His 3rd Birthday Celebration in A month!

Last Saturday, we celebrated his 1st birthday for the 3rd time. This time, it was with his mommy's collegues. We had a small party at home. He was obviously enjoying all the attention and lots of presents too. And he gets to cut his birthday cake for the third time and this round, we bought him a 3kg chocolate banana cake from Cake Sense.

Besides having nasi lemak, fried meehoon and curry chicken, I prepared several appertizers as well. Thankfully, they turned out OK.

More pictures of his presents and him, tearing and thrashing his presents later.

Father's Day - A Cooking Day!

My wife wanted to cook for me to celebrate Happy Father's Day. She brought out the recipe book and asked me what I wanted to eat. I chose Seafood Risotto (something that I've tried before earlier despite buying the incorrect type of rice). A very good friend of mine was kind enough to find and buy for me the Arborio rice this time.

We opted just to put in prawns and grilled salmon this round. We could not fine saffron threads. Hence, we could not get the exact yellowish colour of seafood risotto that we wanted. Nevertheless, the dish turned out to be superb and the cooking process enjoyable.

Besides the Risotto, she also prepared home-made minestrone soup which proves to be a hit!

Of course, not to be outdone, I promised her to make the desert, MANGO SORBET. The preparation is simple but just required a lenghty time to freeze to get it ready to be served.

I would said that it is a very memorable Happy Father's Day to me.

New Version of Smart Tag!

What similarities do you see between these two items? I don't see any but Ryan obviously does.

A couple of weeks ago, he did something that had us roaring with laughter!

I normally had my smarttag nicely tucked into my drivers' compartment and will take it out and hold it up everytime I pass by the Smart Tag toll booth. He has been obviously observing me doing that for quite a while because this cheeky guy had some new trick up his sleeve.

A couple of weeks ago, while we were going home with him sitting on his mommy's lap (yupe, this guy now refuses to sit in his car seat because he is just so curious), he has been playing with one of his shoes that he has taken off himself. As I approached the Subang Interchange and was about to reach the Smart Tag booth, I took out my Smart Tag from my driver's compartment and held it up, ready for it to be scanned.

This little `monkey' watched me silently doing what I am doing, and the next thing we knew, he was holding up his shoe in the same manner that I was doing, as if waiting for the `beep' sound once the tag has been scanned. He took us by surprise! As if that was not enough, as our car passed the toll booth after the tag was scanned, I put my smart tag back into the driver's compartment (the compartment between the driver's seat and the front passenger seat, just before the gear stick).

He did the next most amazing thing that gave us the next surprise. He leaned forward and push open the compartment and proceed to `stuff' his smarttag (the shoe) into the same compartment. Tried as hard as he could, the shoe just would not fit in. Not one to give up easily, he gets even more excited and push it even harder. In order to satisfy him, I took out my smart tag to give his `smart tag' room. The moment his shoe went in, he closed compartment, looked at us with a very satisfied and accomplished look and grinned.

Both of us were dumbfounded and could only laughed and laughed. On one hand, it was funniest thing he has done to-date and on the other hand, we are glad that this little guy is displaying simple intelligence that we hope would continue to grow into something useful for him when he finally grows up.

Children are amazing (especially if their are yours)!

New Trick

This is his new trick now especially when he is playing on our bed. Raising up his butt and looking at us upside down. It really amazes me where this guy pick up all these new tricks and skills but I guess it comes naturally (and NO, daddy did not show him his butt this way...haha).

Will share with you later what he used the other day to imitate me going through the `SmartTag' lane once I grab a picture of his version of the Smarttag.

Best of Friends

Many of our relatives and friends were shocked when they learnt that we have Zoewe (our toy poodle) at home roaming around freely when we have Ryan, all the more so, when they heard that Zoewe sleeps in the master bedroom as well. "You cannot have dogs at home when you have a baby!". "You should give your dog away!" "What if your dog bites him? A dog is still a dog."

