Raychelle, the little drummer-gal!

Raychelle is now 8 month-old and she has started crawling since I bought the "Pooh-mat" for her last month!

Besides the exciting crawling practice sessions on the mat, Raychelle also kena her 1st "balugu" (bump) while on the mat... happened when yi-yi Xiujin came to play with her during my school holidays. Both of them were having a good time playing with Raychelle's musical instruments - shakers, piano, drum, tambourine, when Raychelle who was sitting upright did a "humpty dumpty" fall backward and her head landed on the piano with a "tud" and she started crying loudly! I was on the phone with my mum, and immediately I hung up the phone and went to pick Raychelle up, at the same, sweeping my hand around her head to examine for any "balugu" and there it was at the back of her head, a little "balugu"... poor thing!!!

Since the "balugu" incident, I was very cautious about letting Raychelle play with her musical instrument toys. I will only allow her to play with them maybe once a week under my supervision and I will also always ensure that none of her musical instrument toy gets behind her, in case she does the "humpty dumpty" backward fall again, I don't want her to risk hitting anything that's hard enough to give her another "balugu"!

Today, I decided to let Raychelle have a music-make-merry session after her lunch, as she refused to sleep and seemed to be having a lot of energy. Previously, she could only wave her shakers and tambourine or any-o-how hit her piano keys, but today she could beat her drum pretty well! She did a few sets of drum beating with her 2 drum sticks, quite a cute and hilarious sight, especially when she tried to aim for the drum properly with her drum sticks! As I was videoing her, she surprised me with her improvision - beating the drum with her hand, like those tribal dance...she must have recalled Daddy beating the drum with his hands and dancing around .... smart girl!

Raychelle has indeed grown so much and learning real fast .... I'm so proud of my cute little baby girl who has brought me countless joy & laughter since her arrival!

Thank you God, for the most wonderful gift of Motherhood & the most lovely gift of my little darling Raychelle!

Raychelle Learning to Crawl

After going back to work on 26 Feb 09, the mid-year school holidays are finally here again! I'm so glad to resume my FULL-TIME MUMMY vocation!

Raychelle has grown so much during the last few months and it's really a delight to see her learn so many new things, like recognising English words, Chinese characters, picture cards, Math dot cards (all these are based on the Glenn Doman's learning methods for babies); eating from spoon; sitting up without support etc...

However I was quite concerned about one developmental stage that Raychelle must go through, yet hasn't gone through, and she seemingly unwilling to go through... the stage of CRAWLING! I've read from Glenn Doman books that crawling is a very essential stage for babies as it will affect their brain developmental progress ... if a baby skips the crawling stage, it is actually not a good sign, and it may imply future developmental problems (eg. poor motor skills, reading problem etc).

Though Raychelle has only turned 7 month-old, she is rather advanced in her ability to sit upright without support. One reason could be due to the fact that she's a chubby baby with lots of cushioning on her bum, hence she is very stable in supporting herself while sitting upright. Thus she is able to sit and play with her toys for very long. I also notice that other babies (usually babies of thinner frames) her age who can't balance themselves while sitting, will normally lounge their bodies forward and start "propelling" to move.. which causes incidental crawling, hence these babies enjoy crawling to reach for things that attract them. Unlike those babies, Raychelle doesn't seem to have any incentive to crawl because she is already very comfortable sitting up and playing with her toys. Whenever I turned Raychelle on her tummy on the bed, she will start "grumbling" in a very pathletic expression and sound. I also realised that it could also be due to the fact that she is chubby, she finds it harder to lift her body when she moves her hands and legs while on her tummy, hence she doesn't get to experience "incidental crawling", worse so while on a bed where her body tends to "sink" into the mattress! I was worried that if I don't help to give Raychelle the opportunity to learn crawling, she may be too comfortable in her sitting position that she may just move around on her bum, and one day just stand up and start walking while skipping the crawling stage.

Hoping to provide Raychelle the opportunity and safe environment to learn crawling, I went to Compass Point "Mini Toon" to buy a 130x200cm mat (something that those Yoga mat)yesterday. Of course Raychelle's 1st session, as seen from the video, was not a very pleasant one for her, as she was very unhappy to be placed on her tummy down position and was not willing to make any effort to inch forward despite me placing toys as "baits" (partly due to her past experience of no movement while sinking into the mattress). Nonetheless, I am confident that with more practice and loving encouragement from mummy and daddy, Raychelle will definitely make her debut crawl and gets to enjoy the crawling exercise once she masters it!

Raychelle learning campfire song!

