aunt jen's visit

This Sunday, we met our friend from NTU, Singapore. Jove called her Aunty Jenny.

We started early, with Jove still sleeping, and drove to Ritz-Carlton to pick Aunty Jenny. Jove awakened when we reached the hotel. I told him that Aunty Jenny only spoke English, so he has to greet her in English.

When Jenny went into the car, he did not greet her, but introducing her to Buzz Lightyear plastic toy that he had.

"This is Buzz Lightyear!" (pointing the toy at Aunt Jen)
"To infinity and beyoooooond!" (Buzz flew around)

We went to Church of St. Theresia for the English Sunday Mass, then for delicious mpek-mpek lunch (where Jove got acquintanced with a few kids). Then we followed Aunty Jenny to her room and had some tea and fun chat in her really cool hotel room.

Jove could answer some simple questions and he was not shy in trying to communicate. Children, even though they have not mastered the language, have better communication skills than adults, I think. The best skills are their sincerety and total curiousity. Oh, and their innocence and their smile too!

I've really nothing to worry for his socialization skill.

Thank you Aunty Jenny for the sweets and heaps of good time! :D

she loves picture books!

While Jove were away with his grandma (due to his recurring cough), I had more one-to-one time with baby Kay. I read her The Very Hungry Caterpillar three times today. She loved it. She stopped fidgeting and paid close attention to the book from start to finish.

I remembered that Jove used to be like that too, I just could not recall whether he did it when he was this young.

It is good if the children love to read, isn't it? Then they can spend a few hours on their own being immersed in another world, and the mother can have sometime to do her own stuff. Ha ha.

I'm sorry, Sis!

Jovan was pretty cranky yesterday afternoon. He kept on asking me to carry him while I was holding his sister.

After sometime, I relented. That boy needed some good hugs.

I put the sister on the bed and carried him. Not long after, his sister started to cry! But big brother still did not want to go down. He looked at her crying and he asked me to ask one of the aunts to carry her. I told him there were no aunts around now. Only the three of us.

Then he said, "I want to go down now." He looked pretty sad. I put him down on the bed, and joined in to feed Kay. Jove started stroking his sister's arm, kissing her little fist, looking at her lovingly.

Then he said slowly, "I'm sorry, Sis."

"Why did you say sorry?" I asked him.

"Because I cried," he answered. ("Soalnya koko nangis", katanya.)

He slept while holding her hand. And I don't think I can put my feelings into words...

little miss kay

We took much less photos of our little lady than of her brother. The woes of being the second child. And we did not write down her developments as often either...

According to my notes, she has started sleeping well at night since the first week of February. Only waking up for feeding... oh well, not really waking up too, she just searches for my breast and contently drinks while sleeping. Since we co-sleep, breastfeeding at night is very easy for me too. Most of the time, I couldn't even remember whether I breastfed her at night.

This little girl has a preference to be carried upright and has a neck strength that amazed the grandmas. She started smiling when being talked to when she turned two month.

Unlike her brother, Kay threw up a lot during her first two months. Most of the time because of overfeeding (she continuously wanted to suck even after being full). But since she is plumping up alright, I am not too worried. She only threw up when she was coughing now (still sick, poor baby).

These few days, Kay has enjoyed her tummy time so much. Sometimes she asked for it! She would whimper or cry a bit and stopped when I placed her on her tummy. She even smiled after that. Soon, I won't be able to leave her alone on the bed!

Health update: Jove has recovered but Kay was still coughing.

making jelly

Today is Papa's birthday. We made jelly in the morning. Jove mixed the jelly powder with sugar and he also stirred the liquid once in a while. I poured a thin layer of the liquid on a flat plate, waited for a while, then shoved it into the freezer. Two minutes later, voila, a cold jelly flab for Jove to observe, play, and eat.

Papa can eat the jelly when he came back later. Happy birthday, Pa!

the labor

Kay was born in a nearby hospital, less than five minutes drive from home. We took our own sweet time to go there, no rushing. Yen went with us, armed with a laptop full of soothing music to accompany my labor. I read Hypnobirthing: the Mongan Method prior to this labor, I did some of the exercises (not diligently), and thought that I have more or less prepared it.

We went into the delivery room at about 9 pm. My two sisters, Yen and Lan, were with us. I was strapped to the monitoring device for 30 minutes. Yen spent the time pleading to be allowed to see the labor process. When the doctor came to see me, she asked for his permission to be present during labor. The doc allowed her. Lucky gal!

I was doing good. I could still maintain my self control until about 11 pm. Then the nurse checked and said that I have not advanced much and advised to break my water. I nervously agreed.

Big mistake.

The contractions after the water broke was a lot more painful. I lost my self control and squirmed in pain with every contraction. The nurses and the doctor hold me, told me to be calm, and I wailed. They asked me not to lift up my butt and to stop squirming for so many times. Thirty minutes later, with two or three pushes, Kayla was born at 11:18 pm. Thank God that was quite fast.

I breastfed Kay soon after (while being painfully stitched) . My two sisters and husband hovered around the baby, taking photos. My sisters even carried the baby (and took photos) for a while before she was put inside the incubator to keep her warm. I had to wait for a while before I could go up to the room. Ling came with french fries from a nearby McD and the troops chatted while gobbling up the fries and accompany me in my waiting time.

Kay slept with me in the room that night. During the stay in the hospital, she drank two bottles of formula with my permission. *sigh* Jovan did not drink a drop of formula ever and I never ever expected that my second time would be harder. Kay kept on crying even after I have switched her to feed from one breast to the other several times until my nipples felt so sore. The nurse then offered to take her to give her some more drink from the bottle and the tired me agreed. Kay slept peacefully for a few hours after that, giving me time to rest and refill my tanks. I still have mixed feelings about that, though. Between being thankful of the rest and wondering if anything else could be done without involving the formula. Maybe I should just stick with being thankful. :)

get well soon, pleeease!

Jove has been sick for about a week now. Cough and cold. He had stayed at my mother's to prevent baby Kay catching the bug.

Then, Daddy got sick three days ago. So baby Kay and I moved to stay at my mother's.

Jovan has started to get better now after taking the medicine prescribed by doctor grandpa.

Yesterday, the two-month old baby Kay got the coughing and the sneezing as well! My heart is just broken looking at her gagging with phlegm and trying to wipe her runny nose after a sneeze. She has vomited milk four times in these two days.

The weather has been crazy with alternating hot sun and heavy rain in a day. We're on our way to recovery, or so I prayed.