"Yang-Oh"

Never knew or heard of this term "yang-oh" until Janelle came along. Well, for those of you who don't know, "yang-oh" is not Janelle's new babbling - It is actually a hokkien term that carries the same meaning as "manja", or affectionate.

At first, it is quite sweet to have a baby who's always wanting you to carry and cuddle her, etc. But now is the phase when Janelle will not even allow me to leave her sight without a loud pitiful wail! Think she is going through the common phase of having separation anxiety.

Sometimes, even being near her or beside her is simply not enough - she will want to be carried. And her 8kg frame is proving to be a bit of a strain on me. I somehow think that I can only tahan carrying a maximum weight of 8kg because I never really found Janelle heavy till now, when she hit the 8kg mark! Suddenly I find myself hoping that she will not put on too much weight until she learns to walk!

Yet, on the other hand, I also find myself hoping that she doesn't learn how to walk too soon! Already as of now, she's crawling all around the house exploring all my drawers and little corners. Often, when I leave her alone to play, I'll come back finding a pool of water on the floor (spilled from her water bottle), or the TV switched on, or my drawer being ransacked, or tissue paper all torn and littered over the floor, etc etc. Imagine the chaos when she learns how to walk!!

Such strange and mixed feelings....when she was younger, we hoped she would learn to flip, learn to grab a toy, etc. But now that she's slightly older, I wish she would just not develop too fast!

Wasting Time With God

On Thursday, we had staff training at a really lovely place at Tanah Merah and I brought Janelle along. The fresh sea breeze and peaceful environment really set the right mood for the purpose of this training - which was "Wasting Time With God".

Basically, we were given time on our own to just spend time reflecting and communing with God. The 1-hour time given was simply far too short! And surprisingly, Janelle who's usually so active and bouncy could sit quietly in her pram for a good 30 mins just admiring the waves and wind  It was her first mini-retreat at 9 months old! And I must say she was really well-behaved. Think the lovely and serene environment put her at ease!

I was really surprised that Singapore actually had such an "untainted" place with the sand and the sea. It sure didn't seem like we were in Singapore...felt more like we were in Bintan or something! And Janelle is so blessed to be able to go to such nice places all the time with me

Janelle - 9 months old

No more fever!

Thank God Janelle's fever has gone off today! It's definitely a viral fever because as predicted by doctors, her body broke out in a rash today after the fever went off. She looks really spotty and ugly now with the rash all over her face, head and body. But it will go off in 2 days' time!

Here are the "Fever Awards" for the past 4 days:
Most Popular Device - Braun Thermoscan
Most Soaked Cloth - face towel (for sponging Janelle)
Most Yummy Syrup - strawberry-flavoured fever medicine
Most Persistent Callers - Janelle's grandparents

Well, to all the "supporters" out there - thank you all for your concern and prayers! We have been really blessed by the numerous number of calls/smses/msgs asking about Janelle!  

Late Night Adventure

Last night, Janelle was fast asleep and Royston decided to take her temperature. The reading was 39.5 degrees! *panic*

We quickly got hold of a wet towel to sponge her and drove her down to Mt Alvernia's 24-hour outpatient centre at 10:30pm. On the way down, we had to make some phonecalls to find out "how high is considered high for fever?" to decide whether to send her to A&E or to a GP. 

Poor girl - she was woken up by the countless times we took her temperature and the touch of the wet cloth against her fiery-hot body. Her concerned grandparents also drove down all the way to Mt A just to see how she was.

By the time we reached Mt A, her temperature had dropped to 38.8 degrees - still high but at least not as high as earlier on. The doctor said it was probably a viral fever and if the fever persists for more than 3 days, it could be urinary tract infection. So, it is definitely not due to her teething!

Throughout the whole of last night, Royston dutifully woke up at every hour just to take her temperature. Thank God it did not soar to more than 39.1 degrees.

Till now, her temperature still rises and falls like the stock market. But on the average is about 38.5 degrees. Poor Janelle - for the first time since she was born, she looks kind of sick and is not her usual cheerful self. She is also really manja / "yang-oh" and super sticky to Angeline. Praying that God will heal her soon!

Hot Babe

Janelle is a really hot babe today...with fever that went up to 38.4 degrees. Poor thing!  Think it's because she's teething? But then again, I thought that when babies start teething they might have slight fever only. Hmm....But thank God she was perfectly happy with the cool patch on her forehead - it did not bother her one bit! And she happily lapped up her fever syrup medicine and was asking for more! Greedy babe  Besides, she smiled each time we took her ear temperature because she was tickled by the thermoscan in her ear! 

Clever Girl!

Nowadays, Janelle delights in clapping her hands and whenever she does so, we'll exclaim "clever girl!". I think she now thinks that clapping hands = clever girl, because whenever we say "clever girl", she will automatically clap her hands!

Today, she was standing up holding on to something, then suddenly she decided to let go of the support and stood there clapping her hands - as though applauding herself that she could stand without support! Haha it was such a funny sight and we were so proud of her. This is her latest milestone - at 8.5 months old, she has learnt to stand on her own

Attempts to whistle

Today, Royston was carrying Janelle and whistling to her "wheeeee". And guess what? Janelle started to do a little high-pitched scream "aaaahhhhh" in an attempt to imitate the whistling! It was hilarious! Such funny things babies do

Gone are the days...

With Janelle, gone are the days....
when we could watch a movie together,
when we could stay out late (because Janelle sleeps early),
when we could take long and shiok afternoon naps during weekends (unless she sleeps too),
when we could sleep in late (because she wakes up early!),
etc, etc.

Well, strange that it took us some 8 months to realise that gone are those days! It's as though the reality has finally sunk in (for Royston especially! Angeline had already "resigned" to the fact long ago!). I think the thing that is most difficult to give up is the luxury of undisturbed sleep and spontaneous naps! - Because we both are pigs and sleeping is our hobby. Oh well.

Still, we wouldn't trade our little girl for sleep beacuse she brings us so much joy!

Brought Janelle to the Mid-Autumn celebration by the poly students but she didn't manage to stay long because she was tired and cranky by 8pm. Such a pity if not she would have had a chance to hold her first real lantern! Check out her party hat!

               

Blessed beyond measure!

Yesterday, we were packing Janelle's toys and belongings so that we could transfer some over to my office for her to play with. And we realised how blessed we were! Janelle had sooo many toys and stuff that we did not even have to buy! They were all mostly given or handed down by others.

As of now, Janelle has enough toys and "equipment" for her to stay either 1) at home, 2) in office, 3) at Royston's parents' place, or 4) at Royston's mum's cafe! Which means she has like 2 playpens, 2 cots, 2 gym-mats, several quilts/pillows/bolsters, and countless toys! And we didn't even have to buy any of them.

So blessed

Janelle's new favourites....
1) Talking, or rather, babbling
2) Clapping hands

Life is getting noisier with her around!