Eczema no more!

For a large part of John's first year, he had quite a bad case of eczema. The rash appeared as red spots in the usual areas like behind his knee, elbow etc. But the one area most affected was his face. He had red patches on both sides of his cheeks and they definitely caused him some discomfort coz he used to rub his face against our clothes when we carried him. It seriously broke my heart to see him like that.

We tried steroid creams and that helped here and there. But the patches kept reoccuring. I hated using steoids on John. I heard that if you use steroids, it would be hard to stop using them cos the skin would get so used to them that the moment you stopped, the eczema would come back. I also found out from a friend that steroids thin the skin and that's no good as well.

Before: Two patched on his face.

I prayed and asked God to give us wisdom to help the bub. Only He knew what was going on. And once again, I must say God answers prayers. When John was about 10 months, I started to notice that the eczema was particularly bad days after I ate squid or prawns. And John was having the same through my breastmilk. So I decided to cut seafood (except fish) out of my diet completely. And voila! John's skin cleared! So for about 2 over months now, he's been dawning silky smooth baby skin... FINALLY! :)

After: Eczema no more! :)

If you stood with us in prayer for John's recovery, we would like to thank you. God is good and every prayer counted!

Little drummer boy

Last Sunday, my brother, who's our church drummer, sat John in front of the drum set and gave him his set of drum sticks. Needless to say, the bub was thrilled and started banging away. Uncle Aaron was pleased to see John interested. He even said John was holding the sticks correctly! So... anyone starting a baby worship team?

ps. thanks Aunty Gret for the video!

Johnny Walker - Part 2

Our little one is finally walking - properly! It was initially just a step or two and then on June 17, just 2 days after his first birthday, he walked his first 5 steps. After that, just small bits of progress. But the last three days we saw an exponential increase in John's confidence and he's been taking many many steps at a go. And today at his gym mate Caius' birthday party, he walked so much I managed to get video clip after video clip of footage. Here's just one of them!

Of course, after the party, I was absolutely pooped. Chasing the little one around was no joke. I guess it's a little taste of what is to come. Hopefully that will help me shed the pounds. :)

ps. the voice in the background is birthday boy Caius' sister calling out to John. i can't understand what she's saying but i guess John does since he makes a 90 degree turn and heads straight for her.

The Big O-N-E!

John's O-N-E and boy did we have a celebration! There were just too many people we wanted to share our joy with, so we had to have a total of FOUR celebrations: 2 at home with friends, one in church and one with the relatives. And 4 cakes, 3 parties, an Old Chang Kee spread and one prata man later, I can say with absolute certainty that we're all partied out. Here are some of the highlights of the weekend.

Two of our cakes were creations by our good friend Chris the Baker. The first was a no. 1 cake. Made with rich chocolate fudge and decorated with hand-made marzipan animals. The second cake was a black forest fresh cream cake decorated as a book with (you guessed it) hand-made marzipan animals. I'm sure you can tell John loves animals. :) Both cakes were absolutely delish and I'm glad we ordered hefty cakes so we had leftovers for the rest of the week. Thanks again Chris! The other 2 cakes were bought commercially - one from Polar and one from Swensens.

Our no. 1 cake!

Our book cake. See how it says "Little John had a farm.":)

The birthday boy was all smiles when we sang him his birthday song - all 4 times. He would smile and even clap. Very cute. The only thing is he doesn't know how to blow out his candle yet but the other kids didn't mind at all. Some even blew the flame out before we sang the song. Fun tho. :)

I really wanted to create a fun atmosphere in the house for the birthday boy and other kids that were coming for the party on Saturday so I ordered balloons! It's amazing how the simple balloon could elicit sooo much interest. Kids and babies alike were mesmerised by the blue, green and yellow concoction that lined our ceiling. At $1 a pop, it was well worth it! John had a lot of fun just trying to grab the hanging string.

Having some fun with grandma.

We had out most of John's toys which we painstakingly sterilised the night before. We had a baby gym cum ball pit (present from Grandma & a hit with most of the kids, even though it was for babies), a gym set and trampoline which i rented, an exersaucer for the younger babies, and a slide/swing. It must have been soo enticing that even some adults had a go!

Oh and the whole weekend we just ate and ate and ate. For the first party on Saturday, we engaged the services of BBQ men from BBQ Wholesale. Slighly disappointing. For the second party, we got the Prata man from the famous casuarina prata to make prata on the spot. That was fantastic! He made everything from tissue prata to customised banana-caramel-chocolate-cheese pratas. Fab. I would recommend them in a heartbeat. On Sunday, we celebrated with the church with a spread from Old Chang Kee. We found out they had a catering arm and decided to try them out. And I must say they were very professional and the food was wonderful. Each curry puff, each yam pie, each sotong ball was as good, if not better than what we'd get at the OCK stalls. Absolutely Fab.