Since the last time I updated this blog, Raychelle has grown so much! She's now 18 week-old and will be turning 19 week-old this Thursday. More than a week ago when she turned 4 month-old, we brought her to a kids' hairdresser for her first hair cut and she was such a sweetie pie who remained happy sitting on daddy's lap throughout the entire shaving session which lasted about 8 minutes, enabling the hairdresser to have an easy haircutting session. Am really proud of my girl!

Raychelle loves to learn new things ... including learning campfire songs from daddy! Check out the 2 botaks singing campfire songs!

Seeing little Raychelle grow each day...

Raychelle at Day 1 (6 Nov 08)

1 week-old Raychelle (13 Nov 08)

2 week-old Raychelle (20 Nov 08)

3 week-old Raychelle (28 Nov 08)

4 week-old Raychelle (4 Dec 08)

5 week-old Raychelle (11 Dec 08)

6 week-old Raychelle (18 Dec 08)

7 week-old Raychelle (25 Dec 08)

8 week-old Raychelle (2 Jan 09)

9 week-old Raychelle (9 Jan 09)

10 week-old Raychelle (16 Jan 09)

Dear God, please continue to bless my little darling to grow each day into a healthy, strong, happy & beautiful child of God who will do wonderous & victorious deeds for the love of God...Amen.

Amazing Gift of Motherhood..

Before Raychelle was born, I was never a fan of babies, in fact they scare me! ..hee

Hence my confinement month was indeed a challenging period when I had to adapt to my new role as a mum.. a clueless one, a "gan-cheong spider" one, a "scary-cat" one... yet I managed to rise to the occasion! I bet all mothers do! =D

Now 10 weeks in motherhood, I simply can't describe the incredible emotion felt whenever I hold my baby in my arms & we both gaze into each others' eyes .. I can only say, "Thank you, Lord, for blessing me with this gift of motherhood..."

Parenthood

Our first baby - Raychelle Gerardine Lim (weight 3040 g, length 49cm) has finally arrived on Thursday, 6 November 2008 at 10.28am at Mount Alvernia Hospital.

Life for darling & I has really changed ... ... for the merrier!

10 Things I Miss Most during Pregnancy...

In no order of preference,

1) Gulping ICE COLD BEER with every munch of sinnful deep-fried food
[Consupmtion of alcohol is not advisable during pregnancy as heavy drinking can cause "fetal alcohol syndrome" which may result in a small baby, and often cause defects.]

2) Sipping Red/White WINE with friends around the RS-kopitiam table set amidst the relaxed ambience of the humble-RS-abode
[Same reason as above. It has been a long while since darling and I host any wine chill-out at our place!]

3) Dipping my roti into dark soysauce-&-pepper-flavoured runny HALF BOILED EGGS for breakfast
[Undercooked eggs increase the risk of contracting Salmonella. Contamination with Salmonella bacterium can cause baterial food poisoning which may cause a miscarriage or preterm labour.]

4) Savouring Salmon/Tuna SASHIMI in Japanese Restaurants
[Best to avoid any uncooked food during pregnancy for fear of contracting any bacterial infection.]

5) Slipping my feet into my size-35 HIGH HEELS ranging from 1-to-3-inches tall
[I've stopped wearing high heels during my early pregnancy, as high heels will be difficult to stand and walk well in especially when the feet and back are going to take quite a strain as pregnant me get heavier. Furthermore, due to water retention starting at the beginning of my 3rd trimester, my feet have swelled to size-38! I have passed all my high heels (except my 2 pairs of wedding heels) to my two sisters. Whenever I try to slip a foot into one of my wedding heels, I feel like I'm Cinderella's Step-sister!]

6) Wearing my WEDDING BAND on the fourth finger of my left hand 24hrs-7days a week
[Once again, thanks to water retention that my palms have turned chubby and my fingers look like fat sausages! My wedding band has failed to slide down my finger and gets stuck at the knuckle since August! Maybe even after childbirth, my finger will not "shrink" back to its original size and I will never get to wear my wedding band again!]

7) Falling into a cosy slumber in any POSITIONS (eg. left, right, chest-down, curled...) freely
[A good night's rest can seem an impossible quest, especially during this period of late pregnancy when the bump is enormous!]

8) JUMPING out of bed every morning
[The moment I lie down on bed, it's almost impossible for me to shift any part of my heavy body, what's more to have the agility to leap and jump out of bed! Almost every morning, I will need darling's help to turn my body to one side and gently lift me up into a sitting position, before I can drop my legs down the bed to slowly get down... sigh...]

9) Having the power to delay trips to the lavatory by HOLDING my BLADDER
[As my womb expands and presses on my bladder, the need to urinate frequently becomes a routine, and I simply have no say on delaying any toilet trips not even for a minute once I feel the urge, unless I want to risk peeing into my undies should an unexpected sneeze or laughter explodes!]

10) For me to know ... For you to guess... hee