Murphy Baby

Somebaby is not going to be very pleased that he is no longer going to be the baby of the house.

Just over the weekend, I woke up from my nap and felt little fella kicking me. 

So I cooed to him, "Baby, you wake up already ah?"

Immediately there was a pitter patter of footsteps to my bedside, and there he was - My other baby!

Enjoying TWO!

As soon as we were married, N and I have been getting many advices from the couples who have been there and done that. One of the most repeated one was to enjoy life as a twosome and travel as far as you can!

Now, I always wonder how difficult can it get to bring a bub with you on a trip? Within my circle, I have witnessed those gungho backpack travellers types who bring not one, but TWO little bubs on road trips to the NZ. This type makes parenting and travelling with add-ons seem sucha breeze. Conversely, on the other end of the scale, I have also witnessed those who surrender and swear by their lives never to bring the bub out on a trip ever again after a 3D2N short cruise/bintan trip. Some even pay for an extra ticket for some extra mummy/daddy's help. ;p I guess till the day we become parents to a little bub, we can never judge the latter. ;p

This week, we were on a mission to gather some friends to go on a shopping and eating spree in HK. One of them is down with a mini bun in oven and hence cannot travel under the gynae's advice. The other one, guess what?! Cant travel because cannot find a place to deposit the little bub! ;p Said bub made parental slaves during the above-mentioned cruise trip some months ago and the parent have since decided no more trips for her till further notice. *Sigh* I thought it would have been cute to have someone small to fuss and coo over during the trip. Sometimes, maybe I underestimate the kind of parental commitment required towards a human kiddo and overestimate my mama prowess. HEH.

I guess we are heading there as a TWO this trip.

Gotta enjoy the twosome for as long as it lasts. :)

Turning 4!

And the naming process...

Lil brat's turning 4 in a coupla days.

This was eager-mama-me dying to bring him home on the 2nd! day after paying a hefty $300 deposit at Pet Safari, Simei, to secure the cute little fella behind the window because the seller couldnt guarantee that he wouldnt be sold if I took too long to make up my mind. Mama instincts burned within when I held little fella against my chest and he gazed up upon me in his big and soft brown eyes. Sigh....it was a really touching moment and I couldnt bear for him to belong to someone else...

It was day #1 of 10 of parental freedom for me. Liberation!!!!! Instantaneously, all potential lashing and possible nagging seemed very distant that 1st day of liberation! I blame it on the instinctive need to rebel in a constantly suppressed kiddy soul from the asian tiger-mum upbringing. ;p HEH.

We had the remaining 9 days to think of how to face up the possible consequences as a family - Sisters and I (and Nigel). Putting half the blame on the potential son-in-law seemed like a great excuse. Tiger parents are more lenient on kids who are not their own ;p

So anyway, we were eager beaver to bring baby home as soon as possible so we could enjoy more furry-tastic days before the parents came home. I managed to bargain for a 1 week early pick up date by promising to set up our first dog-friendly home on the same night.

Our only problem then was:

What do we name our kid?!

He came totally unplanned and we havent had time to think of a good name. So the better part of the night, after setting up a dog-friendly environment, was spent thinking of all the possible doggie names to name him asap so he could get a sense of identity in the household.

I have always compared my furbaby upbringing to that of humanbaby upbringing, and credited my mama-skills to the little furkid I have had the joy of raising 2 months after birth. In almost all aspects of parental commitment required for a humanbaby, I would like to think I have also given the same for my furbaby except maybe for the breastfeeding and handling of regular mashy pooping part. And when it came to creating a sense of identity for the little fella to feel part of our family, though I didnt have the chance to stroke on a belly and start calling him by his name prior to birth, I stroked him on his fur regularly and called out his name.

The hardest part for us then was thinking of a name. We had to find a name that fit my 4 criteria:

1) Cannot result in identity crisis

Many dogs I know are named after cute foods - Milo, Coffee, Muffins, Biscuits etc.

I pictured myself carrying my little furkid to a kopitiam to buy muffins and thought about how the poor kid would get confused if he was named a Muffin. Although the act of carrying a furkid into a kopitiam is not quite possible in Singapore due to our AVA/NEA regulations, I like to consider all possible factors, including that of breaking some rules. So no, no naming after a food. 

2) Cannot be an adjective

Didnt want to name him a Handsome or a Macho in case I had to use the same adjective on him. Just imagine, "Handsome, u look so cute and handsome!" 

3) Cannot be a common human christian name

My cousins' dogs are named Nicole and Hazel. I find it rather weird to also have a friend whose 2 kids have the same names as my cousin's dogs.

