Joy In My Heart

Joy Joy in Wonderland!

2011-12-19T17:05:00.002+08:00

2011-12-13T18:00:00.003+08:00

5 pasta for a copy of pretend newspapers, please. ;)

Helping Peace to pick up what she dropped. :)

Models for Faith's photography experiment.

Joy: Mom, this is my Chinese caterpillar.

2011-11-26T19:00:00.001+08:00

Having quiet time with her precious dolly, reading Tangled on the Leap Pad.

心疼

2010-06-03T22:20:00.001+08:00

看着心悦额头上那道长长的疤我还心有余悸。还好只是皮外伤。万一摔得更重？万一毁了容？唉……

昨天阿姨照常把三个宝贝都带出去玩，让我透口气。彤彤却突然兴起新花样，攀上了游乐场旁一米多高的水泥设施上。她向来手脚灵活；三两下就飞檐走壁似的爬了上去。心悦爬不上去，吵着闹着，怎么都一定要阿姨把她抱上去。阿姨怕了她的大嗓门儿，居然真把她抱上去了！一分心跟静和抢手机，心悦就摔下来了！她说没看到是怎么摔的。

我一路从菜市场赶回家时，脑子里乱得連祷告都想不到词儿。感谢神赐给我方言祷告的能力；结果一路就以方言祷告，祈求神让我的目光注视着他，仍然把他放在第一位，我才不会因为孩子受伤而让怒气冲昏了头。孩子是每个父母的心头肉。孩子一旦受到威胁或伤害，修行再好的人也很难自私的劣根性不马上浮现。但是我知道：因主耶稣得胜而复活，我们的肉体已成为圣灵的殿，所以在神我一定能。

Five more minutes...

2010-03-01T01:55:00.000+08:00

Dad to Joy (on the swing), 'Five more minutes, meimei. We're going home.'

Joy to Dad, 'Don't push me, daddy. I'm not listening!'

Grrr...little imp. *LOL*

Quiet Time

2009-07-19T12:05:00.002+08:00

Realized that we haven't heard Joy for awhile in our bustling household with the new addition, so I peeked into the bedroom to check on her. She dug out books and was sitting on the floor reading quietly! :)

Second Spring

2009-03-18T13:31:00.001+08:00

Outdoor Printing

2009-03-18T13:20:00.003+08:00

Fire Fighter Joy

2009-02-09T09:18:00.002+08:00

I was frying sausages this morning and oil was splattering from the pan; so I told Joy, ”燒燒。“ and asked her to leave the kitchen. She whined and grumbled as usual as she left the kitchen, but returned shortly. Guess what she came back with? She had a red 'helmet'! It's actually the potty bowl from their potty chair. *LOL* She grinned to me and said, "Fire, fire" (that's her version of 'fire fighter') and pointed up at the stove! Hahahahahaha...

This baby is a real comedian from birth! We really don't know where many of her funny expressions and funny ideas come from! How special God has made each one of us. :)

First Days of Spring

2009-02-03T12:59:00.007+08:00

MY Orange Juice

2009-02-02T11:31:00.000+08:00

First time she gets to hold her own cup of orange juice we got from MacDonald's delivery -- she's thrilled!!!

Did she make a mess? Of course she did! Haha...what does it matter. :)

Spiritual Warfare

2009-01-26T02:21:00.003+08:00

Joy is still very, very sticky and she is even more strong-willed than Faith -- she bullies Faith sometimes. :p We had one of the worst weeks with her scream and cry last week. She was crying throughout the nights and refused to sleep anywhere else away from my elbow bends! In fact, she had never really slept well since we moved to this new apartment.

Anyway, a new friend I met who lives two doors away noticed Joy's crankiness from few days back when we went out to do grocery together, and asked if we've done 'cleansing' prayers for the apartment since we moved in. She and her husband got to know and accepted Christ 3 years ago when a pastor prayed over their little boy for a situation similar to what we faced with Joy.

She lent me her family's prayer book with prayers of spiritual warfare. So Daddy and I prayed through every room to cleanse and claim possession of the residence and bind any evil trying to touch the children. At first Joy was protesting and trying to stop us from praying. After awhile, she started to echo 'Amen!' too. After cleansing the house, we proclaimed our authority as parents to Joy and pray that she would always remember she was named Joy by the almighty Father and she would not hear and believe lies from the devil that she is otherwise.

That night she slept from 8pm to 8am the next morning. She continued to sleep like that since. Even Faith who had been battling with us about going to bed and switching off lights, volunteers to switch off the laptop or the lights since!

Lesson we learnt -- VIGILANCE!!! True, we are saved; but the devil never gives up any loose links...and the closer we are, the more we're taunted.

2008-11-06T12:46:00.001+08:00

Our tiny tot marveled at what she saw at one of the giant 'fish tanks' in the zoo.

Growth Spurts

2008-09-07T00:07:00.003+08:00

Joy seems to be going through some growth spurts over the last week; especially last couple of days -- probably after the day she started walking!

