The kids have grown!

These photos were taken on Boxing Day and it was also MK's 2nd birthday. The photos were self taken by me. Love the second and last photo as MK has put on his cheeky look! KK was obviously oblivious to what was happening and busy sucking her fingers!

How they have grown! MK is now 2 years and 4 months old and KK is 13.5 months old. 2 precious and beautiful gifts from God!

Almost abandon..

Oh dear..it has indeed been a long time since I logged on to my blog. The moment I logged in, the layout of the main menu seems unfamiliar. Oh no..it has changed? Since when? What do I need to click so I can start a new blog, change the blog layout etc. I guess I'll figure it out.

Another month has passed. Kate is 4 months old today. Matt is going to be 19 months old soon. Where did all the time go? This question is not uncommon for us to ask every now and then.

The best thing at this stage is seeing them grow and spending quality time with them which is definitely something that Darren and I would not be able to do if we are in Malaysia. We would likely be working hard and long hours. Some friends were asking me recently if I do miss working and my response to them was not really. The only part is probably the financial independence.

Here's a couple of recent photos of Kate and Matt..

I hope to find some time to update my blog. One post a month should be "reasonable" I reckon? Hehe! If you have been visiting, thank you very much and I hope you have enjoy reading it so far. Till then..

A good hour

If only I have a good hour during the day, it's a bliss! I can hardly sit down properly to eat my meal, let alone going to the toilet.

Life is tough with no assistance to take care of the kiddos. With Matt getting so active (and I mean really active!), I practically have my eyes darting on him all day long. You just don't know what he will do next from climbing the chairs to the coffee table, couch and bed. He's a 'dangerous' and also an annoying toddler at the same time!

Nevertheless, he can be quite a darling at times. He would plant me a kiss on the cheek when I ask him to and he would throw me a flying kiss out of a sudden (trying to be cheeky) to waving goodbye when he thought he is going to go out.

It has been exceptionally a fruitful journey growing up with him full time.

This is Matthias at 17 months old..isn't he a charm?

First Mother's Day card

This is Matthias' first hand made Mother's Day card to me..

Front of the card

Card content

Sweet huh? He did this with the help from the carers at his nursery. It's the effort that matters..

Thank you my dear son. Mummy loves the card =)

Note: In the UK, Mother's Day is celebrated on the fourth Sunday of Lent, not the third Sunday in May.

SAHM - The typical daily routine

A friend recently posted a comment on my Facebook status with this acronym, SAHM. I didn't know what it means initially and came to know that it means Stay At Home Mum (after googling it).

It has been a year now that I am a full time mum or should I say SAHM  =). When I was still working in the corporate world, I did not understand why full time mums always complained that there are so much to do at home. Take care of the children, do house chores and cook. What is so hard?!

You may think it's a simple job too but now that I am SAHM, I can attest that it is hard word!! It's a 24x7x365 job. There is no such thing as sick leave, annual leave, public holiday etc.

So, what is my typical routine as a SAHM?

Note: The timing may vary but generally, the scope of job is the same.

Morning:-
7 - 8 am : Milk time & changing time for baby
8 - 9 am : Breakfast time for baby and mum. Mum will check her emails.
               On Mon & Tues, send baby to nursery.
9 - 11 am : Free and easy for baby. He will play around but mum spend most of the time stopping him from playing things he is not suppose to.
11 am - 12 pm : Prepare & cook lunch for baby

Afternoon:-
12 - 1 pm : Lunch time for baby and mum
1 - 2 pm : Nap time for baby. Some 'me' time for mum.
2 - 3 pm : Play time for baby & milk time
3 - 4 pm : Tea time for baby and mum
4 - 5 pm : Play time for baby. Mum still have to keep an eye on baby.
5 - 6 pm : Prepare dinner for dad and mum.
               On Mon & Tues, pick baby from nursery.
6 - 7 pm : Dinner time for baby. Cook dinner for dad and mum.

Evening:-
7 - 8 pm : Shower time for baby. Dinner time for dad and mum. If dad is           home early, will help to shower baby.
8 - 9 pm : Put baby to bed
9 pm : Relaxation time for mum and dad too  =)
10.30 pm : Mum will be in bed by this time. All tired out for the day.

Looks like a simple routine huh? I can honestly tell you it is not! It's more tiring than going to work daily. Most mums would agree they would rather go to work than being a full time mum..LOL! There will be more work if you have more than one child. I can imagine! Whatsmore when kids start to fight among each other for toys or wanting your attention all the time.

