Happy Chinese New Year

Well. This will be my last post before I take a week break from blogging. Will be leaving for my hometown in about 3 hours time. Yeap. Will be starting our hopefully 2 hours drive home at 3 am afterwards to hopefully avoid the massive jam that is expected. Travelling with Zoewe in the car was already pretty stressful last year when we went back for Chinese New Year. Travelling with Ryan as well this year, is even more stressful. I would not want to be caught in a 6 hours traffic snarl with a hungry crying screaming baby in the car.

We are hoping that we could probably spent next Chinese New Year in Kuala Lumpur and convinced our mother to come up and spent Chinese New Year with us since all the children are already in KL anyway. That way, we could spare ourselves from the stress and agony of the dreaded traffic jam going home and coming back.

We would like to wish all Chinese visitors a very Happy Chinese New Year and may the year of the Ox brings you her strength and perseverance, good health, much happiness and great prosperity and wealth.

Gong Xi Fatt Chai!

Steamed Chicken with Chinese Angelica (Dang Gui)

December and January 2009 have been pretty busy for me especially with my son back from New Zealand. We have been eating out most of the time and hence, I have not been cooking much.

After a long break from the kitchen, we wanted to have a home cooked dinner the other day. So out comes the recipe book and the chicken dish that I have decided to cook was the `Steamed Chicken with Chinese Angelica (Dang Gui)’, another recipe from the confinement recipe book. This dish according to the recipe is good for ladies after the 12 days of confinement.

It’s not a difficult dish to prepare. The process just involved marinating and then steaming the marinated chicken.

Ingredients:
3 chicken drumstick (cut into pieces)
10g Chinese Angelica (Dang Gui)
1 tablespoon of medlar seeds (Kei Chee)
5 tablespoon of Shaoxing wine
1 tablespoon fresh ginger juice
½ teaspoon of salt

Method:
Rinse cut chicken pieces and drain well.
Season with ginger juice and 1 tablespoon of Shaoxing wine
Soak Dang Gui and medlar seeds with Shaoxing wine for about 20 minutes.
Then combine with seasoned chicken pieces and salt. Mix well.
Marinate for about 10 minutes.
Steam over high heat for about 20 minutes or until chicken is cooked. Serve hot.

I could not ask for MORE...

Sorry for the recent silence as I have been pretty busy lately. Just came back from Damai Laut Golf Resort for short holiday, recharged to take on 2009.

I have a son (of whom I have talked about in my previous post) AND a younger daughter from my first marriage. I have not talk about her much because she was still rather young when she left for New Zealand and we have not talk much over the last two years. I sensed a growing distance between us although she used to stick to me whenever I was around then. Deep down in my heart, I have resigned to the fact that I might have `lost’ this daughter since she has adapted quite well to her new life and family in New Zealand.

Recently, she came back for a holiday with my son as well. Unlike my son who stays with me during his holiday here, she was with my ex-wife back in Penang most of the time.

My son wanted a holiday by the seaside and we have chosen Damai Laut Golf Resort near Sitiawan. My ex-wife was very gracious to suggest that my daughter, Lydia, tagged along so that we could renew our bonding. My wife is more than happy and I was ecstatic but yet apprehensive at the same time, as to how Lydia would react to her `other’ new family and me.

I am happy to say that the holiday went so well. Lydia still sticks to me like glue and despite not seeing me for the last 2 years and being 9 now, would still love to sit on my lap (making her brother a little jealous I must say). She gets along well with my wife and my wife has grown to adore her. Ryan on the other hand would like to bully her whenever Lydia is around. What melted my heart was when Lydia carried Ryan and Ryan seemed pretty happy at that.

If I said that `I am truly blessed’ in my previous post, I must say now that `I could not ask for anything more…’ I must say that my ex-wife has been very understanding and my wife has been a constant pillar of strength and support. 2009 has indeed been a very good start and whatever economic gloom and doom ahead no longer look so frightening and disheartening, with a thought that I have the love and support from all my loved ones. GOD has truly been good to me.

Milestone - He can sit unaided

Date: 17th January 2009
Time : 1:55pm

Ryan has also been trying to sit up on his own. He is a very determined baby and will strain to get it done. We can see him straining every little muscle to do it on his own but has so far been unsuccessful. He is also very resourceful. Since straining to sit up laying on his back is out of the question, he has tried rolling over and then trying to push himself up to sit. So far, all attempts have been pretty funny and needless to say, not very successful.

This afternoon, we were playing with him on our master bed. He was rolling all over the bed, cooing and laughing as usual. We did not pay much attention to all his attempts to sit up as it has happened before. I was chatting with my wife, when I suddenly, there he was, sitting on his own and looking at us with his cheeky grin. I looked at my watch, note the time and quickly ran out to grab my camera. We tried to encourage him to sit up again, and the result was the picture above. Another little milestone in his journey on his world.

Milestone - His First tooth!

Date : 10th January 2009

Ryan has the habit of biting anything and everything that he grabs. He particularly likes to bite my fingers whenever he catches hold of my hand. Several days ago, he put my finger into his mouth and gave me a bite and it was PAINFUL! Unlike previous bites where I could only feel his gum, this time I could feel something sharp biting into my finger. I looked at him and he smiled cheekily and gave me another good solid bite. His first tooth (the right central lower incisor) has finally emerged. Yet another happy moment and milestone achieved. Now I have got to be more careful when I put my finger into his mouth for him to chew because it is going to be a more painful event. As for Ryan, nothing taste better than his daddy tender fingers! Finger licking good!

