another celebration

Dinand and Jove in the playpen. Dinand is one of Jove's cousin and is four and a half months older. Jove used to be terrified being near him (for reasons unknown), but not anymore! Everyone is having mixed feelings about them growing up (learning to grab, walk, run around, throw things... you get the idea), together with Dinand's three year old brother, they are capable of doing great (read:horrible) things in the house.


Anyway, here's a super yummy chocolate cake for Papi, my dear father-in-law. He turned 58 today and a very proud grandfather of his three grandsons!


Happy birthday Papi. We love you!

bald, again

I shaved Jove's head bald again.

At first, it was just uneven hair at the back of his head. Then I saw the razor... and had an urgent desire to shave his head.

where's the baby?

Jove loves to stand up (with support) nowadays.

another rainy night

It's raining outside now. I love it when it rains (especially if I'm safely inside my room, reading).

Have been reading my old books, and want to share this:

"... God spoiled humans a bit, because He created far too much at the same time. He created so many strage things to look at that many people don't see God. But that's how He managed to hide Himself too. He wouldn't have been able to do that if only four people, three trees, two sheep, and eight camels existed in the whole of creation. If only one fish could be found in the sea, people would probably have noticed how perfect it was. And then they might have started asking who had made it." - Jostein Gaarder (The Christmas Mystery)

there is none like you

There is none like You
No one else can touch my heart like You do
I could search for all eternity long
And find there is none like You

Your mercy flows like a river wide
And healing comes from Your hands
Suffering children are safe in Your arms
There is none like You

keep waking... keep waking...

These two weeks, Jove always take about two hours from his sleepy state to sleeping. He looks sleepy, he gets cranky, he yawns many time, he just won’t go to sleep. He’ll play with the bolsters and the pillows, with the pacifier, turn around, turn to his tummy and back, wail when we stop giving him attention… We try different ways each night to help him sleep, not because we are too creative, but because the previous tricks just don't work today.

Tonight, we put Jove in between us and we pretended to sleep. Hubby soon fell asleep for real. At first, Jove played with the bolster, then with daddy’s nose. Sensing that daddy ignored him, he started pulling daddy’s hair, harder and harder with each pull until his dad could not stand it any more. Seeing that, the little guy actually laughed!

Anyway, then the sleepy daddy went back to sleep, and I continued my acting. Jove finally fell asleep in about 15 minutes... and I can go back online peacefully.

happiness

These days happines is...

looking at the widest toothless smile
hugging a chubby little body
sleeping next to an angel

the way he sleeps

the scary beginning

Two weeks ago, I watched An Inconvenient Truth. Shortly after, as if helping the movie to dug its message deeper into my head, the rain stopped falling and the sun started to bake the world. The last time I checked, it was 32 degree Celsius. My father-in-law told me the report in the news said that the temperature has hit 35 degree.

Last night, there was a blackout in the area. The darkness was nothing compared to the heat we had to endure with no air conditioner. It took us more than an hour of fanning, back-patting, and periodically breastfeeding the baby to get him to sleep. He was sweating and could not fall asleep. Thankfully, the electricity turned on at eleven p.m. and the baby fell into deep slumber with the cool air blowing from the air conditioner.

It was pretty scary to observe the weather these days. What have we done to our world?

On the first day of the new year, an airplane went missing with its 96 passengers and six crews. Two days before, a motor vessel with 504 passengers and 63 crews. Search and rescue of those two tragedies are still going on until now. Bad weather was the reason for both tragedies.

Nature has gone mad. We are at fault for exploiting it without mercy.

I hope we can still do something to save the world. I could not imagine what kind of world will my little Jove and his children (and grandchildren) live in.

the little swimmer

Little Jove loves swimming. He just got the swimming suit from my beloved cousin and we had a blast at the pool.

Fifth time swimming, he smiled for the second time in the pool. We even tried sliding down the slide in the kiddy pool, Jove cried two seconds after we splashed into the pool. But after a hug with a pat-pat on the back, he quickly stopped and continued to enjoy the water.

Planning to swim weekly now.

jove and the colorful cow

visit to the pediatrician

Third Hepatitis B vaccination today. Jove is 9.5 kg, 69 cm, no lag in physical development, and healthy. The pediatrician joked that people could break their back just by carrying my baby. He also wondered if his needle could enter the chubby thigh.

As always, Jove is the only baby exclusively breastfed among the babies in the waiting room. This far, after about seven visits to the pediatrician, several meetings with mothers at the shopping malls, parks, or restaurants, I've only met two other mother who gave exclusive breastmilk to their babies.