So, have you got any typical routine as a SAHM to share? =)

Happy 1st birthday Matthias

Matthias turned ONE on 26th December. How time flies! I could still remember the labour pain I went through and it still remains vivid until now. Nevertheless, it is all worth it. He has brought a lot of joy and happiness to us in the past one year.

HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY MATTHIAS!!

Some photos taken by hubby as we celebrate his birthday at home. We decided to celebrate in low key this year as Matthias may not fully understand what is really happening if we have a birthday bash for him.

The birthday boy laughing happily for the day  

Photos with mummy and daddy

A cake and red eggs prepared by me

Wishing you lots of health and happiness for the year. Papa and mummy love you!!

Matt learning how to turn

I can't believe it! We are into the last month of 2010. Where did the time go? Matt is turning one in 25 days time!

I was running through some videos I took of Matt as he was growing and found this particular one really amusing. This was taken when he was learning how to turn at about 20 weeks old.



Looking back at that time and present, my little boy has really grown and developed so much. He is no longer the young and helpless baby now.

Enjoy the video!!

What Matt likes to play

Sometimes I don't really get it. I bought Matt quite a number of toys. However, he doesn't play much with it.

He likes to play with our 'toys' instead. His favourite 'toys' are handphones, my hubby's laptop cable, mouse, camera, vacum cleaner, the blind, the rubbish bin, TV controller, door stopper and the table lamp sitting on the floor in our room. Sometimes, he even likes to play with the clothes we piled up for washing in the room.

Amazed? I am more baffled I would say. I don't understand when all his toys are so colourful and cute to play with.

I spoke to a number of mums and they also commented the same thing ie.that their babies love their handphones, laptop cables etc.

On a funnier part, if I give Matt a toy with a label attached, he is more intrigued with the label more than the toy itself. Haha! Initially, I didn't really believe when my friend told me so about this but now I do.

If you have a baby, try observing what they like to play. Their toys or your 'toys'..

Oh oh! I got FOUR teeth now

Here's the latest update on Matt's growing teeth...

Four teeth now! The fifth one at the bottom is coming up!

With four teeth now, he is able to bite me! Ouch!!

Lets swim!

I've recently signed up for a Water Babies course for Matt after hearing good feedbacks from other mummies who had done the course. I guess I am a little late in sending him for the course because most of my friends send their babies when they were only 3 to 4 months old. Also, there are a lot of younger babies in Matt's class. Oh well, better later than never. The only requirement when joining this course is that the baby must be under a year old because the unique teaching methods is only for babies.

We went for the first lesson last week and Matt thoroughly enjoyed it. He was busy splashing the water with both his hands. Haha! Unfortunately, there is no one to help to catch the moment on photos. The course will be for 9 weeks but we missed the first week because we signed up only last week.

Believe it or not..the instructor actually submerge Matt under the water for 3 to 4 seconds. It actually freak me out as I was worried if Matt will be able to catch his breath but he was ok. He was wondering what happened when he came out of the water. Haha! Apparently this is one of the method they teach the babies.

Will update more on his course progress as we go through more classes.

Hands free!!

As I am writing this post, I am watching Matt drinking his bottle of milk. My wish has finally come true because I had always wished that he could hold his own bottle so that I don't need to feed him everytime. Now, I could just lay a big pillow on the floor and place him on it with his bottle of milk and I could do other stuff.

HANDS FREE!! Yeay!

Nursery time

Today was Matt's official first day at the nursery. I will be sending him to the nursery twice a week so that he can socialise and learn to be more independent. Also, it gives Mummy a little break and some time for herself. Not really a break because Mummy still need to clean, prepare, cook and do other housework.

It was a little hard and Mummy felt the separation anxiety kicking in. Thank God Papa took the day off and we have visiting relatives, so it wasn't that bad. But still, Mummy keeps wondering how Matt was doing for the day and hope the time would pass faster so she can see him.

I have been with Matt for 6.5 months. Have never really separate from him except that I am out sometime to meet some friends. So sending him to the nursery is my first trial in the event of me getting a job and returning to the working world.

He did pretty well on the first day. I guess he is still young to understand what is really happening to him  =).

Oh oh! I got TWO teeth now

Matt's second teeth is growing..

He continue to dribble a lot and gnawing at everything he has in his hands. But he looks cute!

Oh oh! My tooth is growing..

Initially, I planned to blog about growing up with Matt on a monthly basis. However, I decided not to do so because it is quite an arduous task. I'll probably just blog whenever I feel so ;). So, this time around..I am going to talk about Matt's growing tooth.

As I was looking at Matt's gum last Wednesday, I noted something whitish. At first sight, I thought he has an ulcer but that doesn't make sense because he is still young too have one. After a closer look, I realised that it was actually his little tooth emerging out of his gum!

