Archives – August, 2007
He’s a tease, a charmer
Very friendly, can make one feel comfortable easily
People are drawn to him
Who’s this guy?
I met him eye to eye
He took us to dinner
No chemistry, nothing special
I was intrigued, Who was this guy?
I went back home
Sent him a message
Thanked him for everything
Sure, you’re welcome, he said.
Who was this guy, I wanted to know
He used to tease, and yet aloof
I teased him back
He opened up.
We became friends
Shared goals, shared jokes
Until we found out,
We share the same birthdate!
That triggered “it”
Common things discovered
The more we shared, the more we felt
From friendship, love blossomed.
We became one
Now we’re four.
Who is this guy?
Shankar, my love, no other.
August 30, 2007
Dear Samantha,
You’re exactly 9 months and 2 days old. To wrap up your milestones for your 8th month:
- you have started cruising (walking holding on to the furnitures)
- you climbed up the stairs… alone
- you can clap your hands
- you stood alone for 5 seconds
- says dada when you see daddy
- says ya-ya when you see kuya
- says te-te when you see mommy
- says ta-ta when you wave bye-bye (mommy is a very good interpreter, hey?)
- says pu when you see a ball
- says pek when you see a book (i’m a really certified interpreter).
- your pincer grasp is developing… i.e can pick up tiny objects using thumb and forefinger
- when mommy asks where’s the ball? you would look at the ball and smile, and same thing with the book
- you can recognize people: when i say, where’s daddy? you look at him; where’s kuya? you also look at him; and of course, when i ask you where mommy is, you’d look at me sweetly and smile.
- you like playing with your Kuya a lot… although sometimes, he could really be rough. but it seems that you don’t mind. you like to fight back also, like pulling his hair and scratching his face. Hahaha! That would really send him off from you.
- can drink from a cup (but i have to hold the cup for you)
- can do hi-5
- can do “twinkle twinkle little stars”. (only the twinkle twinkle part) this time, this is your favorite nursery rhyme song.
So… those are the things you could do at 8 months.
Now you’re on your 9th month, I can’t wait to see what else you could do. I have already installed the stairgate so this time, you won’t be able to climb up the stairs. He-he.
August 29, 2007
Schenker: Daddy, can you carry me, please?
Daddy: I cannot, Schenker… I have a backache.
Schenker: Daddy, plssssss… can you carry me? I have a backache also.
Hehehe.
Mommy: Schenker, where’s my comb?
Schenker: I think it’s right over there. (take note of the “i think” line. )
Hmmmm
Schenker: Mommy, I look like daddy.
Mommy: Really?
Schenker: yeah… baby Samantha looks like you.
How did he know that?
Our boy really surprises us a lot. He’s in a stage where he can already say back what he hears… i think he’s going towards being a tape recorder already. He hasn’t started using the word “why” yet. But he’s been trying to use the word “because.” But sometimes it doesn’t fit with his sentences. Hehehe. At least he’s trying. We don’t correct him a lot. We just say yes, then say the correct sentences. Correcting a child a lot can damage his self-esteem. There was a time when he started stuttering. I…I…I….I…. I… wanna drink water. I and my husband talked about it and decided to just ignore it. We knew he will outgrow it coz we didn’t see any bad reasons why he should stutter. I read from somewhere last time that one of the reasons why a child stutters is because of too much correction from parents or primary care taker. Or there must be lots of things in his mind and he becomes too excited to tell it that he starts stuttering. We thought it was due to the latter. Well, true enough, he had outgrown it. He doesn’t stutter anymore.
I think 75% of his speech now is understandable by others aside from his primary caretaker (his parents). Of course, as we interact with him daily, we understand everything he has to say. And when other people are around, we become the instant interpreter for the rest 25% that’s not understandable.
Suffice to say, we are happy with his language development.
August 27, 2007
On my 37th week appoinment with my Ob/Gynae, she asked me whether our first one was born on the due date or earlier. I told her Schenker was born 3 days early. So she told me that it could happen to the second one again. Well, I thought… waiting for another 3 weeks was like… if you’re pregnant (or have been pregnant) and you’re in your last trimester… you could relate this with me… waiting for 3 more weeks seems like waiting forever!
