Quote From The Mummy

My wife once told me this.

"We have a lifetime to catch up with each other but only a few years with the kids at toddlers' age where they need u and most probably love u the most. We should spend more time with them." - My Wife

One of the most brilliant things she had ever said. IMHO.

An Open Letter to My Daughter Sarah

Dear Sarah,

Even though you are the opposite of your elder brother, who was an easier baby to take care of and well behaved.

Even though sometimes you reject daddy's hugs at times and prefer your mum's.

Even though people try to avoid hugging you because of your fussiness.

I still love you for you are my princess even though I'm not a king.

Love, Daddy.

Shears Baby Wrap Swaddle Review

I'm reviewing the Shears Baby Wrap Swaddle.

Not the Shears muslin blanket that can double as a swaddle. But a swaddle wrap with velcro to swaddle the baby securely. My daughter is unable to free her hands after I used this.

Ok. There are a lot of brands with the similar concept kind of swaddle. But after looking at the price tags. I find that the Shears one is value for money at around $17. The other brands i saw at kiddypalace are around $30 + -. (Excluding organic cotton kind)

It is pretty simple to use which I am going to show with the photos below. My daughter as the "model" of course :)

Confinement daddy stare

Starting from 12 midnight or so:

She drinks -> She stops to poo -> I change her diapers -> She continues to drink -> She spits some milk and wet her clothes -> I change her clothes -> She continues to drink -> She burps

End result nearly 1am now:

I'm tired and she is wide awake hiccuping. And we stared at each other blankly for 15 mins already. I'm still smelling sh*t from her soiled diapers beside me.

Our 2nd has arrived. Sarah meimei.

Very very busy few weeks. Preparing for Sarah arrival and my wife's baby delivery.

Pictures of Sarah below. :D

Im currently helping my wife with her confinement cause she cannot stand any nagging from her mum or my mum. So I volunteered to be her "confinement daddy".

We ordered confinement food delivery and hired a helper. So my main focus is on both my 3yo son and baby.

First steps
Yap. Jaron was super sticky to his mummy when Sarah's arrival is approaching. We find that it is a good idea that we buy some small toys and tell him that his meimei bought it for him.

We did that and indeed he was very very happy. Kept sayang meimei and even making sure her blanket is covered properly. Haha.

Bathing both of them

I have tried two types of schedule of bathing them.

1) Bathe Sarah, then bathe Jaron immediately after.

2) Bathe Sarah, then bathe Jaron later.

Schedule 1 is damn xiong man. Im trying to stick to schedule 2.

I also make sure I bathe Jaron (most of the time) personally so he will not feel left out or something.

Finding help (minor help)

I try my best to get my son involved in the process of taking care of meimei, so he will feel part of the responsibility. 

Minor stuff of course, like taking a fresh diaper, keeping meimei's bean bag safe for the moment or taking the milk bottle to and from my helper.  

Its very xiong to take care of two kids on my own. But in the process, I cherish precious moments with my two little ones. 

One more week till I go back to work. Wish me luck! 

5 Reasons Why My Son's Obsession With Toy Cars Is Driving Me Nuts

1) Road Works

My shin is the road, my knee is the hump, my thigh is the expressway and my belly is the hill to drive up to.

2) Parking 101

Do not disturb his perfectly parked cars. Even if its accidental. A car goes off the line and he will shout "EH! WHAT DOING?!".

3) Hide & Seek & Pain

He hides his favourite toy cars under the quilt and I laid down without looking under.

4) Search & Rescue

He will search for a particular car at a random timing and gets sad when he failed. "NO AMBULANCE!", "NO FIRE ENGINE!".

5) Self-Drive

He then shouts for the car and expecting it to drive itself to under his feet. "AMBULANCE?!", "FIRE ENGINE?!".

Lazy Hari Raya Morning with Jaron

Jaron laying on my big belly lazing around and eating breakfast.

Enjoying the little moment with my boy. :)

Daddies to the Rescue!

I always believe that daddies should step up to help mummies with the toddlers in various tasks. Nowadays, both daddies and mummies work too, so helping out is a great thing to do.

