A wise (young) man had asked SJ and myself, about two weeks into becoming parents.
Have you discovered any biblical truths as parents?
I thought it an unusual question. After all, most of the questions that I was handling in that season of my life were things like Is she waking up every 2 hours? Are you breastfeeding? Are you eating enough nutritious food?
I admittedly did not have a good answer, and gave a polite smile and some nondescript response. One year on, I might have better answers, and I discover and experience why God is made known to us as our Father. Always watching, always worrying, always praying might sum up my one year of motherhood.
Uninhibited laughter, warm hugs and slurppy kisses, balanced out with big tear drops, balukus, projectile vomitus and more laundry - all in a day's work. To every new mom who is going through the newborn phase where people are scaring you about hourly feeding, crying and sleep problems, I'd tell you that that is the easy part (hah). There are far greater challenges ahead than the above!
Happy birthday dear Zoe. We decided to buy you a cake after all :) (Too bad you couldn't eat it, ha)
Showing posts with label Zoe. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Zoe. Show all posts
Monday, May 8, 2017
Monday, January 30, 2017
Dong dong dong qiang
Kind of feel like I missed out on the turn of the new year because I was working over the long weekend, so I guess this gives me a second chance. Happy new year! Zoe is almost 9 months. We missed CNY last year, so this is pretty precious.
Saturday, August 13, 2016
An Olympic gold
Coming to about a month since we've been home. Lots have happened since. We celebrated the nation's 51st birthday, and J Schooling won the nation's first Olympic gold medal today. The weather gently eased us in from rainy and cool to the hot and humid that this country usually is.
Just enjoying the last few weeks of my maternity leave, spending time watching baby grow (they grow quickly!) and also preparing myself for return to work. Mixed feelings about that, with some anticipation and also trepidation.
No real point to this post. Just a random mental note to be thankful for each day.
Just enjoying the last few weeks of my maternity leave, spending time watching baby grow (they grow quickly!) and also preparing myself for return to work. Mixed feelings about that, with some anticipation and also trepidation.
No real point to this post. Just a random mental note to be thankful for each day.
Thursday, June 30, 2016
Again.
30 June is always a special day. It's always the last day of posting, the night before start of a new posting, new roles and transitions. Two years ago I completed my PACES exam, and went on to start my ID posting. Last year on this day, I was finishing up my last posting in TTSH ED as a Medical Officer and entered ORD mode. Today, I am in another country, still in ORD mode and am watching my peers/juniors get promoted as I itch to do so as well #famouslastwords. One year older, one year wiser.
I was recently reading emo articles about parenting, and how children grow up too quickly. Zoe is already 7+ weeks and I'm amazed at how fast she's grown. My favorite time of the day is the 6AM feed when she's still semi-conscious and slowly groans to awaken after being fed to satisfaction. Having a milk-comatose baby in your arms as the soft early morning sun peaks through the window is just about the nicest feeling I've had in a while. Daddy soon wakes up and we have a good hour or so playing and making stupid videos to send to Grandma(s)/Pa back home. Looking back, this season of having Zoe all to ourselves has been a real treasure. On one hand, we haven't had help to care for a newborn. But on the other hand, we have had her all to ourselves, to cuddle and to love. We will soon need to share her with equally doting grandparents/family, which leaves me with mixed feelings about returning home! How weird.
I was recently reading emo articles about parenting, and how children grow up too quickly. Zoe is already 7+ weeks and I'm amazed at how fast she's grown. My favorite time of the day is the 6AM feed when she's still semi-conscious and slowly groans to awaken after being fed to satisfaction. Having a milk-comatose baby in your arms as the soft early morning sun peaks through the window is just about the nicest feeling I've had in a while. Daddy soon wakes up and we have a good hour or so playing and making stupid videos to send to Grandma(s)/Pa back home. Looking back, this season of having Zoe all to ourselves has been a real treasure. On one hand, we haven't had help to care for a newborn. But on the other hand, we have had her all to ourselves, to cuddle and to love. We will soon need to share her with equally doting grandparents/family, which leaves me with mixed feelings about returning home! How weird.
Saturday, June 18, 2016
Summertime
Weekends are the best. Before we had Zoe, I asked SJ, I don't quite understand. Even if babies feed 8 times a day, 30 minutes each time, doesn't that leave me with 2.5 hours of free time in between each feed? A definite noob speaking. No such thing as a routine if you ask me. Anyway when the weekend comes around, I feel tons more relaxed not being the only parent in the house. Even after 6 weeks I'd say that parenting doesn't come naturally to me (maternal instinct, meh!).
Hadn't realized it is already Summer! Well, technically not officially but everyone seems to have no issues about referring to summer in this heat. Coming full circle, back to the season when we first landed in NYC. It is also a season of farewells, with people leaving for their summer vacations and our final 4 weeks here. People have asked if I'm ready to go home, and I think while maybe a month ago I would have been on the fence, I think I can say for sure that yes it's time to go home. Looking forward!
