Joel wants more attention

Joel seems to know that his mom is going to have a baby. Recently, he always stick to his mother, he wants his mother to feed him, rock him to sleep, play with him, hug him... He wants his mom in everything.

Last Monday morning at around 3am, Joel suddently woke up, and he wants to play, he wanted to play with his mom... Since I promised SyinNi to let her have more sleep at night, I tried to play with him alone, but he wanted his mom.... So, SyinNi ended up awake, and we play with him until 5am.

The funniest thing is that, when SyinNi wanted to go to washroom, he cried cause he thought mummy is leaving him... May sounds warming, but it's actually a bit tiring...

Joel's 1st X'mas

There's a mini X'mas gathering for some of our relatives yesterday... Almost everyone came, we had games, good chat, more games, presents, hamper... And Joel seems to be the centre of attraction there...

Everyone wants to hug him, and he lets everyone to, just that the only comment ppl made was, he is so cool... For the whole day, my youngest uncle tried to make him smile, and he only manage to do it twice...

Well, what I figure out about Joel is that he loved to be the centre of attraction, but he is very cool to 'new people' that he meets.... But once he's comfortable with that person, he'll laugh and laugh, play and play, until you feel tired... He is so energetic...

There's a saying from one of SyinNi's family friend, Mrs Chong... If you put an old man in a crowd, no one will entertain him... But if you put a baby there, everyone seems to focus on him...

Our Joel is going to be a brother.

Well, we look at Joel, all we can say is "Ang Gu Gu", although he responded, but we don't know what he's talking about.

Then we think, "He must be very lonely." And we decided to have another baby.

Strange enough, Joel has been acting quite differently recently, when he wanna sleep, he would make a lot of noise, even with his eyes close. We suspect because he knows mummy is going to have a baby, and he scared we ignore him.

I'm very happy, very enthusiast, very thrill, because I am going to be a father "again". And now, I know I have to work harder.

And with what we've been through, we know that with a newborn baby next year, and a 1.5 year old Joel. It will be more difficult than it is now. Well, again... We are very happy, very thrill, very enthusiast.

Joel was trying to talk...

I'm sorry that I didn't update this blog for quite some times. Too busy with my new job, didn't even stop for a while to enjoy the process of becoming a father.

Until I saw this video that SyinNi took, Joel will pass motion once a day, and we have to 'help' him by doing the 'um-um' sound for him. But this time, Joel thought mummy is playing and talking with him... And he responded...

I wonder when will he call me papa... What will be his 1st word. Papa or mama.

4 days of fatherhood

Being a father really isn't an easy task. When we got home on 30th March morning, we were so busy, Joel was so tired, he slept, cried when his diaper goes dirty-dirty or when he is hungry.

Joel was active during night, 12am to 7am... I need to learn to change diapers, wipe his diaper area, make his milk, feed him, then help him to 'buang angin', to sing, and to rock him to bed.

It's not as easy as it sounds as you need to be quick, because normally, when he cried, he wants milk, after his feed, he'll do his business, then he wants people to sayang only go to sleep. He'll cry and cry until he's attended to, so, to make sure he don't get sick because of crying too much, you have to be quick, real quick because he'll get louder and louder.


We normally wrap him with towels, from shoulder to toe. On 30th night, he cried because he wet his diaper, I needed to get up and clean it as fast as I can, and in the process, his right glove slipped off, with his right hand free, he scratched his cheek...
I was so worried, I wake every mom is the house (SyinNi, SyinNi's mom, my mom) to look at it... They said it's ok, sometimes baby can scratch themselves... But I felt so bad because that was my 1st night as father... Luckily the pediatrician also said it's ok... I was so afraid that he'll look like a pirate...

Joel's appetite is getting bigger and he is getting more naughty. The 1st day, he drank 1 ounce of milk, 2nd day he drank 2 ounces, and at this moment, he is drink 2.5 ounces... I'm not sure who he looks like, but surely, he eats like me... And looks more like me now, because he becomes fatter.Last night was terrible, I didn't mange to sleep at all. He woke up to drink every 2 and half hours. To prepare his milk, I need 5mins, to feed him I need an average of 30mins, to make him burp, I need another average of 15mins. Then to change his diaper, I need at least 15mins. Put him to sleep, wash the milk bottle. It took me around 1 and half hours to be able to lie down.

