Revamped cot

Thanks to Josiah's Grandma and Grandpa, we do not have to contend with pink cot bumpers for him. Josiah has got a brand new cot sheet set - courtesy of his grandparents. It sure helps a lot in preventing him from bumping his head against the sides of the cot! 

Patriotic Singaporeans

Whoever said that growing up in Australia means we cannot be patriotic Singaporeans? We decided to teach our girls the national anthem and they picked it up so fast! Actually it started when they were given some Singapore flags, and they started singing the Australian anthem as they waved the Singapore flags. *faint* We then decided they need to learn the Singapore anthem since we are Singaporeans after all :)

Josiah's cot

Decided to take a picture of Josiah's cot because it is probably the last time his cot will have this 'minimalist' look without the cot bumpers! For the past week or two, Josiah has been "crawling" from one end of his cot to the other! We put him on his tummy to sleep as he sleeps much better this way, and one of the 'side effects' is that he ends up pushing himself till he moves the whole length of the cot. *gosh* 

Today his head got stuck in between the pillow and the bolster, as he had pushed himself right to the corner of the cot, and he started to "eh eh" and get angry. Haha :) Was quite a funny sight! We need to put up cot bumpers already. I never had to use cot bumpers so early for our 2 girls! Josiah is only 7 weeks old and needs cot bumpers?! Oh well, might as well put them to good use by using them early! 

Passport Picture - finally!!

It's been impossibly difficult to take a decent photo of Josiah to be used for his Australian passport application. Not only does the background have to be white/light-coloured, he has to be looking at the camera with head not tilted/slanted, and with his mouth CLOSED! That's the hardest bit! How on earth do you get a baby to close his mouth and take a picture? 

After several weeks of taking "failed" pictures of Josiah - either with him sticking out his tongue, head tilted, or arms flailing all around, I have decided to modify a picture of him that looks most decent out of the almost-hundred shots I've taken. So here it is....

This is the original photo from which the passport photo was derived:

Well, my photoshop skills aren't exactly good, and I have tried very hard to doctor the background such that it looks even. I am hoping hard that they will not reject this passport photo, if not I'll have to start all over again!!

The countdown begins...

It suddenly hit me today that in slightly less than 2 weeks' time, my parents will be flying off! That's when the 'rubber meets the road' as I will be totally on my own with 3 kids and no help. We've been blessed with both sides of parents helping out ever since Josiah was born, and I honestly don't quite know how we're going to manage when all the help's gone. Yet I believe that His grace is sufficient for me and His power is made perfect in our weakness! 

The "crazy" days will be Mondays and Tuesdays when I'll have all 3 Js with me at home all day as the girls have got no school/childcare. Will we drive each other crazy? Will the girls end up fighting because we're stuck at home? Or will I be so brave as to load and unload 2 girls and a newborn into the car to go out someplace for a 'change of scenery'? There can be a load of possibilities of what will happen. But I am praying hard and hoping for a very enjoyable time with 3 Js, rather than 'prophesying' that it's going to be chaotic and madness (though it may very well be!). 

Just today, while my parents were out, I managed to get both girls to sleep in their room for their afternoon nap without me having to stay in the room with them (first time)! And while they were settling to sleep, I could give Josiah a bath! Am so happy about it!!  Haha, such strange simple things that make me happy :) But it's as though God's preparing us for our life 2 weeks' later when my parents are gone. And I would say that interestingly, I feel the girls are better-behaved when they know that I'm the only adult around. It's as though they empathize with me and thus are more well-behaved? 

Right now I'm enjoying a totally quiet and blissful afternoon here in the house. All 3 Js are asleep! God is good!

Musical Beds

As a child, I used to play the game musical chairs with other children. Who would have known that now as an adult, I 'play' musical beds with my family! There are days when the 5 of us would go to bed on our own beds, but wake up in the morning on a different bed!

Janelle will most definitely wake up in the middle of the night to come into our room. So she will either end up sleeping on our bed, or Royston will go and sleep with her on her bed. Janine had always been the only one who would stay put on her bed, but recently she too, has started coming to our room in the middle of the night and climbing into bed with me. When Josiah was younger, I would put him to bed in his cot, but somehow by morning he'll be sleeping beside me on the queen-sized bed. With 5 people in the household, imagine the different possibilities of where we can each end up sleeping! Some mornings we wake up and wonder, how did this J end up sleeping beside me? Or, how did I end up sleeping on J's bed?? Our memory of the switching of beds is vague or non-existent because we are way too groggy when it happened. I think no other family can "beat" us in this musical beds thingy!

I have decided that good habits start from young, so I am determined to put Josiah to bed only in his cot at night. And when he wakes up at night to feed, I must put him back in his cot, even though it's much easier to let him sleep beside me on our bed! Hopefully this resolve of mine does not waver, so at least we have one member of the family who sleeps and wakes every night in the same place!

The luxury of a good night's sleep is something that has eluded me since I became a parent. I seriously cannot even remember when was the last time I slept through the night - has it been 1 year? 2 years? I'm starting to wonder whether I still have the ability to sleep through the night if my kids gave me the chance to do so? Even when our girls were sleeping through the night, I was unable to do so because I was then pregnant with Josiah and could not sleep well with a big tummy.

