Our boys’ new adventures

right… i am a bad mother. It has been a month since a blog update although lots have happened! The fact that China has blogged my website and picasa goggle again don’t really help or motivate me into writing!

Benjamin’s first tooth came out at 8 months and he is now onto his second tooth. the bottom ones – they’re SOOO cute.

Michael has mastered the art of somersault without any assistance. He is pretty pleased with that achievement.

All is well and we’re all busy preparing for our annual Australia trip to the beach (yipee!)

Videos and Photos to come shortly. Meanwhile loads of love from freezing Shanghai,

Ian, Stacey, Michael (who calls us “little sweetie”), and Benjamin (who is trying to crawl, but still not turning!!!)

The fact that we haven’t written for awhile means we have been busy, busy, busy.  The boys are growing really nicely and we have had several adventures.

Ian and I took the courage the take the boys on our first holiday as family of four to Phuket, Thailand (Sans helpers!).  It was a FANTASTIC holidays (which seemed so far away already!).  We had to run some errands in HK prior to Phuket and it really rocked Benjamin’s routines abit (he woke up every hour of the night while he was there!)  At least it was all peaceful when we got to Phuket.  We stayed at a lovely apartment just minutes to the beach and town and it was the perfect place to be.  Mornings would be the beach and afternoons would be the pool.    Michael also advanced heaps with his swimming (jumping off spring board and riding with the waves)… We can’t wait to show off these skills to his cousins when we get to Oz at X’mas!

After returning from the much-needed break, it was hustle and bustle again.  Everything is a bit of a blur, but Michael had a lovely birthday being 3 (he kept saying he is FIVE!) and after last year laborious weekend of making his “Haibo” birthday cake, we outsourced it to a cupcake baker and they made the most impressive “cupcake” cake where the icing was a Spiderman on top and connected by mini-cupcakes!  I doubt we would ever really “make” the cake again…

Now that both the boys are older, they are interacting a lot more and Michael is as “bossy” as ever telling Benjamin what to do and how to do things, such as:

- Bennnjamin, that’s not such a GREEEAT idea!

- Bennnjamin, this toy is hard, not yours, this one… a soft one.

- Bennnjamin, you can’t play with the legos, you will eat them and then go to the hospital!

These are just a few… although it’s a lot of work every day (esp the weekend), seeing them play / interact together is worth a millions.

Until next time, enjoy our photos and much love from Shanghai,

Our Boy’s Album – Special Edition – October 2010

Our Boy’s Album – October 2010

Our Boy’s Album – September 2010

p.s. finally got to write this blog after much a “writer’s block”!!!!!

Michael was doing a stunt – just jumping off the couch and then rolling over… Benjamin paused for two seconds and then cracked out laughing and giggling.  Couldn’t stop himself, or Michael or Ian / me.

From Our Boys’ album – Video Clips

Enjoy !  Love from Phuket at Karon Beach.

This is how the phone conversation went: “I pumped in the morning, in the afternoon, between meetings and between sleeps!”  as a colleague at work asked how I can exclusively breastfeed Benjamin and still do a day job?!

Having a great support network helps immensely (good helpers to wash endless dirty bottles, understanding colleagues to schedule meetings around pumping and my great husband who pats me on the shoulder whenever I am about to give up!), and the fact that my best friend (the Avent Manual Pump) during these breastfeeding months is the savior to continue the wish to breastfeed until Benjamin starts eating solid.

But breastfeeding is probably the HARDEST act/commitment in this whole baby business.  It does not matter how people convince you that the birthing bit is hard – not compared to having your breasts on loan for 6 months or longer.  The breasts (and your body) for that matter don’t belong to you.  They belonged to Benjamin which needs plenty of sucking (so engorgement / mastitis doesn’t take place), a lot of pumping (to ensure that the supply is there) and a new set of customized shirts (as nothing fits around the breast or the waist because you can’t be on a diet).   In fact, I walk around every day thinking how to produce more milk (alongside with building a Data Center as a work project!).  I take naps to produce more milk, I eat five times a day to produce more milk… everything revolves around making milk – a true cow.  I have never asked a cow, but I reckon it’s probably easier for a cow, because she doesn’t have a day-job!

And this is the reason why we are NOT having a third child.  I am just too old to go through another round of lending the breasts as if they were someone’s property.  Mind you, I know I am doing this totally out of my own will (for the sake of Benjamin’s health and his future IQ) but it does not make it a more pleasant experience.

The human mind tends to forget how hard things get in the first 9 months of a newborn baby!    So this blog is to remind me to read it when Benjamin turns two and I get clucky about having a third child!  DON’T DO IT!!!