He looks so cute whenever he laughs now because of that little tooth. So far, Matt has been a very good boy. He doesn't get cranky or experience any pain during during the teething period. However, he dribbles a lot and gnaws at everything he can get hold of and I mean EVERYTHING!

As of today, I can see a second tooth making its' way out of his gum..=). Hopefully by end of this month, his two bottom teeth will be out. I've already recorded this development in his Little Red Book  =).

'Mum mum' time

Matt turned 6 months old last Saturday. How time flies! From the day he was born and seeing him growing bigger and stronger each day is something that money can't buy. Now that Matt is 6 months old, we can officially wean him. It is recommended that parents wean their babies about 6 months.

A few day earlier, I went to Asda to get Matt some jarred foods and baby rice.

I bought a variety of flavours ranging from pureed vegetables to fruits. Once Matt gets comfortable eating his solids, I will prepare it on my own. It is fresher and healhtier as commercial baby foods have been heated to a very high temperature and then cooled, in order to sterilise them. This gives them a very long shelf life but destroys a lot of the flavour and some of the nutrients in the process.

The first time we fed Matt, he didn't really eat a lot. It was probably the taste and texture that seems so different from his usual milk. However, for his second feed on the same day, he progressed a lot. In fact, he was crying for more! Haha! Anyway, Matt never says no to his food! ;)

I've bought a book by Annabel Karmel which will help to guide on the weaning process. Right now, it's a process of adjusting how much solid, milk and how many times to feed him.

This is definitely another milestone for us as parents and Matt's growth development.

The little 'Red book'

Every child born in the UK will have their own personal health record which is usually called the 'Red book'.

This is a very special book because it is the main record of the child's health, growth and development. It is for parents and other people who care for the child to be able to see and to write in. We need to bring this book whenever we visit the doctor, health visitor, midwife, hospital and even the dentist. Hence, this is a very important book.

The book is divided into different sections. The first section will have the child, family and birth details.

The next section is details of all the immunisations the child had since they were born. So, everytime we visit the GP for Matt's inoculations, we need to provide the doctor with this book for them to note when the immunisations were given.

Another section is for doctor, health visitor and midwife to document down the results of their screenings and routine reviews. This would include screening tests such as hearing tests, blood tests, pysical check ups (check on baby's hips, heart, vision and testes for boy). Health visitor will note their review when baby is 6-8 weeks old.

I like this last section the most because this is where we plot Matt's growth chart (weight and height). The growth chart it up till he is 20 years old!

Also, what is interesting is we can note down Matt's developmental firsts.

For example, when Matt is able to sit with support or sit alone?

I've noted down the first time Matt smiled and laughed so I can remember and also for him to know when he grows up.

Isn't this is an interesting book? I love the concept!! Not sure if Malaysia have this concept. It's a shame if there is none.

Fullmoon celebration @ Jamie's

Hubby and I decided to celebrate Matthias full moon by having dinner at the Jamie's Italian on the 25th January. It was a simple celebration together with my parents in law who were here for 5 weeks.

While we were busy dining, Matthias was sleeping comfortably throughout the time in his infant car seat despite the noises surrounding him (the so called celebration when he was asleep all the time =p). Good for us though because we can have a peaceful time eating our dinner =).

The appetiser: Bruschetta with tomatoes and cheese

My main course: Turbo Arabiata Penne

And a cup of hot chocolate to go with which was nice..

I also had tiramisu for dessert but forgot to take a photo of it (too eager to dive in). Overall, dinner was good. I highly recommend the tiramisu. Simply delicious!!

Lastly, a word from Jamie Oliver..

Counting my sleep

What a way to usher into 2010. Instead of counting down, I slept through the night (not exactly the entire night though). Sleeping was indeed a luxury ever since the arrival of Lil Matt.

So how did you usher into the new year?

Hello world!

Our lil boy, Matthias Adam Koh Yee Jun decided to greet the world on the 26th December 2009 (a day before my birthday), 12 days earlier than the expected due date (7th January 2010). He was born healthy weighing at 3.11 kg and 52 cm long.

I wasn't really prepared for his early arrival but as I was already 38 weeks pregnant, I could pop anytime. The good thing was I've got all things ready from baby stuff to the hospital bag.

In fact, I was very much in mood for shopping on that day at Bicester Village. Well, guess I just have to go later or was it a way for baby to help mummy save the money on shopping after all? =p

Nevertheless, Matthias was the best Christmas and birthday gift received in my entire life. His arrival also concluded 2009 in a great way for me but at the same time, marked the beginning of sleepless nights.