Counting down to the final days of my part-time work. Come July and I'll be working full-time. At least when I'm working 4 days a week, I get to have 3 day weekends at home with little bun (and get to clear some housework so that the weekends are kept free for family time). Don't know how I'm going to cope with working 5 days a week.

Little Bun is 8 Months Old!!

Champion turns 8 months old today!!! Little bun has reached all his developmental milestones right on cue and he's recently started crawling. Mark and I are also suspecting that he may be teething very soon (excess drooling, restlessness at night, etc). It's a joy to see his little diapered-bum raised high in the air while he is trying to co-ordinate himself and move forward (backwards sometimes).

His newly-acquired crawling skills is making us busier than usual because it means that we cannot leave him unattended anymore. 2 days ago, little bun almost crawled himself off our bed. I managed to grab onto his thigh in the nick of time. That was a really close shave cos our bed is higher than usual as we have a thicker mattress (getting a thick mattress seemed like a good thing when we first bought it, but now I wish we had gotten something 'normal'). I'd have hated myself if little bun fell off the bed right under my nose (and Mark would have given me hell)!

In other news, we have started little bun on formula milk about 2 weeks ago and while it took a while for him to like this new taste, he's now doing a lot better and accepting it more readily. Currently we are still mixing it. We started off with 10% formula; 90% breastmilk, and we are now at 50% formula; 50% breastmilk. I'd have loved to be able to continue giving him breastmilk till he is 1 year old, but alas... having a job means I don't have the luxury of expressing the breastmilk 2 times a day while I am in the office. Supplies have also diminished because I am not expressing as often as I'd like to. **sigh** 8 months is nowhere near my target of 1 year, but my only consolation is I managed to meet the minimum target that I have set at 6 months.

Lucas Lee - 4th Year Anniversary

Today is Father's Day, it is also the 4th year anniversary of the day we bid goodbye to Lucas. Mixed feelings... Whenever I see a little boy that's around the age that Lucas would have been if he's here with us, I always wonder how my firstborn would look like. When I look at little bun, I wonder if he looks like his big brother. I wonder if Lucas would love his little brother. I imagine the scene of Lucas holding little bun in his arms with the joyful pride of a big brother.

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Dearest Lucas,

It's been 4 long years already since you've gone, but somehow I can still sense your presence around me still. It's a strange feeling, but on some occasions when I am alone, I feel that I am not really 'alone'... I feel that you are around me and it gives me a calm, peaceful feeling knowing that you are with me and watching over me.

Your little brother is now sharing your room... we hope you don't mind. When he's bigger, I promise to teach him to keep it neat and tidy.  Yes, he does make a mess sometimes but mummy does try her best to neaten it up everytime after the 'tornado' hits. =)  I hope you like your little brother (despite the noise and mess that he creates!!). I know that you'd have made a #1 big brother to little bun and he'd love to have you as his big brother.

Still missing you dearly...

With all my love,

Mummy (& Daddy too)



Father's Day 2012

Little bun's Father's Day card to his Daddy and his Grandpa... This is an early Father's Day post because tomorrow is Lucas' 4th anniversary and I want to save the post for him.

Little bun: "Quick fasten your seatbelts... I am sending you to work today, Momma!"

Poor little bun got so bored while waiting for his Mummy to get herself ready for work... He dozed off while waiting despite the fact that he only just woke up barely 30 minutes ago! (Or it could be the lullabies that were playing from the green stuffed doggie from Leapfrog that he's holding that were making him drowsy??)

I bought little bun a set of board books (hoping to instill a love for reading) in him from young. The first one I handed him was the one on 'Pets', and he immediately flipped to the page on dogs!! He stared at the pictures for a while before getting bored and decided that the book may taste better than it looks. Hmmmm...

Mark sent this photo to me on one of the nights which I was working overtime in the office. Made my heart go 'awwww'... and made me question myself. What the f*ck was I doing in the office when my son was waiting for me back at home???!!!!

Barely 2.5 months into starting work, I am already planning my 'retirement'. How can I have the best of both worlds, i.e. spend every moment with little bun and yet be financially independent and be able to save up for his future?

There is something I really love about this seemingly random photo. I love how soundly my little baby is sleeping (after one of our weekend shopping mall jaunts). Most of all, I love how he rested his hand on me..  I was holding onto him and he in turn, was holding onto me.

During the few days when I was away in Bangkok for my business trip, Mark and I did a few video calls. Little bun was grinning away when he heard/ saw me on the screen... Technology is a double-edged sword cos on one hand, I was so happy to see my little boy but on the other hand, seeing him 'there' without me made me sad (and guilty). 

  

What annoyed and saddened me most was during the 4 days that I was away, little bun learnt to sit without support!!! I missed this milestone... and truth be told, if I continue to work, there'd be more milestones that I'd miss out on. His first crawl, first step, etc...