Dear Sammy - 6 months

Dear Sammy

Oh man you're half a year old! The past month saw you in 2 continents. We actually made our inaugural trip to Singapore to introduce you to your Singaporean family! Everybody was so pleased and excited to see the latest addition to the family! Mummy does wish that Germany and Singapore ain't so far apart so that both sides of your family can have the joy of watching you grow up.

You've progressed so much! Firstly, you managed to master your turning from back to front in Singapore. You slept on the same bed as us and as the bed was firm enough, you had plenty of time to practise your turning. And oh boy, the look on your face the first time you made it 180 degrees over was indescribeable. You looked soooo pleased with yourself and turned immediately to me for some applause and encouragement.

It's so amazing that even at such a young age, you're aware when you have accomplished something worth cheering about! So proud of you little one! :)

We also started you on solids! So far you have eaten rice cereal, carrots, parsnip, pumpkin, potatoes and sweet potato. After experiencing "successes" on the eating front, Mummy was pretty taken aback when you refused scoop after scoop of sweet potato. Mummy even tried to "camouflage" the sweet potato with other vegetable purees but you simply took one scoop, made the funniest "this-is-the-most-disgusting-taste" look and simply proceeded to spreading the food all over your face with your fingers.

I guess Mummy has to accept the fact that you have your own taste buds. And to be honest, neither Mummy nor Daddy is a big fan of sweet potato. It's been pretty much a big mess to feed you these days. Mummy spends lots of time washing your soiled clothes and preparing your purees. I do miss those days when I could breastfeed you exclusively sweetie.

Having said that, its pretty amazing how you stroke my face sometimes once I pick you up. Or when I hold you, you will immediately touch my hair and feel its texture with your fingers. When I read your baby bible to you, you keep stroking the silky pages with your fingers so enthusiastically that Mummy fears the book may not survive your aggressive "attacks".

You're such a sunshine baby darling and a trooper. Mummy is able to bring you to my 2-hr church service cos you're pretty well-behaved. :) And you would keep staring at people until they make eye contact with you. And once they do, you would reward them with the widest grin ever.

During the service, Mummy tried to quieten you down by sitting you next to me on my chair. Guess what you did? You used your left hand to stroke the man sitting next to you! And you only stopped when he offered his hand to hold yours! Oh man, your personality truly shines through at 6 months!!! It's really cool that you're ultra friendly and ever so trusting. Mummy can really learn the meaning of "child-life faith" in you. 

Mummy's close friend just gave birth to her second baby a week ago. Looking at her baby, I'm reminded of what you looked like when you were a newborn. Has it already been 6 months??? You look so much bigger and older now. Could time just freeze so that I can cherish you in all your babyness? Do you have to grow up so quickly?

I'm glad that you still have your baby smell even though you have started on solids. :) Your thighs have shrunk though!!!! :( Who would have thought that changing you to formula milk would have meant smaller baby thighs! Mummy was honestly sad when I realized today that your thighs are no longer "excessive". She even went on a manic search for photos which captured your baby thighs in all its glory! Wahah.

Having said that, you're a fairly large baby. At your last doctor's appointment when you were 20 weeks old, you weighed 8.65kg and measured 71cm. That placed you at the 97th percentile! Mummy was pretty amazed cos at that time, you were still 100% breastfed. 

Oh one more thing. You're able to sit upright in the bath tub by yourself. :) You're still not that stable when you're on land, but it won't be long before you gain yet another step of independence. I guess that's the dilemma of parenthood. While Mummy and Daddy cheer you on with each step of development, a part of me wishes and just longs for you to stay the way you are forever. Babyhood is such a transient phase. I so enjoy this time when you're not crawling yet because I'm not looking forward to baby-proofing the house and running after you, but know that its inevitable that you're on all fours soon.

Oh sweetie. I'm so thankful for this time when I can spend every waking moment with you. Thank you dear God for blessing me with such an amazing human being. I commit little Sammy to you and pray for wisdom to bring him up in your ways.

We love you dear Sam
Mummy & Daddy


Video of Sammy turning at 5 months

Prawn and salmon with rice

We had this for dinner yesterday. Today we had simple takeaway cos Sammy and I seemed to have come down with some stomach bug. Poor boy puked like 3 times today and just when I thought it might be due to the fact that he didn't burp at his last feed, I had puke myself. :( Really hope that this will be over soon.

Anyway, this post is about my little discovery yesterday. While I'm all for trying out new recipes, I still need to bear in mind that I do have a little baby whose needs are 24/7. Hence, when the inspiration for this dish came to mind, I simply knew that it was from God!

This conconction is soooo simple, quick AND tasty that I could eat it everyday!

