Siong Heng and Wendy's Blog

More Pics of the boys...

2007-08-15T16:29:00.000-07:00

Gosh...I am now saying "my boys". Still getting used to the term of having more than one child. In anycase, more picts for your perusal.

And it is....off...

2007-08-06T14:54:00.000-07:00

Somehow, with the second child, time seems to pass on a lot faster. I still remembered that with Da-Yong, it was forever before his dried umbilical chord dropped but with Da-Wei, in a matter of weeks (actually within 2 weeks) it is off. Also, Da-Wei is starting to gain weight and look a lot more healthy.

Also, I'm sure you parents out there must feel the same way, but with the second child, you become less paranoid. What we learn from our first child is that really, newborns are a lot stronger than they look.

On Wendy's orders...

2007-08-02T15:24:00.000-07:00

Here are two more pictures to entertain friends and family.

Here you go, my happy family. Look at Wendy though, she in her black blouse was just about 1 week after giving birth! I'm a lucky man indeed! :-)

Here, I present Canada's Next Top Model, Mr. Chan Da-Yong! (Who says that Canada's Next Top Model needs to be a woman?)

Costco anyone?

2007-07-28T15:28:00.000-07:00

Now that I'm a father of 2 boys, our Costco membership just suddenly seems a lot more valuable. Diapers are significantly cheaper, Vaseline Petroleum Jelly, Di-Vi-Sol etc. all is significantly cheaper there as well.

One thing that we are always amazed over is Costco's return policy. During one of our trips to Costco doing a legit return, we saw a lady in front of us carrying a dead pot of hanging flowers. Both myself and Wendy looked at each other and thought to ourselves, "NOOOOOooooo....don't tell me that she is trying to return a dead plant!" What excuses is she going to give?

Maybe it went like this:
Lady, "Sorry, but I left my plant in my front porch for a week and it died."
Costco Rep, "But you have a water the plant ma'am."
Lady, "Ohhh? Really? Then it is still Costco's fault because you didn't provide any instructions!!"

In anycase, she got her money back!

We were actualy cracking up laughing to ourselves. In a seperate occasion, I was just chatting with one of my colleagues and I was telling him about how ridiculous some people are in what they return and he told me another story that just got me rolling on the floor laughing.

He said that once when he was doing another return to Costco, he started a small chat with the Costco Rep and he asked her what was the most ridiculous item that someone has returned. She thought for a while and said, once, she actually had a customer returning a plate full of T-bone steak's bones. The customer said, I'm not satisfied with your steaks and I want my money back! :-) And amazingly, Costco honoured it. Now, that is what I call service. I just hope that not so many people will abuse this privilege...

Sheessshhhh....

The many faces of... Da-Wei

2007-07-28T10:51:00.000-07:00

Lets have a quick look!

Look Mommy, I can see you! My eyeballs move!

Huh? What's that bright light? What's Papa taking in his hands...and what is it he is saying? Cheese?

Look...I'm a darn fine looking fella....

Well, based on popular demand...

2007-07-24T20:35:00.000-07:00

I present to you, Chan Da-Wei! Now, mind you, the "Wei" isn't the usual "Wei" that you see lots in Malaysia (as in "Wei-Wei").

The "Wei" that my Father chose means a particular rank in Ancient China's government system (i.e. a particular "koon"'s rank). Hopefully this is a high position. :)

Eat, sleep and poop

2007-07-22T02:39:00.000-07:00

Every parent of a newborn will know this symptom, the one that I call ESP (Eat,Sleep and Poop). That's all the newborn baby does. Well, now's 2:50am and I'm stuck with an insomnia because I had to disrupt my sleep cycle to ensure that the baby's diaper is clean, he isn't hungry and is sleeping properly.

Over the last day (the last 24 hours), we must have gone through at least 10 diapers. A 40 pack of Newborn Pampers Swadlers that I bought just two days ago is now running dangerously low. Time to zip out to a 24 hour Shoppers Drug Mart to pick up more Pampers...

Ahh...if only my life can be this easy, ESP...

Oppss...typo in the poll.

2007-07-20T19:48:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately, there is a typo in the poll. Maybe, in order to bolster one of the names with no votes, Da-Wern is actually Da-Wen (WITHOUT the "r").

Now, go crazy! Vote already!

UN-NA-MED...

2007-07-19T18:25:00.001-07:00

Hmm...for those of you who are confused and thinking that Didi is called Chan Di-di... I need to put in a note of clarification (actually, Wendy said that I HAD to put in a word to clarify that Didi's name is NOT Chan Didi... :))

Officially, Didi's hospital tag is called CHAN, UN-NA-MED (as per how Malaysians often mispronounced words in pidgin English.. :) ) or should I say, CHAN, UNNAMED. So, as of this minute, Di-Di is still unnamed.

Di-di in Mandarin means younger brother and that is what all of us are calling him for now until we find a good name for him.

Finding a good name in Chinese isn't a walk in the park. Rules of the game:

1) First name (which is generational name) needs to be Da (Big in Chinese).
2) Yong (Brave in Chinese) is already taken by big brother.
3) Ee, Heng, Chin, Pei, Fen, An, Bee all taken because the kid cannot be named after older close relatives.
4) Cannot sound or mean silly things e.g. Big Head, Big Hands etc.

With those in mind, here are a few suggestions so far:
(a) Da-Wei
(b) Da-Wern
(c) Da-Shen
(d) Da-Guo
(e) Go back to the dictionary.