We understand that they all meant well and we are grateful. Honestly, we were also apprehensive when we found out that Ryan was on the way, only months after we bought Zoewe, although we made sure that we bought a breed that shed the least and is children friendly. We too have thought of giving her away but she has become so much a part of our family and we could not bear the thought of parting with her. So, in other to have the best of both worlds, we made sure that she is constantly groomed and trimmed and used the best grooming shampoo available (to prevent disease or shedding). We are glad that we did our homework before we went ahead to buy any puppy of our fancy because, Zoewe has proven to be really baby friendly.

As Ryan turned one, we have started to allow him to interect with Zoewe directly under our tight supervision. Our objective is to make sure that he does not develop a phobia or fear of animals and above all, we wanted him to be animal lover from a young age. As you can see from the pictures, the two of them have clicked pretty well and have became best of friends. In fact, they each have found a new play mate.

We have also invested in a air filter cum air purifier to be placed in the masterbedroom to make sure that whatever little dust or shedded fur will be filtered as much as possible. Zoewe has lost that privilege to sleep on the bed with us nowadays as Ryan has taken over that privilege, but we are glad that she has not display any form of jeolousy. We just got to make sure that we have not love her lest with the addition of Ryan.

It is always a joy to see both of them playing together and hearing Ryan's laughter whenever he is with his `big sister'......

Milestone - My First Birthday Celebration!

Ryan finally turned one on the 30th May 2009. It was a hectic and full day for him as well as us. Coincidently, as if he knew that it was his birthday, he woke up bright and early, at 7:10 am., just five minutes away from 7:13 when he was born one year ago.

We had a small celebration with both my wife and my family members at Zipangu Shangrila KL (Japanese buffet lunch). Ryan was so tired yet he struggled to keep awake until the moment we walked out from the restaurant. He fell asleep immediately even, before we reached the car park. He slept on the way home and woke up the minute we reached home. From then, he was busy opening presents and then his favourite dip in his pool with his mommy.

At night, we took him to TGIF Subang Parade for another mini celebration because we wanted to see his reaction when the crew sang happy birthday to him. He was so excited and curious throughout and even went to the extend to pulling off some of the crew's hats.

By the time he got home, and when he slept close to midnight, he was totally exhausted. And so was I ....haha....what a day to remember...

Finally ONE!

Date : 30th May 2009
Time : 5:43 a.m.

Ryan finally turns ONE today. The past one year has been an exciting year. From the moment the labour pain started one year ago till the moment I held him in my arms and gave him his milk several minutes ago, before he wriggled down onto my master bed and snuggled comfortably between my wife and me, it has been amazing adventure.

When he was just a day old, I wondered how long will it take before he turns one. When he was still so fragile as I held him in my hand, I wondered when he will be strong enough to stand on his own without support. As I looked back, he has brought much joy and fulfillment to both our lives. Watching him grow and develop everyday and the new things that he has learnt is like our very own discovery channel, live and unedited.

As I read back the many posts since I started this blog in October and the many comments, advise, feedbacks, encouragements that we have received from the many mums and friends, we are glad that our lives have somehow touched and that you have been a part of this growing journey that we are going through. For that, we would like to thank you. I certainly hope that when Ryan gets old enough to read this blog, he too will appreciate all the aunties and uncles who have also somehow `watch' him grow.

Now, we are happily and anxiously looking forward to his `terrible twos'....

Ryan sees, Ryan do!

The picture above is an old picture taken when Ryan was only 162 days old. I wrote on how Ryan imitated our fingers movement then. Even at that age, we noticed that babies have the tendency to imitate adults' movement. I also remember having a post last year that I wrote how Ryan would imitate us by sticking his tongue out whenever we do the same. It was so hilarious. Thank God, he has stopped doing since and has not been sticking his tongue out to every stranger he sees on the street. Otherwise, it would be extremely embarrassing.

