Mobile Ruth

081228a, originally uploaded by LezY.

she is now all over the place.

She crawls here and there, then occasionally tries to stand up by pulling on something, or pushing against another. As long as her legs are not contorted in some weird angle, she'll be able to stand up with ease by pulling or pushing against me/chair leg/table/etc.

The easiest way for her to stand up is to be slightly further away from the object her hands are leaned against. Then she'll draw one leg forward, knee up, feet flat on the ground, shift weight, turn her other knee inwards. Using her body weight and friction against the floor, she will push forward from her heels and she's up!

It sounds like a lot of things, but it's really one swift action. :)

Looking after Ruth

081222g, originally uploaded by LezY.

Ever since about beginning December, Dan has been looking after Ruth for most parts of the morning while I go to work. It started from weekend morning baths and progressed to being able to look after her on his own for half a day.

He has also enjoyed this period of bonding with Ruth and it really shows - cuz Ruth now begins to look for daddy and sometimes even prefers daddy to mummy. :)

(ok..abit jealous sometimes but well, it's a good break for me and it's good that she loves both daddy and mummy's company!)

Interesting point to note is most nights, if she knows i'm around, she'll normally prefer me to put her to bed. I enjoy putting her to bed too cuz I love how my little baby falls asleep. Half the time, she just 'knocks out' without much coaxing required. Other times, she's also still pretty ok. ON Christmas eve at the Liaws', she even just fell asleep in my arms within 2 minutes without a pacifier. I think all the laughing and crawling and climbing really tired her out!

Christmas Eve @ The Liaws'.

ALKY7, originally uploaded by LezY.

I think it's been quite a regular affair so far..and one I really enjoy every year. In the pic is Ryan, Dan's godson, and also his nephew (cousin's son).

This year, Ruth is the new addition to the gathering and Ryan really gets along very well with babies. KY (his mum) even mentioned that he would really love a baby sis/bro and keeps asking, "mummy, why the baby in your stomach never grow?!" He's about 6. heh.

RUth had a BALL! Cuz Ryan just jumping around and making her laugh. We realized she really loves body actions - like jumping, turning around, etc. SHe giggles and laughs a lot! It was really fun to watch her cuz she arrived at the Liaws slightly withdrawn, upset and crying whenever people approached her and I was worried she wouldn't enjoy it.

Now i can't wait to bring her to play with her 'korkor' Ryan again!

heading down...

081216g, originally uploaded by LezY.

Ruth is still unable to consciously get off higher grounds using her feet. Her instinct seems to tell her - just plunge!

We've been trying to tell her legs first, legs first...but to no avail. argh. perhaps we shouldn't have taught her how to climb up the bed, before teaching her to go down! heh.

At least on our bed and hers (joined), it's "all padded" surface so quite 'safe' la. I did have to catch her by the legs this morning when she over-enthusiastically lunged down towards the platform and lower level of our bedroom in an effort to (1) reach for the remote control and (2) chase after her daddy.

Diapers only...

081216i, originally uploaded by LezY.

Doesn't a baby look so ever cute in ONLY diapers? Besides, as pointed out by her daddy, it's the only time in her life she'll be able to get away being dressed like that. Erm, well, ok, never mind.

She's in her 'favourite place' cuz everyday upon reaching home, her face will instantly light up the moment we bring her into our bedroom and let her down on the mattress(es).

Here you see her sitting on OUR bed, and further down (in the background against the pink wall) is HER bed.

Literally, heading down to her bed.....still can't get her to go down with her LEGS first!

Diaper Rash

081216l, originally uploaded by LezY.

Nope, no pictures of the rash.

Just to log down that it's one of Ruth's few instances of diaper rash - which lasted maybe about 4-5 days. Started with 2 bumps, then progressively populated to 4-5 times more. But with lots of regular washing (everytime we change diapers), oodles of Desitin and usage of slightly more premium diapers, she's all back to normal now.

She's a good girl. She'll pee when we bring her to the sink and signal to her. And she'll stay still while we wash her up.

What she really doesn't like is lying down on the changing area/mat so wearing the diaper is always a battle time for us.

Sundays @ home (7-Dec)

DSCN9953, originally uploaded by LezY.