In the meantime, I’m off for another pumping session before having some 4 hours sleep… at least Benjamin bubba is taking full benefits of the golden milk (at four months, he is now 90th percentile in weight at 7.4 kg and 75th percentile in height 66 cm!!!)  Even his pediatrician said “Wow, Benjamin you’ve grown in the last two months!!!”  And as a mom, that’s all it takes, even if it means being a cow…

Enjoy our photos from the hot summer here in Shanghai,

Our Boy’s album – August 2010

p.s. poh poh and gung gung were here for two weeks to meet Benjamin and hung out with Michael…  It was a lovely visit as Michael got to spend time with his great sixth aunt!

We returned to civilization somewhat exhausted since Ian and I cared for the boys exclusively for a WHOLE week!!!  But we had a great time.  Heaps of hiking and grass time.  It was fantastic.  But we probably won’t be returning there for awhile as the boys are just too little for strenuous hikes!

Benjamin turned 3 months while we were at the mountains.  His health check up at 2-months was all good.  75 percentile in terms of weight (6.1 kg) and height (61 cm).  Benjamin is taller than his brother Michael but a bit skinnier than Michael at the same age.  He is thriving well and we love spending time with the two of them.  Michael is also adapting to “big brother” status very well, with “big cuddle and kissy” as well as “I love Benjamin” every morning!

I return to work in about 3 weeks time and am still planning to be an exclusive COW for Benjamin.  Wish me luck to persist with Breastfeeding and more pumping until mid September!

Meanwhile, these are older photos, we’ll post the mountains ones shortly:

Our Boy’s album – June 2010

Love from Shanghai,

Ian, Stacey, Michael (who loves being the “diver man”) and Benjamin (who is holding up pretty strongly!)

p.s. we also had a great father’s day – happy father’s day to my dad, KK, Rod, Ian, and Gary (my brother who is spending his first father’s day as a father to our niece Hayley!)

This WIFI connection could go off anytime (literally)… so better keep it short and simple.  We have come to the mountains (Morganshan - 3 hours south west of Shanghai), an area which used to serve as summer retreats for westerners and missionaries back in the 30s!  There is no phone access and we have to walk up / down the hill for everything!  Even Driver Zhou, who took us here, was amazed that we could find this place (we’re staying at a retreat on the side of the mountain).

However life in the mountains is LOVELY - so nice that an expat wrote a book about it!  You can hear the birds chirping away and the roosters crowing at all hours.  Michael loves getting into everything and even hiked with us all the way up the mountain (but needed a piggy back on the way down!).  Benjamin is oblivious too all of this – his only reaction is that he finds it too “disturbing” to his rountines.  However all the boys slept well, so we can’t complain!

We also brought the whole house here – Ian and I had one travel bag and the boys had 7!!!

Gotta post this before the WIFI is gone.  Love from Moganshan at 5 am when the sun is up.

In our jobs, we are lucky that only one of us needs to travel for business at any given point in time.  And this time, it was Ian’s turn.  He had a trip set for India for 10 longs days and I thought with two helpers, surely I could manage the house and boys fine without the MOTH (man of the house!).  Needless to say, Benjamin doesn’t have a clue about dadanot being around as long as there was enough milk, sleep and play.  However, Michael and I took the bigger hit.  In general, Ian had always spent less time in quantity with Michael, but this week, Michael showed that the bond he had with dada is much deeper than quantity in time:

- when he was unwilling to go to bed and I was “forcing” him onto the little bed, Michael said “I want Dada to put me to bed!” (that’s because a much more patient dada usually will be willing to sing many songs and chat before a sleep comes!)

- we had a walk over the weekend and towards the end of the walk Michael was getting tired and wanted to be carried back.  With my substandard back, I couldn’t quite do the duties and Michael then asked “where is dada?” 

- today is day 8 and Michael got a cold (probably from the ever changing weather of Shanghai!) and was a bit cranky.  At bedtime, he said “I miss dada”…

Michael was always very close to us in very different ways (mommy knows everything and dada fixes everything!) but with Ian being gone for so long this time, it is incredibly interesting to observe how a little 2.5 year-old expresses his emotion and compassion for his father.

Well, we miss our dada and can’t wait until he is back.  Two more days to go.

Til then, photos and love from Shanghai,

Our Boy’s album – May 2010

p.s. we went to  today with Michael and Benjamin and Benjamin LOVED it!  I have never seen those eyes open so BIG and WIDE!!!  He must inherit the therapeutic (or should i say shopaholic!??) genes from his mom…more about why we were at the toy store in the next blog!