4) Easy to pronounce

Given that my mum doesnt speak much English, it had to be an easy name. Apparently Murphy is still abit profound for the chinese tongue because it has evolved into MOR-phy, Pipi and Mao Mao in our household - which is rather cute because he actually responds to all of them! ;p

After going through the lengthy brainstorming process, we named him Roxie for a day before we realised that the name was a mismatch to his personality. He somehow didnt behave or look a Roxie. So I could somewhat relate to the reason why some mamas also have an issue with the naming process and choose not to stroke their bellies with a name despite the 40-week long incubation period. Sometimes you can only put a name to a face after seeing it for the first time. So the papas & mamas probably would have already had name in mind but still face a potential problem of naming the kid!

To all the 6 dragon babies that I am expecting this year (and more waiting The Great Reveal), 3 within these 2 weeks, I hope papa&mama get you an identity soon! :)

<3<3<3<3

I know Murphy loves me a lot because......

after many rounds of these expressionless, "get away from me" moments that I subject him to almost daily.... 

And after making him look sad

LIKE THIS

because I ignored his excited pitter-pattering feet alongside my strides while biting on to the pumpkin that he wanted to play fetch with, and the occasional "accidental" brushes against my calves (which occur too many times for me to believe that they were accidental)...

And so he continued to look like that until I finally 'noticed' him...

(PS: last 2 photos taken with iPhone 4GS!)

But he still welcomes me home every day with that special bark sound (that only my youngest sister and I are privileged to get) and that waggerly tail, gives me a once over lick in every inch of my exposed skin and snuggles sooooo close as if he wants to be a part of my body! A dog's love is so unconditional.. <3 

I have had him for 3 year now, and had him with N. :p But N has never experienced this much cuteness that only people close to him get to see. Now that we are embarking on to a new journey, and to a whole new level of parenthood together, I believe N will be able to witness all these and be mesmerised pretty soon :)

Question of the day: So what do you do if newlyweds just want to have dogkids? Get dogs to jump on the bed?! :p

Carrying a tiny one...

The reason why I look up to N all the time - his courage venture into the unknown!

him - at ease

me - careful hor! dont drop or twist her neck!

He has always had the JUST DO IT!, you never know until you try, what's there to be afraid of attitude. He is the pushing force behind many of my life-changing decisions, like plunging into the deep blues (I never liked that bottomless feeling beneath my feet).

I still look up to him in many ways.

Here's one:

The Man, who knew how to carry that tiny little thing!

The Man, who calmly placed little Le Chun onto his arms amidst all the gan cheong "BE CAREFUL!! Fragile!!" worrying cries from the yi pos (grandaunties).

She continued to sleep verrrry soundly, so I gathered either she is a pig or he must be really good at this :) I placed faith in my man :)

I also wanted to pick up this KAWAII little bundle of joy that night. But I'm scared. Perhaps this new year's resolution will be to learn to pluck up that courage to pick her up. What's so difficult about that anyway!? Murphy also grew up well under me during his puppyhood!

SEE?!

I could hold him so snug and secure! HEH!

Evolution

Baby steps into adulthood.

Before heading out for N's cuz's wedding dinner on Saturday. I was in my NEW pretty salmon dress with butterfly sleeves. But you dont do no camwhore when you have a baby in your hands. Come thing of it, I have never seen any camwhoring mothers! :p

 Went to see the littlest addition to the maternal family before that. These are awesomely cute rattling baby feet! I am officially a biao yi now! Forgot to take her pictures!

Even the parents are going on trips more often, cos we are all so big already...

Mummy made a pot of bah kut teh soup before she left with the dad. 

But I believe in a balanced diet...(that's positive influence from N, btw)

SO I whipped up a simple dish in the kitchen on Friday evening - Spicy black bean french beans with minced meat. Lee Kum Kee is really a god-sent!

And before I left the house on Sat for the wedding and for a sleepover at N's, made some Fried Rice - that should take my sisters through Sat's dinner and Sun's luncheon! Marinated the remaining minced meat for the sister to steam with tofu on Sun - you know, kids cant really cook. But steaming should be easy peasy la. I m kinda big on kitchen planning like these :)

-Home made pork loin charsiew-

It was a first attempt at Char Siew making. I toasted them instead of oven grilling them cos the oven is spoilt. Wonder if that's why the sauce didnt 'glue' on to the meat.. hmmm... must ask mummy later..

Stirfried the charsiew with the luncheon meat before frying the rice - they call it bao xiang ;) sounds very pro hor?  *wriggles eyebrows*  

Oops! And we forgot to take pictures of the end product!

And on Sunday, meetup with the jiemeis ended at 3ish. So, I had some more time to play in the kitchen for Sun's dinner after bathing the baby (Poor N was stuck at home the whole day!) I wish I had more time for everybody :(  

Had some luncheon meat leftover from fried rice on Sat, and mummy had 4 tiny potatos left in her kitchen inventory....

I decided to make one of my favorite caifan dishes! Stir fried luncheon meat with potato in Ketchup! Add in chilli for that extra taste!

And the veg - did it the post pregnancy style. Spinach in double boiled herbal soup. I dug out my mother's dried food collection in the fridge - Ginseng, hawthorn (? - the red color seeds), and 2 other sliced herbs that I dunno the name of but has to be good stuff la! Cos the price tag told me so.. hee

And over to the upbringing my own furkid, Murphy has been a really good boy! :)

-Homegrooming-

I know. I am cute, Mummy. But I really want to sleep already..zzz

It's here!

After a splendid fireworks date at Vivo last night to mark the start of this wonderful month, we had another wonderful news last night! N got home to The Letter! Letter from The Love Loft that we have been saving up for, and it is gonna arrive muuuuuch soooooner than we expected! :):):)

This whiz shot was snapped on 23 October while we were transporting Murphy to the groomers. I thought they would at least need another year to finish up the interior for all the units - painting, cementing, flooring, carpentary, toilets, plumping, tiling, windows...

It was already a good delivery on their part when they pushed forward the TOP date from May 2012 to Dec 2011!

Gosh! The workers are indeed efficient! Now, they are going to give us the keys by the FIRST QUARTER of 2011!!!

Now that the deadline's drawing soooo near, we will be busy in the months ahead prepping our household search for our little nest. Have pushed it away long enough! Cant wait to conceptualise out the ideas for the whole house now! We will be financially verrrrrrry tight though, cos we sorta planned our finances according to the intial deadline. Pray Lord bless us through this journey! :)

Another good news is - The cousin's due TODAY!!! I wonder if she knows about the letter already! :) That'll be DOUBLE joy when I see her and the Little One tonight :)

Have already conceptualised what I wanna make for her baby shower :):):)

OMG soooooo excited!!

December's gonna be a fab month! More happy posts ahead!

TGIF - Babiess!

The momsie and the dadsie been back for almost 2 weeks now! ALL is well! I dont go to work with that nagging feeling of leaving Murphy alone at home..

This brat has been spoilt by all of us...most adult dogs only take ONE meal a day. Puppies TWO meals (max). But given his greedy nature, and with my mom at home most of the time, he makes use of his cutsie puppy tactics that no one can resist and earn himself a fruit/vege lunch every day. :D

He would follow my mom up and down the house whenever she is about to make lunch. If the kitchen door is closed, he would sit patiently outside to wait. Sometimes, my mom slides the door open a little for him and he would poke his tiny face near the gap to sniff the air and watch her cook. ^_^

So mom would coooooo and baby talk him, and then proceed to make mummum for him despite my initial protest against feeding him lunch o_O i also caved in eventually la...So there! we have a spoilt little brat to feed at home!

For a 2+ year dog, Murphy sure has the stomach of a puppy. He would puke when we feed him 1/2 hour late from his normal meal times. I have cleaned up his greenish bile pukes at least 10 times! Sometimes, from that tiny lapse (of about 5 min) from my decision to put on my makeup first or even getting the hair washed first, I would walk out to find him lying flat among his surrounding puke.

So I serve him FIRST before self every morning.... z.z

Thus when the parents decided to leave town for 12 days, I almost freaked out!!! :(

The youngest sis was having attachment in Jurong Island. The younger sis was doing some parttime work at the airport (shift work). And I was based in the far west that 2 weeks. The bad PIE/CTE jams were a major hindrance preventing us from getting home on time.

So the idea of having an automatic pet feeder suddenly popped up in mind.

BUT I tell u, Singapore has the worst collection of pet feeders! And the lousiest pet welfare society ever!

Not only was a pet feeder extremely difficult to find, I scouted from the big brand centre to the WHOLE farmway stretch (BOTH 1 and 2) and I only found TWO kinds of pet feeder on the market, the available feeder brought in by the suppliers were mechanically disappointing.

Let's look at one below:

The Automatic 4 Feeds

Cost around S$80.

This feeder operates by a non-digital timer. You set an interval of 8, 12 or 24 hours and a mechanism in the feeder will be triggered to rotate the cover till it exposes a section with food. I eyed the box suspiciously. That means if I want to feed Murphy at 7pm, I had to set it at either 7am, 11am or 7pm the night before?!