I like Sundays. Well, I like weekends. Cuz I get to see my home in the day - which makes me feel like doing things (read: housework) and Ruth gets the 'pleasure' of our company. It's also when we can take her out on long strolls to Hort Park / Southern Ridges / just around the area.

Ruth has never been a big fan of the non-airconditioned parts of this world. Once we bring her out, even though it's a nice and breezy day, she turns rather subdued. She's most active after a nice meal (& nap) and in an air-conditioned place.

So we're hoping in time to come, she will grow to enjoy weekend evening strolls with us around this neighbourhood - which is really a place hordes of Singaporeans travel to every weekend!! (not our home la..but around our area).

Hey, even friends from across the Pacific have step foot here okay! :)

blurred but focused

DSCN9617, originally uploaded by LezY.

this was taken quite some time ago - 16 Nov (Sun) - at my cousin, Vanessa's place. We were there to return some stuff (pram n etc) she had lent to us when Ruth was first born. Now that I've gotten into the hang of overbuying and online shopping, I've caught up with all the things Ruth (or rather I) need and perhaps even stocked up abit in certain areas. :p

It was incidentally the day we noticed Ruth's ability to be transfixed with a toy for quite sometime, and also the day she suddenly started to crawl quite ably and actively.

:)

The HK slideshow

sCuz I"m too lazy tonight preparing for tomorrow's Sentosa trip....I shall postpone blogging on Day 2 of the HK trip.

Instead, here is a slideshow of ALL the pictures we took  -  generally in order :)

Remote!! Remote!!

Remote!! Remote!!, originally uploaded by LezY.

Ruth has a thing about remote controls - not sure if I'd mentioned about this before.

Maybe it's cuz it's one of those things 'the adults are always using' so she wants to as well. Or maybe it's cuz of the colourful buttons on it. She's still too young to understand the 'cause-n-effect' of a remote (press and something happens) now but i think it won't be long. One thing for sure - we're always looking when she grabs the cable remote cuz i don't wanna end up paying for some pay-per-view movie/drama series!!

Milestones

When she was 9months (15-Nov), she started crawling and recently, she's even starting crawling UP our bed. Ok, it's not that high - cuz we sleep on the platform while she sleeps beside us on her own mattress. But it's still quite something for her to learn how to prop her one knee up on our mattress, lunge forward and bring the other knee up. She 'travels' very well on the walker - whizzing from one end of the house to another, mastering how to get pass narrow passageways - cuz the walker tends to get stuck with its wide base. It's amazing how she just picks something up really fast.

And her current billboard top hit is "london bridge is falling down". If we sing it, she'll usually clap to it. :)

Last week we tried to measure her - and she's nearing 80cm, 10kg. *wipe sweat* Given that staggering weight and my poor back, (and the photos from HK in which i look so f-a-t..and well, also feeling so unfit with all the walking!), I've signed up for a Pilates course starting next week - hoping it will help me with my posture - as well as improve my back condition for life!

You probably can't see it very well...but to-date, Ruth has a grand total of 7 teeth. The first to emerge were her 3 bottom teeth (2 front and 1 on the left) when she was about 4-5 months i think. Then tooth-growing kinda took a 2-3 month break until oct/nov when she got her 2 incisors which made her look so funny whenever she was laughing out loud.

And just aweek or 2 ago, her 2 (upper) front teeth starting appearing!!

Everyone sing......"all i wanfor cwith-mirth if my 2 fwan feef!" 

Ruth seeing Parents off..

IMG_9329, originally uploaded by LezY.

This was taken at Changi International Airport, Terminal 1 on 25th Nov. It was rather heart-wrenching to wave bye to her while we took a 5-day break in Hong Kong. It was a good break definitely despite really missing her a lot a lot a lot.

Day/Night 1 @ hong Kong

We arrived probably about 2+pm i think and were expecting a coach pick-up to our hotel since we got a free-n-easy package. It's quite fun to have someone hold up your names on a card. :)

To our surprise, it was not a coach but a snazzy Silver Mercedes Benz - which looked like at least a 320E but i couldn't see the model anywhere. I've never sat in the back of a Merz (cuz i dunno..i was always in the front seat - passenger or driver) so I was so thrilled to see electronic seat controls for the REAR SEATS but i didn't play with it. :))


My first impression of Hong Kong was "why so hazy?!?!"

