Moments when the World STOPS!

Besides the recent drop in fuel prices, I dread looking at the newspaper nowadays. The financial outlook for the world at large has never been gloomier. Even 1997 financial crisis (which was bad) is pale in comparison to what we are facing today. I do not see any light at the end of the tunnel yet because nothing so far has suggested that we will be out of it soon. The financial crisis in 1997 already saw many organizations struggling with retrenchment, laid off, salary cut, bankruptcy, forced unpaid leave and companies closing down. I had to lead a Crisis Management Committee to work out cost cutting measures to ensure the survival of the company and I was not a popular figure then. And that was only applicable to those countries where their currencies were under attack. The current financial meltdown involved so many other nations with US, Europe needing government financial bailout while many others seeking for IMF assistance. I dread to think of the next 12 months ahead.

However, despite all the gloom and turmoil, there are moments when the world literally stops for me. The moment when the financial turmoil and uncertainties do not mean a thing. The moment when all that matters to me is what is in front of my eyes. And that moment was when Ryan laughed and smiled without a care in the world. And at that moment, even for a brief second, I too, am without a care in the world except my child.

Maid - Setting the Expectations

Setting Expectations
We find setting the expectations right from day one goes a long way in establishing a good working relationship with our maid. We regard our maid like an employee of an organization. Hence, we treat her like how we would treat a new staff joining on the very first day.

Our expectations of her
Firstly, knowing that we are only paying RM500 a month for our maid, while employers of other countries are paying much higher wages, we must first acknowledged that we will not be getting the best of the lot. If they are good and smart, they would be heading to the Middle East, Hong Kong or Singapore. Malaysia will be the last on the list.

Our expectations from her
Secondly, on the very first day that we brought our maid home, before we even start her on her first chore, we sat our maid down and set out our expectations. We did not give a long lecture of what we want her to do. We just list down to her a brief short list of simple expectations. Important expectations like we expect to be honest and truthful, making a mistake is OK but must work to improve, smile and courteous at all times to us and to all guests, to voice out what she don’t know and don’t understand. It is also critical also to identify the key person in the house to take instructions from.

This list of expectations becomes very handy for us to continuously remind her when she slacks and useful during our periodic review of her performance.

Next, with expectations in place, how do you make sure that she knows her job scope and tasks?

The Maid, The Nanny?

My babysitter dropped a bombshell two days ago. Although she has indicated that she would be unable to take care of Ryan due to some family commitments, we have initially agreed that she will take care of Ryan till 5th Dec. By then, my mum would be here for Christmas and would be able to help me with Ryan till Chinese New Year while we decide whether to train our maid to help or to look for another babysitter. However, two days ago, the babysitter told us that she could no longer take care of Ryan with immediate effect due to some emergencies at home.

So starting yesterday, I would be his babysitter at least till my mum arrives. Taking care of him full time left me literally no time to go out for my normal breakfast, coffee, appointments or to cook. In order for me to still get some work done while handling Ryan at home, I would have to bring our maid up to speed as soon as possible. The question is always, how much do we trust our maid to take care of our babies?

I have heard horrible horrible stories about maids with kids. A couple of months back, we witnessed first hand how a maid handled her employer’s baby and it certainly did not boost our confidence in allowing our maid to handle Ryan all alone. While waiting at the paed’s lounge, there was this mum with a pair of lovely twins. While she cuddled one, the maid was handling the other. She was `showing off’ how good she was by carrying the baby on one hand, putting him over her shoulder with one hand, much to the `shock’ of the other parents (me included). She nearly knocked the head of the baby on the glass door once! And the most disgusting was, while she was carrying the baby, she was also busy rubbing her toes! (She was wearing slipper). OMG!

So, how do I ensure that my maid is not the same? How can we trained our maid and make sure that she is motivated? How do we set the expectations for her? My next post, how we set our expectations, train and motivate her. At the end of the day, she is just like any employee in any organization.

The Mystery of the Giant Milk Bottle!

We were playing with the video capture of our Canon IXUS 860IS last night when Ryan was having fun with the giant milk bottle bolster. So, we decided to capture it and load it up to share that special moment. Hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

Also pay attention to how he like to stick his tongue to tease us and then laughed cheekily.

The other side of Ryan!

Up till now, we have been posting Ryan's pictures where he was happily smiling and laughing away. Well, he has his ugly side too, just like any babies. The side that we dread most. The side when he yells his lungs out for no apparent reasons. The side that you no longer think that he is cute. The side that made you think, what on earth were you thinking when you decided to have a baby. The side that makes you realise that behind that sweet smile lays a little naughty `devil' that could turn your life upside down.