Hmm...maybe this is a goodtime to get some feedback from anyone reading. Should it be (a), (b), (c), (d) or (e)?

Help? :)

Guess who??

2007-07-18T07:44:00.000-07:00

Aikkk....apa macam? Lagi satu ke? Introducing little Di-di... :-)

Again, Di-di was born in Burnaby General Hospital and like his Ko-ko, DY, both, myself and Wendy are in awe over the level of service and healthcare provided to patients there! Again, this reaffirms my reason for being a Canadian with a first class public healthcare system.

Di-di was born at 9:26pm on 16th July 2007. Surprisingly, Wendy's labour was a "breeze" so to speak. However, what do I know...I'm a guy afterall. The one difference between this time around vs. the first time was Wendy saying very loudly and very firmly early on, "I WANT MY EPIDURAL, NOW!". Makes childbearing much more bearable I suppose. :)

In anycase, here are some initial pictures:

Goofy Smile

2007-07-04T19:33:00.000-07:00

Huggin' a tree!

2007-07-04T19:26:00.000-07:00

Whatcha looking at? :)

2007-07-04T19:25:00.000-07:00

Orang Eskimo Pura-Pura

2007-06-17T22:11:00.000-07:00

Sea of green at the playground

2007-06-17T22:00:00.000-07:00

Going Boarding...

2007-06-17T21:55:00.000-07:00

My most favouritest PJs

2007-06-17T21:46:00.000-07:00

CHEEESE!!!

2007-05-03T23:03:00.001-07:00

What is that sound?

2007-05-03T22:36:00.000-07:00

A-Nice

2007-02-25T23:27:00.000-08:00

These new PJs are a-nice! Don't make me change out of them!

Shop-a-holic!

2007-02-21T22:18:00.001-08:00

Kor Kor is such a slave driver!! Her bag is 100lbs heavy!

These are my "Pah Pai" Pigs

2007-02-21T22:18:00.000-08:00

Happy Chinese New Year

2007-02-21T22:14:00.000-08:00

Wishing everyone a happy and healthy new year!

Chim Wong Ji Wong

2007-02-21T22:09:00.000-08:00

Trying on new Ah Pek clothing for the Lunar New Year.

Lion Dance and Grocery Shopping

2007-02-21T22:00:00.000-08:00

Shopping with Ah Mah in T&T before Chinese New Year. "Tong chiang tong chiang" music everywhere. I was quite kia kia.

My favourite blue penguin sweater from gor gor!

2006-12-27T00:26:00.000-08:00

Meet my adoring fans...

2006-12-27T00:24:00.000-08:00

Taking the bus by myself!

2006-12-27T00:16:00.000-08:00

Ok, not really. I was not taking the bus. Neither was I by myself. But I look like it! Heh.

What are you looking at?

2006-10-31T21:50:00.000-08:00

Bulgarian Wedding.

2006-10-29T03:27:00.000-08:00

Video from Bulgaria.

2006-10-29T03:19:00.000-08:00

Hello from Bulgaria (Part 3) !

2006-10-28T17:39:00.000-07:00

Another shot of the downtown core.

This is where we got our Chinese Food fix.

This is Sofia's Robson St.

Hello from Bulgaria (Part 2) !

2006-10-28T17:09:00.000-07:00

More Pictures!

Building in Sofia.

Street vendor in Sofia.

Around the Presidential Palace.

Around the Presidential Palace

Parliament of Bulgaria.

Another shot of the main parts of Sofia.

University of Sofia

Here I am in front of the Nefsky (sp?) Church in the main Sofia square.

Hello from Bulgaria!

2006-10-28T16:41:00.000-07:00

Well, business takes you to many different places..and definitely interesting places. This time around, business brought me all the way to Sofia, Bulgaria. This is my first trip to a country in Eastern Europe. Very interesting... See for yourself!

Here's the place where we were working. This really is a residential house which the company has rented the 2nd, 3rd and 4th floors, turning them into a SW Development Office.

Here's a shot of Sofia that was taken outside of my hotel window. Doesn't it look like Ipoh?

Another shot of Sofia that was taken outside of my hotel window.

Here's a restaurant that we had several lunches. Again, this is just a residence that was converted to a restaurant.

Scene of the street in front of the office.

Bandana gone wrong...

2006-09-23T22:43:00.000-07:00

When a bandana goes wrong, you will look like an Ah Soh. Trust me, I know...

Fashion Do

Fashion Don't

Going out

2006-09-11T23:51:00.000-07:00

Where are my car keys?

DY's Step-by-Step Guide to Pursuing a Girl

2006-09-03T21:50:00.000-07:00

1. Spot a pretty girl.

2. Buy her gifts.

3. Be a gentleman, help her up when she falls.

4. Give her some space, support her and let her play hard to get.

5. Spend as much time with her to build common interest. Sharing is caring.

6. Go in for your target.

A Flirtin'

2006-09-01T08:17:00.000-07:00

DY: Hey BABY, How You're Doing?

House chores and a wannabe adult

2006-08-29T23:37:00.000-07:00

Seriously, I am not playing with water!

Lighthouse Park

2006-08-29T23:20:00.000-07:00

Couple of weeks back, I decided to bring mummy and papa to Lighthouse Park in North Vancouver. The drive was a spectacularly long one, with so many cars always lining up beside us most of the time. Papa drove at a really slow pace, giving me a chance to enjoy the view of the cars. I kept on hearing papa say "traffic jam". If traffic jam = looking at cars, then ME LOVES TRAFFIC JAM!

