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

2 weeks at work

Mummy n Daddy is back..Yeah!

En Xi has made an amazing progress during these few weeks. She can hold on to our finger or her favorite rattle, and responses very well to the musical gym. Ah Ma also witnessed her first rollover to her tummy! A more amusing sight is whenever I nurse her on my right side; she will be mumbling a chain of “ehh” and “errrr”, as thou she is trying to talk to me.

Eh? Where's the milk in the bottle?

Baby Mozart at practice

We also realized that she really likes to watch TV…haha.. this addiction really takes after me. However we are mindful that we have to control such unhealthy habits, as it will affect her learning capabilities when she grows up.

It has been almost 2 weeks since I started work. Having to express and juggle with work is really no easy task. However, all the stress and worries will miraculously dispel when greeted with En Xi’s adorable smiles. Now, I can finally understand why some working mums choose to give up breastfeeding when they head back to work. It really takes a lot of perseverance, and I’m keeping my fingers crossed that I can hang on till En Xi is 6 months old.

En Xi with Auntie Sophia, Uncle Sam and birthday gal Estelle

The 3 spoilt brats in my family - Princess En rXi, Shourei - the Spiderman wanabe, and Shoucong - the Tyrant

Looking back

En Xi @ 3 months

It’s finally back to work tomorrow.

En Xi has been sleeping thru the night for the past few days, and finally I was able to catch some rest after weeks of interrupted sleep. Perhaps, En Xi knows that Mummy is going back to work, and she is trying to let Mummy have a good rest. Thou she had a bad case of allergy a couple of days back (a bad breakout on her cheeks coupled with an abnormal greenish-coloured poo), she wasn't cranky or difficult.

The past 3 months with En Xi has been full of ups and downs. Nonetheless, nothing beats the wonderful moments when I caught her 1st milestones; her 1st smile, 1st cooing sound & the 1st time she grasp my finger etc. As the date of back-to-work was nearing, I even harbored the thought of giving up my career so that I can always be there to catch her future milestones.

En Xi and her favorite baby posters - she loves to speak to them when she sees it

Drooling all over mummy after her 1st 5-in-1 jab

I never expect myself to feel this way. 2 months back, I was even contemplating to return to work after my confinement, to get away from her crankiness and inconsolable crying. At that point, I even doubt if I have what it takes to be a mother. But now, I am proud to say that I have done pretty well as a mummy. To all women out there – don’t doubt your maternal instincts, it’s more powerful than you can imagine.

I will probably take a while to adjust myself to the tempo at work. Life will be more challenging than just feeding and changing diapers from tomorrow onwards. Well, if I can managed the most demanding "client" back home, guess no client can be more difficult rite?

Ah Ma giving me a Jacuzzi bath - my favorite activity of the day

Fingers...yum yum

The days with Sister Charlene

Charlene trying to entertain En Xi with her breakdance.

The past 1 week has been a madhouse in the family, as we are kept busy with Charlene, Edwin’s 3-year old niece. As she is highly active and constantly clinging to Ah Ma, I was taking care of En Xi most of the time. As a result, it seems that En Xi is very attached to me now, and only be pacified by me whenever she wants to nap.

For Charlene, it’s almost like she is attending a “holiday” camp at our place. I guess because all the restrictions at home have been lifted, it was truly hell let loose for her. We were constantly amused by the comments she made, and whenever she “sa1 jiao1” (whine) at Ah Ma. Being very talkative, Charlene was swarming everyone with her “why” questions on every single thing that we do or say. We are also very amazed by how disciplined she is (attributed to her strict boot camp training at home), ie take her own temperature before she goes to sleep / and refusing every kids’ fav “Pokee” biscuit because her mum has gave her strict instructions to refrain due to her cough.

Here’s some interesting trivials about her:
> She is constantly quoting “My mummy says…” to justify the reasons for some of her statements/behaviour. For this reason, we decided to give her the nick “Mummy’s girl”.

> Ah Ma needs to be by her side the moment she wakes up in the morning, and no one else is allowed to attend to her except Ah Ma.

> She is quite a vain pot - when Edwin was teasing her that her hands are dirty (because of the mozzie marks), she almost burst into tears.

> She pretends to have stomachache every morning so that she don’t have to go to school (but Ah Ma always managed expose her plot).

> She thinks that En Xi is having a diarrhea everyday (as the stools of breastfeed babies are runny and typically yellowish).

Charlene & En Xi's first cable car ride

Ah Ma...why so noisy? Ah Ma..why is the door closed? Ah Ma...why..

Charlene never fails to surprise us every day with her unexpected statements. The house was definitely livelier with her around, it almost feels like we have 2 daughters for the past 1 week. It also gave us a little preview of what En Xi will be when she is 3-years old. Can’t wait till En Xi grows up!

Daddy's First Post

En Xi's first trip to the Botanic Gardens with Uncle Willie & Family

After much sacarsm from me wifey that I'm not contributing to baby En Xi's blog, I finally found time to do so. Well, En Xi is now a much happier baby & she's starting to smile a lot more.

Smiling More = More Attention

Now, instead of having to constantly shower attention to my other half, I'll be seen "goo-ing & gaa-ing" to En Xi. She seems to take a liking for talking, always making funny sounds that never fails to makes my parents go "Ohh! That's so cute!"

I've been following a former colleague's blog of mine about his baby gal, Noelle (noelletan.blogspot.com). As his baby is slightly a month older than En Xi, it seems that whatever that Noelle is going through seems like a prelude or sneak preview of what's coming up for En Xi. Very interesting indeed! Noelle was going through the phase of not wanting to feed through bottles & only wants direct feed from her mommy. And now, En Xi is going through the same this week.

Anyway, enough about En Xi and a little about myself. For daddy's to be, a little warning and advice.

1. Never play your Wii / PSP / PS3 or read your newspaper or watch soccer in the presence of your wifey. When you're home, the expectation is to take care of the baby & nothing else.

2. You used to be Priority 1 for your wifey. Now the only time that your missus will look straight into your eyes, is when she says "Can you stop xxx, take care of the baby, you need to bond with him/her"

3. When you both wake up in the morning, instead of turning over to say "Good Morning, my dear...", she will turn to the baby instead and check on her diapers & say "Her diapers very heavy leh, can change for her or not?"

Daddy... I "Pang Sai"... Can change for me?

Welcome to parenthood!
I'm not complaining & is still loving every minute of it.

My brother's little gal, Charlene is now at my place for a week as they are away at Taiwan. More posts about her next time..

Charlene Ong (En Xi's Cousin)