Well, here is a simple collection of some shots of the other side of Ryan. Believe me, these shots are already mild. We are really not in the mood to shoot any shots when he is at his worst!

Milestone - Ryan Attending his First Wedding Dinner

On Sunday, a very good friend who is also my wife's colleague finally got married. Her girlfriend has been `chasing' him to tie the knot for as long as we can remember. Haha. Finally, the rope tightens and there is no more escaping or running away for him.

The dinner was at IOI Marriott, Putrajaya. Ryan will be attending his first wedding dinner. We are a little apprehensive as to how he would behave and would he really be an embarrassment, like, screaming and yelling at the top of his lungs when the bride and groom comes marching in. Most of my wife's staff and colleagues will be there. Ryan is already a popular icon among these young ladies. I am sure that there will be so many `nannies' wanting to hold and cuddle him. So, we picked up a bright yellow and dark blue stripe jumper for him. Since he has been drooling like an unplug waterfall, we let him have his new Mickey Mouse bib that a friend just bought for him from Japan Disney. He looked fabulous and ready for the big night.

IOI Marriott is not the easiest hotel to find. Although I used to frequent Cyberjaya, this is my first trip to IOI Marriott. It was pouring dogs and cats by 7:30pm. It's a good thing my GPS was working despite the bad weather.

Ryan was relatively well behaved throughout the night. He was only restless when he was hungry. Anyway, his mother was so busy bringing him from one table to another and he was passed from one beautiful `nanny' to another. When his mother was busy eating or entertaining others, Ryan will be exploring the hotel lobby and foyer with his daddy. Did I get to eat much? Not really, but then again, I often don't eat very much at official dinner functions.

Throughout the night, he was so excited and curious because there were so much commotion, sound, noise and lights, not to mention, so many curious and friendly faces. He only slept for 15 minutes. Needless to say, by the time the dinner ended close to midnight, he was exhausted and fell asleep the moment he got into the car.

We were exhausted too and glad that we made it through Ryan’s first wedding dinner without much of an incident. We were all asleep by 1am. Ryan did not stir at all during the night and only woke up for his next feed at 10:30am the next morning. So did his parents…haha

Wolfberry Chicken

Last week, besides trying the chicken with basil leaves, we also tried out the wolfberry chicken dish for one of our dinners. The recipe book recommended chicken wings but we used the entire chicken instead.

Wolfberry is another Chinese herb widely regarded as nutritious and consumed by the Chinese. It is also widely used in confinement recipes. Among the benefits of wolfberries are to improve blood circulation, increase energy and vitality, improve eyesight, and provide natural resistance to colds, flu, and disease. It was even reported that Wolfberries were among the secrets behind the longevity of the Himalayan people, as well as the north-western Chinese. And the best wolfberries are reported to be those from Ningxia autonomous region of China.

For all the health reasons, you should give this dish a try. The ingredients and the preparation method are again simple and straight-forward.

Ingredients:
5 tablespoon of wolfberries. (Quantity largely depends on how much you like the sweetness of wolfberries. Cut down on the quantity if you prefer less sweetness).
1 whole chicken (cut into small pieces)
100ml water
4 tablespoon of sesame oil

Seasoning:
1 tablespoon of light soy sauce
Dash of sugar
1 tablespoon of abalone sauce

Method:
Clean chicken and drain well
Heat the sesame oil and add in the chicken. Cooked until it changes colour
Pour in the seasoning, wolfberries and water and simmer on medium heat until the water dries up or when chicken is cooked.
Serve hot.

Pureen Stock Clearance Promotion (29th & 30th Nov 2008)

The fast approaching Christmas season seems to bring out more cheer for parents and parents to be. Summit Company (M) Sdn Bhd is holding yet another warehouse clearance promotion this coming weekend. Among others, the products available are baby diapers, baby apparels, baby toiletries and baby accessories.

I have not been this sale before but I heard that it could quite packed and crowded. From comments that I have heard, there are some good buys available but be prepared for the crowd and ques. I am not one who would normally go for such sales because of the crowd, difficulties in finding a parking and the long que that I might have to endure at the payment counter.

