A Leap of Faith

I will catch you when you fall.

Sleepless in Motherhood

I think I might be a b*@#% today! So please don't mess with me in any way. Seriously, you can't blame a person who is sleep deprived. I am desperate for my once uninterrupted sleep in the night when skies are dark, lights are off and all sweet little babies go to bed and sleep soundly throughout the night. That did happen to me a couple of months ago. Yes, I was in bliss. And I need that back soon.

( credit )

Allysa has been waking up frequently in the nights. She will get up, flop over the other side of her cot, bury her face in her blankie and remain still for a few moments before she start this sequence all over again. Usually, that is accompanied by bouts of cries in frustration. It seems like she was telling me "Mom, I am tired and I want to sleep but my body seem to wake up and tossy turvy all by itself. Help me, please!" I sense that. Sometimes, rocking helps to put her back to sleep. Other times, a bottle of milk helps because I always associate her waking up to hunger (which is true some times). 

So this morning, I think it's high time I need to find out the "why". With my mommy instinct, I guess it is most likely associated with her recent spurt in mobile development. This frequent nightly wake-ups happened around when she was learning to crawl. And boy, was I right. I went to my trusted baby information portal - BabyCenter.com and found my answer there. (click here for the article) Apparently, I just have to DEAL with it. 

"Loser, accept your poor fate. This is the challenge that every great, noble moms have to go through. Please put yourself up to the test and stop whining!" Ok, I got it. Thanks!

( this is as good as a sleepy great noble mom looks. beautiful! )

Such happening is a norm for most babies so I am not alone. So in the far corners of the world, there are women like me who are praying hard for this ordeal to be over soon. We are as desperate as it get. I am as far as almost adding maybe a teeny weeny drop of "sleeping potion" to help my baby (and me)get a good night sleep. 

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Ok, I am just kidding.

Soul Food

I made a trip to the library this morning to return some books before I headed to my mom's. It was surprisingly crowded considering it's a weekday afternoon where most of the people are either at work or school. 

(ok, I don't do this. But she does. credit)

I love the tranquility of the library. The smell of old and new books, people reading, librarians shelving (i used to be one when I was in primary school), shelves of neatly stacked books gives me a sense of peace and calmness. I just love to soak in the atmosphere and the variety of good reads. Seriously, I don't consider myself a reader coz I don't always finish my books. But I love to read coz I find peace in it. So whenever you feel you are feeling lost and need to find the peace within yourself, READ! I did especially more post-partum (helps me with my sanity). 

(credit)

What a gratifying and soul satisfying morning. So what's your peace-finding activity?

Father & Daughter

I told Aloysius how much it means to me whenever I see him playing with Allysa. To see the love and bond between a father and daughter (and the loves of my life too) so strong, is indeed touching to me. I secretly envy girls who can talk and laugh with their Daddies or hold their Dad's hands without feeling awkward. 

My dad is a workaholic and rarely spends time with the family. And even he did have days off, he never played with us. He is the solemn dad and is always busy with his own stuffs. So my childhood is spent mostly with my mom and siblings. I could still recall how closely bonded I was with my mom when I was a kid as she was a SAHM too. This is definitely another strong reason for me wanting to be a SAHM as I wanted to give all my love to my children; just like my mom did. 

I enjoy taking photographs. Sometimes on my DSLR, and mostly on my iPhone 4 now because it's way more convenient. And I always know it doesn't matter how lousy the photo turns out coz' it can be edited later. I love editing photographs and it has seemed to be my latest hobby to edit-on-the-go; wherever and whenever. 

I love to capture our father & daughter moments. It is intriguing and of course, it holds a special meaning to me(refer to my story above). I am so glad that Aloysius plays a big part of Allysa's life. To see him love our daughter so much, is definitely very attractive to me. LOL...I recalled I once read on what woman wants from their husband and one of it was to see your husband playing/spending quality time with the child. It definitely works for me.It is way more attractive than him in a leopard print g-string (though I wouldn't mind it too). As Aloysius is really busy with his work, so time spent together are cherished and captured.

This was taken on one of our morning walk to the Pasir Ris Park. Aloysius never fails to surprise us with such spontaneous adventures. Definitely works well for a Gemini, like me. We had just visited the stable in the park and were heading home. It was a walk under these rows of tall trees. It just look so picturesque and I knew I had to capture this moment. 

The photo was edited with this app called Fotolr Photo Studio Deluxe. Did I mention it's FREE? It has an amazing selection of 22 photo-editing functions which you can toy around with. This is definitely my current fav photo-editing app and my favourite function has got to be the cross-process.



It's Sunday; date night with my man again. I can't wait and am looking forward to it later. So how are you spending your Sunday? 

Hope you have a great day too as we recharged for yet another fantastic week ahead!

I've been I-ed!

Recently,  I got myself a new toy. It's not a branded bag (though I do covet one or two), neither it's a brand new pair of shoes. 

(Drum roll...) 

I got myself a MacPro! (Ta-Duh!) And so comes the newest addition to my I-series. So now, I am officially on the other side of the universe.

And I can't tell you how much I am loving her. (yes, I am blogging on her now.) Besides, I got her dressed in a pretty vermilion lappy cover so in case she gets disfigured. Just gotta make sure my lady is one stylish chick.

One of my friend prompted so it's time for me to blog more with my new toy? Definitely! 

And this is my 100th post. Hurray! What a milestone for Beadsyy's Diary. So with the new lappy and reaching of my first 100th post, I am gearing up and looking forward to more fun and excitement with BD's and the whole blogging arena.

And thanks so much for following and reading Beadsyy's Diary. You are the reason that keeps me blogging.

Have a happy weekend! 

Games We Play: Hide and Seek

My adventurous explorer had a whale of her time when she was set free to crawl and explore around the house. As we have a pet, I usually restrict her crawling activity to our bedroom only. Apparently, my baby had become bored and of course, she knows the grass is always greener at the other side of the pasture. 

"Take care, Mom. I will be back when dinner's ready."

A very fun spot for an infant who is learning to stand and cruise.

Where our hide & seek begins...

Peek a Boo!!


Besides, this is a good game for gross motor, language and spatial awareness developments to name a few.


So what's your favourite game with your restless baby?

Quote of The Day

"An idea not coupled with action will never get any bigger than the brain cell it occupied."  ~Arnold H. Glasgow

What Have I Got Myself Into?

This morning, I fought a tough battle.

It was a tough fight.

"When the going gets tough, the tough gets going." It's just another day in "paradise".

My Mobile Baby

Allysa is currently in the stage of (almost full) mobility. She crawls and stands when she gets some form of support. It can be the knobs of my big white drawer, a small wooden table near her play corner which was purposely placed to facilitate her standing needs, the grills of our window, the tiers of her changing table, the legs of her high-chair, her cot or just the sliding doors of our wardrobe.

(You gotta check this series of shots and they totally illustrated what exactly happened. And I tell you it was totally hilarious! I wasn't kidding. And yes! My very messy wardrobe all revealed.)

I did intervene (when necessary). Evidence seen here.

My baby trying to lower herself as she found something enticing on the bottom drawer. (I was amazed by the idea she got) And for the record, it was for the keys.

This morning, I found myself really busy scooting around on my butt or crawling on my knees (now who’s the baby?) as I followed my baby in her adventure. It was really good fun for both of us. She enjoyed exploring around our room. My baby opened, shut, slid, pulled, dug things that she could lay her hands on and were of course, given the thumbs up by Mommy as “Safe to handle”.

Just acquired skill! The beginning of the end.

Very satisfied explorer! and Those were her Dramatic Play props.

 My philosophy of parenting is definitely pro-Yes, baby! and anti-No-nos (or to the minimum). And if there is anything that is out of bound for my baby, I will just tell her that it’s dangerous and she might fall or hurt herself, and distract her. Or sometimes, just distract her with something more safely enticing. Period.

Under the highchair! What a great idea for tunnel fun.

I can see Allysa is definitely very happy with her current state of freedom and enjoys being on her own a lot. As for myself, I am having as much fun chronicling her development through photos and videos (tons!). Every firsts and moments are too precious to miss out. And I am really thankful for the invention of cam-mobile phones and social apps that allows my hubs (who’s at work) to be as involved and informed on my baby’s development too. Do you? Our Iphones were definitely a worthy investment.

And a Happy Weekend! Mine’s definitely got to be coz its hubs day-off! (and for your record, he works 24/7 except for the occasional time-off.) ((:

The Big Shot

Today, my hubs and I went to meet up with our photographer and his assistant that we had engaged for our couple shots. It was at a beautiful semi-detached in Thomson area and there were so many beautiful portraits and works of the photographer being displayed in the living area. Kelvin and Elaine are a really lay-back couple (just like us) and hubs and I felt at ease with them after sharing our expectations for the shots.