Meant to post this on MOTHER’S DAY!!!  For all moms out there…
MOTHER

Real Mothers don’t eat quiche;  they don’t have time to make it.
Real Mothers know that their kitchen utensils are probably in the sandbox.
Real Mothers often have sticky floors,  filthy ovens and happy kids.
Real Mothers know that dried play dough doesn’t come out of carpets.
Real Mothers don’t want to know what the vacuum just sucked up.
Real Mothers sometimes ask ‘Why me?’ and get their answer when a little voice says, ‘Because I love you best.’
Real Mothers know that a child’s growth is not measured by height or years or grade…
             It is marked by the progression of Mommy to Mom to Mother…
     The Images of Mother
       4 YEARS OF AGE – My Mommy can do anything!
       8 YEARS OF AGE – My Mom knows a lot! A whole lot!
     12 YEARS OF AGE – My Mother doesn’t really know quite everything.
     14 YEARS OF AGE – Naturally, Mother doesn’t know that, either.
     16 YEARS OF AGE – Mother? She’s hopelessly old-fashioned..
     18 YEARS OF AGE – That old woman? She’s way out of date!
     25 YEARS OF AGE – Well, she might know a little bit about it!
     35 YEARS OF AGE – Before we decide, let’s get Mom’s opinion.
     45 YEARS OF AGE – Wonder what Mom would have thought about it?
     65 YEARS OF AGE – Wish I could talk it over with Mom.

     The beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears, the figure that she carries, or the way she combs
     her hair. The beauty of a woman must be seen from in her eyes, because that is the doorway to her heart,
     the place where love resides. The beauty of a woman is not in a facial mole, but  true beauty in a woman is
     reflected in her soul. It is the caring that she lovingly gives, the passion that she shows, and the
     beauty of a woman with passing years only grows!

Almost 3 years ago, Ian and I vowed to be hands-on parents and that our domestic helper would only “help” in taking care of Michael when we were at work.  We thought we would never have two helpers (like some friends/colleagues)… How WRONG were we!  When you have two kids, you really NEED an extra pair of hands OR TWO, especially when feeding the second one and: 

1.  the older one is cranky and chucking a ’leg-dance” tandrum; 

2. someone is required to supervise the bath for the older one, so that no flooding takes place;

3. someone is required to slow down that bike running a million miles ahead of you in the park to avoid any major accidents!

We have been lucky to have had wodnerful nanny / helpers in our life.  At the moment, our two helpers work beautifully to care for our two boys and I feel blessed and confident that our children are in good hands.  So this blog entry is dedicated to all our current / previous helpers as well as all the Ayis/ helpers in the world who make our lives more efficient and better quality.  Thank you. 

Enjoy our photos from the Spring which finally arrives in Shanghai:

Our Boy’s album – Spring 2010

Until next time, love from Shanghai – EXPO is starting in few days and we’re pretty excited to be part of it!

Ian, Stacey, Michael (who finally understands what it means to have to “share” his M&D) and Benjamin (who is a slow drinker like his mom when she was a baby!)

Throughout my pregnancy, there was not even one blog entry dedicated to Benjamin (alias Didi – which means little brother in Chinese).  Things just seemed so natural the second time, the vomiting, the backache, the feeling huge. This time around, there was simply no time to take a rest as I was always running after Michael and, unfortunately, I had very little Chinese “old fire” soup to nourish the baby or myself. Ian and I wondered throughout the pregnancy, “will we love our second child as much as our first one?”

We have asked many friends that have done it before.  All of them tell us that you will love both equally.  Some have said that you will have a preference over the first just because you’ve met him / her longer.  Some have said that you will enjoy the second one heaps more because you know what to expect.  Ian and I didn’t really know what to expect.

Benjamin then took his sweet time to arrive (waiting for his Nanna to reach Shanghai first!) and did he come out fast (re earlier blog!).  We were blessed with our second son, Benjamin on a Thursday night and we were home by Saturday (I hate the hospital for obvious reasons!).  Benjamin is a beautiful baby – we expected the worst from his older brother however Michael has been sweet and kind to baby Benjamin so far.  Just like any little baby who is only a few days old baby, Benjamin eats, sleeps and poops all day.  Because he is so tiny (Ian and I both forgot how tiny babies are!), your love for them tends to be so much more gentle. 

The love for Michael and Benjamin is, infact, rather different.  For Michael, his demands for attention make the love more focus and concentrated.  On the other hand, the love for Benjamin is very subtle.  Definitely with two kids, your love capacity doubles and there is no question about loving Benjamin less.  Although the second child will suffer from the obvious hand-me-downs for everything to a delay in sending photos/writing blogs, however the love from their parents is unique.

p.s. Picasa Goggle Photos are not working in China – so here are our photos and apology for the messiness!