However, if you are interested to check it out, here are the details:-

Venue : Summit Company (M) Sdn Bhd

Address : Lot 6, Jalan 19/1, 46300 Petaling Jaya (Located opposite Vitagen)

Tel : 03-7628888

Time : 10am to 6pm

PedyPak Warehouse Sale (27th Nov - 7th Dec 2008)

There is going to be a warehouse sale at KLTC Corporation Sdn Bhd on the above products advertised. I personally have not been there before. Just found out about the sale and hence, posting it here for the rest who might be interested to check it out.

The address is Lot 10797, Lebuhraya Petai, Pandamaran, 42000, Port Klang, Selangor.

Tel : 03-31650910/ / 03-31650920

Fax : 03-31650930

Time : 9am to 6pm

Choosing a baby Car Seat

Selecting a car seat for your baby can be quite a challenge as we found out. There are so many brands and models in the market. The price itself also varies greatly. You can find some at a really attractive price that starts from slightly over a RM100 to those prices closed to RM2000.

A car seat is definitely an important accessory that one must invest for our baby once they arrived. Although most mothers would prefer to carry their infant in their arms while travelling, this is certainly unwise for safety reasons. Without any proper restraints, a collision even at 50km/hour could prove fatal to the baby, who could be crushed by the weight of the mother, strangled by the front seat belt or thrown against the dashboard or through the windscreen.

Ryan started with an infant car seat from Peg Prego and when he outgrew it, we finally invested in a Chicco Proxima car seat that could accommodate Ryan till 4 years old (or 18kg).

Since we rely heavily on the car seat to protect our baby in the event of an accident, it is paramount that the car seat manufactured has to pass certain certification to verify that the specifications of which the car seat was designed and built were able to provide the safety level required. It is pointless to buy a very affordable car seat that has not been tested extensively or certified fit to do the job. Hence, it is critical that an appropriate car seat (regardless of brands or price) MUST conform to the United Nations standard, ECE Regulation 4403.

Weight of the child is the most important factor in deciding the type of car seat to use. Manufacturers have also categorized the different types and model based on the weight of the child.

Rearward facing Baby Seats
Group 0 for babies up to 10kgs (22lbs), roughly from birth to 6-9 months
Group 0+ for babies up to 13kg (29lbs), roughly from birth to 12-15 months

Forward facing Child Seats
Group 1 for children weighing 9-18kgs (20-40lbs), roughly from 9 months to 4 years

Booster Seat
Group 2 for children weighing 15-25kgs (33-55lbs), roughly from age 4 to 6 years

Booster Cushion
Group 3 for children weighing 22-36kgs (48-79lbs), roughly from age 6 to 11 years

It is always safer to put Group 0 and Group 0+ car seat in the rear and placed it rearwards facing to provide higher protection for the baby’s head, neck and spine. NEVER place a car seat in the front passenger seat if there is a passenger airbag.

It is also common now to find some child restraints or car seats that are capable of being converted as the child grows and hence, fit into more than one group. The Chicco Proxima for example, can cater babies from newborn (Group 0) to 18kg (Group 1).

So, if you are shopping or thinking of upgrading your child’s car seat, I hope that this basic information will be of help. Remember, SAFETY FIRST!

Fried Chicken with Basil

A couple of nights ago, we tried out this chicken recipe for our dinner. I found the ingredients and cooking method almost similar to frying chicken in soy sauce except that the recipe requires you to add in local basil leaves just before serving. The strong aroma of the basil leaves gives this chicken dish an additional aroma and flavour. There are certain people who dislike the taste of basil leaves. However, if you are like me, who loves the smell, aroma and taste of basil basil leaves, you should give this dish a try and add in more basil leaves to get the extra strong aroma and taste.

Ingredients:

• 3 chicken drumsticks (cut into pieces)
• 30g local basil leaves (or more if you like the taste and aroma of basil leaves)
• 5 garlic cloves (sliced)
• 6 shallots (sliced)
• 10 fresh ginger slices

Seasoning:

• 4 tablespoon of glutinous rice wine
• 1 tablespoon of light soy sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon of sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon of dark soy sauce

Method:

• Heat up 3 tablespoon of sesame oil to fragrant the garlic slices, shallots and ginger.
• Add in the chicken pieces and stir-fry until the colour changes
• Add in the seasoning and stir well.
• Covered and simmer over low heat for a couple of minutes or until the sauce thickens.
• Add in the basil leaves and stir constantly until it mixes well.
• Remove and serve immediately.

Our daughter!