 I'm totally pysched up for the photoshoot which will be taking place end of this month. It's also my first professional photoshoot too. Hubs was already "warning" that it's high time we start to work out. And Yes! I can't agree more. I wouldn't want to look floppy and saggy in our shots. Bleah!!! 

Besides this, Kelvin(our photographer) is doing his part in helping the victims of the recent Tsunami that happened in Japan. All proceeds (yes! ALL!!) of the photography service will be donated to the Japanese Red Cross Society. What can be happier than having beautiful shots taken and doing charity at the same time? It's such a worthy cause. I am a happy girl.

Kelvin is offering this photography promotion till the end of April 2011. For more information of this rare opportunity, please visit his blog. Alternatively, if you are keen to find out what kind of shots we will be taking, you can visit Kelvin's website for his portfolio of beautiful works.

And she turns 9!

Today (or yesterday to be exact), my baby turned 9 months old. I’m just really excited about her reaching her monthly mark on every 6^th. And seriously, I just marveled on her growth and development; of course, not to forget my journey in Motherhood. Each day, I am thankful for the love that I am showered with and the bliss of my life.

And as Allysa turns 9, I can begin to see her personality evolving. She is a very cheerful, sociable and easy-going baby. And never fails to give you the best smile! Of course, she can get rather impatient and assertive at times. Just recently, she has been giving me some “problems” with her change in sleeping pattern. She had been waking up in the wee hours for milk which she had stopped when she was about 5 or 6 months old. And especially since she crawls and stands now, I have to get up from bed the very moment she awakes. And this is absolutely terrible when you are like deep in your sleep and feels weak all over. And for the next moment, you have to “save” a 10ish kg baby from any potential fall off her cot or wakes to prepare milk. Besides this, I do realize the best way to coax my baby to sleep is to let her exhaust it out and she will fall asleep with ease – with no patting, grunting or digging! She retaliates when I try to “force” her to sleep before she is ready.

Allysa is getting really mobile now and has mastered her crawling skills. Now, she is holding herself up to standing position and fiddling/exploring whatever is around her. And she has found lots of fun (even more than toys) in pulling our drawers, cupboard doors and sliding our wardrobe. I find myself a walking child-proof lock as I try to “stop” her from the dangers (till I have time for another project – child-proofing our room). For now, it’s just going to be “child-proof” as she goes.

My baby loves and enjoys food. She enjoys her staple diet of porridge for lunch and dinner and the occasional bread, pancakes, cereal puffs and vegetables as snacks. As I am really concern about what goes inside her mouth thus I am still exploring and reading up on the different kinds of food and cooking methods that I can introduce to her.    

And since I am a stay-home Mom, I do hope to give her my best in nurturing and parenting her. I am really excited as I feel it’s going to be lots of fun as it reminds me of my days as a preschool teacher when I have to plan activities for my kiddos. But the best part this time round – I am doing it all for my baby!



Curbing the Computer Addiction

It has been awhile since I blog. I just felt sick that I had been spending too much time surfing net, reading blogs and blogging that I have been neglecting what's happening around me. I'm just like this. Some times when I like to do something too much, I can get really obsessed with it and seek perfection in it. So I decided to ban myself from the internet (or reduce my computer time) and blogging for awhile so I can curb this computer addiction. And apparently from my research on the internet, the psychologists named this Internet Addiction Disorder (Goodness golly!!).

Meantime while I try to cure myself off this addiction, I went to tap on the domestic side of me. I have been cooking a fair bit as my MIL is still recovering from her cataract operation. And I love whipping dishes and experimenting with ingredients. Nothing beats seeing your love ones enjoying your cooking. Besides this, I have also been keeping up with the tidiness of our bedroom and making sure that it is as clean and tidy daily. On top of this, to tackle some projects that I have put on hold like tidying my wardrobe and bathroom. My room usually looks tidier now but areas that are behind closed-doors needed to be worked on.

And Allysa is growing rapidly now so I just make sure I am around her as much to facilitate her development and enjoy every bit of it when I have the best opportunity as a SAHM. She has been learning to stand and is able to pick herself up with the aid of our drawers, coffee table, her bouncer or the window grills. She enjoys "singing" and screeching when she gets really excited with our pet dog. It's just so amazing to watch my baby as she makes sense of her world and seeks to master her new abilities with lots of determination and courage. I am definitely anti-overprotective parenting style. Of course, I do make sure that it's safe enough for Allysa to tumble and rumble around and as for the occasional knocks? They are just part of growing up (and life) and building up her resilience. Life isn't always a bed of roses.  

I am enjoying every bit of my time with what truly matters to me.