We had our biggest laugh a couple of days ago. We were sitting on his play mat one evening after dinner and as usual, he would be crawling all over the play mat with all his toys and his `never leave home without it' bolster. And as usual, Zoewe, our toy poodle would also always pick this time to have her fair share of fun (seeking equal attention). Zoewe, would bring her toys (usually her rubber ducky) and would ask us to play fetch with her.

She would make sure that she has equal attention from both me and my wife and take turns to make sure that we both play fetch with her. So, as usual, she brought her toy in her mouth to my wife (who was playing with Ryan) and wanted to play fetch. My wife instinctively, just pulled the toy from Zoewe's mouth and as usual, threw it some distance away. Zoewe immediately darted off to fetch. Now, Ryan was watching the whole episode quietly. What happened next was awesome. He grabbed his bolster, lift it up and threw it at Zoewe! And then he laughed!

We looked at him in disbelief! What Ryan sees, Ryan follows! We repeated the feat a couple of times and he followed everytime, throwing his bolster at Zoewe, after we have threw the rubber ducky. It was fun, but it also reminds us to be extremely careful from now onwards when Ryan is with us, else he would be picking up all our bad habits and foul language and uses them on us instead! And how could you punish him when he has been learning all those from his parents?

Bring the Pool home

We have brought Ryan for a swim at our condominium's swimming pool a couple of weeks ago. However, our doctor has advised us against exposing him to public pools due to the recent outbreak of the foot and mouth disease.

So, if he can't get to a pool, the only other option is to bring the pool home. Hence, we went shopping for a mini pool for him and found a suitable one for him at Toy`r'us. Bought a pump as well.

Since having the pool home 2 weeks ago, he has been having his weekend frolic in the pool with either daddy or mommy and enjoying every minute of it. We filled it with about 8 inches of water and let him sit in it and played with his toys. On the very first day, he gave us all a fright when for a brief second, (while I let my hand off), he slipped and went under! I grabbed him and pull him immediately but not before he gobbled a few mouthful of water! He was coughing away. I thought that he would be fearful of playing with water again. He only paused of a minute to catch his breath and within minutes was going after his toys in the pool again. What a relief. Just go to show that we have to be extra careful when we put them anywhere near water.

Happy Mothers Day

I am taking this opportunity to wish my grandmother, my mother and my wife and all the wonderful and selfless mothers in the world a VERY VERY HAPPY MOTHERS DAY.

Looking back at all these pictures taken way back with my other half so lovingly holding our son, makes me appreciate and love her even more. I must say that I am the most lucky guy on earth but then again, I am sure all the husbands and fathers out there are feeling the same way too, when they see how their life partners have blessed and complete their lifes.

Once again, Happy Mothers Day!

Milestone - 6th teeth!

It was just a week ago, that we noticed that he has his fifth teeth. Recently, we noticed that Ryan would like to grind his teeth and he seemed to be really enjoying it. When we examined his mouth, we noticed that his sixth teeth has appeared.

Just 2 days ago, while he was playing on the sofa and I was resting my arm on the sofa top to prevent him from climbing and falling over. All of a sudden, this little rascal, without warning, sank his sharp teeths into my arms. It was painful and I let out a scream. He looked up at me and gave me this cheeky and satisfied grin. And before I could remove my arms away, he gave me a second hard bite, let go and laughed!

That is how cheeky and naughty he has grown. Awesome!

BabyLand 28th Anniversary Sale

Just read in the newspaper today that Babyland is having their 28th Anniversary sales from 24 April to 3 May 2009. They are giving 28% discount on all baby products while stock last. Might be a good idea to check it out, if you are in the midst of preparing for the arrival of your little one.

They have two outlets. One in SS2 (03-78756650) and another at the Summit USJ (03-80246868). Their business hours are from 10am to 9:30pm everyday.

Enjoying his swim

Our tenant at our rented out condominium had just went back to Canada. So, while waiting to get new tenants, we went back last weekend for a swim. We misses the pool very much and my wife's nieces miss the swimming session the most. They used to be there every weekend for their swim when we were still staying there.