No no. We are not expecting our second one so soon although I would love to have a daughter and my wife certainly desires another baby. For now, I am contented with having and devoting my time to Ryan and our other `daughter', Zoewe our toy poodle.

....Before grooming....

....After grooming...

I was attracted to Zoewe when I first saw her in Sept 2007. After some deliberation and reaching an agreement that she would be MY responsibility while my wife's responsibility is to play with her (yes, you heard me right), we finally brought her home in Oct 2007. Ryan was not even in the picture then. One month later, we found out that Ryan was on his way.

Like many parents, we were a little concerned now that we have a lively puppy jumping about in the house with a baby on the way. There were so many questions to answer. How would she adapt to having a baby in the house? What are the risks? How would the baby adapt to her? Are there health and hygiene risks? Many concerned friends and relatives were advising us to give up Zoewe before Ryan arrives but she has by then became so attached to us and we to her. She is family. So close that she snuggled up and sleep with us on my bed.

Luckily, we did do some research before selecting the breed knowing exactly the type of dog that we want. We knew that we would have a baby eventually and we wanted a child friendly breed. We also wanted a breed that does not shed heavily or at all. Part of our deliberation prior to acquiring Zoewe was is she suitable for our family?

Zoewe is a toy poodle and now at 4.8kg, she is certainly large for being a toy poodle. One major reason that we selected her breed is because, toy poodles being child friendly, playful and loyal is also one of the fewer breeds that actually does not shed or very little if well taken care of.

Having an active dog that demands your equal attention with a baby is not easy. It's good that we have went through the basic dog training program. At least, we can get her to understand simple commands and we, on how to handle her and understand her emotions and needs. Is she jealous now that we are also paying so much attention to Ryan. Of course. She has this tendency to wanting to play and dragging all her toys to us when we are attending to Ryan. But she will obediently wait when we tell her that we will play with her later. And we make sure that we do not disappoint her.

Of course there are adjustments to be made with a pet around the house. No matter how obedient and lovely Zoewe is, she is still an dog with basic animal instinct. We are forever attentive and diligent whenever Zoewe is anywhere near Ryan. And we definitely cannot put Ryan on the floor or sofa unattended.

If you are thinking of a dog sometime soon especially with little children, do some prior research on the suitable breed. It will help tremendously.

Meanwhile, we are continuing to make adjustments and dividing our attention to both Ryan and Zoewe, but the efforts are well worth it, because Zoewe is also part of our family.

Poison in the garden!

Recognise the plant and the flower above. This is a very common potted plant and flower found in many Malaysian homes especially with the Chinese. It's a beautiful plant, very hardy and if planted from the seed, it has a beautiful crafted trunk. This plant hence are often used to create artistic bonsai plants. Chinese like this plant in particular and has a beautiful name for it. In Cantonese, it is called `Foo Kwai Fah' (Flower of Prosperity).

I literally grew up with this plant as my mother loves the flower. We have pots and pots of these in the garden we grew up in. In fact, a friend gave us one as a house warming gift last year and it is doing pretty well and blooming well in our garden right now.

Know as the Desert Rose, this plant originates from Eastern Africa. Where rain is scarce, the plant's stem and root becomes its water reservoir. Vivid colours of the flowers ranges from light-pink to dark-red.

But lying beneath the charming and beautiful exterior flows a deadly poison. It is reported that the latex, root and milky seed contained a deadly poison. Bushman used the poison for the tips of their arrow while fishermen are reported to splash the branch into the water to make fishes dizzy and hence easy to capture. There are articles that suggested that this plant should be kept out of reach of children and animals. Besides being poisonous when ingested, the latex apparently could also cause skin and eye irritation.

I am shocked when I stumbled upon this information from my net surfing. To know that I am actually cultivating and growing such a poisonous plant in my garden where Ryan and Zoewe (toy poodle) will be running free is scary.

Needless to say, this plant is going with the dumpster tomorrow morning. Sincere apologies to the good friend who presented this gift to us but getting rid of it gives me a better peace of mind.

Do you have one somewhere in your home?

Baked Lemon Grass Chicken

A couple of nights ago, we thought of trying this chicken recipe out for our dinner. Have been eyeing for a while but never got around trying it until now. The preparation method is again simple. The only tedious task is to pound or blend the ingredients together. A fruit blender would come in extra handy. An oven would be necessary since the chicken has to be baked at 200 degree for close to 30 to 35 minutes depending on the size of the chicken drumstick. As I have mentioned in my earlier post, we are so glad that we invested in a reasonable oven as we are definitely getting back our return in investment (ROI) from it.