From the airport on Lantau Island to our hotel in the heart of Kowloon, I couldn't stop looking all around and wonder why the city was perpetually hazy. I asked the tour agency 'rep' who was accompanying us and she couldn't quite understand my lousy Cantonese. The driver finally couldn't take it and took it upon himself to tell us that it was like that all year round and particularly bad now cuz of the winds that bring the polluted industrial air from China. I was like...what the....really....really???


We checked into our currently-being-renovated Park Hotel, which is quite centrally located in Tsim Sha Tsui - something which I now regret cuz I think i would really much prefer to live in Causeway Bay or Central. But that's that. The reno is quite nice so far.


We dumped our bags in the room, freshened up abit and proceeded to go walk around with whatever daylight was left (sun sets about 5-ish/6 but life goes on till the wee hours). Round the corner from our hotel is Granville Road so what better place to start? The first thing/neon sign that catches my sight upon turning into the street...


And well, it was getting dark soon and wanton mee was beckoning. So we turned round one corner and another. Viola, lotsa eateries - that do not look too expensive. So i just picked one and went in to order one bowl (since dan is skeptical about ordering 2 portions when we're not sure of the taste and well, he's not big on soupy noodles).

The wantons were huge! It was nice!


I think after this, we walked up Nathan Road and bought our Octopus cards (like our ezlink). In the process we tried egg tarts (very nice!) and some confectionery items. I think that was like our semi-dinner. We also explore Temple Street and some shops and i bought a lot of 'kitty bags' which were pretty reasonably priced. I think that was one of the few things i bought..other than a few pieces of clothing.

Right after that we rushed to the harbour to catch the light show - we caught this from just outside the InterContinental. It's like a mega light show...coordinated by music by a lot of buildings around the harbour. It's really big and hordes of people go watch it every night. In front of us is the promenade whereby we had to take a 'mandatory' photo - or pay HK$90 for a big picture which they take and print on the spot for you. (mind you, it's HK$90, not HK$10 which they boldly print. HK$10 is for the wallet-sized print. you have to look closely to see the "up" beside the HK$10 amount...and then walk over to another less obvious side to see the prices of all other less minuscule photo size prices. duh.)




I was quite tired from the day and after walking around abit and not being able to decide on what to eat, dan scooted me up to bath while he went to packet something for me. I thought he took quite long - considering how long i bath (not that long lah..) and how fast he normally walks. I thought maybe he just got distracted by the shops (since shops don't close till 11/12 at night there!)

He came back with a packet of char siew fun - which sounded good enough until he exclaimed how it was the most expensive char siew fun he's eaten at HK$69. That's about a whooping S$13+! Even I had never eaten such expensive char siew rice!!! Granted, the fragrance was really 'oooh-la-la!' but still, S$13? He sighed and said 'lucky i bought one pack. we can share since i'm not that hungry'.

So i opened and this is what i saw.


No rice. Just char siew! We had an overdose of protein that night...despite it being really great-tasting...it's still abit too much.

Oh, we also had a really good laugh! :)

23-Oct-08: very smiley ppl eh?

23-Oct-08: very smiley ppl eh?, originally uploaded by LezY.

As you can see from the title....taken some time back.

i love seeing her after work everyday cuz she's so smiley and happy to see me. Her life would light up immediately and I will need to carry her or at least stick around near her - within sight.

She's got 2 incisors now and i think she's still teething cuz she's been putting her finger into her mouth and "digging".

And on Sunday, we were at my cousin's place and she actually crawled abit and learnt to get from sitting to crawling and vice versa. Now she's just tumbling all over the bed every night. :)

new toy for ruth...

DSCN9988, originally uploaded by LezY.

bought it for her but she's still not quite gotten the hang of it.

soon i guess. :)

3-Nov-08: doing the pout!?

3-Nov-08: doing the pout!?, originally uploaded by LezY.

doesn't my baby look poised and pouty!?

Ruth @ T3 (wif mummy)

Ruth @ T3 (wif mummy), originally uploaded by LezY.