People tend to ask, "Is your baby/kid sleeping through the night?". I think the question rather, should be, "How many times did you have to wake up at night?". With 3 kids, you just need each of them to wake up once at night and you'll be up 3 times at night! I suppose many aunties and wiser parents would frown at our poor sleeping habits, but I seriously do not know what we did wrong. Anyway, we have come to terms with our "portion" in life. And amazingly enough, I have gotten so used to waking up in the middle of the night that it does not bother me anymore. 

With Janine (2 years 21 months old) and Josiah (6 weeks old) both still waking up in the middle of the night for milk, I think it will be quite some months more before we can even think of sleeping through the night!

Counting Blessings

When an adult complains, he puts people off. But when a baby complains, he draws people to him and creates in people a desire to carry him! That's the beauty of being a baby - one can only look good being a complainer if you are a baby

Poor Josiah has got a blocked and runny nose. He gets really upset and angry as he has difficulty breathing through his nose. Call me sadistic, but I think he looks sooo adorable when he is angry and complaining! I just love the way he cries pitifully with his mouth in an inverted "u", and am humoured by the way he shouts in anger when his nose is being cleaned. And I know that it's not only I who feels this way - Janelle and Janine have been absolutely adoring sisters too. Janelle always coos "he's sooo cute!" and wants to kiss him - nevermind that his face is all covered in baby acne and  flaky dry skin. Janine, the affectionate one, can't keep her hands and mouth off Josiah. She's always sayang-ing him and smothering his face with her kisses.

As for me, I could complain - about being awoken every hour at night due to Josiah being unable to breathe, about him needing to be carried all the time, etc....and the list goes on. But today as I was carrying him (for the longest time) I was overwhelmed with a great sense of privilege - that I even have a baby to cuddle! I am truly thankful for these little blessings in my life! 

"Sons are a heritage from the Lord,

children a reward from Him."

- Psalm 127:3 - 

Smile :)

Josiah has rewarded us with his smiles since yesterday. This is an extract from the Babycenter website for a 5-week old (http://www.babycenter.com/6_your-5-week-old_1135.bc?responsys_count=0&scid=mbtw_post5w:911&pe=cUQ8TD):

How your baby's growing:

Smiling is universal. A baby's first smile happens at about the same time in all cultures, so get ready for your baby to reward all your loving care with a beaming, toothless, just-for-you grin. This will probably make your heart melt, even if you've just had your worst night yet.

I always find Babycenter's information interestingly accurate with regards to baby's or toddler's development. Josiah was 5 weeks old exactly when he started smiling!

He smiled at this....

For several days, I've been trying different ways and means - funny sounds, monkey faces, singing, etc - to get 5-week-old Josiah to smile so I can take a picture. Unfortunately, I have failed each time! And I still have yet to see Josiah respond by smiling spontaneously (except when he's falling asleep, which does not count). 

For the very first time today, Josiah actually smiled spontaneously!! And sad to say, he did not smile at any one of us, but at this....

Yes - he actually smiled at an upside-down picture of a smiling baby (on a packet of wet wipes)!! *faint* 

On one hand, I am glad to know that he is capable of responding by smiling. Yet on the other hand, I am disappointed that he chose to give his first smile to a packet of wet wipes rather than to me!!!

Josiah at 5 weeks old

Josiah is in some ways so similar to Janine it is simply amazing! Not only did he look like Janine when he was fresh out of the womb, he is also similar in terms of being a pukey baby (oops!) and crying at little things. One difference though - he has grown to be a much easier to settle baby now. Praise God for that! He used to cry at night due to wind in his tummy (we think), but after 2 or 3 nights home from hospital, he has settled in really well and sleeps most of the time. 

As we will not have the luxury of having so many pairs of hands round the house to carry Josiah all the time, I decided to sleep-train him a little bit. Basically I try not to pick him up the moment he cries, and amazingly he has been responding really well! He is settling himself to sleep really well by being put on his tummy to sleep. In fact, for the past 2 nights, I decided to put him on his tummy to bed (since he has a really strong neck) and he has slept through 4hr and 5hr periods without a feed! Previously, he used to wake up every 2-3 hourly at night for feeds. I am really glad he's sleeping longer stretches at night!

I must say though, our $60 investment in a Philips portable CD player for our room is a worthwhile investment! Josiah responds very well to music and sleeps well when there's music on. I'm so glad we bought the CD player :) 

At 3 weeks old, Josiah could recognize me! I was so happy to realise that! When he's crying while others are carrying him, all I have to do is to carry him and he'll quieten immediately :) Also, there was once I left him on the bed and he was crying. And I went over to him and talked to him, and immediately he quietened down. I did not even have to touch or carry him and he quietened at the sound of my voice! Yay!

One thing though, we have barely managed to take any pictures of Josiah smiling. I know that our 2 girls smiled much earlier than Josiah. But still, Josiah's as cute as ever! 

It's our third child, but to me, Josiah is still as adorable and endearing as our first. I guess every child is just so precious and the maternal instincts just somehow kick in when you see how cute they are!! I love newborns because they're so dependent on us, and just so adorable!