Reflection on 2008

With a blink of an eye, another year has gone.

I would describe the year 2008 in one word - amazement.

For the first 9 months of 2008, God showed me His awesome power through the creation & formation of our little one. Every single month, I was reminded of how much our little one has developed through the view of the ultrasound. Every single week, I was reminded of every intricate details of his growth through the email updates from babycentre dot com. Every single day, I was reminded of how real & alive this being was forming inside me through the changes in my body & inevitably through feeling his kicks of hellos & goodnights. Finally, nine months later in September, our baby that we first saw at 4cms back in January finally elongated to 49cms and had hands, feet, ten fingers, head, ears, eyes, nose, mouth, torso & a smile that would melt any person in the room.

The last quarter of the year was another round of continous amazement. I am absolutely dumbfounded to know & see with my very own eyes that this baby is truly half of Mr M & half of me. One single cell from mummy, another from daddy would later combine to carry its own 46 chromosomes that would ultimately transcribe his unique genetic makeup. I remember studying Anatomy in Biology back in 1998 and thinking 'wow, how amazing is the Human Body especially from the reproduction phase!'. Now ten years on, my mind boggles just seeing what was once text book theory now breathing into life.

As I read the following scripture and having first hand experience of seeing life being created, I am reminded of the grandeur of God that we worship. He is the maker of heaven and earth, the creator of Life. He knew of our existence even before we were born. His Might is truly indescribable and 2008 was just that, an absolute amazement.

Psalm 139:13-16
13 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
16 your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

We thank & praise you God for given us this huge honour & privilege to be chosen as parents in 2008 over Zachariah...

Zachariah at 15 weeks!

Here are the changes we've noticed:

1) Zachariah now also add his own unique language & tone into his cries. Sometimes, it sounds like he is speaking in tongues (no kd!) and on other times, it sounds like he is having a go at his parents b/c he would only emphasise certain words as if to say 'I am NOT HAPPY with you!'.

It's very very cuuutteeee!


2) He doesn't poo as much as before perhaps it's b/c he's now on formula (NAN) for 2 feeds of the 6 feeds per day & also because his feeds are getting stretched longer. But my bub still poos at least once per day. He now drinks on avg 180ml-200ml (from 120ml)



3) He loves to bend his body forward when he is pooing - After a feed, I usually put him on my lap with him looking at me while I do the 'oooohh' look on my face which signals to him to poo (it works too!). Usually, he would sit just as he is & starts to push making all sorts of moans & groans with me holding his tiny hands. But these past two weeks, I've noticed he loves to bend forward. It really looks like my bub is in labour & I am his support partner getting the baby or in this case poo out of him. So funny!


4) Ever since he reached 3 months, I have noticed he is salivating non-stop. I think his teeth must be starting to come out soon because he loves putting things in his mouth to chew & his saliva would just dripple out from his mouth non-stop. On average, He would use about 4 facewash/bib per day because it would be soaking wet each time!


5) He is very playful especially in the morning at around 6-7am when I pick him up from the cot. He is all ready to start the day where as poor mummy just wants to go back to sleep. The times where I am too lazy to pick him up & decide to sleep in a few more minutes, I just hear him talking to his hanging mobile toys non-stop.


6) He now loves to look at himself. When I let him see the mirror first thing in the morning, he would jump in excitement then begins to stare at himself religiously... golly I think I've taught my bub how to be vain! I also let him see a blown up photo of himself laughing his head off every day in our rumpus room and without fail, his reaction would always be a shy laugh or an excited laugh cos he knows that the boy in the photo is himself. Amazing!

City cruise on the Hot Rod

One of Mr M's clients has gone away overseas on a 1.5month holiday with his family. He asked Mr M if he could help him to look after one his gezillion cars - that is his 3-year-old $150K sporty Mercedes CLK 320 convertible. Looking after means taking the car for a drive once in a while. 'Of course!' was the reply of a very happy boy!

So today after we left the bub with my parents, we took it down Chapel Street all the way to Bridge Rd (where we got married) so that I could go shopping (or should I say window shopping) at all the factory outlets on Bridge Road. We took the roof off with the cool summer wind blowing on our hair/head.

I tell ya, it was like driving in a nightrider. As soon as I sat in the car & closed my passenger door, the seat belt would automatically pop to my shoulder. I got a fright when this happened as I thought someone as at the back of me! The car had a built in GPS, automatic roof top converter and everything you can think of.