Hadn't realized it is already Summer! Well, technically not officially but everyone seems to have no issues about referring to summer in this heat. Coming full circle, back to the season when we first landed in NYC. It is also a season of farewells, with people leaving for their summer vacations and our final 4 weeks here. People have asked if I'm ready to go home, and I think while maybe a month ago I would have been on the fence, I think I can say for sure that yes it's time to go home. Looking forward!
Sunday, June 12, 2016
The First 28 Days
Those who know me well enough would know that I am genetically hopeless around children. Baby talk is completely foreign to me, and I am more terrified of these little creatures than they are of me. My clinical group mates would testify to the fact that when I did my paediatric posting, I carried around a little insect toy in my toy kit, and ended up scaring the little kids rather than amusing them. So when I first held Zoe in my arms after carrying her in my belly for 40 weeks, all I could muster up was a soft, awkward little "Hello!"
By God's grace and goodness, our little family of 3 has survived these First 28 Days. In the days leading up to Zoe's birth, friends and family would ask how I was doing and when the baby was arriving. This was usually followed up with a well meaning "Are your parents flying over to help out?" According to Chinese traditions, the first month postpartum is a critical period of recuperation for Mommy, and typically involves parents, in-laws and hired help to cook, clean and care for the baby while Mommy rests. For a variety of reasons, only 1 set of parents could be physically with us in this foreign land, and for no more than a week. To add fuel to fire, Z was born right in the middle of SJ's final exams. When our parents left, I feared that it was just going to be Us against The World.
But God provided for us in more ways that we could imagine through our interim NYC Family who offered to bless us with delivered meals, help us move apartments with a 2-week-old, and hang out with us despite being perpetually disrupted by feeding and sleeping schedules. While I rested, The Husband took on the responsibilities of doing Everything Else Not Feeding Related, and I couldn't be more thankful. He also skipped his graduation ceremony to be at home (!). One vivid memory that I have is of the evening in our tiny Mercer studio when SJ insisted that I take a nap while he dealt with a crying Zoe who had her feed about 30 minutes before. As I tried to get some eye shut, Daddy troubleshooted the crying baby. He changed her diaper, adjusted the room temperature, swaddled her, unswaddled her, rocked her, sang to her, and probably changed her diaper again, all to avoid waking me up. The Baby continued to cry. It was not till at least an hour later that we realized she was just hungry again. Oh, the frustration. Cluster feeding, who knew?
One would think that caring for a newborn brings forth intense feelings of cuddlywuddly love and fierce maternal instincts for the little one. While those feelings do exist, I realized instead that the one feeling I've felt most these 28 days has been Guilt. The guilt of feeling inadequate as a caregiver came in the form of Am I feeding her enough? Is she putting on enough weight? Should I be changing her diapers more frequently? Why is there broken skin? Should I be playing with her more instead of wishing she was sleeping instead? On top of that, I dealt with postpartum physical changes, worried if I would ever lose the extra weight, wondered if I was being a good Wife to a similarly tired Husband, and thought about the readings I needed to do before returning to work. For the record, I Googled all of the above and found that I was not alone in the world of Mommydom (haha). All that plus sleep deprivation and postpartum hormonal swings can make new Mommies anxious and stressed out indeed.
Multitasking has been taken to a new level in the past 28 days. With very precious small pockets of free time between baby feeding, pooping and sleeping, my two hands have done more tasks at the same time than I could have imagined. Nursing, eating, watching TV, reading, writing, pumping, exercising - desperate times call for desperate measures indeed.
So the past 28 days have come and gone, and Z no longer has the luxury of being called a Neonate. I'm proud to say that there hasn't been a day that I haven't gone without a bath or missed a meal, and our apartment has had its usual required cleaning. Sure, there have been days where I've felt less than rested and slightly more cranky than usual...but we make do. We have had friends over for dinner, gone to church, enjoyed meals in restaurants, had our lattes in a cafe, gone for walks in the park, taken the subway and have had the required doctor's visits. Still, we don't take anything for granted and continue to pray for Z to be happy and healthy. As I am sitting here typing this, SJ is beside me singing silly children songs to Zoe - thank God that at least one of us knows how to do this baby talk thing!
I don't have lofty ideals of parenting, and I am certain the future holds many challenges that comes with the joys of parenting. SJ and I can only trust that the God in whom we put our faith in will provide us with wisdom to be good parents and the strength to endure each trial, as He has shown to have done in these First 28 Days.
By God's grace and goodness, our little family of 3 has survived these First 28 Days. In the days leading up to Zoe's birth, friends and family would ask how I was doing and when the baby was arriving. This was usually followed up with a well meaning "Are your parents flying over to help out?" According to Chinese traditions, the first month postpartum is a critical period of recuperation for Mommy, and typically involves parents, in-laws and hired help to cook, clean and care for the baby while Mommy rests. For a variety of reasons, only 1 set of parents could be physically with us in this foreign land, and for no more than a week. To add fuel to fire, Z was born right in the middle of SJ's final exams. When our parents left, I feared that it was just going to be Us against The World.