So… that night when I was surfing the net, I decided to search for some natural labor induction. I didn’t know before that there was such thing as inducing labor naturally… but when I searched about it… there were lots of websites that tell you what to do to induce labor the natural way. I didn’t really believe but I tried anyway! What did I do? I ate lots and lots of pineapple. They said it prepares the cervix to dilate but not really to induce labor. (Probably it’s the reason why pregnant women cannot eat pineapple much esp on the first trimester coz it has enzymes that can efface and dilate the cervix). Well, I did eat lots! (Coz I was also craving to eat pineapple that time). But one week passed by and Samantha was still feeling comfy inside the womb.
That Sunday, (nearing my 38th week) we went to church. A friend told me I was gonna give birth soon coz I looked swollen all over. I thought, yeah yeah… two weeks won’t be long, right? And another friend told me I have to walk (or exercise) more. I actually felt very tired that day… in fact we didn’t finish the Sunday service. We went home, I took a nap and after that, I asked Peter if we could walk around the park. (There’s a park in front of our new house by the way). We walked two rounds.
That night, I searched again for another website that could give me details on how to induce labor naturally coz I was feeling really tired and sick of being pregnant. AND I saw one article that said ” If you wanna induce your labor for wrong reasons… then it’s not right. You could harm the baby.” I got scared and felt guilty. I asked myself, what was my reason to induce my labor? So that I’d give birth soon and I could entertain my parents and sister who were coming to visit us? Or was it for convenience? Whatever reason I could think of… was wrong! So I asked God’s forgiveness. And I also asked Samantha’s forgiveness. I told her that night I could wait for her own time. No hurry. If she was ready to come out, then she’s ready. If not, no need to come out soon. No need to rush!
The next morning, probably around 2 o’clock, I felt some kind of contractions in my tummy. But it was very mild… so I thought probably it was only Braxton Hicks contractions (practice ones). I slept again. At 5am, i felt the contractions were becoming intensed. So I started counting the time interval. It was only like once in 15-20 minutes. I actually got up and started packing our clothes. No! I haven’t prepared our hospital bag until that time only! (During my first pregnancy, I was ready for everything when I was on my 35th week!). After I packed our things, I went back to bed again.At 6.30, I was still timing my contractions, from 10 minutes, it went down to 6 minutes then to 3 minutes!
Could this be the true labor?! I woke Peter up. I told him… Dear, I think I’m on labor already. He asked me the time interval.. I said it’s a 5-minute interval already. I didn’t tell him it was already on 3-minute interval. He just said… it’s ok dear.. why don’t you rest some more. Let’s sleep again…The good thing was… I didn’t listen to him. I got up and showered! In the shower, I paused everytime I felt the contractions coz it was really becoming so painful! After I showered, I woke Peter up again and told him it’s time to call his parents to come coz we had to have somebody in the house to take care of Schenker while we’re gone. So he called his parents.
I went down the stairs… boiled water, made myself a cup of milk… and went to the living room and sat down… and waited for Peter and for somebody to come to take care of the boy.At 8am, my sister-in-law came and took the boy with her. That’s when we were able to leave the house. That time my contractions were really intensed…. so intensed I could growl! I literally growled. The breathing techniques didn’t help… the growlings did!
8 o’clock on Monday morning… we were on the road… I was growling in pain at the back seat. Peter kept reminding me to breathe properly – the lamaze way. I tried… really I did… but like what I’ve said the growling was more helpful.
It was a bit jammed (traffic)… coz it was a peak hour. It took us 30 minutes to reach SJMC the hospital where I was gonna give birth (which.. in ordinary times, would have taken us 15 minutes only). When we reached the hospital I couldn’t walk anymore.. so I had to use the wheel chair. When we got up (on the 4th floor) the nurses and midwife were waiting for me at the door, showed me the way to the delivery suite. When the midwife checked me, I was already 9cm dilated! Can you imagine that? I must have a high pain tolerance. I managed without any pain reliever at all! Well, they put me in laughing gas (which is their normal procedure).
At 8:30am, I was on the delivery table, waiting for my Ob/Gynae to come. She came after a few minutes only… and I started pushing. In the morning of November 27, 2006, at 8:46 am, Samantha came out! Peter had the honor (again) to cut her cord up. He cut Schenker’s cord when he was born. Actually Peter had a lot of “honors” that day. He was the one who saw her first, and he was the one who carried her first.
