still with cold

Boo hoo. Jove still suffer from cold and no sign of getting better. He's still cheerful, playful, and active as usual... but his nose is often blocked when he sleeps. We are hoping (and praying) hard that he will be fully recovered this week as we will fly to Singapore next week.

Hubby is currently on a business trip to China and I stayed with mom and sisters. Jove loves it here, being adored by so many women everyday. Hee hee.

sweet recovery

Three of us are just recovered from cold. Yay.

Husband and I had cold since Good Friday. The packed weekend made us worse and little Jove caught the bug on Tuesday. Thanks to his good immune system, his cold was mild and he was recovered on Wednesday night. But these two days and nights have been tough for us. Jove is also teething at the moment (I suspected major teething involving more than two teeth), and the cold made him uncomfortable sleeping. So he woke up often during the night and twice he cried loudly for five minutes, both of us tried everything to calm him to no avail. During the day, he wouldn't sleep lying down, even after being bribed with yummy breastmilk. He only slept in the sling with me singing and swaying around. Even after he was fast asleep in the sling, he would wake up if I put him down. *sigh* I finally gave in and let him sleep as much as he wanted in the sling while I did my stuff.

Jove is also extremely clingy when he is teething. I'm looking forward for brighter tomorrow...

nine month development

Jove changed so fast these past two weeks. He managed to sit by himself one or two days before he turned nine months, now he's already an expert. Pulling himself up to standing position and crawling are also his expertise now. I can not let him out of sight in his awake moments. He wants to go everywhere and touch everything.

Now he looks and pays more attention to the direction or object I point at. He is fascinated by animals, especially fish. He can tell us if he want something by moving his whole body towards the thing and saying uh-uh-uh... and crying loudly if we move away from the wanted thing. He loves to open the freezer and touch the cold ice inside it. He likes to walk in the baby walker and play with the tricycle. The only time he wants to stay still in his stroller is when we walk him outdoor.

He has three teeth now. Two front lower teeth and one front upper tooth. The other one of the front upper teeth is coming out, two weeks after its twin. My mom said the two usually came out together. I've noticed that the upper gum at the sides of the front teeth is swollen, maybe some major teething is coming. The lil guy is usually cranky in his teething period, my cousin said it could be due to the size of his teeth, which is big.

Umm, what else? Oh, it's somehow difficult for him to fall asleep nowadays. A few months ago, I could plop him on the bed with a bolster and a pacifier and he would sleep. As easy as that. Now, he wants to be breastfed or rocked in the sling to sleep. It takes hours too to make him sleep at night. *sigh*

About two weeks ago, I noticed that he covered his face with a blanket. I said peek-a-BOO! He pulled the blanket off his face and smiled. Since then, he enjoys playing peek-a-boo with anyone. Nice surprise for all of us. :)

Happy Easter

Husband and I are having cold throughout the Easter weekend (until now). After successfully deflecting the cold virus for the last few days, Jove is beginning to experience blocked nose this morning. I hope he would not get a full blown cold like us. I read somewhere that breastfed babies have a high immune system, even if they catch cold, they will have a mild one. Let's just hope so.

This Easter, I understand slightly more about the Love that made Him died on the cross. Being a mother has taught me a lot about sacrificing oneself for love. Started with the pregnancy, my freedom was diminishing with the increasing tummy size. Then there was always the labor pain and the sleepless nights that follows. Myself does not come first anymore, now Jove is always on top of my priority list. This process of having and loving my son has made me realise the importance of sacrifice in loving.

Mother Teresa said 'give till it hurts'. If we give something that does not have any value for us, it wouldn't hurt. It would even be easy. The act of loving requires us to give something valuable for us, something that needs some effort to be given.

I wonder a lot of times why God created human in such a way that our human nature made it difficult for us to follow His teachings. We are selfish and He calls us to be selfless. We want to be rich yet He says blessed are the poor. We hate our enemies but He demands us to love them.

Maybe this has something to do with loving Him. Going against our human nature is difficult, maybe it could be a form of sacrifice to show our love.

Happy Easter!

toddle toddle toddle

Aaah, finally finding time to write again! This last week has been hectic. Jove and the parents are entering a new phase as he manages to scoot around the bed easily, grab things, and stand up on his own (while holding on something). I have to watch him really close now. Within the week he has bumped his head hard against the furniture twice, cried hard, and had a swollen bump near his left eyebrow for two days. I, of course, got a long scolding from his grandmother.


Anyway, we went for his measles vaccination last week. The pediatrician announced him to be healthy. Thank God, that's what matter the most. :) He is 9.9kg now. Actually we expected him to exceed 10kg as he was 9.5kg three months ago on his six-month check up. But the pediatrician said that the increase was normal at this age, we would not want him to be a giant, would we?

Jove's nap schedule is also changing now. He is able to stay awake longer and requires only two naps a day, usually he needed three. Still very difficult to fall asleep at night, though. The father has tried to tire him phisically when he came home from work and I've tried to do boring things nearing his bedtime to no avail. After a few minutes latching sleepily on the breast, he would wake up and roam the bed, play with this and that, stand up, then get cranky. I would latch him to the breast again, pat him, and hoping for him to sleep, only to have him wake up and repeat the routine for two or three more times before finally fall asleep.

I could not believe only nine months have passed since I gave birth, Jovan seemed to grow so fast from tiny newborn to chubby baby to active roaming child. Yet I feel that this nine months have passed so swiftly I haven't had time to really sit down and enjoy all the moments.

I'm full of excitement right now, thinking that in a few months time my baby will start walking and talking and I would spend my waking moments chasing him and answering his questions... uh oh... will I have the energy to do all that?

Being a mom is opening your life to paradoxical milestones. Something that excites you can also be something that you dread. You can be happy and sad at the same time. Every milestone that your child achieves will feel your heart with pride and anguish. You're getting nearer to your goal of raising your child to be a person, yet that would mean you're getting nearer to the time your child moves out from your home.

...

Oops, I think I've been too sentimental writing all this. Ha ha. Come on, Jovan is only 9 months old and I'm thinking of him moving out of the house?

Blame it on the mommy hormones.

blue blue sky

Glorious Sunday morning! The three of us went for a morning walk and enjoyed it immensely.


So the disciples went and did as Jesus had told them. They brought the donkey and the colt, then they laid their cloaks on their backs and he took his seat on them. Great crowds of people spread their cloaks on the road while others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them in his path. The crowds who went in front of him and those who followed were all shouting:

Hosanna to the son of David!
Blessed is he who is coming in the name of the Lord!
Hosanna in the highest heavens!

Matt. 21:6-9