When baby turns 1.5 yrs old...

2006-08-21T21:17:00.000-07:00

Mummy: Da-Yong, did you hear what I just said? You HAVE to eat your veggies!

DY: La la la la la la la la

Got Milk?

2006-08-05T10:45:00.000-07:00

But where is my milk moustache? Oh well, I'll settle for a goatee and some side mouth milkiness...

It's finger-licking good... or is it?

2006-07-31T22:42:00.000-07:00

Little Da-Yong has lately taken “Botanical” a little too far. He recently feasted on an ensemble of flower seeds with a dash of soil, stir-fried over hot pebbles and washed down with some coffee plant leaves.

His verdict on this original vegetarian recipe?

It’s not only finger-licking good…

Word of the Moment

2006-07-28T23:06:00.000-07:00

Can you guess what my favourite word of the moment is?

That's right... it's PAPA!!

Blase

2006-07-27T07:07:00.000-07:00

I was woken up this morning, to a furiously heated ~~argument~~ debate brought about predominantly by our very cute, very innocent ~~looking~~ CDY. His response to all this?

Through the eyes of a baby...

2006-07-13T01:12:00.000-07:00

Guess who is back, bigger,better, wiser and handsomer than ever?

It's a good thing that the lack of posts did not signal a stop in time. I am now 16 months old, 22 kgs in weight and about 2.5 ft tall.

I can now crawl, walk, run, climb onto things and generally assert my charms over my grandparents for whatever I want.

Kit Kat and Tim Tams are my preferred foods.
Milk is my favourite drink.

I entered a crawling contest 6 months ago, but I was too smart for the contest. All the other babies were crawling but I stood up and walked to the finishing line!

I have visited Malaysia, Japan, Toronto, Montreal and Quebec City, but my favourite place is cuddling on the bed with my mama and papa.

All the girls are taken in by my good looks.

I'm hot. I have a thick mop of soft black hair, the cutest and handsomest round kuaci face, and an athletic body. A total package. What else can you ask for in a baby?

I love the outdoors, especially if I can secretly pluck out all of Grandpa's half ripe plums from the tree, and then pretend as if it were kor kor who did it...

I love cars, football and girls.

Yes, I know I am blossoming into every girls' dream man but girls, please try to restrain yourself. You may send in your resume for my review.. and please include your name, picture and the brand of diaper & baby wipes that you use! :)

To Malaysia and Back...

2005-12-04T12:37:00.000-08:00

Okay, lets start with the latest happenings (Much easier this way. I don't want to start digging into the recess of my memories this early in the morning).

We were recently on a trip to Malaysia to visit relatives and friends and also to pay my final respects to my beloved Grandmother who passed on (hopefully to Nirvana) a few days prior to our arriving in Malaysia. This trip also marks Da-Yong's first plane ride (courtesy of Japan Airlines) and our first experience with infant plane travels.

Prior to our trip, we were wincing everytime someone mentions babies and planes in the same sentence. We were really dreading the 18 hour journey home to Malaysia. We tried to prepare as best as we could but didn't find too many sources of information out there other than speaking to other parents who travelled with babies. We received advices from "Oh, don't worry, just go as per usual." to "Hmmm....secret ingredient, strong cough medicine, will knock out the baby for the entier journey!". We definitely didn't like the cough medicine approach, so opted for the lazy, just go as usual approach.

<---Oh uh..I can hear Da-Yong crying... gotta run and complete this entry later. In the meantime, enjoy some preliminary pictures of our trip.

Okay..I'm BACK!

2005-12-04T12:31:00.000-08:00

Finally, after a LONG hiatus, I'm finally back...armed with more experience and 8 months worth of taking care of a baby... Actually, my wife's the expert here, I'm just the assistant.

Lots of things happened over the last 8 months, lots of new experiences, zero time for leisure and a truly back breaking 8 months, but I think we have finally gotten a handle on how to bring up a baby. From today onwards, I will restart my blogging attempts and slowly bring up pictures and experiences from my last 8 months. Without further ado, here we go! Again!

Fullmoon Party!

2005-04-19T08:24:00.000-07:00

According to the Chinese customs, once the child reaches his first fullmoon, he makes his debut to close friends and relatives. Prior to his first fullmoon, he is supposed to be confined in his home together with his mother. Interesting aside, why fullmoon? I believe it is because Chinese has always used the lunar calendar and hence, the first fullmoon is akin to the first month of his life.

In anycase, here are some pictures of Da-Yong's fullmoon party with approximately 50 guests celebrating this wonderful event with us. Many thanks to everyone for attending and making this celebration a success!

Let the party begin!

Here is Auntie Shanon carrying him...

Loads of guests, hopefully they are enjoying themselves.

Here is Auntie Kheng Lee saying "Kuchi Kuchi Kuuu!!!"

I'm all beat from this party...time to go home!

More Pictures!

2005-04-14T19:49:00.000-07:00

I guess I should have expected this but I never realised that taking care of a baby is really a full time job. Actually, this is more than a full time job! It is truly tiring. In anycase, sorry for the long silence but I really didn't get any chance to come online until now. So, without further ado, here are some new pictures of Da-Yong. I will write more with my thoughts in another update later when I get another breather..

Here, Da-Yong is just getting ready to brave the COLD new world outdoors...:)

Isn't he cute with his new gargantuan sweater from his Tua Kor?

Here he is, sleeping on our bed blissfully...

Look at him, he could not be bothered even if the sky fell! :)

Here the entire family enjoying a lunch outside with Da-Yong watching...

A-hah! Caught Wendy with baby asleep!

He can't be that comfortable in that position...

Oh oh...he is TRULY angry...

WAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What's in a name...

2005-03-31T10:35:00.000-08:00

Well, Da-Yong is now 21 days old and he is growing more active with more facial expressions by the day. We are now only waiting for him to smile socially (not just in his sleep). Hmmm..I wonder, when he smiles in his sleep, what is he dreaming about? :-)

In anycase, while he is resting a little and keeping a little quiet, I thought I might take this time to update this blog a little. I'm sure many people (especially those of the Chinese descent) might find it weird why I named my child Da-Yong which can be directly translated to be Big Courage. A little cultural background, Da or Big is not a common first name as it isn't easy to choose a middle name with that. However, in my family (Chiam), that name, Da has already been chosen by my ancestors from my ancestralvillage in China. The Chinese first name is what we call a generation name. Just like my name, Siong Heng, Siong is actually the name used by ALL my cousins (those who are still traditionalist). Thus, my brother and all my cousins will have the same first name. What makes our names unique is our middle name as in my case, Siong Heng, my brother, Siong Chin, my cousin, Siong U etc. In the case of my son and all of his generation, Da is the stipulated first name. Actually, based on literature from my home family village, my father's generation is Kong, my generation is Siong, my son's generation is Da and my grandson's generation is Keat.

Also, I do intend on registering my son's birth with my home village in China. Now, I just have to find a way to do so....

Finally, I do intend (to my best ability) to ensure that my son keep to this proud family tradition and name his sons Keat....

And....It's OFF!

2005-03-26T18:29:00.000-08:00

A huge milestone happened today. The baby is growing like a bacterial culture during its exponential S Curve growth stage. Clothes that didn't quite fit a week ago is now too tight! It is really quite an amazing sight!

Well, yesterday, his umblical cord came undone. This is huge with Da-Yong discarding his last appendage of any linkage to another human being (the Mom). He is truly an individual able to function on his own... Errr...I guess that is not quite true at this stage. He is a helpless little biological creation that eats, sleeps and poops.

As for us, Mom and Dad, we are now getting used to the fact that we have this little one to care for. Getting more used to the task of changing diapers and bathing him.

Again, it's a good thing I suppose....

Gramps are here!

2005-03-24T11:46:00.000-08:00

Reinforcements have arrived! Gramps are here...and they are just in love with Da-Yong. They cannot get enough of him. I personally haven't seen my parents so happy. Just like what my Dad says, "Da-Yong brings a lot of joy to a lot of people in this household..." As a new daddy, I tend to agree. :-)

Proud Grandma and Grandpa.

Sleeping peacefully in Grandma's arms.

Grandma looking very happy! :-)

Happy new Mom!

Another family shot.

It's been a week...

2005-03-18T12:24:00.000-08:00

All, Wendy here. I'm finally finding a little time to post into this blog. It has been quite a week to say the least. Finally, we are getting into the routine of things although apart from feeding our little Cherub, changing his diapers, burping him and then making sure he sleeps, it doesn't give me time for anything else. In anycase, here are some more pictures that I thought you might like to see...

Cherub sleeping on Daddy's chest.

Here he is contented after having his dinner...having a nap.

Another napping picture.

Thought I just had to post this picture...I took this without Siong knowing. Both, Daddy and son deep in sleep.

Thank yous...

2005-03-16T08:52:00.000-08:00

A huge thank you should go out to all the staff of Burnaby Hospital who cared for us during Da-Yong's delivery namely:
RN Janet
RN Gilles (sp?)
RN Elaine
RN Champa
RN Florence
RN Linda

Also, a big thank you goes to the Newton Centre Public Healthcare nurses:
RN Joanne
RN Maureen

You all have set an impossibly high standards for the Canadian Healthcare system. Not only did you deliver Da-Yong, but you provided us with our parenthood crash course in two days that allowed us to cope with having Da-Yong at home.

Also, thanks to Dr. Shelly Ross whose level of experience and professionalism really impressed us.

Finally, thanks to all MDA and RSI staff, friends and family. We really appreciate all your well wishes and gifts.

Its a Boy 2!

2005-03-15T13:10:00.000-08:00

Well, it's been 5 days since Da-Yong's birth, and we are back home now. Man, that boy is a really hungry guy, all he does, eat lots, poop lots and sleep little. In anycase, this is a little quiet time that I can use to update the blog with more pictures.

BTW, just in case you are wondering, with my Father's blessings, we have named him Chan Da-Yong (Big Courage).

Do note that I have included more pictures prior to the birth as well down on the March 9th 2005 post below.

Better start posting all the pictures before Da-Yong starts crying again...

Dr. Ross getting Da-Yong ready for his first close-up shot.

RN Janet looking over Mom and newborn.

Another family picture.

Baby in the Maternity Ward the next morning. Hmmm nice swaddling technique.

Mom and Da-Yong in maternity ward.

More Mom and baby.

This what makes my heart melt. Hmmm...doesn't he look like me (SH)? :-)

Now, my turn to have a picture with Da-Yong.

Awwww...doesn't that just makes your heart melt?

Another Mommy with baby shot.

Now, this is my favorite shot of the lot!

Tua Kor just can't have enough of him!

Family shot with Tua Kor.

Here's Jee Chek with the kid.

Peter coming over for a visit in the hospital. Look at Siong Chin, all beat!