Last weekend was an extremely eventful weekend.

Friday night we went to T3 (for the first time) to have dinner with Ty and send him off to Connecticut. Ruth had quite a bit of fun (as she usually does in her pram when there is air con) but fell asleep before dinner even started (that's also cuz we reached there so late - being a working day n all).

Saturday, we brought ruth to Parkway Parade cuz we were headed for the airport again - T1 this time, to send Angie off.


Parkway was so blardy crowded...we left within an hour or so - just to go Isetan to check out the sale. I returned with a new (smaller) thermal flask & baby laundry detergent. The flask was a cheap DOLPHIN brand one. Thought I'd try it out. It works perfect - as good as a Thermos/Tiger/Zorijushi - which would cost like 4 times more.

We originally intended to eat at the airport...but ultimately decided to leave and go to Marina Square cuz this kaypoh mummy wanted to check out John little sale. I was ecstatic to find a Nuby bottle there. Story is..i had bought Nuby teats in hope that it would fit my lucky baby bottles (which i felt needed a change of teat after all these months of daily usage). I couldn't find Lucky Baby teats for the longest time so i saw Nuby and thought they look awfully familiar. As it would now reveal, they DON'T fit...so instead of wasting 2 brand new teats, may as well buy a Nuby bottle right? BUT, Nuby bottles are SO HARD to come by - and they don't come cheap!

So yes, finally very happy to find the NUBY bottle at JL. BPA-free @ $10.90. ok la.

Sunday we brought Ruth to St bern for the annual Food & Fun Fair (FFF).

(happy playing with Daddy's mobile before mass)


As usual, we met the Liaws who had just come from Wet Wet Wild. Ruth was staring non-stop at Ryan's Sesame Street t-shirt. Hmm. We've never shown her Sesame Street - it doesn't show on any channel anymore. I'd love to have Sesame Street back. I could never get sick of Sesame Street.



It was nice to catch up (briefly) with them. We missed Ryan's birthday a month back! So a visit is due soon. :) Moreover, Ruth is abit more social now so it'd be nice for her to meet up with people her size. heh.

We went back after the FFF cuz the clouds looked threatening. Had time to do a quick grocery run at NTUC Bt Merah though before going home. Totally very satisfied cuz Fitti diapers are FINALLY on sale ($12.45 per pack instead of $14.90). Yes, diaper discounts make my day. Sigh.

I was lamenting about how diaper discounts and thermal flask steals make my day - instead of lovely shoes/clothes/etc.

So we reached home and gave ruth a clean-up so she'd feel nice and clean. That evening, we brought her out for a walk - we walked, she 'strolled' in her stroller. :P

She was no happy camper. Strolls are not quite her thing (yet) cuz of the weather. I think if we were strolling in spring/autumn/winter abroad, she may be happier. :P Nevertheless, she's always happier to be out of the house - no matter where. Thing is, she's a real good baby despite not being totally like crazy happy. She'll just sit quietly in her stroller and not make any noise.



On the return leg, we stopped by Depot Heights. Daddy brought her to NTUC while I went to tabao dinner. I returned to see her very happy n focused on this.



We realized that Ruth had a thing about erm holdling on to something. Some days back, granny had brought her for a stroll while we were (taking turns) eating. She came back with a Mentos in her hand, tightly held on to until we reached home.

:)

Needless to say, she had good sleep that weekend. Even *I* was pooped out!

Ruth081102b

Ruth081102b, originally uploaded by LezY.

taken last sunday. We came back from church and it was a nice sunny afternoon. Ended up playing on the couch...and well, at this point she was lunging forward at the camera thus the blurry shot.

18-OCt-08 - Saturday Morning Casualities

Ruth081018f-casualities, originally uploaded by LezY.

Father n daughter were just vegging out that morning....after everyone's had a bath. SOmehow that's the SOP nowadays. Dan first, followed by Ruth, then me. USually morning baths are done by Dan. That's partly cuz my back is the most wonky in the mornings - stiff and sore after a whole night of 'non-activity'.

(The thing about backs is that too much or too little is bad for them.)