The food portion also looked tooooo tiny for my growing boy's HUGEASS appetite!

To further market his (one of the two) triumphant product, the sales person went on to elaborate how after a certain time lapse, the cover will rotate again to automatically close up the exposed portion (so the dog wouldnt linger around it or so it wouldnt attract flies).

I was shocked beyond disbelief! What an unintelligent invention!! What if my Murphy was feeding halfway and the time's up, the cover rotates and KIAP his nose????!!!!!

WTF?!

My other alternative was a product that cost slightly more, around S$130. There is no picture from the net cos the huge brand centre's website is down at the moment. But this one's better. It operates on a digital timer, meaning u can set the feed time like an alarm clock at any time of the day and not restricted to the 8/12/24 hour interval O_o" YAY!

The feeding style was better cos the drum holding the food up will rotate and the food dispenses downwards into a detachable tray. So I dont risk KIAPPING my Murphy's tiny nose. YAY YAY!

There was even a voice recorder for me to record a few seconds of words to attract Murphy's attention to the food tray! YAY YAY YAY!

Even though the make of the whole thing was very koyak (flimsy, lousy), I was all ready to buy this mini investment for my most beloved in the name of feeding him ON TIME!

But then, I was still very disturbed by the make....seriously... even though I knew it was my ONLY option. Because the whole damn thing looked like the kind of prototype that school children would make for their science project. If you are thinking a Philip electronic blender, please discount your visualisations by 100 times! It IS THAT SUCKY. 

So I had a deciding question. If this was an electronic product, there would at least be a warranty on the motor right?! There WASN'T!! The best he could manage was a feeble answer of how he would do his best to talk to the supplier if I return with a flaw within 7 days!!! Ok! I absolutely hate sales talks like these! Could absolutely tell how UN-genuine it sounded lor! Bet another S$130 bucks he wouldnt even bother about my broken down feeder if I return lor!

So in the end, I DID not buy.

And I also couldnt ship one in from Amazon.com in time.

When I went to the Farmway for intense shopping over the weekend, I was lucky enough to meet a kind girl who spoke to me for 15 mins. She owns/works in a pet shop but has never seen anyone using a pet feeder. The ONLY one she has ever seen is a DIY using the old school video recorder!!!

My hopes fell 11 stories down to the floor. I thanked her profusely and told her I was no engineer. :( The only decent scientific invention I ever made was a shabbily made light bulb game in secondary school. And it was made by twisting some metal wires in a roller coaster way with one end soldered/wired scotchtaped to a battery that was hidden inside a masking-taped styrofoam box. A metallic hoop was made for running through the roller coaster wire. This hoop was soldered/wired scotchtaped to the other end of the battery. So the aim was to run the hoop through the end without touching the roller coaster (and thus creating a closed circuit) and lighting up the lightbulb.

...

I guess that's predominantly why I didnt go into an engineering school ;p

BUT! Triumphant is I! We survived the TWELVE days without the parents!!! :D Managed to feed Murphy on time everyday! :D

So now that they are back, we are starting to get a life after work!!! :) YIPPEEE YAY!!! I got a date tonight to meet V and her chubbily CUTE baby!!! The last time I saw her baby was...when she was still inside the mother's womb! :D Blame it all on laziness, fateless, school, work, commitments....

BUT how do I resist making an attempt to meet a baby who looks like this:

Super CUTE to the max right?!

How to resist meeting the most adorable baby whose mother dress up in the MOST RIDICULOUS way:

Or how to resist meeting a baby whose idea of SMILE is this:

Smile Hazel!

SMILE!!!

SIBEI cute lor!!! SIBEI is a hokkien word to show the intensity of the adjective after it. On a scale of 1 to 10, SIBEI is on the highest end after very, super, super duper, extremely etc...

BUT! I realised that I am actually carrying a bit of flu germs on me :( I mean, I do sneeze and blow my nose on a day to day basis due to my rhinitis. So most people wouldnt be able to tell if I am actually sick. The signs are almost the same. But this time round, I really AM down with flu. So although I feel perfectly 'normal' blowing my nose half the time...I suddenly realised that I am actually SICK and shouldnt attempt to pass my germs to the baby..

:(:(:(

So hazel, yiyi will visit you another day ok?! Maybe by then, you are not a baby anymore! :(

Somehow to cheer me up...I still have my beloved Murphy to kiss, hug and cuddle when I get home tonight :D

So happy is I again!

Tonight can go pak tor cos daddy can help me feed Murphy!!!

TGIF!!!