Whatever will be, will be

As I watched Ryan sleeps soundly in the stillness of night, I can’t help but to think what he would grow up to be. Thoughts of him when he is 30 or when he gets to my age bring up all kinds of questions. Will he be successful by then? How would he look like? What would his career be? What kind of family would he bring up? What kind of a man would he be? Would I be still around by then, watching over him? Would I do a good job to make him a good man? Would I mess his life up? Would he still long for me like he does now? Would he still extend his arms when he wants a hug? Would he still want a hug from me?

Being a parent is certainly a heavy responsibility. The dificulty is not to provide the physical needs for them but the heaviest responsibility is to provide them a safe, peaceful and conducive environment and atmosphere for them to grow up as responsible and useful being. That to me is a far greater and difficult challenge then to provide the physical needs as I am imperfect.

When you are just a little boy
I asked myself, what would you be?
Would you be handsome, would you be kind?
Then this thought came to me

Oh daddy, daddy
Whatever will be, will be
The future's not ours to see
Oh daddy, daddy

When I hold you in my arms
I asked myself what would you be?
Would you be famous, would you be rich?
Then this thought came to me

Oh baby, baby
Whatever you’ll be, will be
Just know that your mommy and me
Hopes you’ll be the best you can be

I succumbed to temptation

Before you start thinking of all kinds of sin that I might have committed, no, I did not succumb to temptations for a voluptuous busty lady with legs that goes on forever.

Sometimes getting Ryan to take his nap or to coax him to sleep at night could be quite a chore especially when he is already sleepy yet he wanted to continue to play, while you are dead tired. And as I have posted in one of my earlier post, he has also developed this distasteful habit of chewing the string of his bolster to sleep. Very yucky.

Well, I was trying to get Ryan to sleep the other night but he was adamant that it was still too early. After many minutes (or hours to me, especially when you have a long tiring day) and after his last feed, there were signs that he was dozing off yet I can sensed that he was fighting to stay awake. As I was carrying him in my arms, I grabbed his bolster and passed it to him. He grabbed and instantly, his mouth was trying to get hold of the bolster string (with his eyes half closed).

I actually find his habit distasteful and am afraid that he would get addicted to it. But at the spur of the moment, without a second thought, I pushed the string right into his mouth and he happily grabbed it and started chewing and sucking, contented and within minutes, he was in his dreamland.

Then it dawned on me, as I watched him sound asleep that I have succumbed to the temptation of promoting his distasteful habit. Instead of trying to get him to break the habit, I was only too glad that there is something that could get him to sleep as soon as possible and freed me to have some time of my own. But if you asked me whether I would do it again, the answer is most probably yes. What a bad daddy!!

Related post: An embarrassing Habit

I like to move it, move it

This is the happiest moment daily for Ryan when he is taking his bath. He is so excited and really enjoys kicking his legs, splashing water everywhere. Often times, I would end up having to take a bath myself after bathing him, because I am all wet anyway.

For the last few days, he had started to show displeasure when I got him out from the tub because he still wants to play. I am sure he will screaming soon if I take him out from the tub in the next couple of weeks.

I got my wife to tape this a few days ago when I was bathing him and would like to share this moment with you. Hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

Walker Ball

Ryan has his first taste of his walker on the 19th Dec 08. He has been busy figuring how to maneuver his walker the last couple of weeks and has develop a liking for a taste for speed, zooming from one corner to another, of course under the watchful eye of his daddy, mommy, kakak or grandma.

He has also developed his own first game with his walker called `Chasing the dog!’. Poor Zoewe is being chased whenever Ryan suddenly developed an urge to run her down.

Today, he has developed yet another game, known as the `Walker Ball!’ Maybe we should gather all babies between 6 to 12 months old and organized a walker ball tournament and who knows; we could set up a Malaysian team and organize international competition. Wouldn’t that be cool?

Related Post: Milestone: On his own walker

Milestone - First Attempt to Crawl

Date : 2nd January 2009

Time: 6:25pm

We noticed that Ryan has been attempting to crawl for the last couple of weeks. To encourage him, we will entice him with things that he is curious about and desperately wanted to have. Yesterday, while playing with him, we noticed that he has successfully had his first crawl. I quickly grabbed the camera and enticed him with a nappy. We were happy to be there to witness his first successful attempt to crawl and we are happy to share that moment with you too. It is indeed an good start for 2009!

I am truly blessed!

I started 2009 as one truly blessed husband and daddy. My eldest son Reuben from my first marriage is back from New Zealand (where he has migrated with his mommy) for his annual holiday. One of my biggest regret in my life is not being there when he grew up. I was too young, too engrossed in building my career and too inmatured. I was away most of the time and I truly missed all the hands-on experience in watching him grow. Suddenly, he stands before me, 17 years old, all grown up and taller than me! I thank God that he is still very very close to me despite meeting only once a year. This is my first of the many blessings in my life that I have not `lost' my eldest son as a result of my divorce.

With the arrival of Ryan, I was anxious as to how Reuben would react to his young step brother. I am blessed that Reuben has shown so much maturity and loves Ryan just like his little brother. We even got him to prepare Ryan's milk this afternoon and we really had a good laugh over it. What is amazing is that Ryan has also seemed to have taken a liking to Reuben, constantly seeking him out, smiling and inviting his elder brother to play with him. Seeing both of them playing together is priceless.

Finally, I have also worried about Reuben's reaction to my wife and how they would get along. But it seemed that my worries are unfounded. I noticed that Reuben has developed a close friendship with my wife. My wife has also grown to love him like her own eldest.

So, this new year, as we sat down together to have our meal and took the picture, I couldn't help but feel that I am the luckiest man alive and I am truly blessed!