Ingredients:

• 2 nos of chicken drumsticks (quantity depending on number of pax)
• 15g of fresh turmeric (we used turmeric powder since we still have)
• 15g of fresh ginger
• 20g shallots
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 stem lemon grass

Seasoning:

• 1/4 teaspoon of salt
• 1 tablespoon of light soy sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon of sugar

Method:

• Put the fresh turmeric (turmeric powder), ginger, shallots, garlic and lemon grass into a fruit blender to blend until become finely paste.
• Remove and mix well with chicken drumsticks.
• Marinate for at least 30 minutes.
• Arrange the chicken drumsticks on a baking rack.
• Bake in the preheated oven at 200 degree Celsius for at least 30 to 35 minutes until cooked and slightly burnt, or golden browned. Vary duration depending on size and thickness of chicken drumstick.
• Serve hot.

The recipe was a success. We are now planning to prepare this dish for my mum when she comes to visit next. She is also pretty good with her recipe of turmeric and lemon grass fried chicken. I guess we wanted her opinion as to how good is this recipe.

Period? Now?

I understand that there are many breastfeeding mommies here. I am a man and has no glue pertaining to the relation between breastfeeding and period. As far as I can understand from my limited knowledge, as long as a woman is breastfeeding, she will remain infertile, no ovulation and hence no period. Right?

After giving birth, my wife has been breastfeeding Ryan ever since. And her period did not come for the last five months. Suddenly, she told me a couple of days ago, she had her period and was rather heavy too. She was puzzled and needless to say, I can offer no explanation except to get her to check with her married friends and call up her doctor.

We have yet to call, but most of her friends affirmed that period will come around 6 months and the volume of breast milk will start to reduce. This information got her worried, as she has intended to breastfeed Ryan for as long as she possibly can.

Any mommies out there care to share your experience? Seriously need some advice.

Reclaiming Our Master Bed - The Final Trilogy

Ryan has been sleeping in his own baby cot for the last five nights now. We have just changed to a harder mattress since he likes to sleep on his tummy. He is back to his 180 degree turning acrobat throughout the night. He would start the night in one direction and wakes up the next morning facing the opposite direction!

There was also another reason why we wanted Ryan to sleep on his own bed. With him moving and turning everywhere, there is a real danger that we might just crushed him if we were not careful.

There was this story from a friend of ours that he literally kicked his young daughter out from the bed one night! Horror! Horror! We have a good laugh then though, thinking how on earth could that happen. We wouldn't do that! It will not happen to us!

And guess what? We have a different story to tell (rather I have a different story to tell. My wife will probably skin me alive after this..sigh).

One night (just before we decided to move Ryan back to his own bed and for obvious reasons now), my wife was fast asleep after tucking in Ryan by her side, as usual in the space between us. She was tired after a stressful day at the office and another stressful evening because Ryan would only want her to tuck him to sleep. I was touching and clearing some of my outstanding jobs when I realised about midnight that she has not drink her bird nest soup that our maid had prepared and brought to the room. I walked over to her and gently (I really mean `gently') touched her arm to try to wake her up.

At that instant, she reacted and turned the other side (with her eyes closed and a grunt as well). I was shocked. Her hand landed right on top of Ryans' head. In another words, Ryan got his first slap from mommy! Ryan jerked and woke up with his eyes wide opened. His expression was like "What happened? What happened?" I am not sure whether I was shocked more than amused or the other way. It is a good thing that he did not cry. A few pats on his back and he went back to sleep. He must be real tired.

Coincidentally, now that we look back, Ryan seemed to crawl more towards my side with his head under my armpit more after that incident. And I am under stress fearing that I would end up `slapping' him as well.

The incident speeds up our decision to move Ryan back to his bed and we are glad that we did. Now I guess someone else would probably be laughing at our story and wondering how could that have happened. Emmmm..I am just waiting for their story to unfold and see who would have the last laugh. Well, on the brighter note, we have our version of the story to add.

Black Beans with Chicken Feet Soup

As I have mentioned in my earlier post, my sister was responsibled for the soup on Saturday. This is the soup that she prepared. It is also one of the many soups that a mother still under confinement could prepare and drink. It is an extremely simple soup to prepare and apparently very nutritious and reported benefits include enriching and renourishing red blood cells. (I am not a chinese medicine man. Just stating what I was told. You might want to check this out with the experts in the Chinese medical hall).