RN Florence (hopefully her last name is Nightingale?? :-)) Carrying him one last time before he left the hospital. Really, does he not look like me?

At home in his crib feeling contented after feeding.

Nice big yawn...

RN Joanne on a home visit 24 hours after birth. Isn't Canadian Healthcare system something?

RN Joanne weighing him. He's just got 100gm left to achieve his birth weight.

That's it for now. I'll update more later. Keep watching.....

IT'S A ....

2005-03-10T02:55:00.000-08:00

BOY!!!! A healthy baby boy was delivered at 2:55am on 10th March 2005 in the midst of Wendy screaming for more epidural :-).

In anycase, I'm completely shot from lack of sleep and will update this later. In the meantime, to wet your appetite, here is a set of initial pictures. I'll enter the captions later. I'm really REALLY short on sleep here now..

Here he is, 5 mins old. He is all bruised.

Here is another look at him. Hmmm, does he look like his mom or his dad?

Lets have a look at him closer...

Lets have a look at him EVEN closer...hmmm..nope, he looks like hi daddy!

There go goes pouting his lips again...

There he is with Dr. Shelly Ross who delivered him.

Here's nurse Janet from Singapore helping him out when he just got out...

The next morning, I'm still amazed...I'm a Father now!

Here's Tua Kor visiting him for the first time. She seems more excited then us!

Our first family picture together..

Now, 1, 2, 3 PUSHHHHHH!!!!!

2005-03-10T02:00:00.000-08:00

Well, times up. Wendy's fully dilated and its time to PUSH! It was quite a funny scene when she was completely drugged up and was screaming for more epidural when the Dr. has already prescribed that to her. She was trying to argue with the Dr. saying that he was lying to her and that she was not given any epidural when in actual fact, she got 2 tubes in her.

The birth labour experience was quite something to go through...and this is the father speaking. I can't even imagine the experience Wendy's been through.

One thing is for sure though, I'm very VERY impressed with the level of healthcare here in Canada. You should have a look at the birthing suite, complete with hardwood floor, nice sofa beds for visitors, dim lights, cd player for music, shower and toilet. Also, all the healthcare professionals take pride in their work and you could tell by how they work.

In anycase, the baby is coming out and as a father, I have encourage Wendy......."Take a deep breath, now, one, two three, PUSHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!"

Its Time!

2005-03-09T19:20:00.000-08:00

Well, the day we have all been waiting for (or is it Wendy's been dreading all these while) has finally arrived! Wendy's water broke at approximately 6:30pm at work! The child is coming 10 days early! We are not prepared.

Our original plan was to take next week off to prepare for the birth e.g. specify the birth plan, pick names, pack our bags etc. However, I got a call from Siong Ee at approximately 6:30pm telling me that Wendy has been stuck in MDA's washroom for quite sometime already. So, I rushed to her while dialing Dr. Shelly Ross' pager telling her that we suspect that Wendy's water was broken. The Dr. told us to go home right now, take a nice hot shower, pack our bags and meet her at the hospital at 8:30pm.

After admitting, we were met up in the Birthing Suites area by two excellent RNs, RN Janet from Singapore and RN Gilles (most probably from South Africa from her accent). RN Janet was the main labour nurse who took care of us and she was EXCELLENT. A big THANK YOU should go out to her...without her care, it would have been 10 times more difficult.

Some pictures of our rushing to the hospital:

"Stop playing with your camera and TAKE ME TO THE HOSPITAL...NOWWWW!"

Just finalising the admitting papers with the hospital administration.

Entrance to the Burnaby Hospital.

Burnaby Hospital where Da-Yong was born.

RN Janet looking after Wendy.

Outside of the Birthing Suite having a walk waiting for Wendy's cervix to be fully dilated.

Spoils of the day.

2005-02-27T21:20:00.000-08:00

Just a quick note here before I hit the sack UTTERLY and COMPLETELY exhausted from baby shopping. So far, half of our shopping list has been crossed out. Another half to go..

You know what they say...no pain no gain!

Shop till you drop...

2005-02-27T11:45:00.000-08:00

Well, pushing aside the minor inconvenience of not know the sex of the baby, we HAVE to get our act together and start our baby shopping now. I have been so busy lately with work (averaging about 60 hours per week) that I haven't started any baby shopping yet. However, just today, it shocked me that Wendy's 37 weeks going on to 38 weeks now! We really don't have much time left to shop.

So, we went to Babies'R'Us, Superstore and Walmart the other day and boy...it was really an information overload. There were rows and rows of baby products and we didn't know where to begin. I mean, just bottles alone, there must have been at least 10 brands and types out there. Wendy wants to breastfeed, so, do we need a 9 oz. or 4 oz.? What kinds of silicone nipple? Are there special types for switching the baby from breast to bottle then back to breast again? Which brands? Playtex and Avent seems to get pretty good reviews in that it will not leak so much air into the bottle. So on and so forth. At the end of the day, we were just confused and didn't commit to anything. We then came home, browsed through the Ineternet, did our research and created our own shopping list. Armed with this, we are just about to head out again to brave the baby superstores out there.

Will let all of you know the results of that soon...

Omigosh! It's coming!

2005-02-18T22:46:00.000-08:00

Well, went to the Doctor's today and boy did the message hit home. The baby IS coming and it is coming soon as well. The doctor said that the baby's head has engaged the cervix, so he is on the way out!

A little interesting note, according to the doctor, 1% of the population has early babies, 19% are on-time and 80% are late babies. However, she said that based on the position of the baby now, it seems that the baby might be an early baby or on-time. However, apart from this, all's well.