We brought Ryan along and I have decided not to use his swim suit because I find it rather bulky for him. I think he will enjoy the water more if he only has his birthday suit. He was already giggling when he saw the water and the moment we put him in, he was like a fish back to the water, happily splashing away despite getting water into his nose and eyes.

We are looking forward to bringing him back for another round this weekend.

Milestone - Fifth tooth

I have been so busy for the past month that I hardly have much time with Ryan. However, we noticed recently that Ryan has been drooling a lot lately. I thought that he has passed his drooling stage where his saliva would be on everything and anything. On further checking, we found the reason. His fifth little teeth has emerged and as sharp as the current four.

No wonder that he has been sinking his teeth into everything that we give him as well as those that we don't, including our fingers, our arms, our legs and painful to say, he even managed to sink his four razor sharp teeths onto my nipples when I was not watching! OUUCCHHHH!

Look Daddy! No hands!

We have been giving solids to Ryan since he was 6 months old. We found that he loves sweet potatoes and totally hated avocados. So, we have been blending sweet potatoes with cauliflowers, carrots and avocados during the last couple of months.

Feeding him has always been interesting as he will have some new antics every other day.

He has developed a habit of biting the spoon and would not let go when we were feeding him. Furthermore, he will bite the spoon to make the spoon comes up and down, all the while smiling cheekily and teasing us.

Hence, feeding him has always been such a wonderful experience so far. I just hope that this will continue for as long as possible before he turns nasty and start spitting out food whenever he throws a tantrum.

Milestone - He is standing on his own

Date: 8th March 2009

Time : 3:45pm

Ryan was born in the year of the rat, but he is more like a little monkey to us. He has been attempting to stand over the last two weeks or so, despite being sick with running nose, cough and fever. He will be grabbing at anything his hands can get hold of and he will most certainly try to pull himself up. Hence, we have been watching him like a hawk.

We also noticed that he is able to stand while holding on to something for a few days now but he has not attempted to let go and stand on his own....at least not until today.

He was playing with us as usual on the masterbed and refused to sleep. As usual, his favourite toy is his daddy and mommy. He was climbing all the over the bed and the pillows as usual and have been holding on to us while he tried to stand. We did not pay much attention to him. However, suddenly, to our horror and joy at the same time, we noticed that he was standing on his own without holding to anything while one of his hand was still clinging to his beloved TV remote controller. Before, we could say 'Hei...' he toppled over.

I quickly grab my camera and wait for him to try his stunt again. It was not as easy as he has noticed my camera and wanted my camera instead. We have to hide the camera while patiently wait for him to try to stand again. My patience paid off.

First he crawled towards my wife, picked himself up and while holding on to his mommy, he stood up. Then, with his shaky legs, he let go and was standing there all by himself. As I aimed my camera at him to click, he turned and I managed to get two good shots before he excitedly went for my camera.

His new Playground

We noticed that Ryan wanted to get onto the floor to crawl more often now. In fact, there are many times that he doesn't really want to be carried. He just wants to get down and have that total freedom to crawl and roam to his heart's content. However, we are worry sick each time, we put him on the floor because we are worried that he will just fall flat on his face and break his teeth or hurt himself.

So over the weekend, we have decided to get those colourful floor mats. We wanted him to have his new playground so that he could crawl, sit and fall to his heart's content. We went to Toy`r'us at Subang Parade and got him a total of 16 multicolor pieces which when joined up will give him significant space to perform his `stunts'. My God. They certainly don't come cheap. We have to pay close to RM20 per piece and as with most parents, nothing is to expensive if it is good for their babies. So there we were, spending close to RM400 in just 30 minutes.

When we got home, the moment we have the pieces joined up, Ryan was already kicking, twisting and turning in his mommy's arm, wanting to get down and start playing. He was just smiling and laughing away, crawling from one corner to another once he got down. For us, we are just happy to see him enjoying himself. I just hope that he doesn't get bore with his new playground within a week. Otherwise, it's hard earned money down the drain.......