Ingredients:

- 500 grams Salmon (4 pieces)
- 1 packet Thai Kai Yang marinade sauce
- Some fresh salad (rucola, cress etc)
- 1 packet of herbs cream sauce (Kräuter Rahm Soße)
- 12 prawns with shells on it
- 1 lime / lemon
- 200 grams rice

1. Season the salmon in the Thai marinade for 1-2 hours in the fridge

2. Grill the salmon in the oven for about 20 mins at 200 degrees celsius

3. While the salmon is grilling, cook the rice in the rice cooker

4. Skewer the prawns onto a wooden stick. Add some olive oil, salt and pepper. Grill them in the oven together with the salmon only in the last 5 - 7 minutes, bearing in mind that prawns don't take long to cook

5. Make the cream sauce according to the instructions on the packet (usually you just have to add water). The sauce is to be poured over the rice.

6. Assemble everything together. I added some lime to give it a zesty flavour. You can use lemon too.

Pork on lemon grass sticks

I'm back in Germany after 4 whirlwind weeks in Singapore. My luggage is almost unpacked but Sammy is still jet-lagging (ie. middle of the night wake ups and not wanting to go back to sleep).

Hubby told me that he's been having frozen pizzas to sustain himself during my absence and my wifey instinct felt so sad for him! I enjoy cooking, but washing up is another matter

Thanks to my friend Liz, who bought me a new recipe book, I decided to brush up my culinary skills again! I realized that since Sammy was born, I haven't posted a single entry on food simply because I haven't had the capacity to try out anything new!

Needless to say, cooking had become more of a chore / necessity rather than a hobby and I didn't find myself looking forward to it. Hence, I'm now on a mission to revive this aspect of my life that has been lying dormant for a while.

Hubby and I loved every bite of the pork sticks. The lemon grass added a subtle but tangy flavour to the pork mixture. This can either be served as party finger food or as a main meal (in picture).

 Completing the meal with some greens and sunny-side up egg

Ingredients:

500 grams minced pork

4 garlic cloves, chopped

4 coriander roots, finely chopped

1 tsp sugar

2 tbsp Kecap Manis / soya sauce

Lots of freshly-ground salt and ground black pepper

Lengths of lemon grass stalk

Sweet chilli sauce / sambal chilli to serve

1. Mix minced pork, chopped garlic, coriander roots, sugar and kecap manis in a large bowl. Season well with salt and pepper. Leave in refrigerator for 2 hours.

2.  Mould the pork mixture into balls. 

3. Stick a length of lemon grass halfway into each ball, then press the meat mixture around the lemon grass to make a shape like a chicken leg. 

4. Grill the pork sticks in an oven at about 200degrees for about 20 mins (depending on your oven). At half-time, I turned them over such that the sticks are grilled evenly. 

Adapted from: Chinese recipes 500 by Jenni Fleetwood.

Sammy swimming

I felt that this video was too cute not to share. The video is a bit upside-down because I had intended to put it on landscape but it didn't quite work.

Sammy's new experiences

Dear Sammy

We started you on solids yesterday! Thing is, usually people start to wean their babies off breastmilk at 6 months. However, Mummy has been realizing that your appetite is increasing and it hasn't been easy for me to try to keep up my milk production to supply your growing needs.

You've woken up a couple of times in the night to feed and Mummy has taken that as a sign that you're not getting enough food in the daytime. And since you seem to be really interested whenever we are eating, Mummy took the plunge, bought some organic rice cereal and fed them to you!

I've had friends who told me to expect you not to eat more than 2 tablespoons at the first setting. But guess what? You polished off the entire portion! I had 2 tablespoons of rice cereal, some breastmilk and water. You were such a champ and kept wanting spoon after spoon of the rice cereal!

Mummy is soooo happy because this takes the pressure off knowing that you have enough food to fill your tummy! Mummy thought you were full already, but when I nursed you later, you still took a full feeding! Oh man, looks like I would have cook quite a bit of food for you in the future!

At your last check-up at the paediatrician, you weighed 8.65kg and measured 71cm!!! That places you at around the 97% percentile for your age. Mummy's so proud of your development cos you were still 100% breastfed at that time! Your Aunty Sabrina commented that you will be a sumo wrestler by the age of 9. Hah.

And guess what? Mummy REALLY enjoyed feeding you! It was somehow so fun to do something interactive with you. Something other than just nursing you.

Speaking of interactive, you had your inaugeral swimming experience today! And oh boy, you were such a champ! You took to swimming like a fish to water. Even when Mummy went down a slide with you and your face was submerged in water, you cried a bit but calmed down quite quickly after that. :) Mummy can tell that it can only get more interesting with you!

Here's a video of you trying your first meal. :)  I was a bit overenthusiastic so it's a little bit long, hence you can just watch the video for as long as you like.

Back in Singapore

Oh gosh I had no idea that there was an App for blogger too! I've been so lazy at blogging because all my photos are on my iPhone and I didn't want the trouble of having to transfer the pictures to my laptop and blog from there. But now that I can blog directly from my iPhone, you can be assured that I'll be blogging wayyyy more often now! :-)

Yup. So I've been back home for two weeks now and I'm really enjoying being back in summer and having longer days. Winter has been particularly dreary this time round. Ohhh and not to mention being able to eat whatever I want without having the trouble of cooking.

