What's she up to lately? :p

Candra's 9months old today! :) My girl's growing up..

In the past, when I put her down for her naps and bedtime, I could leave the room and leave her to cry a little before going off to sleep...now I can't do that.. haha. For the past few days, she would remain standing in her baby cot, crying pitifully "mama mama mama" whenever I put her down to bed. She would give me the "mummy, please don't leave me alone" face...which usually melts my heart and cause me to linger a few minutes more before walking out. She's really really adorable.

Now, she'll start crying and behave like a little koala bear trying to run away when I say, "Candra, it's sleeptime".. :) I think she really hates that word.. haha.

For a while, she was rather resistant when we tried to make her sign "please"...but now she does that willingly at times by putting her hand across her chest.. :) I am hoping that she will really learn how to do that more often...cos she loves to scream for more food!

She's been humming all sorts of tunes lately... and we are wondering whether she's actually singing. Sometimes the tune sounds like the "ABC" song... haha!

I am now waiting for the day she can really clap her hands. When we say "clap your hands" (in mandarin), she will usually end up doing "gongxi gongxi"! Looks like she's all geared up to receive angbaos during CNY.

Theme for 2010: Live without regrets

This is my theme for 2010: "To live without regrets".

I don't know whether it is something that comes with age, or the pace of life is just getting faster. I find my days flying by real quickly..year after year, time just passes like that. Christmas comes and goes, CNY comes and goes, and the cycle goes over and over again.

I am finding it even more important nowadays to cherish time with my loved ones. I know that I can never ask for lost time to be returned to me, so the only way to avoid having to look back at my life and regret at some point is to live "today" without regrets.

What does is mean in practical terms to live without regrets? To me, it generally means planning each day before diving into it and successfully keeping all my 2010 resolutions which relate to work, spiritual health, physical health etc.

I have been a procrastinator all my life so far..I hope that I will be able to kick that attitude in days to come. Procrastination is BAD.......time is certainly wasted procrastinating. On many nights, I will look back on my day regretting this or that...I hope to minimise that this year.

God gave us 2010 for a reason! Let's live it to its fullest :)

Out of the negative emotions trap

Phew..I am so thankful that God showed me today that I badly needed to get out of the negative emotions trap. I have been trapped in some negative emotions throughout the past week without really being conscious of them until I started noticing that bad eating habits were returning. Basically, I have been eating more junk, taking more sugars, losing the self-control and discipline when it comes to food. Well well.. that's always a pretty good indication for me that something's off in my life.

yup, negative emotions were the root cause. I picked up this book, "Becoming Who God Intended" by David Eckman again 2 days ago. He says this in chapter 2,

"Many people do not realize that an unhappy heart is easy to tempt...Or to put it in other more positive terms, happy people are hard to tempt. The first element in the mood cycle, unhappiness of some sort, is not there. But temptation is powerfully heightened when the heart is hurting and unhappy. That's the first part of the mood cycle. Then, a desire arises that pulls the person away and the last step is wrongdoing or sin. The order of the cycle is mood, desire and then sin."

For me, negative underlying emotions usually result in a loss of self control in eating habits. Guess it differs from person to person. But well, I am thankful that I had the opportunity to acknowledge all the rubbish before God today and let Him take care of them. Felt so much better after doing that...

I think it takes some practice before we can see the cycles in our lives more quickly. When we are trapped in sins and weaknesses, maybe we should ask ourselves, "do I have any underlying emotional problems?"

How are you doing today? :)

Thanksgiving for little Candra

I want to thank God that...

1. Candra's been keeping a good feed, play, sleep routine

2. She's started to drink more water (This is an answered prayer)

3. Her milk intake's pretty ok

4. She's enjoying her solids (This is also an answered prayer cos I asked God for some creativity to prepare healthy yet enjoyable meals for her..it's not easy :p)

5. She's been keeping her playmat boundaries pretty well

6. She's been doing ok for playpen times

7. She takes well to "no" instructions

8. She doesn't really cry that much

9. She's doing ok with playing on her own with her toys

10. She's happy most of the time and she's growing well

Well.. there are times when her temperament challenges us, especially when she's on the high chair and the changing table...she can be rather impatient at times.. but we are constantly reminded to meditate on her good points.. and it's true that her good behavior most of the time outweighs everything :p Praise the Lord!

"Papa" "Mama"

Candra's making "papa", "mama", "baba", "wa" sounds :)

The first time we heard "mama" from her was a few nights back when she woke up from her sleep at night wailing and wailing... she cried, "mamamamamamama"...

Over the past few days, she's been trying to say "papa"/ "baba"...

The funny thing is, we will usually only get to hear her say "mama" when she is crying...:( And she will say "papa" when she's having fun... ! What does that suggest our different roles in her life? hm..........

She sounds really cute.. we are hoping to capture her on video...but that's super tough.. cos she says those words very spontaneously. By the time you take out the camera, she's done!

HFMD

My dear little one's down with HFMD. This is the first time she's ill.. and it's a rather huge battle. I am really thankful that she's still drinking milk and taking some solids (though lesser than before) and she's surprisingly drinking more H2O these few days. She'd only experienced fever on the very first day, now she's on the road to recovery.

She's been having difficulty sleeping and nursing though. We got to spoon feed her cos she feels pain from the mouth sores. She cries on and off throughout the night... poor thing. Well, I am still grateful that's she taking everything pretty well and she isn't too difficult to take care of.

This first experience of accompanying her through an illness has taught me many precious lessons as a parent. I am so thankful that I read the book "Sacred Parenting" by Gary Thomas. One of its chapter impacted me tremendously because the chapter talks about "pain". As parents, we cannot shelter our children from pain in their lives. We must face pain in their lives with courage and trust that they will just learn to be strong with God's help.

As I watch Candra battle HFMD for the first time, I am constantly reminded to be strong and steady as a mother. I have come to realise that all of us are vulnerable. Candra's life is vulnerable too but God is in complete control. As a parent, many things are completely beyond our control and if we do not know how to turn to God for strength and hope, we will easily become stressed and anxious.

There are lots more to come in the journey of parenthood and I am only at the start of it. I guess God uses parenting to teach us more about humility, faith and reliance on Him in the midst of the uncertainties of life. In the past, I would only have to face uncertainties in my own life, now I have to face those in Candra's life as well.

All in all, I am so grateful for knowing God and enjoying His help in my life. He is in control, always.