Preparations for our Trip to Singapore.

This Friday is a National Holiday- Tomb Sweeping Day and Gong-Gong, Ama and us are going to visit my older brother Joe and his family in Singapore. That means alot of preparation from clothes, formula, bottles, diapers etc. Imanaged to get a good start on it but Ethan had other plans. He's been having a bit of an upset tummy and now has the runny poos which have caused his bum to match the color of a red chili pepper. Poor Guy. He of course is unfazed by any of it (and is his happy go lucky self) except during nappy changes. Gong Gong went to get him some more tummy and runny poo medicine from the pediatrician for the trip just in case. Then in between packing, there were numerous diaper changes, a runny poo medicine feeding, a bottle feeding and then he fell asleep only to be woken up by me to give him his tummy medicine. This, made him sick all over his Grobag, his onsie, blankets, the bed and the floor. He wasn't happy at first but once everything was out, he was back to his happy self. Of course, I gave him the medicine at 11:30pm he needed bathing, clean up the sick and did laundry. Just great, since we need his blankets and Grobag for Singapore so hopefully they will be dry by this afternoon. (For those of you who don't know what a Grobag is: http://www.gro-group.co.uk/grobag/brands/babysleepingbags/) Soon we were both nestled in bed and I was left to wonder how only a 3 day trip could possible require so much stuff! I'm worried i've forgotten something but we will just have to pick up whatever I forgot over there. We leave today at 5:30pm from Taipei and it will be Ethan's first ever plane ride. Guess this will be a good preview as to how things will go when we go to the UK to join daddy. We are all very excited!!!!

Happy 11th month birthday Ethan!

Happy 11 months Ethan!!! I can't believe that it has been 11 months since our baby boy has been in this world. This time last year, I was on my home from the ob/gyn with the prescription of bedrest since Ethan decided to try to come early. He is an absolute joy everyday. On the eve of his 11month birthday, Ethan wasn't feeling so good. Since the crawling contest, he hasn't been that hungry and would wake up crying very loudly. His breath was a little sour but since he was still pretty energetic and happy, I didn't think much of it. I thought it might be because he was frightened by all the noise and chaos of the race , the mozzie bite he has or teething. Yesterday, after picking Ethan up from the Asung's, she asked me to take Ethan to see the pediatrician since he still wasn't sleeping very well and his appetite hadn't returned. I also noticed that he was very quiet in the car and no babbling. There was only a small "aha" when we went over his favorite bridge on the way back home. (While going over the bridge, he will usually burst into excited "ah- haha's" and madly flap his arms) just but not this time. We met Gong Gong at our place, and to the pediatrician. It turns out that Ethan has tummy gas which has been the case since he was only a few months old. We were worried it might be from the new foods he's been eager to eat but the doc said he could continue to eat whatever he wants. Ethan was very angry and upset when the doc stuck the tongue depressor in his mouth and then followed with the ear thermometer. After a few cuddles, he settled down, we got his medicine and went home. He must have known the medicine would help since he drank it from a thimble sized cup right away. No fuss. Gong Gong and I were both stunned that within literally 15 minutes, he was getting his energy back. Then within the hour, he was asking for "um um" which means he's hungry and he downed that bottle in record speed and let out a very satisfying burp. Afterwards, we read books on the bed ( well, he bit them and tried to tear the pages) and then the babbling came and never stopped. Yay! Ethan was back! He pretty much babbled himself until he fell asleep (which happened in about 10 minutes since he hadn't been sleeping well ) and we both had a great sleep. He woke up himself around 1:30pm for some more medicine, some water and back to sleep until 4:30am , when he was hungry for his bottle. He was still sleeping as I got him dressed and drove to the nanny's and didn't wake up when I put him down on her bed. I'm sure he's up to his usual happy antics. Glad he's feeling better. I wonder if the gas could be from him crawling all over the place and then sticking his thumbs and fingers into his mouth... mind you we've been pretty good about wiping and washing hands. Hmmm...

Ethan in crawling contest

This Saturday, I was in a crawling contest. I had a really good sleep and just woke up right before the race. When we got to the store, we had to register and there was alot of noise and lots of people. I wasn't sure what was going on. I was number 17 out of 40 crawlers. Each race had 4 crawlers so I was in the 5th race. Mom, Gong- Gong and Samantha came to cheer me on. Just as I was about to race, San Jeh (Third sister), the third daughter of the Asung (our nanny) came to the store with her two boys so we knew that I would have a good chance cuz I like San Jeh alot. Mommy and I got ready at one end, then San Jeh and the two boys were at the opposite end cheering me on. When the lady said go, I started crawling towards a cell phone that was the encouragement toy for crawler 18 but soon I started to focus only to have my milk bottle fall on my head from mommy's backpack, so of course I stopped and started crying. That's when crawler 18 took the lead. With mommy, San Jeh and the boys encouragement, I soon got moving again and when crawler 18 stopped, sat down and started crying, I stopped too to look at them but I knew this was to my advantage so I started crawling again after mommy put me back on all fours. Soon , I took the lead!!!!! Yay! I won. In the video, you have to keep looking at the right side. There is a man who blocks the camera but then moves out of the way but if you keep looking, you can see mommy crawling behind me and San Jeh and the boys cheering me on. Later mommy rubs my head because she didn't realize that the bottle had actually dropped on my head!! We didn't stay until the semi finals and finals because of all the noise plus the prize was a big pack of Libero nappies which I don't use because i'm a Pampers boy. Not to mention, it's always good to leave while you are ahead!!! In any case, we had a consulation prize of laundry detergent, sample rice cereal packets and bath soap samples. Plus one Libero nappy which was too small for me. So here is my winning race!