When we were at the playground this morning, she started kicking and struggling in my arms when Faith ran towards the playground and said something. Took me a few seconds to realize she said 'down, down'! I signed and taught her that yesterday! Wow, so fast! She said several more words, mimicking me clearly, after I've said some words. My, am I delighted! What wondorous children God has given me. :)

When we were at home in the afternoon, I heard Faith said, '妹妹，不可以！' So, I walked out of the room to see what they were doing in the living room -- Joy had climbed onto the sofa! The only problem was -- she was playing with something and sat facing the back of the sofa! Aiyo!!! I thought aloud to KH, 'And we were feeling bad not sending this one to Gymboree!' *LOL*

At bedtime, after we told Faith to brush her teeth, and KH tailed the 'escaping' Faith into the bedroom, I closed the bathroom door and intended to join them in the room. Joy started to fuss and seemed to be protesting about me closing the bathroom door! I picked her up and asked her, 'Why are you upset? You want to go inside (the bathroom)?' She paused for a quick thoughtful second and said, '牙！' At the same time, stuffed her pointer finger into her mouth and signed 'brush teeth' to me! OMG!!! *LOL* I laughed and asked if that what she wants to confirm my guess, she smiled so brightly. :) She opened her mouth expectantly as soon as she saw me reach for the finger brush meant for her. Haha...she loves toothbrushing and the squeech squeech sound it makes.

Meanwhile, though she's bubbly most of the time, we could tell that teething is still bothering her. More of her teeth are visible today. Now she has 5 that are clearly visible; at least 3 more are trying to cut through. Maybe even teeth further back. Hmmm...maybe God is preparing us for our move to Shanghai, so we both have one less stress while we settle down in the new place.

Eat until mabok already?

Munching carrot and lounging on mommy.

Watching Hi-5 during dinner.

Who's that 'aiming' at us?

Daddy!

Eating...finally

2008-09-03T05:26:00.000+08:00

Still reads on my July calendar on the fridge, '...arrange for check-up at Dr Ong EK's for lazy eye and not keen on semi-solid...' Well, it seems this girl's totally skipped semi-solid and we've actually gone on straight to solid! Look how keen she is!

Ah...umm...

Why's daddy watching me eat?

Another spoonful...

Mmm...GOOD!

She started with digestive biscuits she stole from Faith's bowl while Faith was glued to the tv; subsequently pieces of Chinese bun and bread we break to share with her. She loves bread so much it's one of her first words!

Little Toddler

2008-09-02T13:21:00.000+08:00

Haha...tempted to but can't call her tiny, since she's such a giant baby. ;p See our new little explorer roaming around.

First Steps!!!

2008-08-31T09:00:00.000+08:00

Joy walked 6 steps unassisted towards me! Daddy and I both gasped aloud at the sight of that. :D This little baby is walking -- she is only turning 10 months tomorrow!

Thumb Sucking

2008-08-22T20:51:00.000+08:00

Joy popped her thumb into her mouth while we were at a shop this afternoon. She does that whenever she's sleepy; usually not for long, anyway. She doesn't suck on it constantly like Faith used to; she'd just suck on it on and off. The salesgirl who was trying to be friendly with us took her thumb out gently and said no, no. I wasn't really thinking, but I just matter-of-factly put it straight back into Joy's mouth and said, 'Oh, it's ok, she does it all the time. She's sleepy.' Really...I really didn't mean to embarrass her; but I really meant too, that it's ok for my baby to suck her thumb. ;p Faith outgrew that in her own time anyway. Whatever they say...doesn't bother me.

I Can Clap!

2008-08-20T14:31:00.000+08:00

Joy claps her hands for the first time! I think she was asking Papa to carry her! :)

心悦迈步了！

2008-08-18T14:28:00.000+08:00

我们的心悦长得好快——快得我措手不及。这九个月来，我所有的时间和精力都在她们身上；根本没时间琇其他事物，更别提blog。今天当爸爸和姐姐都在午睡时，心悦扶着我的手站起来，然吿松手，向我走了三步！我们俩都开心的笑了。

2008-06-16T12:35:00.002+08:00

爸爸！

2008-06-12T14:35:00.000+08:00

心悦叫爸爸啦！不记得她什么时候叫妈妈，但今天叫爸爸是那么地清楚。:)

抱着你们的感觉

2008-01-08T15:50:00.000+08:00

今天无意中想起心悦出世后出院那天的感觉。细细回想．．．当时我抱着心悦在等冠雄办出院手续；心里莫名的喜悦，好象小时候得了奖或礼物一样――那份喜悦好象满得要从我心里、嘴里溢出来一样! 希彤初生的时候，我抱着她，也有同样的感觉。这次的感觉稍微不同――好象在做梦；因为是第二次，所以感觉似曾相识。

其实，你们姐妹俩本来就是上帝赐给爸妈的无价宝。

2 Months

2008-01-01T01:59:00.000+08:00

2 months -- right on New Year's Eve.

So smily, so chatty...she really IS a Joy.

My Joy...