I supposed I have to get cracking soon. This thing is coming and there is no way to stop him now!

One, Two or Three!

2005-02-13T10:01:00.000-08:00

This blog entry was brought about through an interesting conversation I had with Wendy a few days ago. The age old question of whether we should have a plethora number of kids or maybe just cap at 1?

My god...suddenly, a picture of many running kids changing my entire peaceful existance into a complete cacophony. Personally, I don't think I'm quite ready for this level of intrusion yet. I really do shudder at this thought.

Well, we ended our discussion with an agreement that if this turns out to be a boy, we might just cap our family with this one child. However, if this turns out to be a girl, we will at most try one more and regardless of the sex of the second child, we will definitely cap at two.

Anymore, we will just have to wait and see. See how disruptive bringing up a baby will be then we'll decide if we should bring up more.

She's WHAT?

2005-02-08T09:37:00.000-08:00

Just a quick update here. Could you imagine, Wendy's 8 months on? Does she look like it?

I think she is tiny.... but oh well...how would I know...afterall, this is my first.

Oh Canada!

2005-02-02T22:58:00.000-08:00

Canada, its in my blood, as proclaimed by the famous Canadian songstress Joni Mitchell. After being here in Canada for the last 15 years, my outlook for this country has changed. Initially, I came out here with every intention of going home to Malaysia immediately after my tertiary education. Home was still Malaysia and my "kampung" was still Parit, Perak. However, as fate would play out, I was initially seduced to stay on in Canada by an incredible job offer and opportunity to work for Canada's only Space company with promise of sexy projects like the Canadarm. As years flew by, I finally decided to obtain my permanent residency status, initially as a form of convenience so that I do not need to renew my work visa every year.

However, after the many years I have been here, I have started to believe in this country. My political outlook turned from conservatism to a firm believer in social democracy.

Hmmmm...why am I telling you all these? Well, yesterday was another time I saw social democracy in action. Since Wendy has been diagnosed as being gestational diabetic, she has had to attend a diabetic clinic offered for free in the Burnaby Hospital. As healthcare is a public service (in Canada, there are no private healthcare facilities), a doctor, a dietician and a registered nurse was assigned to her in the class, again, for free. She was also provided with all her diabetic supplies from the blood glucose electronic testing kit also for free. What is more impressive, although these healthcare workers are public servants, you can truly feel their pride in their work and their professionalism. You can feel that they care about the wellbeing of their patients. They really do. I do feel that ALL Canadians are in good hands if all healthcare workers provide this same level of care and service. Wendy was even given emergency phone numbers to reach any of the 3 healthcare workers assigned to her. All these are public services!

That is why Canada is the country for me. That is why I believe in Canada and that is why I'm so happy that my little one is going to be born Canadian. I truly cannot think of another country that I would like to be in more than the one I'm in right here, right now.

On a more somber mood...

2005-01-29T10:25:00.000-08:00

Well, this week has been a rather difficult one for us all here. We have just got Wendy's GTT 3 hour test back (Glucose Test for gestational diabetes). She failed the GTT 1 hour test quite a number of weeks ago. However, we thought it was relatively common to fail that and not fail the 3 hour test. Unfortunately, it was not so in our case. Wendy inexplicably failed her 3 hour test as well. That means, it is going to be a very busy final 2 months for us now. Wendy's need to attend a Diabetes Clinic and potentially, she might have to test her blood up to 7 times a day. In the meantime, she has to cut out all sugar from her diet and cut down on her starch intake (i.e. only a small cup of rice and the rest vegetables).

Thus, it is a mad scramble to change our lifestyles and start buying and cooking less rice and more of the different kinds of vegetables and meats. It might not be a bad thing, at the very least, this is DEFINITELY a heather diet.

Oh well, one more hurdle that we can definitely overcome ... Wish us luck!

Test driving...

2005-01-23T21:12:00.000-08:00

Hmmm, I got my first taste in carrying a really young infant (1 month old) yesterday at my good friend Pam's place. She has an absolute lovely and adorable 1 month old. Well, I decided then to give this infant caring thing a test drive. Unfortunately, quite unlike test driving a car, this one, I can't just kick the tires, bring it once round the block and then just walk away if I don't like it. I'm literally stuck with my baby arriving in 8 weeks whether I like it or not.

In anycase, I picked Brett (Pam's son) up....so far so good. He then started making faces and started the Nyet-Nyet (crying) face and was about to wail. Fortunately for me, I remember how my Mom pacified by younger brother like some 20 years ago and I tried the same tactics. I started rocking Brett gently in my arms and that worked! I pacified him! Simply amazing! He started cooing at me and ... and ... do I detect a smile? :)

I started to get the hang of this...hey..I can get used to this...this isn't so bad afterall.... then .... THEN I felt some bowel movement from the little one... So, right there and then...the test drive was over... Off he goes back to his Mom. Okay, one step at a time... Next week, diaper change, but for now, I can leave Pam's place warm with the thought that I'm really not so bad with kids..

Changing lifestyles, are we ready?

2005-01-19T21:10:00.000-08:00

Well, the weather in Vancouver has been in the extremes the last few weeks. It is either shockingly cold or so wet and warm....Regardless, both extremes just killed our appetite to head out for some outdoor activities. That then leaves a great many hours lazing around in bed at home and of course, lots of time chatting and discussing about how our lives might change once the baby comes.