On the day of John's birthday itself, we spent a quiet half day with the bub. Just daddy, mummy and baby. We had breakfast at the club and brought him to the play room for some early morning fun. I think John was just happy to have daddy spend time with him in the day, especially in the morning. Daddy's usually on his way to work when John wakes up so it's always a treat to have daddy around on a monday morning! We had lunch at Parkway and then headed home to prepare for party no. 4 with the relatives.

Having breakfast with daddy. On the menu: Cherrios!

We were so early on the monday morning the cleaner was still there!

It was a milestone not only for the bub, but for us as parents. It's been one entire year of having a little person in our lives and he's made these 364 days the most memorable ever. Every coo, every laugh, every smile, every milestone reached has been amazing. John's life has been a real showcase of God's creation and a reminder that we've been chosen to have the privilege of nurturing this gift He's given us. We pray that as John enters his second year, we will be the parents that God had intended for us to be.

To the next 364 days I say... BRING IT ON!!!

First steps!!!

I'm slowly putting together my post on John's birthday weekend and i hope to have that up soon. I've just got lots to say and loads of pics to choose from. So stay tuned.

BUT, I'm so excited cos my little man took his first official steps today!!! 5 to be exact. wooooot! In attendance was mummy, daddy, mama, gong gong and our helper, Tess. He had been taking one or two tentative steps of late but today, it was proper walking. When he finally got back down on his fours again, we broke into a huge applause, which John of course loved. I'm hoping the positive response would encourage him to do it again. My cam's going to be blued to me tomorrow. Hopefully i'll catch his next steps on camera.

Grandma, Mommy and I

As part of our mothers' day celebrations this year, my mom, John and I had a professional photoshoot done with my friend Joan. It was great that John was cooperative and Joan managed to get quite a few good shots in. :)

Here are some of my favourite shots:

John looking longingly at Grandma as she reads him his bible story.

Just the 3 of us.

Mommy and Baby Ch'ng

Thanks Joan. We had a wonderful time!

Sick again

John's been sick the last few days and mummy and daddy have been trying their very best to keep him happy and comfortable. It started with a light cough on Thursday and on Thursday night, it developed into a fever, runny nose and nasty cough.

I must say that it is a blessing that my in laws are doctors and when we need some 'consultation', we get an almost instant diagnosis. Our home is also a sort of mini pharmacy. And because we have not one, but three doctors in our household, we even have a second and third opinion.

Having said that, this time, John's cough has been bad and we have been giving him antibiotics to preempt the possibility of any secondary bacterial infection to what we believe to be a viral infection. We also give him baby paracetamol whenever the fever strikes (it comes on and off and at its peak it was a whopping 39 degrees!) and a cough mixture to soothe the throat.

Though John's not been as cranky as the last time he was sick, and he still has half his appetite, his sleep has been disrupted again. On Friday night i literally had to carry him to sleep for a good part of the night. Very tiring.

We're just praying now that the worst is over and that God will give him a speedy recovery.

Chng Look-alike Meter

I found this on my friend Deisree's blog and decided to see if John looked more like James or I. And the jury's out... ALMOST equal. Phew. :)

MyHeritage: Look-alike Meter - Family history - Family tree software

shoes

Of late, my little man's been VERY facinated with his shoes. Before his bath every evening, he'll crawl over to his shoe shelf (yes he has a shelf of shoes - mostly given) and begin a sort of shoe ritual. It's quite facinating, yet funny at the same time.

First he'll take out one shoe, inspect the sole and place it on the floor. Then he'll take out the next and inspect it and place it on the floor. He'll do this till all his shoes are on the ground. Then he'll toss them about like he's mixing a salad and squeal at the same time. He'll do this for a while. And then he'll start inspecting them one by one again until it's time for his bath.

Not only that... when both mummy and daddy are not looking, he'll attempt to put them in his mouth. That's my playful little man for you.

I'm just glad he's finding things to explore on his own, shoes or otherwise, and we don't have to constantly find things to entertain him with. phew!

