Church library

Whenever Mommy and Daddy brougt me back to Subang we will go to TMC PJ on Sunday.  Ah Gong and Ah Ma will attend the service in the sanctuary.  Nowadays baby brother also join them.  But most of the time baby brother just sleep through the service.  Mommy said last time I was also the same.  Slept through the entire preaching.  Hmm, maybe Pastor's voice is very soothing, like a lullaby???  LOL

As for me, I love to visit the library.  There are so many books there.  The books are well maintained.  Unlike the public library in TI.  Oops!

Ah Gong is entitled to borrow books from the library.  Each time we may borrow 3 books.

Book Sale

We are back in Subang as Erwyn is due for his check up in Assunta. 

One morning when we have breakfast in Old Town White Coffee at Subang Avenue, we found out that there was a book sale at the concourse.  The books are all second hand books selling at a lower price.  Mommy found a few nice books for Elyse and asked her which one she likes.  She pointed to one of them and said, "Yi Bo (grand-aunty) bought this for me, I have this one".  Mommy couldn't remember having such book, so she told Elyse, "No, we don't have this book".  But Elyse insisted.  Finally Mommy realised what the little girl was referring to.  When the grand-aunties were back from Australia in May, one of the books has a picture of 101 Dalmatians, it looks exactly like the one Mommy was about to buy for Elyse. 

The front cover

The page where there's a picture of the Dalmatians

The books we bought from the book sale

Three books for only RM 26.  Two of them are even hard cover.

Mommy likes the book 'The little flower girl' because it is Mommy's wish that one day Elyse would be a flower girl.  And perhaps Erwyn could be a page boy also! 

The Crown of Elyse's Glory

Since young, Elyse doesn't like to have anything on her head.  Be it a hat, or a hair clip.  Whenever I saw a girl with a cute pretty hair clip, or a nice adorable hat, I wished Elyse may allow me to get her dolled up.  Many time after persuading her for a considerable time, the moment I put a tiny clip on her hair, she would requested it to be taken down immediately.  Finally I gave up.

Last December, a few church members gave Elyse some fancy hair clips and rubber bands for her Christmas presents.  I tried again and though she would still requested it to be taken down, she was less resistance in comparison with the previous round.  Well, those beautiful clips did play a part in motivating me to try again and again.

Elyse does not have thick hair.  But her hair grows pretty fast.  And yet she doesn't like to have her hair cut.  It is a struggle to me to be her hair dresser.  We have brought her to the saloon before, she did not make a fuss out of it though.  Yet I can see tears were rolling in her eyes as she sat still and stared at me with a pitiful look.  That was the once and only time I brought her to the saloon.

Andrew prefers to keep her hair long, however I would rather keep it short since she does not like to tie it up or even clip it.  The event takes a new turn since early this year.  Elyse finally allowing Mommy to play with her crown of glory.  It was never my gifting to tie someone else's hair, yet practise makes perfect.  However, Elyse would still prefer to let her hair loose though it may irritates her eyes and cheek.

Looking back some of her younger photos, Elyse's hair has grown so much.  She did not have much hair when I gave birth to her.  And it took a long long time before her hair is fully grown.  I love her hair.  The texture of her hair is so soft and smooth.  That is also a major problem to keep her hair tied up nicely for a length of time.

Guessing game

My two precious babies.  Can you guess which is which?  Elyse or Erwyn?



Picture 1



Picture 2



Picture 3



Picture 4



Tune in next posting for the answer.  Have fun guessing!

p/s:  Hubby thought all four was the same baby!  oh no....

New Pair of Shoes

The advantage of staying in SS15 is we are surrounded by plenty of shopping complexes.  I brought Elyse to Subang Parade one evening while we were still in Klang Valley.  She loves to go to the MPH bookstore there. 

Our first stop, however, was the KFC.  One of her favourite food is chicken drumstick.  Her most recent record is finish 2 pieces of chicken all by herself.   Bravo gal!

Next, we headed to MPH bookstore.  But Mommy was distracted when she saw there was a sale in Bata Shoe Warehouse.  Mommy went around looking for nice pair of shoe for Elyse but found none.  Finally, just when Mommy was about to go, she saw a pile of kids shoes for only RM10.  She looked through a few but all of them were too small for Elyse.  Suddenly there was one shoe which is size no 6!  Mommy tried on Elyse’s foot.  Hurray, it fits perfectly on her.  But the challenge is to find the other side amongst the whole pile of shoes.  Thank God, it only took awhile before Mommy traced it down.  To Mommy’s surprise, it only costs RM7.50!  The original price for a pair of Bubble Gummer (the brand) is RM30+.  What a good deal!

That is not the end of the story though.  When Ah Gong picked us up from the mall, I told Elyse to tell Ah Gong tat she has new shoes, Elyse said: “Ah Gong, I’ve got a pair of new shoes!”  I was surprised when I heard it.  I didn’t teach her to say ‘a pair of’ but she did it by herself!  We are proud of her.  She’s picking up new vocabulary every now and then.  I’m amazed and marveled at where she learned that sometimes.