The funny think was when we sat in the car, we looked at the odometer and it read 30,000km & remember, the car was 3 y.o already! But then again they do have 3 other cars excluding this one!

Mornington Peninsula

Kelvin's cousin Colin and his family came over from Singapore for a 3weeks holiday. We decided to take them to Morninton Peninsula Coast to 'show off' Melbourne. This was baby's 2nd trip to the beach and by the end of a very long day, he was totally knackered. Poor thing...

By sheer coincidence, Mr & Mrs M along with Baby M all dressed in the same colour...

Papa M teaching Baby M how to appreciate wine at Dromana Estate
(must teach them from young)


Fish N Chips for lunch at Rye


Baby decided to throw up just when aunty Angie snapped away for this shot


From a super funky bachelor to an all tamed cool dad :)

The ferocious waves of Portsea



By 6:30pm, our baby M was super tired
(because we were in a rush from one place to another, we accidentally stretched his feed for a whopping 7hours! His max. stretch is usually 5hours but b/c he was so tired, he slept all the way in the car so we didnt'want to wake him for his feed...)

Boxing Day Fishing!

In Australia, Boxing Day is usually held on the day after Christmas Day which is also a public holiday. This day has been renown as any shoppaholic's day as it's a day where EVERY retail store slash their prices as much as up to 70%! Stores literally open as early as 6am and people would already be lining up waiting to grab their bargains!

However, knowing that there would be such a mad rush in every shopping centre, we decided to go for a fishing trip instead with my folks in our recent purchased 4WD. This would too be Zachariah's first ever visit to the beach!

At 8:30am, we arrived at my folks place ready to head towards a little hidden fishing spot in Kilcunda on the way to Phillip Island. This was Mr M's 2nd time there since their last fishing trip back in September where he caught nothing & my bah-bi caught everything. This time, he was even more optimistic than previous & once again assured Zach & I saying 'daddy will be bringing the fish on the table for us'. By about 10am, we had arrived at our destination. The two fathers were so anxious to catch their fish that they literally didn't eat anything for breakfast.

While they went fishing, mum, Zach & I spent some time taking photos of Zach while he modeled away for the camera. It was so much fun! We also had a little picnic together at the BBQ area while waiting for the two men to come back. The problem was they too had so much fun that they had forgotten about the time & the fact that their wives had been waiting for over 3 hours!

Finally, after running out of patience, I walked down to them & hurried them back home so that I could still make it to the shops to find what's left of the bargains! When I met them, I discovered that they had caught soooooo many fish. Nine in total. I also found out that my husband had caught two fish. Wow I thought. However, my father later pointed out to me which ones he had caught. I could not stop laughing. Mr M's first fish that he caught was a Salmon. However, because it was too small, they decided to use it as bait instead. His second fish was a Parrot fish & it was half the size of what my dad had caught...Oh well.. at least he caught something!

The fish on the left that my dad is gutting on was caught by dad. Now compare this to the fish on the right which is the small pinkish brown in the centre row, 3rd fish from top that was caught by Mr M! funny hey?

Our final stop to check out my uncle's land in Lynhurst!

Merry Christmas!

Mr and Mrs Ming and of course baby Ming as well wish all of you
a very peaceful Christmas of 2008

Christmas Celebration

My folks decided to host our annual Christmas celebration at their place this year on Christmas Eve lunch. I must compliment my bah-bi for his great cooking skills. Every one of us enjoyed all of his roasts soooo much! He did everything perfect. The texture was just right & the marinade was simply delish! Our favourite was definitely his chicken wings & oh his roast Turkey as well as roast pumpkin & his home grown Zuchinni!! Mr M could not get enough of bah's turkey... while he was chomping it away, he looked like a barbarian who had not eaten for days!

Anyway, our little one was so well behaved & decided to play with his bao bao sitting next to us on his little rocking chair the whole time we ate! Sheer bliss :)

Zachariah at 14 weeks!

Zachariah is getting more and more adorable by the day! I'm in such amazement at the changes I see in him every single day. In particularly when he achieves a milestone, my heart just melt with pride & excitement.


Here are the changes:
1) For the first time ever on Wednesday night, we discovered Zach actually now cries when stranger picks him up that means... he can now cleary recognise who his parents are! *Heart melts* Not only that, when I walk into the room, he smiles too and his head wanders everywhere I go in the room... so geh-boh ah my son!


2) I have given him a new toy to play with now that he's 3 months old... and he absolutely loves it especially putting it in his mouth! Arghh!