Membership has its privileges

Recently, I found out through a friend that there was a big playroom for kids at the Singapore Swimming Club. Since we are members there, I decided to bring John there to have a look-see. And what a find! The playroom's huge! It had a ball pit, a load of toys for bubs and kids, books to read, a swing, a house, even a TV for the adults. There is also an attendant there at all times to keep the older kids busy with stuff to draw and paint and to also ensure that everything's in order.

So far i've brought the bub there twice and both times he's had a wonderful time. He's made friends with a couple of other kids and he's familiarised himself with quite a few of the toys. His favourite is by far the ball pit. He can spend a good 15 minutes doing nothing but climbing in and out of the pit.

B for Ball!

John looking like he's about to whip up dinner.

Membership indeed has its privileges. Best thing for us is that it's free and just 5 minutes away from where we live. It doesn't hurt that there's good food there too! So anyone else a member of SSC?

What happened to the 20 cent rides???

You know those rides you find in almost all shopping centres? Those with characters such as Barney, always with a queue of kids waiting to go on, mostly blasting funny music? I can't believe each ride is costs $1! For like 1 minute! What happened to the 20 cent rides? Where have they gone? $1 is just daylight robbery.

Having said that, it's just so hard to not let your child try something new and over the mothers' day weekend, John had his first taste of the $1 rides. It was just outside Bakerzin at Suntec, where we were having lunch, and mama and gong gong couldn't resist letting the bub try it out. And he really enjoyed it! He couldn't sit on the seat cos he kept slipping off so he stood throughout the ride, steering the submarine like a pro. And he'd ocassionally let out a shout of glee and look over at us and smile. It was uber cute.

As usual, I had camera in hand and I snapped and snapped, but the submarine kept moving and of all the shots I took, only one wasn't blurry (seriously, i need some help in the area of photography). But I'm glad I caught him in a smile. :)

I've also started collecting $1 coins so I can reward (not spoil) him with more rides in the future.

Teeth and thudguard

After a quick survey of the bubs i have come into contact with recently, i have concluded that John's got more teeth than the average 11 month old. I am proud to say my bub's going to have 8 teeth by his first birthday! My mil said he probably has lots of calcium, and i am inclined to agree seeing he has a cup of yoghurt a day... everyday.

Anyhoo, having a mega teething machine as a baby has its good and bad points. Good in that he's able to eat foods which are more lumpy, and he's able to bite off fruit pieces and chew them. It's also nice to see a smile with a nice set of teeth and we have been trying to teach him the need to brush every morning and evening.

Bad bits... he grinds his teeth. It's almost like he finds the noise amusing. Of course it sends shivers down my spine. I liken it to nails on a chalkboard. eeks. Also, he bites. Everyone in our household has battle scars to prove it. He's quite cheeky about it too. He affectionately snuggles into wherever he's going to land a bite, like on our belly or thigh, and because we think he's showing us love, we don't stop him. Then he goes in for the kill and sinks his pearly whites into our flesh. And he bites HARD. Anyone has any tips on how to prevent biting?

One other thing is that he wants to chew on everything... yes EVERYTHING! From his shoes to our books to the toys he sees lying around. I guess it's not bad as such because it's a natural way for babies to explore, so I'm not fussed about it. Here's an example. I blogged about the thudguard a while ago, and unfortunately... a couple months on, it's been relegated to a decorative item in John's play yard.

As you can see, if an item can't be chewed, it's got no value to John.

After 5 months of teething, i'm just glad that John's not reacted adversely nor has he been overly fussy; just the bucket loads of drool which i'd take any time over a hard-to-handle baby. Thank God for that.

Johnny Walker

When John started to cruise around the house, we bought him a push cart from the Better Toy Shop at Takashimaya to help him move towards the next major milestone... walking. This cart is much better than the other push-type walkers because it has a screw to tighten the breaks on the wheels so it feels heavier and more stable for the bub. Definitely a great buy for us.

So far, he'd just push for a bit and decide it's easier to crawl. But TODAY, he decided to really give the cart a go and voila... we have him "walking" - supported, but nonetheless, still walking! Mummy was so so proud. :)

Good thing I had my camera on hand.

climb climb climb!

For a while now we haven't been able to keep the bub off the stairs. He loves to climb and the moment he's allowed out of his play yard, he heads straight for our very own "mount everest". He's gotten so good he can go all the way to the 3rd level with no break. I really wonder where he gets all that energy. Here he is in action:

John's new playmate

Yup, John's got a new playmate at church (aka mummy's workplace). The bub's been rather smitten by the funny man himself... Pastor Andrew and Sometimes I wonder who's having more fun. :D I guess Pastor Andrew has had lots of experience playing with his grandchildren - I think he has 5, and entertaining John comes naturally to him.

