Happy 2nd Birthday Janelle!

Today Janelle turns 2 years old!

We woke up early this morning and brought her to MacDonalds at King Albert's Park for a breakfast treat. After a hotcakes breakfast meal, we headed home to prepare for the family lunch party.

Our families arrived at 11am onwards with lots of food! There was fried rice & bee hoon (cooked by Gina), cod fish + duck + charsiew & meat (by my parents), fried chicken wings + chicken dish + vegetables + pig stomach soup (by Royston's parents), and lots of fruit.

Time really flies...our little girl is now 2 years old! When asked "how old are you?", she would reply "I'm two!" and try to make the sign "2" with her fingers. But of course she would not be able to do so, and end up doing "4" with her fingers and proudly saying "I'm two!" when obviously she's doing a "4"!

Our birthday message to our older little girl:

Dear Janelle,

We are so thankful to God for bringing you into our lives, for you brought lots of laughter and joy! Your cheeky yet innocent ways are so endearing, and so often you have made us burst out into laughter by the funny things you say and do.

You love to jump and run around the house, and are always game to try out new flavours and foods. (It is truly a joy to see you enjoying heartily tucking into your food!) Recently, you have become really imaginative, 'cooking' all kinds of food for us to eat/drink - amongst which milk, milo, raisins and carrots are your favourites! 

It is amazing to see just how much you have grown - not just physically but mentally as well. Not only are you able to hold a conversation with us, you have also taken on the role as an older sister to all other children you come into contact with.

We pray that the Lord will continue to nurture you in His ways, and that your life will reflect the grace of God - just like the meaning of your name "God is Gracious".  

Blessed 2nd Birthday to you, my darling!

Love,
Daddy & Mummy

Janine has arrived!

Date: 31 December 2007, Monday
Time: 1306 hours
Venue: Mt Elizabeth Hospital
Birth Weight: 3.155kg
Length: 50cm
Head Circumference: 34cm

Praise the Lord for a smooth delivery via caesarean under epidural / spinal block! It was an experience of a lifetime to be awake during a surgery with Royston by my side. The first thing that crossed both our minds when we first saw Janine fresh from the womb was that she looked exactly like Janelle!! It was simply amazing.

By God's grace, I was up and walking by the second day and discharged early from the hospital by the third day. However, the first few days at home upon discharge from hospital were a nightmare! Janine wouldn't sleep at night till 3 or 4am! And she would cry and wake the whole family up - including our helper. It was a real challenge trying to put both our girls to sleep. Thank God that the past 2 nights were much much better! I think Janine was just not used to our home environment at first, hence the crying at night. Last night, Janine even slept all the way at night (11:30pm to 7:30am), waking up only once at 3:30am for a feed. So proud of her!

Janelle has been a very adoring sister to Janine. She simply loves her mei-mei! She would sayang and kiss mei-mei, leaving Janine's face wet with her saliva! Yikes! And whenever Janine fusses or cries, Janelle would try to pacify her with her toys (which of course don't work) and say "mei-mei don't cry". And every now and then, when she looks at Janine, she would exclaim "mei-mei is sooo cute!". We're very thankful that Janelle is reacting to Janine so well.

Janine is simply adorable (well, of course to us who are her parents, she is adorable!). She's a very sweet baby compared to Janelle, who was 'fiercer' and tougher. And she charms us all with her endearing expressions while falling asleep...like this one....

Janine - newborn