Mary's place

Yesterday, we had a curry feast at Mary's place. We had green and red curry with white rice. Mary had also specially prepared for us her favourite mango dessert, which was finger-licking good. Time flies. Both Mary and I were still pregnant when we were having pizza at her place in the last summer. Now, both of our babies are out.

Hmm....that looks good. Can I have some milk too?

......but I don't want your shoe!

Peace, at last! With our little princess sleeping, Mommy and daddy were finally able to play a few rounds of UNO with Mary and little Dane. Even though Dane played with all his cards out in the open, he could still beat all of us. What an amazing boy!

What a 'clean' baby!

Mummy managed to capture a snapshot of baby Sheri cleaning herself with a handkerchief. What a 'clean' baby!

First attempt on solid food

Since baby Sheri is now 4 months old, mummy was very eager to start on solid food. I thougth it would be fun. So yesterday, I decided to make my first attempt. I started with one tablespoon of oatmeal cereal and I mixed it with formula milk. Oh my goodness! It was so messy. Instead of swallowing the food, she pushed her tongue against the spoon. So, most of the cereals ended up not in her mouth, but on her bib and clothes. I persisted for a while, but she became so frustrated that she started crying and grabbing the spoon from me. Looking at her reaction, I guess she is still not ready to start on solid food yet. I guess I have to go back to bottle-feeding again for a week or two before I try again. Hopefully, she will lose the tongue-pushing reflex by then. What a disappointment!

Oh, finally, I can see my toes!

4th month check-up for baby Sheri

Baby Sheri is 4 months old now. Thank you, mummy, for all the milk that you have given me. I am 25.5 inch long (65 cm) and I weigh 14 pd 7 oz (6.5 kg) now. The doctor put me on my tummy to test my neck muscle. Hee hee .....of course, I could lift up my head effortlessly. All thanks to mummy and daddy, for all the tummy time. I was also able to brave through 4 vaccination shots without having any fever. Three cheers for baby Sheri ! Hippy Hurray x 3!

Spring is in the air!

After so many months of being in the depths of winter, the weather is finally getting warmer. Yesterday was beautiful. It was sunny, but it wasn't too hot with temperature hovering at around 70 fahrenheit ( 20 degrees). With such a lovely weather, many people could not wait to get out of their house and engage themselves in some forms of outdoor activities. There were many people at the park. Some of them were biking, jogging and strolling while others brought their grills to the park to barbeque. Everyone was enjoying the beautiful weather that they were waiting for after enduring the cold for a couple of months. It was indeed an entirely different sight in comparision to that in the winter where there was hardly anyone roaming outside and everyone was warmly dressed in their winter outfits. After enduring the scorching heat in Singapore for so many years, I'm more appreciative of the cool weather here. To many of the Singaporeans, we are basically enjoying free air-conditioning outside.

Back to Princeton

Yesterday, we were very happy to be back in Princeton to attend daddy's adviser birthday celebration. Going back to Princeton always brings back fond memories. Mummy used to fly from Singapore to there frequently during the school holidays to spend time with daddy when he was doing his graduate studies in Princeton. More importantly, this is also the place where mummy and daddy registered their marriage. So, of course, we could not miss going back to the restaurant where we held our reception. We took our lunch there before heading to the campus. The campus looks beautiful with cherry trees blooming along the walkway at this time of the year. We could feel the warmth the minute we stepped into the department building as we were greeted with smile from many of the staff and friends. Many of them were very excited to meet baby Sheri the first time. Even though there were many new faces, baby Sheri was very well-behaved. They shook hands with her and she grabbed their fingers very tightly. We had a good time meeting with daddy's adviser, our beloved school administrator and many of his lab-mates.

Wet Sunday!

Today, we had to keep ourselves entertained at home because it rained the whole day. In the morning, we managed to shoot a video of baby Sheri babbling. The repertoire of sounds that she can make now has increased, but mummy and daddy still have difficulties decoding her speech.

Does anyone know what baby Sheri is saying?

A new way of carrying babies?

Lovely Saturday

The weather has been pretty cold for the past few weeks even though winter is officially over. We were still experiencing sub-freezing temperature over the past few days. Fortunately, the weather was warmer today with temperature hovering around 52 fahrenheit (10 degrees). Of course, we could not wait to bring Sheri out to breathe in some fresh air. Here's some pictures that we took at our favourite park near our residence.

Dexterity of baby Sheri's fingers

Baby Sheri is now at the stage of exploring the various possibilities of using her fingers. Here's how Mummy tests the dexterity of her fingers.

Fussy Sheri!

Yesterday night, Mummy was having a bad headache and had to go to bed early. So, Daddy had to take over the task of putting baby Sheri to sleep, but baby Sheri was not very cooperative with daddy. She cried miserably and refused to drink any milk. Without a full stomach, there was no way she could fall asleep. After hearing baby Sheri's cries, Mummy had no choice but to drag herself out of the bed to feed baby Sheri. It seemed that only Mummy could stop her cries. Daddy felt quite disappointed with himself for not being able to console baby Sheri. Recently, baby Sheri has been very fussy. She is getting more and more attached to Mummy nowadays and she only listens to Mummy. I'm wondering if anyone of you out there could offer any advice to us. I certainly hope that this is only a transitional period and baby Sheri will learn not to resist Daddy's love. Daddy loves baby Sheri too.