Milestone - 3rd and 4th teeth

It has been a week since I started on my new job. Needless to say, it has been a very busy week, getting myself familiarise with the products, the company, to manage the bosses as well as to do recruitment. I came back exhausted every day and by 10pm, was already in bed because I would have to wake up the next morning around 5:30am or 6am to give Ryan's his morning feed and to get him ready for his Day care while I get ready to work. It has been an interesting week.

I noticed that his upper second teeth has came out several days ago while washing him up and this morning, I noticed that his lower front teeth is coming out as well. No wonder, his bite has more sting now. Before long, he would have all four front teeth ready to give anyone who dares to put their fingers into his mouth a painful nip.

He has been adapting well to the Day Care centre though he hardly slept during the first few days, probably due to the new environment. The helpers were telling us, "Ini baby ar...tak mahu tidur oh...mahu main saja..(This baby refused to sleep. He just wanted to play)." Apparently, the few days record showed that he only have several naps of no longer than 15 minutes. And everytime, when I logged into the webcam of the day care to look at him, he is always awake, playing by himself or with some helpers.

The downside of sending him to the Day Care center of course, was exposing him to other children who might not be feeling well, something that we fear from day one. And true enough, Ryan came down with a running nose, cough and fever on Friday. He is much better now. Unfortunately, the daddy has caught the flu bug. My nose is blocked right now, my whole body aches and my throat is sore.

I better be well in the next few days, as I would need to travel on Wednesday and Thursday. It would be pretty interesting and challenging to leave Ryan with his mommy alone while I travel. It used to be the other way round.

Happy and Sad!

I have been extremely busy for the whole month. We have been busy hunting for either a babysitter or a day centre for Ryan. Went through a few and finally, we have decided to put Ryan with Small Wonder Playhouse at SS19 Subang from next Monday onwards. In fact, we left Ryan with them yesterday for several hours as trial. Well, happy to say that he seemed to like it there. I guess it is because of the new environment, toys and other kids. He is one curious baby.

The main reason of us looking for a day care centre for Ryan is because I will be going back to the corporate world next Monday and I would not be able to look after him as much as I have over the past 8 months. And we are not at all comfortable to leave him all alone with the maid, although she seemed to love him and vice versa.

I should be happy (and I am) to be able to secure a reasonable and challenging job in such economic times. I have been on semi-retirement for several years now to set some of my life priorities right. (Too much running around in my last several jobs). Although I enjoyed the freedom, I found that over time, I am no longer as sharp as I want to be. Probably, the lack of practice (and stress) have made me slower and dull. So I was on a look out to get back to work and to sharpen it before I become completely obsolete.

Yet in my anxiousness to get back to the boardroom and the rat race, I am also sad because I will be spending less time with Ryan. One thing that I treasure most in my last 8 months was the quality time that I could spent with him, giving me the very hands on experience that I never had before.

It doesn’t help when this new position requires me to work half day on Saturdays as well. So, I would have less time with them and I guess that I would really need to have quality time during the weekend. Getting back to the corporate world would also meant less time to blog and to read blogs, something that I have grown to love. So, don’t stop visiting if this blog does not get updated as often as before or I could not visit you as frequently as before. I intend to keep this blog as a growing journal for Ryan, leaving behind sweet memories that we could relive in days to come.

Lots of adjustments to be made next week and I guess the first thing to do is to get out all my ties which have been hanging idle in the closet for so long.

Planning his 1st Birthday

Comes 30th May 2009, Ryan would be one year old. This will be his 1st birthday and my wife is already planning on his 1st birthday party. I know it is a little too early but then we are pretty excited about seeing him touching one. We wanted to make it a memorable occasion for him and for us. Well, we have about three months to think about how we wanted to celebrate his 1st birthday party. As we plan, we are now constantly looking out for birthday party novelties suppliers who could give us ideas on what and how we could make it even memorable.