Now, the funniest thing is that the strongest image that hit home with the baby was when both of us were lying in bed and then suddenly, we realise that there is going to be another person, living being who is going to be sleeping right in the middle. We both shudder at that thought ... whatever that is, we are still not used to that fact yet. Further more, it suddenly hit us, we will never again in our young lives have the opportunity to go on vacations alone. I'm suddenly feeling that we have just been robbed off our privacy...and am really not used to the fact that there will essentially be a stranger intruding into our lives. I guess this is just because we haven't met our child in the flesh yet... Maybe all these will change once we see him in person (at least I'm hoping that that will be the case).

ARRRGGGHHH... I still have lots of things to do and lots of places to see... I have not seen the waterways of Venice, the renaissance architecture of Rome, the Greek Pathanon, trekked across the Silk route, seen India's Taj Mahal, Cambodia's Angkor Watt, Guilin's majestic limestone hills, Jordan's Petra ruins, swam in the dead sea etc. I haven't lived!

So, changing lifestyles, are we ready or not? I guess the answer will come once we come face to face with the little one...

Nature or Nurture...

2005-01-15T13:06:00.000-08:00

Hmmm....the age old question, Nature or Nurture? No, I'm not talking about the sexual orientation of a person, but rather, being a genius, is it really nature or is it nurture where the parents can influence this?

I was having a very interesting lunch time conversation the other day with Wendy and Siong Ee (sister) with regards to this particular subject. What I have heard is that most children geniuses display an intense interest in adult subjects, be it mathematics, physics, history etc., at an early age. I then wonder if having a child prodigy is a matter of exposing the child to all things adult? Force the child to bypass anything childish. For example, from an infant, only play big classical pieces to him like Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto 2 & 3, Schumann Piano Concerto, all the 9 Beethoven Symphonies, all 9 Dvorak Symphonies, Puccini Operas etc. Nothing like old MacDonald have a farm crap... Or in other cases, expose the child very early on to Classical Chinese history and Classical Chinese texts, Political Science theories, read Scientific American as a bedside story etc...

You get my picture. Will this nurture a genius? Most of the time I see that children were not given an opportunity to explore their scientific/mathematical/historical etc interests because their parents do not expose these things to them at an early enough age.

Maybe I'm on a totally wrong track. Maybe geniuses are nature, hence there is nothing one can do to nurture one. Maybe Mozart was born with a very intense love for music and without that, no amount of exposure to music at whatever age can bring about this genius.

Well, anyone who is reading this, do give me your opinions by dropping a comment below. I am curious to see what you think. Also, if we have any child psychologist reading, I'm really interested in your opinions...

That Elusive Connection...

2005-01-12T08:50:00.000-08:00

Human nature is a funny thing sometimes. I have read in many places that it takes a while for the parents to bond with an unborn child. Both, myself and Wendy have believed this fact for most of the pregnancy .... till yesterday. Actually, we have never felt much connection to the baby, so much so that both of us started to wonder if we can be good and loving parents.

However, things definitely changed yesterday. Yesterday, Wendy suddenly told me that it was very strange in that our baby was no longer active and that she is feeling few and far between fetal kicks. She felt this strange turn of events a couple of days ago and it seemed that the baby was moving less everyday. Upon hearing this, I was at a loss with all manner of horrible thoughts going through my mind, the worse (which was extremely silly, now that I come to think of it) being, "What about the umbilical cord wrapped around our baby and strangling him in the process?" I panicked. Both, myself and Wendy then spent countless hours last night coaxing the baby to give us some response. After nearly 1 hour of trying (with all manner of soothing words, poking the belly etc etc..) we were finally rewarded by a series of very strong kicks and life's back to normal again. I didn't know whether to laugh of to cry once I felt the baby movements again....This is one moody baby indeed! Or is it lazy? :-)

In anycase, my point is, for the first time in my life, I felt this parental bond and boy, is it strong!

I think we are both going to be alright afterall...and yes, I have confidence that Wendy and myself will be great parents....

Ahhh...the difference between a man and a woman..

2005-01-10T20:23:00.000-08:00

Ahh...the difference between a man and a woman. Women just do not understand the men's almost animalistic attraction to cool gadgets. There I was thinking, "Now that we have our crib, stroller and infant car seat, what is the next most important thing on the list?" It's a no brainer...of course a......CAMCORDER! How else are we going to capture the birth of our little one and record the thousands of hours of home video capturing every imaginable moment of your little one...then being able to bore the hell out of visiting friends and relatives? :-) But seriously folks, I was contemplating just using my Canon G3 digital camera but the video quality there was just horrendous. So, only a camcorder will do. Naturally, I started my whole research into which camcorder to buy. After doing about several weeks' worth of research, I have down selected a few models all ranging from mid CAD$400s to CAD$1000s. Knowing my wife and how she might react to me getting a really expensive model, I decided to "compromise" and bought a low end JVC model but yet obtained www.camcorderinfo.com's best camcorder under US$400. Then I saw a sale from A&B Sound here advertising it for...god forbid...CAD$397!!! Such a good price that I was surprised that they still had any left! The sales person I spoke to over the phone told me that he has but one unit left. So, without any hessitation in the heart, I plopped down my creditcard, read him the number and told him that I would collect it the next available oppotunity. One would have thought that I made a really wise decision indeed....

Well, guess what my wife had to say about this when I finally collected the camera from the store and brought it home (thinking I would surprise her with it)? Surprise her I did indeed. She screamed bloody murder! Almost went balistic over the fact that I actually coughed up CAD$400 for a camcorder when we still have yet to buy baby bottles, huggies (or pampers for that matter), crib mattress, diaper bag, diaper genie etc. etc. Ahh...like I said, what does a woman know about a man's soul and his inate attraction to everything and anything electronic? ...