This is also our first holiday with baby. Sammy had been such a champ. He did so well during the 12-hour flight and is totally adapting well here. I don't think he even experienced jet-lag really.We sleep in an air-conditioned bedroom and he has totally adapted to it too. As a matter of fact, I think health-wise he's doing even better than his Mummy. I'm down with a throat infection and cough from the spicy food here, but I am feeling better slowly but surely.

He does perspire quite a bit but he doesn't cry his lungs out if you know what I mean. He does grumble every now and then and we'd have to take him out of his stroller to "cool" him down. But other than that, it's been a joy having him around and introducing him to my birth country.

Hubby and I spent lots of time just walking around. We realized that things in Singapore are pretty expensive. Even babywear ain't cheap anymore! As a matter of fact, I think babywear is cheaper in C&A in Germany than most places here.

Having a baby does limit one's mobility a lot! We take the cab wherever we go these days and needless to say, it's burning a hole in our pockets! But I shouldn't complain cos the cab fares in Singapore are still cheaper than in many other developed countries.

Hubby left yesterday and I'm still missing him a lot. It's been sooo good having another pair of hands to care for baby.

We have taken so many pictures since we arrived so here are some of the highlights of our trip. I promise to blog more now that hubby's gone and I'm gonna have so much time on my hands - (if) Sammy gives me some "me-time".

 

There's something about babies and rompers that simply go so well together

 

My cheery smiley baby

 

Love this pix of God's promise over the Singapore skyline

 

My two favourite men bonding over coffee and cake

 

Jesus loves baby Sammy

My sporting baby who inspite of the heat, continues to keep his cool, chilled nature

 Indulging in my favourite fish soup from Amoy hawker centre (on top) & a fish platter from Fish & Co (below)

Many greetings from Singapore!

At the Singapore river - with Marina Bay Sands in the background

Going to the malls

We're having winter right now in Germany.

I don't have as much problems with the cold as I have with the darkness of winter. Last week was gloomy and the sun rarely made its appearance. And even when it did, it emitted weak rays of light before diminishing behind the cloudy skies.

And as all stay-home moms will know, its tough to stay at home with baby all day. I usually try to take Sammy for a walk once a day so that I get some fresh air into my lungs and some daylight into my system.

The past few days though, we've been experiencing a brutally cold East wind and stormy weather. This meant that it would be painful (literally) to go out for walks. There was a recent news report of how a mother brought her baby out for a stroll and a gush of wind toppled the stroller, causing the baby to roll out of it, down a hill and smack into a river! The desperate mother jumped into the river and managed to retrieve her baby before it was too late. Sounds straight from a hollywood film right?

When I first heard the news, my heart went limp. I don't even want to think of what it must have been like for that mother to witness the possible last few seconds of her baby's life.

Anyways, my point of it all is that I have been desperately trying to figure out how to pass the time with a little one at home.

Stuttgart downtown has a wide array of stores. BUT they are all along the main shopping street and one would have to walk through the cold weather from one store to the next. This isn't entirely ideal for a baby wrapped up to the neck, who would be fine outdoors but sweating / be uncomfortable indoors with the heating.

And believe it or not, there is only one main shopping mall close to where I live. One.

I know that when I first moved here 5.5 years ago and realized that there was only one shopping mall near where I lived, my heart almost fainted. The Singaporean in me was devastated that my favourite pastime was reduced to 3-floors of shops in the same building!

Anyway, one is better than nothing. So I called a friend of mine and off we went to this mall with baby in tow. We didn't anticpate the throng of cars there waiting for a parking space! For every available parking space, there were at least 3-4 cars roaming around the carpark! I started getting sweaty hands when I pondered the possibility of spending our shopping day driving round and round the carpark!

Thank God after a couple of close-shaves-but-no-parking-lots, I managed to be at the right spot at the right time, just when some people were getting into their car.

These are a couple of pictures we took at the malls. Its so much easier to take care of a 4-month old outdoors. This little one simply wants to see people and be in a different environment. At home, I'm the one who has to entertain him. Outside, he's happy sitting on a couch and observing his environment.

I'm so big I get my own seat now!

Oops I'm tumbling... can't support the weight of my head and my broad frame

Oops.... I think I do prefer lying down instead!

Look at that happy smile and know that I'm contented going round and round the swivel chair!

Yes Mummy, I am a very good boy! Oh at least I try to.... People tell me I got nice lips...what do you think?

Let's see what's on the left...

 Now let's take a look on the right.....

Now I shall be nice and look at Mummy's camera!

 

My fist tastes sooo good!

   Yes and what were you saying here?

I think I prefer lounging on the couch instead!