But that's not it, because just after his milk, he'll urine, that's why need to change diaper, but around 15 to 30 mins after his milk, he'll pass motion. So, I can only lie down for around 15 to 30 mins. Then have to wake up to change his diaper again. And it took me around 15 mins to do that again. Another hour is gone. And it's time for his next feed.....

29th March is....

Some events happened today in the past.
29th March 1886 - Dr. John Pemberton brews the first batch of Coca-Cola in a backyard in Atlanta, Georgia.
29th March 1999 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes at 10006.78 – above the 10,000 mark for the first time ever.

Some important men borned today in the past.
29th March 1790 - John Tyler, 10th President of the United States.
29th March 1799 - Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
29th March 1900 - John McEwen, 18th Prime Minister of Australia.
29th March 1973 - Marc Overmars, Dutch footballer, ex- arsenal player, ex-barcelona player.

And on 29th March 2008 - Joel Tan Chee Wen was born. Although he is not a president of a country nor a famous footballer, yet. He is my son, my 1st son.

Joel was born on 29th March 2008, 4.46am, at Rafflesia Medical Center, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. So, in lunar year, he is a 'Earth Rat'. In western horoscope, he is 'Aries'. Don't bother to read the personalities of him either as an Earth Rat or Aries, because his personalities is shaped by how SyinNi and I raise him, and not by when he is born.

I went to the labor room with SyinNi, I saw how hard it is for a woman to deliver a child. SyinNi deliver Joel with natural delivery. If you know SyinNi, you'll know that she's very gentle and soft kind of person, but she managed to 'squeeze' all her strength to deliver Joel.

I once complained to my father, that why there's only songs about mother, with the most famous one, "The world only got mother is the best", (Direct translation from chinese). But now, I know why, it should be that way, if only I knew how hard it is to deliver a child, I wouldn't complain.

We went to hospital to check at 9.30pm, 28th March 2008. Because we found out that the contraction was quite consistant. I stayed there with SyinNi, I moved my bed side to side with SyinNi, I offer my hand for her to squeeze when contraction came, my sleep was never deep, ever interupted, but that is the less that I can do.

At 2am, 29th March 2008, the contraction pain was so immense. That is when we enter the labor room, and the real pain started. There are a lot of times when SyinNi kept on saying she can't make it, but I'm glad I was there to encourage her.

Joel was delivered at 4.46am, 29th March 2008. The first look on him really touch me, he shook my heart, he shook my world, I was so touched, I had tears at the corner of my eyes. I'm glad I was there to participate Joel's birth.

We stayed in that hospital until 30th March, 9.30am. I didn't leave SyinNi's side, I stayed there in that room all along. We slept there, we ate there, we chit-chat there. But I always go to the nursery to peek on little Joel, just to see that he is sleeping soundly.

I've uploaded so photos in my flickr account(click to enter) and dear friends, if you are done reading this, I have a small request, if you will. Leave a comment or I would say, a wish for Joel.

I'm coming....

This morning, SyinNi shows symptoms of labour. We went to Dr. Ramesh, after he did some checking, he said not yet, but soon... How soon??? "Maybe tonight, maybe tomorrow, or day after tomorrow, no one knows." He said.

And now, it's 8.53pm, SyinNi said she experience some contractions late afternoon just now. And so, we timed the interval between each contraction, and the duration of each contraction for an hour. We timed it since 7.40pm, and it's so consistent, time interval between each contraction is 6 mins, every contractions last about 45-50s, for an hour.

We've decided to go to the Rafflesia Specialies Center at 9pm, and now, I'm here waiting for the time, while SyinNi's resting for a long 'fight'... I'm so excited. I'm so thrill, the result of 9 months pregnancy is just around the corner... I don't know what to say now, so excited and so scared.

I'll upload Baby Joel's photo as soon as possible.