Public Library

Elyse loves to read books.  When we were in Subang, we would visit the bookstore very often.  However, there’s no MPH or Popular bookstores in TI.  So I’ve decided to pay a visit to the local public library.

The front view of the library looks pretty impressive

The library is quite spacious but it is not carpeted nor air conditioned.  It is quite cooling with only ceiling fans.  Well, the past two days have been raining so we do not know how it would be like when it is a hot sunny day.  I am amazed that there are a section dedicated to children with tables and chairs specially furnished for the little ones.  However, the books look a bit old.  Elyse was still very happy though.  I searched for suitable story books and read them to her.

We only stayed there for half an hour.  But we will be back another day.  See ya!

New Bath Tub

Elyse is growing taller and bigger as each day passes by.  Well, of course she is.  When she was born in September 2009, she was only weight 2.06kg and length 41.5cm.  We were so worried for her weight then.  Although God has assured me in a song that ‘she is just the right size’ I was still very concerned.  Now looking at Erwyn, only did I realized Elyse has grown so much! 

Elyse loves to bath.  But the current bath tub we used since she was a baby is getting a little too small for her.  This blue bath tub was given by David and Regina from TMC PJ.  So we decided to get a bigger one for Elyse in TI and leave the blue bath tub in Subang.  Whenever we are back in Subang, baby Erwyn has a bath tub to use.

The 2^nd day after we went back to TI, Andrew brought Elyse out for a bath tub hunt.  When they came back with their trophy, all of us were stunned by the size of it.  It is gigantic!  The happiest person is none other than Elyse.  Immediately she took out her clothes and wanted to bath.

She is indeed a water baby!

Grandma bathed for baby Erwyn, Elyse offered to help as well

Elyse enjoys bathing time

Erwyn’s first new toy

Baby Erwyn has a new toy!

Look how engrossed he is with this musical mobile.  This is also a gift from a church member 2 years ago when we have Elyse.  Indeed, we are very blessed!

Baby Erwyn and Us

Our new lives with baby Erwyn is certainly exciting.  While taking care of this adorable little one we still need to focus on Elyse, giving her all the attention and meeting her needs.  Thank God again for His perfect timing.  Andrew’s aunties from Australia visited us just one day after we were discharged from the hospital.  Elyse loves these 2 aunties.  Spending lots of time playing with them.

This time round I did not observe all the ‘pantang’.  I bathed and washed my hair on the 3^rd day.  The previous time I only have my first bath after 2 weeks.  And I went shopping with Elyse a week’s later though I was still feeling weak physically.  Well, it’s worth while as I see the sparkles in her eyes.  Our princess really missed going out with her Mommy.  It was just an hour and most of the time I sat down while Daddy and Elyse looked for their stuff.  My mom bought for me all the confinement herbs but thanks to my mother in law who tirelessly boiled it for me everyday.

My breast feeding is not very successful though.  Although on the 4^th day my breast was so engorged till I couldn’t sleep the whole night, I failed to express out the milk.  Elyse is also not very fond of having her Mommy breast feeding the baby.  So we bottle feed baby Erwyn instead while Mommy tried to express the milk. 

Andrew travelled every week back from TI by bus.  It was very tiring for him and we all missed him during the week.  The bus trip takes about 3 hours.  Every time when he’s back with us, Elyse would cling on to his Daddy.  But there was once she misbehaved and Daddy disciplined her, she scratched her Daddy’s face with her sharp little finger nails.  That happened on the very first week after baby’s arrival.  However, we thank God that things get better after that.  Elyse begins to like the baby and even wanted to play with the baby. 

Baby Erwyn developed milk rash on his face beginning from week 2.  It was so bad but there’s nothing much we could do except to clean his face frequently.  Another drama unfolded when his umbilical cord was almost dropped off on the 10^th day.  It looked a bit raw as though it was bleeding.  We rushed him to the pediatrician nearby but he sent us back home without looking at it.  He assured us that it is normal and there’s nothing to be worried about.  The next day the cord fell off completely and the belly button is just as beautiful as it should be.  All of these have never occurred to Elyse before.  So it was an eye opening for us.

We are extra careful this time with the care of baby Erwyn’s neck.  Elyse’s neck was infected as a result of us unable to keep it dry properly.  Baby Erwyn has bad breath when we brought him for his one month check up.  The pediatrician advised us to clean his mouth a few times a day. 

Many friends from TMC PJ and WMC TI blessed us with some lovely gifts and we truly appreciate them all.  A few of them even visited us at home.  I was really happy to have Doreen, Fhui Nee and Chee Kei visiting me again.  They are my ex classmates since secondary school.  They visited me when I gave birth to Elyse 2 years back. 