A rainbow for mom

On our way to my parents’ house this morning, we saw that beautiful seven-colored arc on the sky. The rising sun spread his pale gold rays through the soft clouds in the east and the sky was painted with lumps of golden clouds in the pale blue background. Rain drizzled softly on our side.

I told my husband, this was God’s birthday gift for our wonderful mom.

Happy birthday, Mama.

God’s miracle

Jove just had his first blended-boiled-potato-carrot meal; I put him down in the middle of the bed then left the room to clear up the potato-carrot stained dishes and high chair. Three minutes later, when I entered the room, the bed was empty. No baby on the bed.

No baby on the bed!

I was frozen for a split second, too scared to move. Horrible images played in my head.

When I left him, Jove was playing with his multi-colored cow in the middle of the bed, barricaded by four adult-sized bolster and pillows on each side of the bed, plus one body-mate (170cm bolster) at one side. Now, one of the bolster was missing (the one at the far side of the bed) and there was no baby.

If the baby fell down, knocked the cold hard floor or the hard wood of the bed frame, he should have cried. My baby’s cry could be heard from blocks away, I should have heard it from the living room. If he did not cry or make any sound, could he have fainted?

I ran to find him.

I found the baby lying on his tummy, with his chest and hands on the bolster, looking around at his new surrounding. He loves to look around, especially in new places. It was his first time on the floor between the bed and his crib, he had fun. I called his name and he looked up at me, and to my relief, smiled.

I quickly took him and hugged him tight, then remembering something, sat him down to check for bruises or open wounds or scratches, well, any sign of injury.

I found none.

Then I tickled him. He laughed his belly laugh. I laughed along, nervously. We played peek-a-boo and I tickled him again. His laughter quickly washed my fears away.

I thank my Lord. For I could not understand how could he went from the bed to the floor safely. He could not even crawl or sit up by himself yet. He could have shifted from the middle of the bed to the side… but to go down to the floor safely to the position I found him in, impossible, at least from my frail human mind’s point of view.

Maybe He taught my son how to fly down safely when He saw him on the verge of falling down.

I learned my lesson and renewed my faith.

One day, Lord please show me the event. I’m really curious on how he got there.

sneaky mom busted

The little guy wailed. He has tried to go to sleep for almost an hour to no avail. Frustrated, he sought the Ultimate Way to Sleep, latching on my breast.

I nursed him for a few minutes, and then I took a magazine and read. The little guy sensed that I was doing something else when I flipped a page. He turned, looked at the magazine, looked at me, then continued sucking.

After a while, the rhythm of the sucking became slower, and slower, and slower, then stopped altogether. I took a pacifier and quietly replaced my nipple with it.

He shifted. I stroked his head, patted his tiny butt, hoped he would settle back to sleep. No, he didn’t.

He dropped the pacifier. Opened his eyes big, looked at me in the eye for a few seconds, then his eyes started brimming with tears. He wailed as if I have betrayed his trust by taking out my nipple and shoving a pacifier in. The sneaky mom felt a pang of guilt instantly. You couldn’t helped feeling very guilty with that sad innocent tear streaked face looking at you like that.

When I placed the tip of my breast back into his mouth, he didn’t suck at it quickly as he always did. He looked at me with his teary eyes while slowly latching to my breast, then he stopped latching and while looking at me, wailed again. I said sorry a few times, kissed and hugged him, promised that this time I would wait until he let go by himself. Only then he stopped looking at me, started latching and happily nursing while drifting to sleep.

Never underestimate a six-month old baby.

a christmas blessing

Grandma was on her bed when we got there, smiling. We rushed in and took turns showering her and grandpa with kisses. It felt so good to finally see them again, especially now. Little Jove, surprisingly cheerful after a 12-hour journey, laughed a lot and delighted the great grandparents. A wonderful Christmas day we had.

The next four days were spent remembering and creating warm memories with dearest grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles. Wishing we can have more of those moments this year.

puncak old and new

We spent the old and new in Puncak, a cool mountain-side resort town in Bogor, near Jakarta. Stayed in the private villa of my father-in-law's youngest brother.

Colorful flowers, clean cold air, fresh green vegetables, a lot of food, yummy fruits, and 180 degree view of spectacular fireworks filled our two days and a night stay there.

end of a holiday, a new year

The rain is falling softly outside. My baby and husband are sleeping soundly next to me. It's almost two a.m. and I should have been sleeping. I couldn't.

We just went back from our string of trips (that started on Christmas day) and I have not done my quiet time for this New Year. So here I am in the cold wee hours of the morning, tip-tapping on the notebook.

New Year always brings new hope for me to be a better person. My husband deserves a better wife and my son needs a better mom. Those would be the top priorities for my New Year's resolutions.

Lord, be with me as I walk through this year. Please hold me close and never let me go. I need you.