Legs up in the air!

Tummy time for baby Sheri!

Active baby!

What a great relief!

Just as Mummy was trying to publish the earlier post, baby Sheri started crying frantically. Guess what? Baby Sheri had poo-poo-ed. So, prune juice does help. It is heartening to see that she feels so much better after poo-poo-ing. I guess it is every parent's wish to see their child growing up healthily and happily. It is only when you become a parent yourself that you can understand how much your parents has gone through in raising you up.

Baby Sheri is having constipation.

Mummy's breast milk is diminishing and Baby Sheri's appetite has increased. So, we have no choice but to supplement with more formula milk. Nowadays, she can drink about 4 oz ( 120 ml) of milk each time. I suppose it is the formula milk that is causing baby Sheri to have difficulties in poo-poo-ing as formula milk does not have the right proportion of fats and proteins unlike breast milk. Poor baby Sheri! Mummy and daddy try to encourage her to use more strength when she is having a difficult time in poo-poo-ing. Amazingly, baby Sheri does respond to us even though she may not be able to say it. She seems to understand very well what we are trying to tell her. Mummy tries to give her more honey-flavored water, but it does not seem to help very much. Yesterday night, Daddy read from the internet that prune juice may help. So, we are giving it a try. Hopefully, it will help relieve baby Sheri from her constipation.

On Wednesday night, two of our Japanese friends came to visit us from Japan. Time flies. Two years ago, we were still playing miniature golf with them in Princeton. Now, when we see them again, we have a new addition to the family. Baby Sheri was very well-behaved in front of the guests. She does not seem to be afraid of strangers. In fact, she tried to stay awake to entertain the guests even though she was yawning occasionally. She was only willing to go to bed after they left and she was so tired that she slept from twelve to seven in the morning. Well, we do not know when we will see them again. Hopefully, we can go to Japan one of these days and meet up with them again.

Two days ago, baby Sheri received a present from Singapore. It's a baby seat from Auntie Oranna and Yinshan! Baby Sheri will definitely make full use of it as she learns how to sit in the coming months. How do I look sitting on my new seat? It's an expensive seat that is imported from Singapore. Thank you Auntie Oranna and Yinshan!

Sometimes, Baby Sheri may give surprises to mummy and daddy on her newfound capability. Today, Mummy was just dangling the catapillar in front of baby Sheri. Guess what! She stretched out her hand and grabbed the catapillar. Mummy was pretty amazed by it, as she has never seen baby Sheri doing that before. It seems that her hand muscles are getting stronger and she is learning to grab hold of things. I suppose baby Sheri has become more aware of her fingers. I notice that she likes to bring her hands closely to her and play with her fingers during her personal time. She has also developed a new habit. She likes to suck on her thumb nowadays, something which mummy does not like it, as I do not know what germs she is bringing into her mouth.

Look! I can lift up my head now when mummy and daddy put me on my tummy.

Last Sunday, we were elated to see that baby Sheri was able to lift up her head at 45 degrees while on tummy. It came as a pleasant surprise to us because as far as we can remember, she was still struggling to lift up her head one week ago when we put her on her tummy. Baby Sheri has certainly made good progress in a week. Her arms are also much stronger now as she can use it to push herself up and provide support for her body weight. Well done, baby Sheri ! You deserve a big kiss from mummy and daddy!

Mummy was sick....

Just as we thought that winter is going to be over, there was a heavy snowstorm on last Friday. Mummy must have caught a chill while accompanying daddy for his dental appointment. So, mummy had to leave baby Sheri in the capable hands of daddy so that she can take a good rest. Anyway, I think it's time for mummy to take a break as all these months of nursing baby Sheri must have taken a toll on mummy's health. At first, Baby Sheri was not used to daddy taking care of her the whole day. So, she did not adhere to her usual sleeping routine and she was wailing occasionally for no reason. Anyway, she was so exhausted after disturbing daddy for the whole day that she fell asleep instantly when he left her in her crib at night. Overall, I think daddy has done a wonderful job in taking care of baby Sheri. After that day, baby Sheri seems to have grown closer to daddy as she becomes more aware of his presence. She can recognize him at a distance and smile at him when he is back from work. Perhaps, it's time for mummy to take a backseat and let daddy take charge of baby Sheri. Three cheers for daddy! Hippy hurray! x 3

Baby Sheri is getting more dexterous nowadays. She can pick up her small handkerchief that I always use to clean her during feeding and drop it on the floor. She did it not once, not twice but thrice. Her kicks are also getting stronger. We set up the floor gym for her everyday to let her exercise her limbs and she enjoys kicking at the toys of the floor gym. Even though she likes to play with the floor gym very much, she loves our companionship even more. With constant encouragement from us, she can kick at the toys repeatedly. Much as we want to make her happy, baby Sheri also likes to make mummy and daddy happy even at such a tender age. I'm fortunate that I can spend time with her at home at this stage, as I do not know how long I'm able to do that. So, I will try to give her as much time as possible, and I think this means more to her than anything else. Every smile and every hug just mean so much to us and she can rest assured that mummy and daddy will try to help her overcome every milestone in her development.