It's unbelievable...our First-born is ELEVEN years old today.
Our role as Mummy and Daddy officially began 7 hours + 11 years ago when our First Princess made her way into this world. It's unbelievable how incredibly fast time has flown past. Our First Princess is fast approaching her teenage years.
Going back down memory lane ... not knowing that we were about to welcome our first-born on 1 July 2000, I had single-handedly indulged in almost an entire tub of Haagen Daaz Cookies and Cream the night before. Apart from a slight spotting the next morning, nothing else seemed unusual as we made our way to SJMC for our bi-weekly appointment. Little did we know that the next time we returned home, we would be returning home as a family of three.
As soon as we registered ourselves at Dr Christina Tai's clinic, we made our way to the mamak shop opposite SJMC for our usual roti telur breakfast. As Mr T was paying the bill, I suddenly felt a sharp contraction that made me froze in pain. We knew then, that our lives would soon change forever...for the better.
Dr Tai checked me and was rather alarmed to find that my blood pressure was abnormally high. I can still recall that she checked my blood pressure three times, as my blood pressure had always been good. She had asked if i was feeling panicky, apprehensive, etc....I assured her I wasn't. I started feeling a little worried though, when she told the first-time parents that she had to induce me by breaking the water-bag to check whether there was any meconium as that would be a sign that baby was in distress). As we were wheeled into the labour room, Mr T called his parents, the first-time grandparents-to be, to inform him that their grandchild would be due at anytime that day. Likewise, I also called my Mama and Papa to inform them that I was on the way to the labour room.
The breaking of my water-bag was as painful as the contractions itself! Mr T and I recalled the moment that Dr Tai broke my water-bag. I was groaning in pain, going "Owwwwwww! Owwwwwww! Owwwwwww!" when Dr Tai asked Mr T "Why is she groaning?". Mr T's plain and simple answer was "PAINFUL-LAH!"
About 3 hours after that painful procedure, our little bundle of joy was safely in our arms. We had chosen not to know the sex of our baby during our pregnancy. That must have been an uncommon choice as most parents would know the sex of their baby as soon as their baby was gungho enough to show off their genitalia on the scan! So when our little bundle of joy was born, it wasn't like what you see in the movies when after all that pushing and oohhhhs and ahhhhhs, the doctor proudly proclaims "You have a beautiful baby boy/girl" during the handover ceremony to the new parents. As Dr Tai snipped off the umbilical cord, it was Mr T who whispered lovingly in my ears "It's a girl". My first question (as with all my other babies ) was "Has she got 10 fingers and 10 toes?". The reply came in the form of a loving nod. It was an extremely happy and exciting moment for us all...not only had we officially been promoted to parenthood, but we had also promoted Mr T's parents to the title of DATUK and NENEK.
It was a relatively easy birth (just over 3 hours) as she was a tiny baby at 2.6kg. It took just 2 or 3 pushes before she squiggled her way into this world. Not much has changed in that aspect as she is still really skinnny. And she loves being skinny. She would painstakingly peel off the fat from the chicken or pork befor eating it; the only chicken skin she eats is the roasted chicken rice or the grilled honey teriyaki chicken that she loves.
Right at the time of her birth eleven years ago, I had just picked Skinny from her school. We "high-fived" and I recollected to her what Mummy and Daddy were doing 11 years ago. Skinny wasn't too good at nursing from Mummy's natural milk factory. She would suckle for a few minutes before falling into deep slumber. Before long, the milk factory had to cease operations as there as not enough stimulation and I was not determined enough at that time. Skinny was a very reliable alarm clock for the first few months of her young life, waking up at precisely every 3 hours for her milk.
Skinny was a very good baby; she didn't cry excessively and was quite easy to care for. If friends or relatives wanted to carry her, she would be more than happy to oblige. I learnt a lot during that first couple of months. For the first time in my life, I learnt to bathe a new-born baby (I particular enjoyed this bonding time with all my babies), fold nappies, wash dirty, smelly nappies... I learnt to steadily hold a scissors to those tiny fingers to trim their nails...to cut hair on a sleeping baby...I enjoyed watching our little new-born sleep and play with her angels in her sleep...ohh....and the baby-smell was just heavenly.
For her 11th birthday, our Princess gave us her wish list.
Top on the list was her own i-Phone and an i-Pad.
That was immediately crossed out as even Mum and Dad did not own any of those i-Machines!
Next on her wish list were:
1. No reprimanding or scolding by either parent...FULL-STOP.
Status: Successfully negotiated to limiting this wish for her birthday weekend!
2. Buying the satay sold by a satay vendor outside her school was next on her wish list!
[I had strictly limited the number of times she could have the satay on the basis that there was no meat in it; it was just some floury, chewy unidentifiable stuff that looked like satay! Somehow, the school kids just love it!]
Status: Wish fulfilled.
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| The contented birthday girl indulging in her "satay"! |
3. Go swimming, swimming, swimming.
Status: Wish fulfilled.
It was also the first time that the Little Man played in the swimming pool. He loved it and was very upset when it was time to get him out of the pool!
4. Home-Baked Chicken, Ham & Cheese Pie
Status: Scheduled for the upcoming weekend (
once mummy has bought all the ingredients)!
The Birthday Girl had a wonderful surprise in school as her school-friends lavished her with birthday presents. Though there was no birthday party organised this year, her dear friends remembered her birthday. She had a great big bag of pressies when I picked her from school. This attracted the attention of several of her teachers who sent her their birthday greetings!
Unfortunately, I was too slow with the camera and the Birthday Girl was too fast with ripping of the wrappers; hence I only managed to take this picture of the Birthday Girl with one of her presents!
Even the Birthday Girl's sisters and little brother were given pressies by her twin friends!
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| The wrapper says: "Lil' Brother...The First Present" |
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| "Lil' Sisters...Don't Fight...it's the same" |
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| Birthday Girl giving her Little Man his present! |
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| Muhahaha...it's mine! |
Celebration time with the family.....
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| Inner peace...may the Birthday Girl always be blessed.... |
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| A merry, merry birthday bunch of kids! |
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| Holding on even tighter to her Little Man |
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| Posing with our troupe! |
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The Extended T Family
(minus our Enchanted Lady) |
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| Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you... |
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| A proud grandmother and her blushing grand-daughter |
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| May your birthday wish come true... |
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| Proud of you, Darling! |
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| Si Bongkok enjoying her cake! |
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| Moooack....love you jie-jie! |
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| Let me give you a big, fat slobbery kiss! |
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| Arghhhhhh.....NO, Daddy! |
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| Love the Oreo Cheesecake! |
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| How to resist? |
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| Young Chic with Cool Dude! |
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| Say Cheese! |
~ Written from the Heart
by a very happy and proud Mother-of-Four who after 11 years of nappy changing, sleepless night tending to the fevers and nighttime feeds, and dealing with the whims and whines of her troupe, still has much to learn about raising and nurturing her bambinoes! They nurture and mould my character as much as I do theirs!
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| The writer with her merry kids! |
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| Come on, Dear! Enough pictures! Get moving! |