Ready, steady, GO!!!!

2005-01-09T19:29:00.000-08:00

Ahhh, shopping... You should know what I'm talking about...baby shopping. Both, Wendy and myself thought that it was about time we started our shopping for our baby. Well, being the engineer and the geek in this marriage, I started my research into the perfect stroller, car seat and crib a few weeks ago. Finally, after all the digging around on the Internet and also speaking to my co-workers here, I have down selected the following few items.

Strollers:
1) Phil and Ted's All Terrain Buggy - model E3
(https://secure.intellihost.co.nz/philandteds.com/framesetstroller.htm)

2) The Mountain Buggy - model Urban
(http://www.mountainbuggy.com)

3) Peg Perego Pliko P3
(http://www.pegperego.com)

Well, after lots of arguments...errr...no, I mean, civilised discussion with Wendy, we decided to save some money and went for the Peg Perego Pliko Completco. Actually, my original choice was the Phil and Ted's E3 buggy. However, that priced at about CAD$650, Wendy would just NOT listen to the many solid arguments I had about how technologically wonderful the E3 was. Then I thought I could convince her to look at the Urban Mountain Buggy but that too ran at about the same price point. IMHO, both those strollers are really in a class of its own, extremely versatile, light and extremely mobile. However, that's that I suppose. I gotta kiss my dream strollers good bye *wiping a tear from my eye*. Instead, we settled on the Peg Perego's Plikomatic / Pliko P3. I got entire stroller, the Primo Viaggo car seat and the optional rain gear and the winter boot. The following is a picture of the stroller that we settled for.

The reason why we ended up with this was the fact that it was light (15 lbs). Also, all 4 wheels with suspension and there doesn't seem to have a weight limit. Its construction seems to be much better than the other more usual brands like Graco, Evenflo, Cosco, Safety1st etc... (Oh year, by the end of my research, I really REALLY knew my strollers). The only complain I have is the Primo Viaggo infant car seat. it seems to be ergonically unfriendly for the parents to carry the seat ... and boy...it is HEAVY.

Now, moving on to cribs, we were not too particular here. Any cribs made after 1990 in Canada or North America is going to be a good and safe crib. After researching into the different brands out there, we decided that we wanted to buy Canadian. Why not support a Canadian company if possible, rather than buying Swedish or American. We were particularly attracted to a local brand called Storkcraft (http://www.storkcraft.com). Coincidentally, Storkcraft is a true local company. Not only is it a Canadian company, it is actually a Vancouver company with its world headquarters located here in Richmond! The Bays here in Metrotown was having a pretty good Boxing Week sale and we decided to support yet another Canadian company and bought it from there. This crib is a convertible and can be converted from a crib to a todler bed to a day bed. Pretty cool actually...check it out..

We have just managed to get all of these home and they are sitting out in the garage for now. Will attempt to fix all of them up closer to the due date...

Personally though, I never thought that I could ever become so caught up over being a Dad..... Quoting Martha Stewart, "It's a good thing" I suppose..

Who's that? Introducing...

2004-10-24T22:00:00.000-07:00

Well, this is the day we have been waiting for, our first meeting with our little one. We went off to the medical imaging lab for our first ultrasound appointment with great anticipation wondering primarily if our baby is in good health. However, lets be honest, we were really more excited over the possibility of knowing what the sex of the baby is. This is week 18 in Wendy’s pregnancy. Following doctor’s orders, Wendy downed two big glasses of water just before the appointment and held her bladder in order for the lab to get better pictures of our baby. It seemed like hours before Wendy’s name was called. We both stood up upon hearing Wendy’s name and guess what? The father (i.e. yours truly here) were told not to follow the mother into the lab until much later. Thus, I had to continue waiting for what seemed like hours before the lab technician came out to fetch me. Once inside, what an amazement! Right there on the monitor is our baby…looking so peaceful and serene. No matter how many times one has seen movies with scenarios like this, nothing can prepare you for the euphoria you feel upon meeting and being able to say hello to your baby for the very first time. So, with no further ado, introducing…err…name is not known yet…

Awww….I think he is trying to suck his thumb…

Now, he is REALLY sucking his thumb.

Baby from another view… Now what’s the sex?

Okay, now for the million dollar question, what is the sex of our little one? Seriously, your guess is as good as ours. We tried asking the lab technician that and the reply we got was that she was not allowed by BC law to reveal the sex of the foetus. The reason she said was that the BC Government had to change the law because too many Indo-Canadian families were aborting their babies if their babies were not of the favoured sex (read BOY). DARN! Just because of a few stupid parents (not to mention heartless), we now in BC are no longer allowed to know the sex of our unborn child? How fair is that? Oh well, this is something that we will have to live with I guess…..

Finally, we jumped onto the blogging bandwagon!

2004-10-23T21:43:00.000-07:00

Well, finally, here we are, we have decided to jump on the blogging bandwagon. The main reasons why we decided to start these pages are two fold. The first reason is because we have finally figured out that this is the best way we can keep our extended family in Malaysia and around the world appraised with our latest happenings. Secondly, as many of you who are reading this will know that we are expecting a new bundle of joy this coming March and we figured that many of our anxious Malaysian relatives and friends would like to know how we are progressing here. So, with no further ado, here it is, our latest happenings…