The day you turned 1

A journey back to memory lane...

TODAY is the day, 365 days ago, where I decided to induce Jayden 1 day before his EDD. Based on our gynae's prediction, we were expecting his arrival on the actual EDD 20-Oct but little did we know that after 12 hours of waiting, the little one decided to see the world a day earlier at 1934hrs.

The delivery experience was amazing. When I finally managed to push my baby out, I felt that I've 'emptied' my stomach.

And when I heard Jayden crying pitifully, my immediate panicky response was "Why is he crying?! Is he in pain?!" Of course I got laughed at my gynae and the nurses who told me that crying was good as it opens up his lungs and vocals. Silly mummy...

I can still remember the 1st moment I cradle you in my arms, your helpless mouth went straight to me for food and how serene you looked when you were fast asleep.

If I could walk thru those moments with you again, I would. All over and over again...

Your 1st day in the hospital tub

Celebrating your 1st month milestone

By the 2nd month, you were already a curious baby

And the 3rd month, you'll squeal in delight when it's bath time...

By the 4th month, you could roll over and hold your head steady

At 5 months, you had your 1st dip naked.

That's about the time you start to lose your baby fats & chubby cheeks

You love to flip the books & had your 1st taste of solids.

You also cut your 1st bottom tooth.

At 7 months, you can feed yourself. Your fav food is apple.

You can stand supported at 8 months

At 9 months, you smile lesser because mummy make you do silly things

At 10 months, you discovered where I keep my most precious undies

After months of trying, you finally hold your own bottle

And now at 12 months,

we decided to let you take over the
wheels from daddy (just kidding!)

At birth, you weighed 3.27kg as light as the feather and now 12 months later, you almost 9kg. Despite my arms ache everytime I carry you, I told myself that these are the only few moments that you'll allow me to carry.

** OUR MESSAGE TO OUR BABY **

Dear Jayden,

Please continue to grow strong, healthy & happy. Irregardless of which age you're at, please remember that Mummy & Daddy loves you very very much.

Mummy & Daddy has gone thru sleepless nights, agonising times to ensure that you're always safe & sound. But thru it all, we've always felt that it's more than worth it. We will always give you our best.

At times when we try to correct your wrongs, please don't hate us. We only do it out of our love because we want you to know what's good for you.

Happy Birthday baby Jayden!

Busy October

October only started to be a special month for Dylan and I when Jayden came along. And it has become our busiest month of the year, even surpassing the busy months when we did our house renovation or planning our wedding!

And since October was such a special month to us, we decided to celebrate every weekend of it!

1st weekend - 5th Oct

** JAYDEN'S LUNAR CELEBRATION **

The MIL insisted on celebrating his 1st birthday on his lunar age instead. And so we did. Totally clueless on the rituals, we dragged (I have to use dragged cause the poor fella was still sleeping) Jayden to the grandparents place in the early morning to offer prayers to the ancestors.

Marked his feet on 2 giant ang ku kwehs, stuffed the blur baby with mee suah, chicken drumstick and mushrooms and then made a cheap attempt to make him 'pick the items'.

Obviously, Jayden picked the calculator first (must be thinking it was a model of a mobile phone). Then money (good for you boy!), followed by book and lastly the pen. I have no inkling idea what the sequence meant as nobody explained to us. -_-

After that, we quickly whiz back home for the little one to catch a quick nap before the relatives came over to tear the house down.

A 2kg sesame street cake from Pine Garden

Happy & proud parents of the birthday boy

Having fun with one of his gifts

Posing with his pressies & ang baos

Jayden received ALOT of ang baos from the relatives. Dylan was still joking that at the rate that he's receiving, his son will be richer than Daddy in no time. Heh heh...

2nd weekend - 12 Oct

** DINNER @ SHANGRI-LA THE LINE **

Ever since Baby Bites (our dinner saviour) were wiped off the shelves, we couldn't find an alternative to keep Jayden busy while we gobble have our meals. And so, we gave him a bread stick off the buffet line. That only worked for a mere 2 mins before he started banging the bread stick in frustration and crushing it into pieces.

Nonetheless, we had an enjoyable & very guilty dinner with platters of sashimi, tender beef, pastas and countless chocolate cakes, durian puffs and ice-cream. And this was the day that Jayden tried every bit of what we had too!

What's up for the 3rd week?

** Jayden's official 1 year old party!!! **

2 weeks before 1

Yes...my little terrorist will officially become 1 in 2 weeks time. Which means, I'll have to upgrade his milk soon, no more FREE access to most playgyms, no more an infant, no more counting his age by months, it'll be 1 year something... GOSH. Am I starting to miss the innocent, non-defiant baby I once knew?

Look at how much he has grown!

At least the swim suit doesn't look so oversized anymore.

And the lazy bum can finally hold his own bottle

He still loves the water

Barney became his favourite ride

And despite all the growing up, he still can fit into his infant cap

I have thrown the milestone checklist out of the window since Jayden was 6 months. I guess as long as the little one is growing healthily and crawling all over the place, the milestone achieved is just an extra bonus to brighten up my day.

