13 months as a parent

It has been a few months since I'd last updated this blog. A lot has happened since my last update. Chloe will be 13 months old in 1 hr. Time flies. She has grown from a 3kg newborn to a 9+kg year old baby. And Nic & myself has also grown as her parents. From anxious new parents to parents who are apt at taking care of their precious daughter.

Since her arrival, Chloe has changed our lives. There had been a bit of pain initially but the joy of having her around has overshadowed the initial 'torture' that she had put us through. Chloe can be quite a character, with lots of animated expressions on her face. A few days ago, my dad, who seldom sees her, was surprised that a little baby can come out with so many facial expressions as he watched her entertain herself while we waited for our turn to collect her passport at the Immigration Centre. Her animated expressions were also captured by my friend, Maryann (owner of The Studio Loft), who took a lot of lovely photos of Chloe at her studio.

I wanted to keep this post short as I wanted to regain my momentum of updating this blog so that I can try and record down Chloe's various milestones religiously. Some of the milestones that have happened but were not recorded here were:

• flipping at 5 months
• started solids at 6 months
• able to sit without support at 6 months
• sitting up on her own at 7 months
• 1st words "ba.... ba" (father in mandarin) were uttered at 9 months
• pulling herself up to a standing position at 10 months
• crawling at 11 months
• learning to walk at 11 months
• teething at 12 months

So, till the next update, which should be quite soon, here are the photos that were taken at Maryann's studio, enjoy.

Cruel parents

I haven't updated my blog for a while as I've been extremely busy since I've returned to work in March. However, I felt that I've to put up a post today as I am extremely depressed today. Not because of work or my family. But because of a newspaper article that I'd read this afternoon. A 10 month old baby girl from Taiwan just lost her life due to the stupidity of her parents. What happened?

It was reported that on 19 Apr, in Chunghua, Taiwan, a drunk father took a dare from his live-in girlfriend in a fit of anger and threw their 10 month old baby girl into a pot of boiling water! Even though the baby's mother rescued her immediately, the damage had been done. The poor young life suffered burns on 90% of her body, only her neck and head were saved. Doctors had described the pain as "being cut by a thousand knives". After 4 days of battle, this barely a year old baby died this morning at 10.05am :(

After I read this report, I became very disturbed and very depressed by the story. Why? The picture of the crying naked baby (and she looked very cute) looked like any young healthy baby. And being a new mother of a 5 month old baby, I couldn't bear to think how I'd feel if this happened to my Chloe. My heart cried out for this baby.

I was very angry with the baby's parents. How could her mother give such a challenge to her drunken father? How could her father even bear to do this to his own flesh & blood? How can a 10 month old baby, who'd only just arrived into this world all innocent & raring to take on the world, be subjected to such torture? I simply can't fathom this and I'm not sure if I can sleep at all tonight because this news is just too bizzare. I was so enraged that I'd event commented to my colleagues that this crazy father should be put in a pot of boiling hot water himself & let him experience what his daughter went through!

Having just returned to work from my maternity leave, I take turns with Nic to come back early and give Chloe a wipe down and feed her before we put her to bed. Today, eventhough I had tons of work not completed, I had the extreme urge to want to come back home as quickly as possible, to make sure that my Chloe is ok and to hug her & tell her that I love her very much & will take good care of her.

I pray that all parents will take good care of their own children whom they've brought to this world and no other babies will go through what this Taiwanese infant did. You can read about this here here.

1st day of many smiles

Today is memorable for me. For the 1st time since Chloe was born, today is the day she cried the least. She smiled a lot today and it made everyone happy to see her gum-filled wide grin. I'm still trying to figure out how to make her smile while playing with her because she's not afraid of being tickled. And she does get mood swings, yes, even 2 month old babies have their moods!

So, it was a great day for me today when she started the morning by greeting us with a wide grin.

In the afternoon, after a couple of hrs of nap and a nappy change, she smiled happily while looking at the hanging mobile in her cot. I'd taken a photo & videos of her happy self. Will upload the video later, here's a photo of her in her cot.

Now I only hope these smiley days will continue and she'll cry less. It's quite frustrating and heartbreaking (at times) when she cries because I try every method under the sun (short of giving her a doze of Vodka) to sooth her & they don't always work. It made me sad that I've a cry baby at hand, I want her to be a happy baby and I hope I'll be getting that soon, wish me luck :)