3) He loves is when I swing him up in the air to touch the nemo on his light bowl in his bedroom ceiling. Everytime I do this, he laughs his head off so much so that he gets hiccups. So so cute!


4) He now sleeps for a 5hr stretch. Yeppee for his parents :)


5) He loves it when mummy reads to him. He literally talks to the cartoons on each page *Heart melts* I also get a bit teary when I read him the 'Tinderbox' or 'Thumberlina' story books because those were the exact books that my mother read to her little girl not too long ago....


6) And yes, he still LOVES his cartoons on his bolster. Here is daddy putting his bolster behind his head & Zach just continued to laugh even with his hiccups!

This week was a busy week for Zach and I. We drove across the town to meet Zach's doting aunty LW at her Happy Cup (milk tea) store in GW.

Funny thing was I had to leave Zach with LW to attend a long important call. As soon as I got back, I see LW holding Zach in one hand & stirring her pearls in another as if she was supermum. Wah.. not bad ler.. JIA YOU LW JIA YOU!

We also went to visit baby Kate who was born on Dec 1st at 2.2kg. She is much bigger now & is sooo cute! Mummy Poh Lee was very proud & doing well in deed. Lastly, we also went to mummy's mother's group where Zach had a lot of friends the same age as him. The best part was that, they all live within 1km radius! We are all practically neighbours! Oh and Zach finally got to meet his cousin Isaac & aunty Roseanne (Mr M's sister) & uncle Roger! His cousin Isaac was all over his little biao di the whole night!

We also went to one of my friend Alex from mother's group's house to pop champers and celebrate Christmas while cheering on for the year that all of our bubs were born. Busy week in deed for mummy & Zach!

Smile.

In the midst of a chaotic week leading up to the Christmas Holiday Season, I remembered to pause and smile at the little things in life that I choose not to be taken for granted....

.... seeing my baby smile just before he goes off into his deep sleep

.... seeing my baby wear his very tight newborn PJs squeezed into his rolls of fat because his daddy didn't know better

.... enjoying the cool breeze of a Summer evening's stroll with two of my favourite men in the whole wide world

.... closing my eyes to sleep with my baby in my arms and then having his little hand hitting my face & him cooing away to wake me up

.... tasting the Summer cherries freshly plucked from the tree

.... finally managing to get six packets of Pampers on special after a long, anxious one week's wait

.... meeting two of my girlfriend's newborn girl & then realising just how much Zachariah has grown

.... seeing my baby cry for the first time because he's finally recognised that it wasn't his mummy or daddy holding him

.... finally buying a nice top for myself 3 months after giving birth

.... knowing that even though the world is in recession, we still have our health to thank heaven's for

Visit from Uncle Kev & Aunty JL

Finally our little Zachariah gets to meet his REAL uncle for the first time ever... that is uncle Kevin (my bro!) all the way from Perth. He came back for a short visit with his fiance just over the weekend plus Mon & Tues.

While Mr M was cooking his famous roast pork on Sunday night, we decided to also get the two lovebirds over for a quick & simple dinner. The majority of the time, Zach was asleep although towards the end, he decided to wake up and stare & drool at all of us eating.

On Monday night, all of us including my parents went to have dinner at Imperial Kingdom. Zach was really good by sleeping when we were eating. He then decided to wake up just when we finished dinner. Perfect timing! Like always, my parents were doting all over Zach. He was then passed around like a hot potato for everyone to hold. JL & Kev bought Zach some cute outfits to add to his millions of clothing (I think mummy needs to buy him a bigger chest drawer!). They were too practising how to hold a baby for when they become parents in the near future. It was so funny to see my bro holding a baby. Who would've thought to see this sight?! (and yes, I know bro you are a devout reader of this blogsite! Hope I've embarrassed you enough...HAHAHA)

Doting grandparents captured on camera!
"baby shake hand?"


and yes, grandpa is still shaking hand with Zach even when JL is holding him...


A snapshot into the future of this happy family to come...

House: Chandelier

When we first got back to Melbourne and had a lot of spare time in our hands, we drove all over Melbourne to buy all the furnishings for the house. One of them was the huge chandelier to be positioned dangling just above the staircase. We got it at 70% off! A very very good price in deed.
However, five months on when the two Mr M opened the box, they discovered that it was a HUGE job to assemble it. This process took 1.5days! Finally when it was assembled, it took another half a day with one person climbing up the manhole into the attic while another person stands on the long ladder positioned on the steps just to install it! Thank God no one got hurt! Anyway, here was the progress...

Finally.. I can see light!