The little things he does to amuse me nowadays: -

1) Waving bye-bye enthusiastically whenever he sees a bus goes by

2) Whistles when you ask "Where's the bird?"

3) Touches the nose when you ask "Where's bear bear's nose?"

4) Lifts your hands away from your face when you ask "Where's Mummy?" and then put's your hands back to play it again.

5) Claps whenever he stands from sitting position without support

6) Growls like a little bear

7) Throws his hankie when you're unaware and chuckles because you can't catch him

8) And lastly that special moment I witness his 1st baby step.

I nearly teared. My baby is going to walk soon. And soon, he doesn't need me to carry him anymore. I will surely miss that special bonding and closeness.

A baby is just like your customer...

... cause they are never WRONG.


1) You blame the restaurant when the food is lousy, but you'll only blame on your cooking when your baby doesn't eats

2) You blame on the milk when your baby's not drinking

3) You blame on your lack of understanding when your baby throws a tantrum

4) You'll still blame yourself for neglecting when your baby falls down despite several warnings

5) You blame yourself when your baby lose weight

These are just about the little things that mothers are constantly worrying themselves with. And I've been blaming myself ever since Jayden's milk/food intake dropped drastically from the last time he recovered.

He used to be able to polish up a bowl full of porridge / 180ml of milk within minutes. But nowadays, it's a TORTURE to feed him. His milk intake has dropped to a pathetic 120ml/feed. That is a normal intake for a 3 month old!! Thereafter, I can only coax him to swallow another 30ml thru cereal. Porridge feeding involves another round of singing, clapping, dancing before he takes HALF a bowl.

What has happened to the little one?! Is he starting to get fussy? Or could it be my cooking? The milk? The environment? I cannot imagine when he enters the Terrible Twos. Nowadays, he's already rejecting all forms of coaxing. And it's driving me nuts!

What happened to the innocent cooing & ignorant infant?

Sidenote....

Jayden's breath has started to smell also ever since he started on solids. Even brushing his teeth regularly is not helping. I only recongnized how terrible it smelt when he slobbered me in his kisses in the morning. YYUUUCCKS but so sweet too. hahaha... I miss the milky baby breath. :(

His 1st celebration

....with about 30+ October babies!!!

This is a terribly late post. The bash was held on 7th Sep but I only managed to drag my fingers to start blogging about it.

It was such a sight to see so many babies gather around to celebrate their coming 1 year old.

Some photos...

Jayden with a bag of balloons. The Pooh bear was even bigger than him!

He hasn't learn to point yet but he'll do this if he spotted something

Boys and cars seemed to be a natural. We literally have to pry his fingers away from the steering wheel to get him off

Even making goofy faces at each other didn't help...

The birthday cake with Winnie the Pooh Theme. Very nicely done but the taste was mildly delectable.

And lastly a family portrait taken with a DSLR. Credits goes to Alice who make me look like my hair looked good for once!


** SIDE TRACK **

Jayden will turn ONE in October. How time flies indeed!

His character is slowly forming and I'm glad that he shares things when asked to. Although most of the time, he throws into a huge temper when you disapprove/disallow him to do dangerous things which he wants to. (*cough* very much like his father *cough*) Looks like alot of discipline has to be put in place SOON.

Have you seen him?

Disclaimer: Photo posted purely for the fun of it. Jayden has started to understand that opening cupboards would open himself to a new world of exploration. Thank god he doesn't know where I keep his biscuits!

Having a sick baby is NO FUN

Jayden has been running a mild fever since yesterday night.

I have been taking care of Jayden alone for the past week while Dylan is away at reservist. This is the 1st time I'm handling a baby all by myself and it sure isn't easy. Driving to-and-fro from my MIL's place, feeding him myself, attending to his cries at night. It's indeed a challenge.

Jayden was fine and sleeping well since Monday, going to bed almost about the same timing. But on Thurs evening, we noticed that he felt warmer than before but we reckoned it was due to the humidity. Drove him home as usual and quickly slap on a cool pad to bring his temperature down. It was hovering around 37.1 - 37.4. The night was not over... ...

At midnight, Jayden was tossing and turning in bed. I felt his forehead and nearly got a shock! Measured his temperature several times with each take at 36.9 - 37.3. Stupid thermometer can't even measure properly!

The ultimatum came when Jayden woke up at 4am groaning, although still sleeping. Took his temperature this time and it was 37.6!!!! HOW NOW?! I kept pacing up and down his room, thinking if I should just rush down to A&E but worried at the same time that I can't handle him alone in the car.

Motherhood is indeed amazing when it channels your anxiety to energy which keeps you up ALL NIGHT to monitor your little one and making sure the fever is kept at bay. Of course, at mid-day, I'm already drained out by now. :(

Despite feeling lerthagic, I'm glad that the sponging somehow brought the temperature down a little.

All I need to do now is cross my fingers and hope that it gets better tonight before Dylan books out tomorrow.

I am keeping both fingers and toes crossed!