Relocation

Today is the "first" day of Leia staying with her "koh poh" (maternal aunty) once again during the daytime while I'm at work.

Her "ah ma" (grandma) was released from this task officially yesterday evening. Great relief as it was really taxing on my mom who has been caring for her for the last 3 months when aunty was in Australia. You see , my mom is not a full-time home-maker. She runs her own business at night with my father. So you can imagine how many hours of sleep my mom had each day... With her hypertension soaring high, thank God that aunty is back!

So yesterday evening, we moved Leia's "second home" - again.

All readily packed by "ah ma"


"Leia, let's go now"

"Papa, can I help?"

The cot is set up!

A close-up shot taken by my 11-year old cousin - his first-time

The distance between my aunty's house and our house and working places are quite far. During peak hours, ie: before and after office hours, it could take me an average of minimum 1 hour to get to her place from my office. Oh, I certainly don't enjoy getting caught in bumper-to-bumper jam everyday. Unnecessary stress...! The good news is... it will be over soon! To be exact, 27th November will be the last day! Phew....!

Never ever shake a baby!

Overwhelming sad emotion enveloped my heart as I read a forwarded email by my friend about a 3 month-old baby girl who passed away due to parental negligence/abuse. Her life was cut short by SBS (Shaken Baby Syndrome)...


Her name is London Marie Sherwood. This innocent, beautiful baby girl was left in the custody of her young dad by the mom. Out of frustration in managing first time helpless baby, he shook her so roughly that it has caused severe internal organs damage to her. I have enclosed an url here that links you to a website that explained the details.

On December 4th, 2007, Jessica Sherwood had to do something no mother should ever have to do. At 2:29 pm Jessica made a very tough decision to take her little 3 month old daughter off life support

This is what Jessica said:
'If anyone has kids, make sure that you keep them with you the whole time. Don't give them to anyone that you don't trust. Trust me, I thought that I trusted Josh (the father).

But now as of December 4, 2007 at 2:29 AM, she is gone. My one & only baby . & He is going to pay FOREVER, even if he gets out of jail scott free, he will be dead no matter what.

& To all my friends that know London , I am very angry & upset that I lost the love of my life, my babygirl. She died on her three month birthday . London had six fractured ribs, both of her legs were fracture, & her brain was so damaged that if she were to live she would be a vegetable. So I did what was right & what was best for her & took her off life support.

That's what you call Shaken Baby Sydrome [SBS]

Parents, please take some time to reflect - our own parenting journey thus far and how best can we give to our children? Especially our time and our attention which money can't buy...

Stand up...

Leia has been real busy practising her standing skill. Nowadays, she won't sit still quietly for more than 3 minutes!

Lastnight, we visited her "cho cho" (great-grandmother) from Parit Buntar at "koh-poh"(aunty)'s home near our house. It was such great fun for her. Many aunties and cousins were waiting to play with her. This girl hardly cries when she sees unfamiliar faces. Instead, she stares. So, after the warm-up or staring session was over, she began to feel more comfortable to explore her surroundings.

Within seconds, she's crawling and climbing everywhere.

Her "kong kong"(grandpa) has to be the bodyguard while mommy snapped her pictures.

"Yippee! I reached to the top!"

Leia's and grandma's highlight of the day!

Can you believe that this cheerful-looking baby has had a fever this early afternoon? Highest temperature recorded was 37.8 degree celcius.



Based on my past 2 experiences (yes, thank God that this baby hardly falls sick), this is not considered high. Her first time fever reached 42! (Yeah, you can bet this mom newbie was worried sick then) Doctors and nurses have assured me before that it is only considered high fever when the temperature hits 40. Anything below 37 is normal. So, at 37.8 - I diagnosed it as slight fever. But she was grumpy though. Refused her "moi" (hokkien word for porridge) - unusual sign that confirms she was not well.

And my mom - being the panicky person over small, trivial matters got extremely worried. Especially when Leia rejected her favourite drink - milk though still feeling hungry. A double confirmation. And to make matters worse, Leia's incessant crying (triple confirmation) sent my mom frantically looking for help.

So, there I was - working in my office when my phone rang. Not one time but many, many times. It was mom.

I almost wanted to pack my laptop and rush home to rescue, both Leia and mom. The sick baby and the panic-stricken mom. But then I managed to stop myself. Relax... give my mom a chance to manage the situation. Besides, I was sure that my sis-in-law was already at her side helping her out. So, I called home to check on both a bit later. And you know what I found out?

Everything turned out fine. Mom handled the "crisis" pretty well. Leia was given panadol syrup (as per my approval...) and went to sleep. She drank her milk later. Within less than a minute thereafter... she's being her old self again - happily running around in her walker and "talking" loudly to her "kong kong" (hokkien word for grandpa), "ah ma" (grandma) and "kim kim" (aunty).

The moral of the story is...