Here are 2 videos (courtesy of Aunty Gret) of them in action.

I just love hearing John laugh. Oh, and as usual, Ps Andrew's eating.

Here John's just playing with Ps Andrew's hand. Hope that watch isn't an expensive one.

I'm just really thankful that everywhere I go, there are people who love John and want to play with him. He (and I) are really blessed. :)

10 months on...

One of John's favourite things - tags!

15 June 2008... the day my little bubba arrived kicking and screaming, greeting the world with gusto. 10 months on today, some things have not changed. :) He's still kicking, especially when he's refusing to have his diaper changed; and he's started to exercise his vocal cords a lot more recently.

Apart from that, he's changing in almost every other way. His personality is really coming through now. Though he's still quite sociable, he's developed a mild case of stranger anxiety, which i think came about after getting sick. He's more clingy now and would show his displeasure (vocally) when i walk out of the room. Now i've literally got to sneak out if i've need to do something. But he loves meeting new people and warms up easily, as long as mummy/daddy's still around.

John's got a slight problem with eczema. He's got 2 crusty spots on his face that come and go quite often. We were recommended a-derma, a cream that uses an oat as the active ingredient rather than a steroid, and i think it's helping somewhat. I'm also washing his face more often to keep the area clean. I also read and hear that very often such eczema associated with babies disappear when they're about a year old... which is just TWO months away! (I can't believe my baby's turning one!!!) *fingers & toes crossed!*

Physically he's really grown. I can seriously feel it in my arms when we go out and I carry him. He's aso grown taller and is now as tall as our dining table! He's now completely mobile and can crawl the whole length of our house in seconds. He's also taken to climbing stairs and can do a whole flight at a time. He's so mobile on all fours that I think he might take some time to walk. We've bought him a push cart type walker to encourage him to walk, but after a few steps, he decides he's faster crawling, gets down on all fours and nips off. He's also learnt to climb down backwards... today he climbed on our coffee table, crawled across it, made a 180 degree turn and 'gostan-ed' down. Mummy was so proud that she forgot to tell'im he wasn't supposed to be climbing the coffee table in the first place. :p

Food wise, John's doing better with lumpier foods. He's now eating rice again, but commercial rice porridge. He didn't take to mummy's home-made one - much to my disappointment. But whatever makes him happy and as long as he's getting good sized meals, i'm happy. I've also started giving him bread... home-made bread, and he loves it. Other new foods include honey dew, grapes, tahini and pumpkin seeds.

All in all, everything's going great except for one or two bits and i'm just thankful for the chance to watch my baby grow. I thank God everyday that I have the privilege to be his momma and I pray I'll be the parent God intended me to be.

Praise the Lord!

John's taken to raising both his hands up in the air. And each time he does it, we say 'Praise the Lord!' and he breaks out into a huge grin. As he does it, we all laugh and this reinforcement makes him do it again and again. It's really cute. I've wanted to take a video of this for a while now, but the moment has always escaped me. I'll continue trying cos it's something i really want archived.

For what it's worth, we hope the bub's really learning to Praise the Lord. :)

Look who's got a new ride

Our vertically un-challenged baby has officially grown out of his maxi cosi cabriofix capsule. Seriously, I can't see how it's meant for babies up to a year. I tried to maximise the use of the capsule but alas the bub could no longer sit comfortably in it. Not only were his feet were up against the back seat of the car, his legs were twisted to one side.

Before... with feet up against the back seat of the car.

So last weekend we made a trip down to Robinsons and purchased a Nania Maxim carseat and got a good discount on it. It didn't take John very long to get used to facing forward rather than backwards and he's happy to be zipping around with mummy.

In his new ride!

Me baby and me...

While playing today, i managed to snap a photo of us 2.

I'm feeling grateful today. Grateful to God for giving me the privilege to be the mother of my beautiful baby John. Each time i see John smile, my soul fills with joy. Though motherhood has its struggles, I'm thankful that the good bits always overshadow the bad ones and each day is more fulfilling than the last when I see him thrive and grow.

He's just growing so fast. Soon he'll be one and then two and i'll be wondering where all the time went. I don't know how i'll feel when he's too big to sleep in my arms or too old to be silly with mummy. I know it's not really possible, but I hope he'll never forget the time spent with us... i know I won't.

Dimples

Don't you just love those little dimples at the base of a baby's fingers? I absolutely love looking at them and I hate to think that John's will one day disappear. But for now, I'm savouring each little depression for all they're worth.