So yeah, just a morning spent vegging out? Nope. that was like for a grand total of 15 minutes max i think. Ruth doesn't quite stay in that veggie state for long. Either she goes to sleep (with some persuasion) or she'll clamour to be propped up to sit and play.

WE ARE FAMILY!

Ruth's Family, originally uploaded by LezY.

I think ruth looks so damn cute in the romper, and with her messy hair. hah. Perhaps i should go cut my hair short and mess it up - just to match the other 2 messy heads!

We need to take family pics more often. :) I"m glad we had a lazy Saturday morning to take pics and fool around the bedroom. I suspect my girl loves to pose for the camera. :P

Ruth & Heidi...they seem like best friends..heh

Ruth & Heidi...they seem like best friends..heh, originally uploaded by LezY.

Ruth has her second playdate with friends. This time round, she arrived abit later than others - missed some of the babies, plays abit but wasn't very happy. Then she clamours for a nap -- during which most babies go off....

After THE NAP, which we say Ruth, Heidi and the sleeping 'beauty' Matt have, the babies wake up and play together. Ruth gets all excited and starts babbling like it's her house! Goodness.

Seems she's ever ready for the cam - perhaps too well-trained by Daddy Daniel eh?

Daddy baths Ruth

DSCN9905, originally uploaded by LezY.

for the first time yesterday! it's such a WOW day for me cuz I've been waiting for daddy to be more confident in handling her and also looking after her. He has been doing more with her nowadays like playing n looking after her - especially playing. So much so that she'll wrinkle her nose at him very often - very cheeky face.

and he bathed her not once, but twice. First time in the morning - i stood around to help out (but not too much) like getting things in place/ready to use.

bathing a baby is like cooking...u gotta get all the 'ingredients' and 'tools' ready (on standby) or else it just won't work out. Good thing now is ruth is able to sit on her own...and will (mostly) obey when you tell her "HOLD TIGHT TIGHT" - where she'll hang on to the sides of the tub for her dear life. (she actually does that a lot during the course of the bath - whenever she is not busy splashing water into your face or onto your pants.)

:)

ruth arielle

ruth arielle, originally uploaded by LezY.

i think ruth was extending her 'arms' of friendship to arielle? heh. too bad ruth got into a cranky mood...needed a diaper change, milk and sleep thereafter and missed playing with most of the other babies. her other comrade was gwen cuz we were the first to be there and it was just ruth and gwen.

can't say no to me!

080921s, originally uploaded by LezY.

yup. it's hard to say no to her sometimes...but mostly, being the control freak i am..i do say no quite a lot to her. i think it's the grandparents that have MOST problem saying no. Their hearts literally belong to her. heh.

Ruth had an eventful weekend - meeting 9 other Feb babies for the first time, and her third tooth erupting.

These days, she's not very crazy about milk...though we still make a point to try to give her milk. She's really into solids - and more into everything YOU are eating. Sometimes one of us will have to bring her away while the others are eating...just so she doesn't clamour for our food - our sugar-laden, oil-soaked food.

ruth on her new bumper mat :)

ruth on her new bumper mat :), originally uploaded by LezY.

i bought this PJs for her before she was born in Jusco, Tebrau City.

I looked like this then...


Perhaps i don't look that much different now cuz one of the silly guards at workplace still offer me the side door (instead of going through the gantries which are dangerous for pregnant women).

SIGH.

Ruth is 7 months old today...oops, yesterday i mean.

IMG_0114a
Originally uploaded by LezY

I'm awake at this ungodly hour cuz somehow, i'm just amazed that ruth is now 7 months old. sounds so passe but it's unbelievable. before you know it, I'll be counting in years instead of months!

This is a pic of her while we're feeding her on Saturday morn. She somehow didn't quite take to the brown rice cereal that morning and i learnt from mum that she hasn't been quite keen about cereal recently. But generally, she gets sick of the same type of food pretty fast so we gotta like swap around her cereals, porridge etc.

I had to work really late today (till about 8pm). So daniel (who got off really early today) went to redeem a Bengawan Solo cake (cuz we still had spare cake vouchers from the full-month celebration which we should really start using).

