has been extremely overwhelming.

For this particular posting, I like to dedicate this to my family – The Wangs.

Some trivia about our surname that may interest you:

> It was spelling differently from the rest in the family line which is “Wong” instead by virtue of our dialect.

> The chances of our surname having a different permutation of pronunciation are rather common. Ang Mo called it “Wang” as in “want” with a "g" and Chinese typically as “one”. Either one, we still have not figured out which is the right way.

> We decide to drop the Hanyu Pinyin version in En Xi’s birth certificate, for the simplest reason that the Hanyu Pinyin version is written similarly to my dialect surname (Wang). This is to avoid her friends from being misleaded that she is carrying my surname, or that her dad is being married into our family.

Every since my brother Sam starts to have a penchant for photography, he is the designated camera man to document our key family events. Here are some valuable moments to share with you.

Chinese New Year 2008

Mum's birthday celeb with all of us trying to strike a "funny" pose.

Our first family picnic at Botanic Gardens
En Xi in the comfortable comforts of PoPo

First attempts

Haha...Ah Ma so funny...Grhh...

1st rollover to her tummy
On the morning of Labour Day, En Xi made her first successful rollover to her tummy! Initially, I thought it was an illusion due to my half-awake state. But on second look, I realized that she is actually on her tummy! Unconvinced that she can really do it, I turned her over to lie on her back again. And this little performer who is eager to demonstrate her new-found skill, made a neat rollover in seconds!

Mummy look! I can turn!

1st visit to Istana
Istana was opened to the public over the holiday. As none of us has visited this renowned landmark of Singapore, we were quite excited about this rare opportunity. Weather was scorching that day, but I guess the unbearable heat was dispelled by the serene greenery at Istana. The majesty of the Istana House is definitely an eye-opener for us.

Our first family portrait

Fingers is baby's best friend...yummy!

sexy mummy, sexy baby

1st attempt with car seat
With the new ruling that all infants need to be strapped in car seats, En Xi had her first trial over the weekend. Many have warned us that the first attempt would typically end up with screeching screams or unstoppable cries. So, we made sure that she was fed just before the ride to rule out crying as a result of hunger. However, En Xi took us by surprise by adapting very well in the carrier. No crankiness or crying, in fact she seems to be enjoying herself very much with the surroundings of the car (to the point that she even dozed off towards the end of the journey).

Can we have a pink-with-polka dots car seat?

The road to stardom

We are on national TV!

Yes I mean me and En Xi. For those who have not seen it, we have been appearing during the commercial breaks on Ch 5 & 8 since last week. It all started with the “Beautiful Babies” contest that was organized by Friso, where En Xi’s photo was one of the lucky few to be selected. 2 months later, I got a call from Mediacorp about whether we are interested to appear in an interstitial commissioned by Friso. In short, it’s a series of short clips throughout the year to chart the baby’s milestones. Before we knew it, we were told that we were selected, all thanks to En Xi’s captivating smile.

The shoot happened a week just before I returned to work, and thank god I have lost a bulk of my pregnancy mass. Thou the whole interstitial is merely 30s, but the shoot took us an entire day. The most challenging part was trying to capture the smiles of En Xi. From silly nursery songs to hilarious-looking faces, everyone in the crew was trying their best to tease her so that she can let out that precious smile of hers.

En Xi focusing hard on her "pose"

We are very happy that the final cut turned out very well, and En Xi looks soooo adorable! I’m somewhat a TV personality now..haha. For those who still want to catch it, here are the upcoming slots for the 1st series.
Ch 8
4th May, Sun - 9:30am/ 7pm
5th May, Mon - 4:30pm
6th May, Tues - 4:30pm/ 5:3opm
7th May, Wed - 4:30pm
8th May, Thurs - 4:30pm/5:30pm
9th May, Fri - 4:30pm/ 9pm
10th May, Sat - 9:30am/ 4:30pm
11th May, Sun - 10am/10pm

Ch 5

4th May, Sun - 6pm/ 6:30pm

5th May, Mon - 4pm/ 8pm

6th May, Tues - 12:30am/ 1am

7th May, Wed - 2pm/ 1am

8th May, Thurs - 11:30am/ 10pm/ 12am

9th May, Fri - 10:30am/ 4pm/ 10pm

10th May, Sat - 4pm/ 6pm/ 7:30pm

11th May, Sun - 5pm/ 6pm/ 10pm

Do look out for En Xi’s precious moments in the following months!

Taking a breather during the shoot