I felt so elated after I delivered Samantha. I was smiling from ear to ear. As soon as she was cleaned up, the nurse gave her to me and I breastfed her straight away. I wasn’t tired so Samantha stayed with me for the first 6 hours of her life. After that, they took her to the nursery room so I could rest.
Samantha is now 9 months old and she’s doing very well, reaching her milestones and developments on time. Thank God!
August 26, 2007
Weee!!! It’s confirmed! We’re definitely going back to the Philippines, in Butuan, for a visit. We just bought our tickets online. We missed the cheaper flights, but it’s ok. It’s not that much.
I thought we couldn’t make it coz we spent so much paying for our car repair. It costed us heaps. But thank God for blessing us. Now we can go home already.
August 25, 2007
It’s another long day for everybody. We all woke uo so early and left the house at 10:30am to go to the kids’ playgroup, gymboree in Bangsar Village. Samantha’s on the 3rd level (from 8-10 month old babies) and Schenker’s on the 6th level (30-36 months old). Samantha’s time was at 11:25am and Schenker’s was at 2:50.
After Samantha’s session, we stayed in the mall and had Nando’s for lunch. I always eat their quarter chicken meal with lemon and herb as the sauce… but today, I had something different. I had… espetada, 4 grilled chicken thighs with green and red capsicum in between… served on a skewer hanging in a tube. It comes with peri chips and mediterranean salad. Gosh… it was awesome. I would definitely have it again.
August 25, 2007
8 months 3 weeks and 6 days old
This morning, Samantha gave me such a fright. I was going to go to the kitchen and prepare her food. But before I did that, I put her favorite program on tv, the Hi-5, to make sure she wasn’t going anywhere. But I was wrong. I think the moment I turned my back on her, she started going to the stairs… and climbed on it! I have actually been thinking of installing the stairgate already coz I knew she could climb the stairs already. I knew it because there were a few times that I let her do it, with me or with her daddy at her back just to be there just in case she’d lose balance. But she never did. Anyway… it was my fault. I should have installed the stair gate… or at least shouldn’t leave her alone. Good thing she didn’t fall or anything like it… It’s so frightening just to think about it.
So now I have installed the stairgate. Don’t wanna wait until something really bad will happen to her. (palayo!) hehehe.
August 23, 2007
Usually, when I read to my 8-month old daughter, Samantha, we don’t get to finish the story coz she usually tries so hard to grab the book and chew it, and we end up not finishing the story at all. But tonight, it was different. It was already her bed time so I put her pjs on, and started reading the story book (Hans Christian Andersen). To my delight, she just pounded and touched the pages… she didn’t try to grab it… I looked at her and I realized she was falling asleep!
Cool. She never went to sleep while listening to mommy’s story. Neither did her Kuya Schenker. Her kuya would only sleep after I read the book. Everytime I read other mommies’ stories or watch movies and saw the kids falling asleep while they read stories… I thought it was impossible. But I was wrong.
Samantha literally slept in my arms while I was reading to her. It was very sweet and wonderful. First time mah. So it was awesome.
August 21, 2007
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0b4wbeT5afE]
Schenker started pedalling his big bike (trike?) when he was 2.5 years old. The bike was a gift from his achacha and amama (grandfather and grandmother in Malayali language) for his 2nd year birthday. It was only last week that I got a chance to video him while biking… at the park
August 21, 2007
Remember I wrote something about discovering a Filipina working at my neighbour’s house? She gave me bagoong. Today, I cooked it with pork! Hehehe. Missing Pinoy food so much these days, so I cook when my husband is not around to have a meal with me.
Just last week, I cooked adobong baboy. Hmmm… after a few years of not eating pork fats… I sure missed it. I believe it’s okay to eat fats once in a while, eh? Just can’t help it. My husband doesn’t eat (or avoid eating if possible) karneng baboy (for health reasons) and I got converted awhile back… til last week, that is. It doesn’t hurt to eat once in a while, right? I sound so defensive, I know.
Okay… now here’s the reality. After all the research I made about Butuan, apartment hunting, hotel rates searching… here I am now unsure whether we really could go home or not. Really depends. Whatever the condition, I cannot write in here.
However, if we really really really can’t make it, it should be okay. There’s always next time. Like what I said, we were planning to visit home next year for Christmas. Who knows it’s better to go home next time.
Will write more updates… Good nite!
August 20, 2007
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