For me, I always help my wife and share the burden with her. The help I gave her includes changing diapers, bathing, picking out outfits, choosing books, choosing the school, choosing toys, putting my 2.5years old son to sleep, reading to him, etc. Especially when my wife is pregnant with our dear baby girl! :D

I do realised that some daddies have some trouble dealing with their toddlers in different tasks, so let me share my experience in completing various basic tasks.

Changing diapers

Constantly anticipate and distract the toddler/baby, it helps a lot.

Yes,  your kid is going to reach for that toilet paper in the diaper room near the changing table. Yes, your kid is gonna fidget or try to touch the poo in the diaper. And many yes-es to many more incidents. So what do I do? Anticipate. I know my son gonna do all these stunts, so I anticipate. I slightly push his hands off when I see that he is gonna try something funny. And I took out many pieces of baby wipes (to wipe his poo) in advance and passed him the whole baby wipes (or a toy) as a distraction.

Bathing

Put some of your kid's favourite toys in the shower room.

As my wife is pregnant, she is unable to bathe my son as much as before. We used to share the task but I'm doing it 90% of the time now. If my son wants his mummy to bathe him, I will try to find ways to coax him so as to let me bathe him. For example, he likes rubber ducky. So I ensure that there is a rubber ducky in the shower room. Then I will say things to him like "Remember? Rubber duck? He needs his bath. Do you want to bathe him?" Or take the rubber ducky out and mimic Donald Duck's voice and say, "Jaron. Help me! I need a bath!"

Putting your child to sleep

Be firm and put your kid in the bed at the same time everyday.

Make it a habit of putting your kid in bed at a specific time everyday. Be firm even if your kid refuses to. My son answers "No" to sleeping when I asked him. Or sometimes he answers me "Play cars" and is unwilling to go to his room for bedtime. But I remained firm, I turned down the lights and put him into bed. He starts to enter to the dreamland after some coaxing and singing. Very soon, he has the habit of going into bed during that specific timing.

Sometimes, things are not as difficult as it seems if you put a little heart into it. GO DADDIES! You can do it! :)

A letter to my son Jaron

A letter to my son Jaron from his Dad

Dear Son,

First and foremost, happy 2 years and 5 months old!

However, you do take up 40% of my bed space while your mommy takes up the other 50% .

You enjoy playing toys or napping in that space while I crammed myself in that remaining 10%.

But I'm 100% sure that I do not mind.

Because I enjoy seeing you playing the same toys in a different manner and your sleeping chubby face while you are growing up.

Please share your 40% with your sibling coming in August. We love both of you.

40% space but 100% love from Daddy and Mommy.

Love. Dad and Mom.

World Down Syndrome Day 2015

21st March 2015 is World Down Syndrome Day.

Jaron wore colourful socks to show awareness.

Shopped at H&M and saw the socks. We usually let him wear socks to sleep as he gets cold feet every morning.

This pair has stoppers on the bottom and feels soft. His feet is not cold at all in the morning. 

Call Daddy as much as u like

I know how some parents get irritated when their kids keep repeatedly call daddy or mummy.

NOT ME.

He calls out to me when he wakes up every morning and I absolutely love it.

No matter how early it is or whether I had a late night yesterday.

When I go into his room, he gives me a hug n says "Daddy" sweetly. And if I'm lucky he will say "Love you" after that.

And when he feels bored and look for me to play, he will keep repeating Daddy multiple times. I really feel happy! Not irritated at all!

I love it, love it, LOVE IT!

Hands on Dads

In my opinion, being hands on dad is more than just changing diapers or bathing your babies.

Small little things like reading to your little one, putting him to sleep and even picking out a simple outfit etc etc....

I can bravely say that I'm really hands on.

Actually. Before Jaron was born, I did not expect I will be so into taking care of Jaron. But strange things happen to you when you realised you are a parent.

I just felt this responsibility to raise Jaron and BOOM! My brain started working.

When is his next feeding time? Did he pass motion today? What should he wear for tomorrow's visit to grandma's? Is he having fever? How long did he nap today? Which book should I read to him tonight?

All these questions start coming into my mind.

I just automatically started to b 100% hands on. Just like that.