It was very challenging to take care of 2 children at night.  There were nights when Elyse woke up suddenly wanted to be soothed by Mommy’s hug but Mommy was busy feeding baby Erwyn.  By the time Mommy was done, Elyse was wide awake and refused to sleep anymore.  Poor Mommy, struggled to put her to bed so that she can catch a nap too.

Well, thank God again baby Erwyn does not wake up every hour for feeding like his dear sister last time.  I guess that is because he is feeding more on formula milk.  He wakes up almost every 3 hours at night for feeding. 

Now we are back in TI.  Our parents are with us for the time being until we are settled down.  Elyse is happy to be back here.  Thank God once again that both Elyse and Erwyn are health although my mother in law is coughing, Andrew has high fever for almost a week and now Shally is also coughing and have running nose.  We continue to pray for God’s grace and strength.  Both Elyse and Erwyn are precious gifts from God and we love them!

The story continues...

After a full long day at the labour ward, finally I was transferred to Lavender Ward to rest for the day.   It was around 10pm.  Although I was in a 3-bedded room, no one was there that night.  I have the whole room all by myself.  Andrew stayed for awhile, making sure both mommy and baby were well taken care of before returning home.  He may not have physically gone through the labour pain himself, but I’m sure he was just as tired. 

Andrew has instructed the nurse to take care of the baby that night since I was so exhausted from the long labour.  Within minutes I felt asleep after Andrew left the hospital.  I woke up around 12 midnight when the nurse brought the baby to me.  He was fast asleep.  Peacefully.  My sweet little angel.  Soon the nurse brought him back to the nursery room.

The next thing I realised was I have difficulty passing urine.  I was advised by the nurse to use a bed pan as it was discouraged to stand up and walk at this moment, as this may make me feel dizzy as a result of the loss of blood during the delivery.  However, after trying several times on the bed pan but was not successful, I’ve decided to go to the toilet with the help of the nurse.  Even with that, I failed to urinate.  Finally the nurse inserted a catheter to ease my discomfort. 

I was in pain for the second half of the night due to the episiotomy.  Unable to sleep, I started to sms a few close friends of mine on the arrival of our new baby boy.   At around 5am, I told the nurse when she was making her routine check on our temperature and blood pressure.  She gave me a pain killer.

The next morning, I woke up feeling extremely hungry.  After all, I have not had anything since yesterday afternoon.  Baby Erwyn was brought to me again and I tried to breast feed him.  However, looks like our dear little prince here was not hungry at all.  He refused to suck at all.  He was brought back to the nursery again when his paediatrician was making her round in the ward. 

About 9am, Andrew brought Elyse along to visit me.  Apparently the night before when Elyse was about to go to bed, she went around the house looking for her mommy.  She said ‘Daddy is back, Mommy is also back at home’ although Gong Gong, Ah Ma and Daddy told her otherwise.  She cried failing to hunt Mommy down.   Thanks to Daddy, after much persuasion she dozed off to sleep.

Elyse was overjoyed when she saw Mommy.  Well, Mommy too was very happy to have her little girl around.  Soon after baby Erwyn was brought to Lavender Ward and for the very first time, we introduced this new family member to Elyse.  Elyse was not very interested though.  She did not want to touch him, nor did she want Mommy to carry him. 

Gong Gong and Ah Ma dropped by around 1pm.  I was encouraged to walk around the room by then.  After staying for awhile, they brought Elyse back home while Andrew stayed with me a little longer.  My gynae visited me later in the afternoon.  The nurse then took away the catheter.  Worried, but I tried to pass urine again.  Thank God that gradually I was able to urinate again.  Never did I realise how wonderful it is to have a healthy body.  Indeed we should be thankful for every little thing.

Although we tried to breast feed baby Erwyn several times that day, he was just too sleepy and refused to latch on and suck.  We were a little worried – could it be the low supply of milk?  So we requested the nurse to bottle feed our little boy.  But the nurse was not concerned at all.  They told us that it is quite normal for newborn not to feed on anything for the first day.  This is new to us as Elyse was hunger for milk soon after birth.  And she was very skilful to latch on her Mommy’s breast.

After Andrew has gone home, a middle age lady was admitted in the same room as me.  It was quite noisy that night as she was on the phone most of the time. 

The next day, my gynae gave me the green light to go home.  However, the check out procedure took quite some time and when we finally reached home it was around 2pm.  The total bill for Mommy and baby was about 3k.  The next doctor appointment for baby was in one week’s time.  Baby Erwyn has very mild jaundice.

Second round parenthood.  Are we ready for it?  While everything was fine in the hospital, the real challenge begins when we are on our own.  Bathing, cleaning baby’s poo poo, washing nappies, expressing breast milk, waking up at night for feeding… etc.  Above all else, we still need to shower our little princess lots and lots of love and attention.  Are we capable of doing that?  Thank God we have parents around.  Their support and help rendered have enable us to walk through this phase of our lives.