Ingredients:

• 6 nos of chicken feet
• 100g of whole chicken carcass
• 100g of black beans
• 10 red dates
• 2000ml water

Method:

• Clean and rinse chicken feets and carcass. Blanch them in boiling water.
• Remove and rinse under cool water and drain well.
• Put chicken, black beans, read dates and water into a deep pot and bring to boil.
• Reduce to low heat and cook for 2 1/2 hours.
• Season with salt.
• Serve hot.

Chicken With Milk Sauce

Since it was a Saturday and a weekend, we thought of trying out some new recipe for dinner. My sister was responsible for the vegetables and Black Bean with Chicken Feet Soup while I will be responsible for the meat. After browsing through the recipe book, I thought we should tried out the Chicken with Milk Sauce.

So, we bought ourselves three chicken drumsticks. The ingredients and preparation method is simple although you would need to marinate the chicken for at least an hour.

It turned out well. In fact, looking at the ingredients and method of preparation, the dish looked very similar to Chicken Kurma with the exception that Chicken Kurma requires Tumeric and lemon grass as part of the ingredients.

Ingredients:

• 3 chicken drumsticks
• 100g ginger - chopped
• 6 shallots - chopped
• 5 pips of garlic - chopped
• 5 tablespoon of sesame oil

Sauce:

• 1 1/2 tablespoon of light soya sauce
• 100ml evaporated milk
• Dash of sugar

Method:

• Marinate the chopped chicken drumsticks for at least an hour.
• Blanch in hot oil and leave aside. Discard any excessive oil.
• Fry chopped ingredients till fragrance.
• Add in the chicken drumsticks, light soya sauce, milk and sugar.
• Mixed well and cooked in medium heat until sauce thickens.
• Serve hot.

Milestone - Imitating our movement Part II

In my earlier post, I have mentioned that Ryan is able to imitate our hand movement. In one of the comments, Chee Yee, a mommy blogger suggested that I try sticking out my tongue and I would get a good laugh out of it.

Out of curiosity, I did exactly that for the last two days to see how Ryan would react to it.

I noticed that he would look intently at me everytime I stick my tongue out and he would smiled and laughed sheepishly. It was fun to watch, but he made no attempts to imitate. So, I gave up after 2 days for playing `stick your tongue out game' with him.

Today, he gave me a shock. We went out for our lunch and on the way home, we stopped by a petrol kiosk to fill up the car. When I returned to the car, my sister and wife were laughing and I asked them why. They claimed that Ryan has been cheekily sticking out his tongue to tease them. He did not repeat it for me at that very moment.

When we got home, when I was changing his diaper and as usual I will be playing and making funny faces at him to distract him. Unconsciously, I stuck my tongue out. The reaction I received was amazing. Ryan STUCK HIS TONGUE OUT back at me and smiled! I repeated the action and he responded equally. I quickly grabbed the camera and this was what I saw.

It only took him 2 days to learn and respond to me accordingly. I am totally amazed. We certainly had a good laugh! Now, the problem is, how to get him to stop.....sigh......

Reclaiming my Master bed - Part II

Last night, we attempted to `kick' Ryan out from our master bed back to his baby cot. I have placed the baby cot at the foot of our king size bed so that it is easier for me to check on him if I need to during the night.

We finally got him to sleep by 10pm in my wife's arms (as usual). He has already just taken another 5oz of milk. My estimate is that he will likely to wake up again at around 3:30am to 4:30am for his next feed (if he does not wake up again by 12 midnight for one last feed). We carefully placed him laying down on his tummy on his baby cot. He stirred a little but a few quick pats on his back seemed to soothe him and got him back to his sweet slumber. We covered him with his blanket and crossed all our fingers and toes.

For the first time in 3 months, my wife could snuggle up to me and put her head next to mine.

Ryan did not stir nor wake up for his midnight feed. I got up a few times to take a peep at him just to make sure that he was alright. He seemed fine.

He stirred at about 4am. I thought that he would be waking up soon to have his milk. I got and prepared his feed but when I looked at him by the time I got his bottle ready, he was fast asleep. I put his bottle into the warmer and went back to bed.

Surprise, surprise. He only woke up at 7:30 am this morning for his milk. He slept through the whole night!! And I have more space on my own master bed then I can even imagine for the first time in 3 months!! It was a successful first attempt!! Yippee Hooray! We just got to repeat the same thing tonight. Wish me luck again......