Sleep...or LACK of Sleep

2007-12-14T18:50:00.001+08:00

Guilty for not having started much on this blog for Joy. Really haven't got much more energy left everday after spending all evening helping her to fall asleep...sometimes it stretches way past midnight. Joy is so different and there's so much in this whole new parenting experience I need to document...breastfeeding, EC, etc... but I'm just too shack. Tonight...we finally all fell asleep, but I woke in the middle of the night with a blocked nose and have to wait for it to clear before I can sleep again (this happens to me sometimes).

Poor jie jie has not been having enough sleep because she's not used to falling asleep without mommy hugging and nursing to sleep. Papa hasn't had enough sleep too. He has to keep jie jie company when mommy's stuck to Joy and try to complete his work too, before the holidays are over.

This 'problem' with falling asleep only happens at night. Once she's deep asleep, she practically sleeps through the night. She'd stir once or twice to be fed, but never really wakes unless she's changed or needed a big poop (and I had to put her on the potty). I try to count my blessings. We've been blessed enough that she's been sleeping through the night from the third night after she was born, and she sleeps much more than Faith did. Faith used to sleep only for 10-20 min after each feed (and she fed 2 hourly while Joy feeds 3 hourly)!

This seem to have happened only this week. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it is just another phase of growth spurt which will pass soon.

Potty Training

2007-12-08T18:00:00.000+08:00

Started potty training Joy during the third week. Infant potty training is also known as Elimination Communication. Those who haven't heard of it would think it's 'one of those things new age moms do'. It is in fact, however, something that is not new to some of our parents who have seen their own younger siblings or neighbours kids trained that way before disposable diapers became popular and some ang moh paedi paid by a disposable diaper company (which name is now one of the most 'trusted' by parents all over the world -- even Joy's paediatrician advised we should try not to use brands other than that to reduce recurrence of nappy rash on our darling's butt!) endorsed.

When I was a new parent with Faith, I'd hummed and hawed trying to ignore my mom's advise to potty train her at infant stage; trusting instead, in what I was taught to believe in my early childhood training -- that potty training should be child-led and should generally only begin around 2.5 years old. I remember some literature I read while research during my course also mentioned possibilities of 'traumatising the child' or 'certain possible long-term impairment' if potty training started too early or is forced upon the child. The latter, I agree; the former -- is pure rubbish. Where I was raised, most born around the same time as I or before, do not have memories of wearing diapers because we were toilet-trained way before our memory began. I only have memory of sitting on a red plastic 'top hat' potty (or toppling it while I sat and rock on it daydreaming *LOL*) and the squat toilet at my grandparents' place (where I saw the last of my pacifier before I was tricked to flush it -- gone for good!)

I only found out about EC when I had to look for alternatives to get Faith out of disposables to stop her from getting nappy rash again because she had her first teeth at 3 months. I would say her bad nappy rash and fungal infection was a blessing in disguise. So we started training ourselves to understand Faith's signals via her body language and eye contacts with us at 6 months. We also taught her signs to communicate toilet needs to us. At 8 months, she signed to us when she needed to go. When she was crawling at 10 months, she'd crawl to or stretch towards the toilet when she needed to go, and she'd sometimes make 'sh' or grunting sounds to tell us. Our set-back was at 14 months, when she started a toilet-strike that has still not ended. She was uncomfortable and frustrated due to her canine and molars all budding at the same time. Too many changes happened in the family and to her routine after that, that do not help her feel better until now. She hasn't regressed in bladder control; she's just not ready to go back to the toilet again. She'd rather tell us when she needs to go or after she has done, but she doesn't want to go to the toilet. Fine -- I'll wait. No hurry; it's a matter of time.

Now with Joy, I wanted to start as early as I can. The earlier I start, the less complication I should expect later because this would then become the only way of toileting even before she could remember. What's more -- it is so much easier to do it now because infants are sensitive to every sensation and they naturally want to remain clean, dry and comfy!

It's been three weeks since I started and it's been very encouraging. With Faith and other activities happening around the house, I can't focus on Joy all the time. I chose to be consistent in certain timings that are pretty much fixed, e.g. when Joy wakes every morning, she'd pee and quite often, poo too; if she didn't poo in the morning, she'd usually do it mid afternoon or early evening. Other that those fixed times, I try to catch her when she displays certain body language, eye contact or cries that make me suspect she needs to go; and quite often, I'm right. :) I've been so encouraged. I feel this has so far brought us closer -- I become less stressed up when she cries as I learn to understand her needs better; she becomes more attached and learns to trust and feel secure with me as I respond to her needs.

Fuss? Whatever other parents might say or think -- such growing pains with my babies are every bit priceless to me.

27 days old

2007-11-28T02:00:00.000+08:00

21 days old

2007-11-22T02:04:00.000+08:00

Another bright-eyes in our family. :)

17 days old

2007-11-18T02:07:00.000+08:00

Chatting with Mama...

7 days old

2007-11-08T02:10:00.000+08:00

Baby Joy is born!

2007-10-31T19:00:00.000+08:00