How time flies. It still seemed like yesterday that we were eagerly expecting his arrival in the hospital. I could still remembered clearly the night before his expected arrival and how my wife went into labor at midnight although she was told that the doctor will start inducing only at 7 the next morning. In fact, by 7:15am, Ryan was already smiling at us.

I could still remember the epidural episode which started around 3 am in the morning which lasted till 4 am. By 1 am, we have already informed the nurse that we wanted epidural. The anesthetist only arrived at 3 am, looking like he just woke up from his deep slumber. Apparently, he has to come all the way from Ampang and we were in Damansara Specialist Centre. As usual the nurse gave us the form to fill which warns us about the effects and risks etc etc. My wife was like, “Just give me the damn form to sign and get on with it!” The most heart stopping moment was when he has already given the first dose and has this puzzled look when my wife complained that she is still feeling the pain! Wow. Damn stressful!

I still remembered dozing off at 5am when my wife’s pain subsided with the epidural finally kicked in, only waking at 7am, calmly walking into the labor room without realizing that my wife is just moments away from delivering.

Sweet moments of his arrival comes flooding back and we could not help but be totally amazed with this greatest Gift from God to us.

Milestone - His Second Tooth!

After his first teeth, we were eagerly anticipating his second lower teeth to come out as well. But surprise, surprise! When I was cleaning his mouth yesterday, he gave me a bite and the pain sensation did not come from the bottom of his mouth but from his upper jaw instead. On closer inspection, there it was, his second upper front teeth just broke out. Now, I really got to watch out when he grab my finger and put it inside his mouth else I will end up with a bandaged finger. Happy to say, another significant milestone chalked up in his journey with us.

Ryan is 8 months old now

Hello. Sorry for the long absence and silence. It has been quite a crazy week after we came back from our Chinese New Year holidays. We have been busy hunting for a day care centre or a babysitter for Ryan as I will be unable to take care of him full time in about one week time. (More of that later in another post).

Ryan has just turned 8 months on the 30th of January. We managed to grab several shots of him while playing with him on our bed. Looking back, we realized that he has grown quite a fair bit.

Some updated information about him as at to-date:-

• He can crawl pretty well and will engage his F1 zoom speed when he sees something he wants and within seconds, will be grabbing it and happily putting it into his mouth. So, have to watch over him like a hawk in case he falls or grabs and chew on things he is not supposed to.
• He can sit up on his own now though he prefers to be carried.
• He likes to twirl and twist and climb all over us when we carry him, putting extra strain on my arms and hands. My mum calls him the `screwdriver’ and has been complaining that he is the `naughtiest’ grand child she has!
• He is a happy baby, smiling to everyone he comes across, even to complete strangers, hence, also attracting attention wherever he goes. This little guy got good PR skills.
• He cries and is cranky when wants to eat, sleep or wants attention. Give him the attention that he wants, and he is one happy little fella, giggling, grinning with his ever cheeky smile.
• He has only one tooth and he enjoys sinking that sharp little thing into my fingers whenever he has the chance.
• He is drinking 6oz of either breast milk or formula every 2.5 hours.
• He sleeps through the night most of the time if he has his last feed around mid night.
• He still likes to be carried to sleep but will sleep happily in his own baby cot.
• He has officially setup my wife’s and mine responsibility for him. Daddy is a play toy and to feed him. Mummy is `manja’ (sweet talk) and to put him to sleep.
• He is already on solids. He eats rice cereal mixed with steamed apple three times a day.
• He enjoys his daily bath though he hates having his face wiped or his head washed. So, daddy has been having a hard time getting this done everyday.
• He enjoys being completely naked and roll and crawl all the over bed.
• He hates wearing pullovers or jumpers especially when putting them on.
• He has developed his own set of vocabulary that no one understands.
• He is inquisitive and always curious with a sharp eye, constantly looking out for new things that he wants to grab and play.
• He is like a F1 driver once we put him in his walker.
• He enjoys kicking Zoewe, our toy poodle whenever she comes near