I felt quite sad while walking briskly to 21 that i had to get off this late to 'celebrate' this special day with her, but oh well, i was being silly. I hadn't even quite made such a fuss about any other month. Not sure why i was feeling so emo.

It was nice to see Daniel carrying baby Ruth sitting at a bench one block before i reached 21. She was (as usual) happy to see me and stretched out her arms to express her desire for me to carry her. THere's nothing more welcoming than that right now and she simply lights up my life. :)

mummy goes ohhhhhh..........

mummy goes ohhhhhh..........
Originally uploaded by LezY

actually...it looks like not just mummy going 'oooooh' but everyone going 'ooohh'. heh.

we visited granny at her place, gave her mooncakes and then proceeded to Vivo for a nice day out. (Sat, 6 Sep i think)

Ruth was in her Poney blue bunny shirt and babygap crotchet pants. I love the pants - not that u can get a good view of it from here. heh. Poney top is from bro's friend and pants from erm, mummy's online sprees. heh.

Looking promising right??

DSCN9722
Originally uploaded by LezY

Daddy carried Ruth on his lap...turned on the demo pieces and put her hands on the keyboard. Hoping she'll take an interst to music soon!

Falling asleep 'upright' for the first time

DSCN9717a
Originally uploaded by LezY

3-Sep: We were without car that day. Rushed to 21 after work with daniel to 'pick up' Ruth and wheel her home. We decided to walk and well, by the time we were pass SAFRA, Ruth had fallen asleep like that and stayed so all the way home!

It's a first!

mmmmmmmmmmmm............

mmmmmmmmmmmm............
Originally uploaded by LezY

ruth on her high chair (favourite nowadays) and having some baby food.

messy hair - the only time in ur life u actually can get away with it!

Baby's Guide to "How to eat a cookie!"

havin a cookie (see how 1 hand guides mine, the other is tightly clenched!)
Originally uploaded by LezY

See how 1 hand guides mine, the other is tightly clenched!

I tink this is one of the most precious videos. And her expressions are so funny. :)

Blissful people

Blissful people
Originally uploaded by LezY

i realize i haven't blogged for ages. And Ruth has already passed her 6-month!

A milestone i thought would be really 'far' away.

Ruth has been a great girl and grown so much in so many ways. In her last visit to the GP to get her 3rd 6-in-1 jab, she measured about 70cm, @ 7.86kg. Just about 180 days ago, she was 50cm, @ 2.94kg.

During my confinement time, i had to carry her a lot - from waking to sleeping to waking - basically all the time. Ruth was very timid and had to be cajoled and consoled constantly. She jumped at every alien sound or sudden movement.

Everyone (well almost everyone) told me that I would be 'creating prroblems' for myself by carrying her all the time and not letting her settle her/cry it out etc.

I'm glad and jolly proud to announce that a lot has changed since those initial 1-3 months.

Ruth now sleeps on her own, even falling asleep on her own accord on occasions. She still cries or whines at times before sleeping maybe cuz we overstimulate at times. (heh). but she's generally doing really fine.

Right about when i got back to work, she starting sleeping stretches of 5-6 hours through the night, giving me precious rest I needed. But that still entailed me carrying her to bed, holding her until past 1/2am in a sitting up position. How I survived those days, working till 7/8pm everyday and coming home to play with her till 11+pm then carrying her to sleep past 1/2am, i have no idea. I didn't feel like I was going to die or what either.

I can say with confidence that God has a way of helping me manage my career and my girl. He will never give me something I cannot cope. It is by this faith, belief that i can walk on day after day with my head held high.

AND.....that's not all.

Recently, she's taken to sleeping at about 9+pm so that gives me some time to do whatever I want to do - be it just relaxing in front of the tv, surfing the web or doing abit of housework.

In fact, I really miss carrying her and hugging her.

However, things have gone to a different level. Nowadays when I pat her to sleep, every once in awhile, she kinda stones in my arms...in a very blissful manner. She smiles abit, her eyes twinkle and both mother and child enjoy this gentle, quiet moment of happiness together. We sway in unison (of course la..i'm carryin her!) and she really enjoys it. I don't have to talk to her. She just looks at me and smiles. In those instances, I feel like a million bucks.

I know one day i will look at her and wish I could have her in my arms like that again.