But God provided for us in more ways that we could imagine through our interim NYC Family who offered to bless us with delivered meals, help us move apartments with a 2-week-old, and hang out with us despite being perpetually disrupted by feeding and sleeping schedules. While I rested, The Husband took on the responsibilities of doing Everything Else Not Feeding Related, and I couldn't be more thankful. He also skipped his graduation ceremony to be at home (!). One vivid memory that I have is of the evening in our tiny Mercer studio when SJ insisted that I take a nap while he dealt with a crying Zoe who had her feed about 30 minutes before. As I tried to get some eye shut, Daddy troubleshooted the crying baby. He changed her diaper, adjusted the room temperature, swaddled her, unswaddled her, rocked her, sang to her, and probably changed her diaper again, all to avoid waking me up. The Baby continued to cry. It was not till at least an hour later that we realized she was just hungry again. Oh, the frustration. Cluster feeding, who knew?
One would think that caring for a newborn brings forth intense feelings of cuddlywuddly love and fierce maternal instincts for the little one. While those feelings do exist, I realized instead that the one feeling I've felt most these 28 days has been Guilt. The guilt of feeling inadequate as a caregiver came in the form of Am I feeding her enough? Is she putting on enough weight? Should I be changing her diapers more frequently? Why is there broken skin? Should I be playing with her more instead of wishing she was sleeping instead? On top of that, I dealt with postpartum physical changes, worried if I would ever lose the extra weight, wondered if I was being a good Wife to a similarly tired Husband, and thought about the readings I needed to do before returning to work. For the record, I Googled all of the above and found that I was not alone in the world of Mommydom (haha). All that plus sleep deprivation and postpartum hormonal swings can make new Mommies anxious and stressed out indeed.
Multitasking has been taken to a new level in the past 28 days. With very precious small pockets of free time between baby feeding, pooping and sleeping, my two hands have done more tasks at the same time than I could have imagined. Nursing, eating, watching TV, reading, writing, pumping, exercising - desperate times call for desperate measures indeed.
So the past 28 days have come and gone, and Z no longer has the luxury of being called a Neonate. I'm proud to say that there hasn't been a day that I haven't gone without a bath or missed a meal, and our apartment has had its usual required cleaning. Sure, there have been days where I've felt less than rested and slightly more cranky than usual...but we make do. We have had friends over for dinner, gone to church, enjoyed meals in restaurants, had our lattes in a cafe, gone for walks in the park, taken the subway and have had the required doctor's visits. Still, we don't take anything for granted and continue to pray for Z to be happy and healthy. As I am sitting here typing this, SJ is beside me singing silly children songs to Zoe - thank God that at least one of us knows how to do this baby talk thing!
I don't have lofty ideals of parenting, and I am certain the future holds many challenges that comes with the joys of parenting. SJ and I can only trust that the God in whom we put our faith in will provide us with wisdom to be good parents and the strength to endure each trial, as He has shown to have done in these First 28 Days.
Monday, May 30, 2016
21 days
Happy 21 days old to Zoe!
The past three weeks have gone by in a flash! The usual trajectory of new parents - they suddenly disappear off social media/blogs/whatsapp etc. Am thankful for God's providence and blessings through friends and family in the past 3 weeks. Having a baby in a foreign land has been quite an experience. In the past 21 days, we've brought Zoe to the pediatrician, dinner at Rissoteria with church friends, hosted dinners at our small Mercer studio, gone out for walks in Washington Square and Central Park, breakfast at Le Pain along Bleecker and also to Cha Chan Ting. This weekend being the Memorial Day weekend we took her to Coney Island to jostle with the crowds before we decided it was too warm for human survival.
If anyone was wondering, I showered post partum day 2 and continue to shower and wash my hair once or twice a day :p We're still in Spring but it definitely feels like summer already! Tried to wear my old jeans a couple weeks back unsuccessfully, but today I did! Hurray!
The days are short but the nights are long. Babies stay small only for so long. Looking at Zoe, I can see what the Bible means by fearfully and wonderfully made...(:
The past three weeks have gone by in a flash! The usual trajectory of new parents - they suddenly disappear off social media/blogs/whatsapp etc. Am thankful for God's providence and blessings through friends and family in the past 3 weeks. Having a baby in a foreign land has been quite an experience. In the past 21 days, we've brought Zoe to the pediatrician, dinner at Rissoteria with church friends, hosted dinners at our small Mercer studio, gone out for walks in Washington Square and Central Park, breakfast at Le Pain along Bleecker and also to Cha Chan Ting. This weekend being the Memorial Day weekend we took her to Coney Island to jostle with the crowds before we decided it was too warm for human survival.
If anyone was wondering, I showered post partum day 2 and continue to shower and wash my hair once or twice a day :p We're still in Spring but it definitely feels like summer already! Tried to wear my old jeans a couple weeks back unsuccessfully, but today I did! Hurray!
The days are short but the nights are long. Babies stay small only for so long. Looking at Zoe, I can see what the Bible means by fearfully and wonderfully made...(:
Sunday, May 8, 2016
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