time is scientific, yet so abstract

i wrote one of my previous posts when i was 4 weeks and 4 days to delivery. today, i'm writing this when my boy is 3 weeks and 2 days old. all units are in either weeks or days. such small time units. soon in another few more days, i can start using the unit "month" when stating his age. the time from being pregnant till today, with him so tiny and cute besides me, feels so surreal.

before i gave birth, whenever i look at LX's hands and feet, i always marvel at how little they are. i never realized how much they have grown, until i saw at my newborn's hands and feet.

i feel myself trying to capture and keep every single moment, but it's impossible. time will still fly by methodically, almost relentlessly, and i will find myself asking the same question: "where has all the time gone"?

since it's a futile attempt to cling on to every moment, i guess i can only treasure every single one.

the wait is finally over!

here's the premiere showing ooofff... ... DI DI

the wait is going to be over soon

"i realized that i could really start counting down to d-day. 4 weeks and 4 days left. and if i'm right about being early, i could be just 2 weeks away. why not? our boy's head is already resting comfortably (?) on my pelvic, and occasionally, i will either feel the false contractions, or the sharp pain in my cervix.

anyways let's just do away with the assumption about being early and stick to the theoretical date. therefore i'm into the last month of my pregnancy career. being me, i'm starting to feel sentimental about it, and since i was advised to keep some sort of journal as a memento for my kid about my pregnancy journey, this would be a good time to start. i've made a resolution to do this every day, but then again, let's see how long i can keep up.

yesterday, we went to the temple to pray. my mil also needed to buy the confinement herbs for me, and i also needed to buy the replacement parts for the medela breast pumps that adel loaned me. after that, we went for this hotshot steamboat place which dear was very passionate about, then we headed home.

like many weekends, we went home with tonnes of things. sometimes it strikes me that every weekend, we are adding more stuff in our home than removing. it's not rocket science that stuff in our house are piling up. with me being a hoarder, it's definitely hard for me to remove. fortunately, i can't stand clutter as well. usually the sentimental hoarder prevails, but when the clear the clutter me stands out, i sure make use of the chance to clean out.

i will pick a big bag, because the environmentalist in me will ensure that it gets filled up. then i'll start the painful process of decision making. sigh. at the end of the whole process, i feel good, as long i don't think about what i threw away, and i won't remember a few days later. this process continued till the next day, while i cleared personal backlog.

dear had the light bulb changed, i had asked him to ask deserie to put her luggage into our "storeroom", we put hooks behind the door for her to hang her clothes, i packed our shoe cabinet and came up with an excellent idea for a customized shoe cabinet"

today is 2nd of september, and i realized that i had the above saved as draft all along, since april, but given the part about 4 weeks left, i think i actually wrote this around july, then saved it again. after reading it now, i am not sure how i wanted to end it, and what the whole point of the post was about. i even forgot about it. very typical of preggie me. so much for keeping "some sort of journal as a memento for my kid about my pregnancy journey". but hey, at least i did write something.

my mentor and fat ole me, in universal studios, and just a few weeks to d-day.. ha

new age family bonding

it's been quite a while...

...and now i'm adding to my "it's been quite a while" collection again, despite proclaiming in the earlier post with the same title that "the next post will not share the same title as this one". well, technically, the next post didn't share the same title. haha.

agrh, i'm just making excuses for myself. i'm dangerously falling into the patten of blogging only in august, march and august, and therefore before february ends, i thought i should post something.

between then and now, quite a few things happened, but i will just narrow it down to one for this post.

my little one started school on Jan 4!! the event and exclamation marks should trigger excitement, but it was more agonizing than anything else for me and LX.

even before school started, we needed prep work for LX. we gave her lots of pep talks:

big girl talk: "Le Xuan is a big girl now, so she must be brave to be in school on her own, without mommy and daddy okay? okay?? being brave means no crying like a baby, okay? OKAY??"

show the perks: "school would be so FUN!! there are lots of toys and activities like drawing to do!!" and of course the biggest perk of all: "there's a very BIG PLAYGROUND in school!!"

we even offered incentives: "mommy will bring you for some ice-cream after class okay?"

all points needed persistent reiteration. the first two from me to her, and the last one from her to me. whatever it took to work. we kept our fingers crossed.

finally, the big week came. i took morning leave from the office for the whole week. for the first two days LX didn't cry, and she tried out most of the activities that were laid out at the table. encouraging. but i think it was because i was allowed to sit in one corner of the class, and the entire session was only 45 minutes for both days. she would often stop what she was doing for a while to cast glances in my direction to make sure i was still around.

the third day was the challenge, as i was no longer allowed to sit in class. to up-size the challenge, LX scrapped her knee on the way to school. therefore before we even arrived, LX was already crying on top of her lungs. we made a dramatic entrance with me carrying her and rushing into school, screaming for antiseptic and plaster. after her knee was taken care of, class proceeded. LX cried through out the whole session. she was the only one crying. it was so bad that one teacher had to carry her throughout, and to make up for the lost headcount, they roped in another teacher into the class. i took comfort that the class was only 45 minutes too, and that her wails didn't invite any sympathetic crying from the other kids.

on day 4, LX came down with a temperature and didn't make it to school. day 3 must have been really bad.

we went back to school on day 5, and this round was the full session. the folks were also not allowed to wait inside the school to watch, so all of us either hanged around in the lobby area, or went out for walks. it was an agonizing wait for me (3 hours!!) and the first 4 days had taken their toll on me. i was pale with morning sickness and probably frothing at the mouth as i slumped on the same bench the whole time. one kind mom even offered to walk across the street to get me a bottled drink.

finally i could start counting down when the door creaked open. the deputy administrator's head poked out and she signaled only for me to go in. an ominous feeling of doom loomed. she asked me about LX's scrapped knee and hastily tried to explain something to me. it was kinda incoherent and i lost interest when i recognized LX's cries. doom was an understatement. LX fell down at the playground and scrapped the same spot. we made a dramatic exit with me carrying her and rushing home.

this sums up the whole week of school, but it wasn't over. LX complained constantly about her knee, refused to bathe because the water would sting the wound, showed her plastered knee to anyone who cared to listen, and then the next week, she fell of the top of the steps in the playground (again). memorable.

but as usual, i should end off on a happy note. here's the picture of her enjoying her $21.90 treat: