With so many night vigils spent nursing Nathan, I've had plenty of time to think and ponder over things. Every day I marvel at how much he is growing, yet how tiny and helpless he still is, clinging to me for every need. Before this, I often wondered how I would be able to have the strength to sacrifice sleep to tend to my baby... no more 8-hour sleeps and no more sleeping late in the morning. But it's amazing, the strength and tenacity just comes and you do what you need to do when the time comes. The other thing I sometimes think about is how I had wondered how I would have the strength to go through the pain of labour. Like many girls, I used to agonise over the little details of what you had to go through... the contractions, the blood, the exhaustion... but I did it and now I know what it means when a mother says "once the baby is in your arms, the pain is forgotten". So I decided to journal my experience, not to freak out the yet-to-be-mums out there, but so I w...

Thought I'd take a short break from Nathan updates and show you what's new around the house. Hubs has been keeping himself busy in between helping with the baby and the household chores doing the garden, assembling furniture and one of the big highlights is the wooden decking in our alfresco area... all fully DIY assembled in just 2 hours!!! I love it! We also got a screen installed to block out the sun, dust and insects... so the alfresco area now really feels like another extension to the house. Here's a closer view of the floor decking material... We just need to wait for the decking material to settle after 6 weeks, then all we need to do is to apply a coat of decking oil and this section of the house will be done. In the meantime, the area is already nice, clean and pleasant to walk on and hang-out in.

A few months back, when we were eagerly anticipating the arrival of our new family addition, I lamented the fact that it would mark the end of an era... the era of 'just the two of us' . Would it mean the end of weekend morning pillow talks and slow breakfasts? Well for the past couple of weeks, it certainly seemed so. But this morning at 6am after a long night of back to back nursing, I found myself too exhausted to get out of bed to pick Nathan up for his feed. So hubs got up and brought him to me to nurse in bed. After Nathan drifted off to sleep, hubs and I just lay there... chatting softly and looking quietly at Nathan lying there between us. Although I could barely keep my eyes open, it seemed like a perfect moment in time with the three of us in bed cuddling and nuzzling together. So although it will no longer ever be 'just the two of us'... I've discovered that 'two plus one' is so much more amazing!

Following my last post, I thought it was about time I posted something a bit more cheerful to let you guys know that not everything I’m going through is so bluey and down. Despite the physical discomfort of my wounds (which has been easing day by day) and the sometimes long nights, it’s been absolutely delightful to discover new things about Nathan each day. Fresh and clean after a bath All tuckered out after some tummy time One on one time with daddy Quietly alert after morning feed I know every parent probably thinks this about their baby, but isn’t my boy just one of the handsomest cutest little babies in the world?

Had a follow up appointment at the hospital today to check my progress. Unfortunately I left feeling very discouraged over the fact that my stitches were not healing as quickly as they should due to a gap left in the seam of stitches I had to have after my labour. I'm very much aware that this thing is probably a very trivial matter in the grand scheme of things, but isn't it sometimes the seemingly little things that get under our skin the most? They midwives were very sympathetic over the pain and discomfort I was going through. They consulted the doctor who said at this stage they could not restitch it or do anything else except for me to take antibiotics, keep the wound clean and dry and let it heal slowly by itself. When they said it could take at least another two weeks for the gap in my stitches to heal, I just lost it. The thought of having to go through another two weeks of discomfort, limited mobility and plain inconvenience was just horrible. It was just an added bur...

I know, I know... yet another long hiatus from this blog. But as some of you know, a lot of pretty exciting things have happened in recent days. The most significant being the arrival of little fella... After a long and arduous journey which started around 6.30pm on Christmas Eve when my water broke, Baby Nathan finally made his appearance at 4.28pm on Christmas Day. I'm not sure if I should share my birth story as I know it can really put some girls off. I myself never appreciated those 'horror story' tales of birthing. But as cliche as this next phrase is, the tough ordeal is just one small part of the entire journey to parenthood and the memory of the pain soon fades away. During the labour I reminded myself of this phrase my friend Irene shared once: "This too shall pass" and indeed it did. Today marks the one week milestone for Nathan's life on earth. It's been a constant learning experience for both Nathan and us, and we're doing our best to cher...

I guess it’s about time for another garden update. Mum always asks about how the beetroot plants, tomatoes and other plants are doing almost every time she calls. So since pictures paint a thousand words… Here is hubby’s latest addition to the vege patch. Definitely a good idea now that the blazing hot summer heat is upon us. The grapes are growing steadily. Not quite ready yet but they look like they’re on the right track. The cherry tomatoes are looking exceedingly gorgeous. We’ll be harvesting them next. Because today’s focus was on the beetroot. Hubby wanted me to show this next picture to show just how much he’s had to endure with keeping the caterpillars and pests in check. Things could have looked a lot worse than this had it not been for his constant warfare against those pesky critters. Here they are peeking from underneath their leaves. Get ready to die!!! First victim. They’re not very big because we decided we’d better harvest them before...

So yesterday was my last day at the office and I am now officially on maternity leave. 8 days to EDD. The number one FAQ I get at this stage is: so how do you feel? Well, I'd sum it up in three main points... #1. Surreal. Even at 38 weeks I still struggle to grasp the whole concept that I am going to be a mum to an actual little boy. I still have moments when I pause and think that maybe this is all just my imagination. And then I feel a little kick. That pretty much jolts me back to the 'realness' of what's happening now. #2. Undecided. You'd think I'd have everything all settled and planned out nicely. But even at this second, I'm worrying about things like sleeping arrangements (separate nursery or co-sleeping?), birth plan (go with the full works or tough it out?), heck I was so undecided about whether to have a baby shower until I reached the stage where I was just too tired to plan one. #3. Completely inadequately prepared. As I flick through various ...

Now that we’re well into December, I think it’s safe to start taking about Christmas and sending out Christmas greetings and wishes. Our Christmas tree is up again… And over the weekend, as the picture below illustrates I’ve launched into baking-frenzy mode… Hubby found the assortment of little gingerbread men too cute for words... no words required anyway, he just popped one of these babies into his tummy. This is the recipe I used The gingerbread cookie dough is not difficult to make. The most time consuming part for me was cutting out the gingerbread men shapes. Although I had a cookie cutter, the warm weather made the cookie dough turn soft and oily very quickly, so I had to refrigerate the dough in between 'rolls' before I cut out another batch of cookies. The part I enjoyed most was decorating the little men. I said to hubby that I wish I could get all the little men pre-shaped and pre-baked so I could just focus solely on decorating an endless array of t...

I have not posted an updated related to my cooking escapades for a while, so I thought to share one of the cooking projects I undertook over the weekend: Presenting… Hakka Thunder' Tea Rice or Lui Char Fan Growing up I’ve had the privilege to enjoy lots of yummy traditional Hakka dishes like pak cham kai, ngiong tew foo and kiu nyuk… but in all my years, I’ve never tasted or even heard of this thunder tea rice. I came across the dish and recipe on Table for 2 and found it so intriguing. The fact that it was a Hakka speciality peaked my interest even more. So I rolled up my sleeves and just dove into it. The recipe wasn’t actually difficult but was just a bit methodical as it required quite a bit prep time for each condiment There is also a special ‘tea soup’ base to prepare, which was basically whizzing up an assortment of herbs and condiments. To serve, you just scoop in some rice into a big bow and arrange all the condiments around it, mix some hot water with the ‘...