Just the 2 of them...

Her latest obsession and best buddy, Raphael. It's so easy to get her to come down for her bath in the evenings now, just tell her that Raphael is waiting for her and she will jump up and stand by the safety gate, yelling 'Raphael! Baby! Baby!' Loud enough to wake the whole neighborhood.

Multi tasking. She is watching her favorite Mickey Mouse Clubhouse cartoon while carrying Raphael.

Smuack! A kiss during the commercial break

This elephant cap is so cute, the shop has so many different animals and in the end I picked this cos we are now reading a book 'Bad baby and the elephant'. She is the elephant and I'm the bad baby who don't say 'Please.'

I asked to her stand nicely like earlier on and strike a pose. This is what I get.

Right after I smsed this picture to my sister, I got a call. 'You gave her moo moo ice cream? Cannot eat!!' I can virtually see her hand stretching out from the phone to snatch the ice cream cone from Chloe's hand. The China milk scandal sends shivers down everyone's spine. Gulp! What's safe to eat? Breastmilk popsicle!

Pacifier, anyone? A very baby moment. This is not her pacifier, Chloe is not a pacifier baby, it belongs to her doll and she is merely having a taste of it.

'Happy face!' Her favorite happy face stickers. She will happy faced everyone and everything in sight when she is in the mood.

Never too young

'Baby cries! Mummy, baby poo poo.'

'No, Raphael did not pooed, he's hungry. He wants his milk.'

And one day, she walked out from her playroom with rabbit in her arms, she sat down next to me and did the funniest thing... she pulled up her shirt and stuff the rabbit's face onto her flat chest and proudly announced, 'Mummy, feed rabbit neh neh.'

Getting ready to 'breastfeed' her rabbit.

I can do it too!

The Gems

Before Raphael is borned, we heard horror stories of how the elder sibling will 'bully' the new arrival. Sneaking a pinch, slapping them or yelling into their ears when mummy is not looking. Gulp! Enough to sent me frantically looking for some kind of magical parenting books to prevent all these from happening but lazy mama here did not do that in the end. Instead, I just visualized that Chloe is going to be the sweetest ever big sister that Raphael is going to have, one who will sing lullaby to him now and give him all her candies next time.

Then I read reading and heard of this wonderful idea of 'Present from Baby', I went on a shopping spree on behalf of Raphael to get his big sister a present. The whole idea was to give Chloe the present when she visits us in the hospital and she will be so happy to get a present from baby and love him so much more. No sibling rivalry. Peace.

But things don't work out cos I bought a briefcase size cooking set which is kind of too big to lug to the hospital, I think Simon would freaked out if I were to carry the colorful polka- dot blue box complete with all the miniature cutlery and plastic burgers to the hospital. (Okay, I actually wanted the cooking set for a long time, so this is the best excuse to get it. Yes!) So in the end, there was no present from Raphael at the hospital. Raphael is the present, just that there is no ribbon round his tummy. :)

Sleeping so sweetly after his morning bath

Chloe patting Raphael, 'Baby, sleep, baby sleep.'

'Kiss baby. I luvre you.'

Raphael's face is now glistering with saliva

Naughty!

The conversation between father and daughter...

Chloe: 'Dadad, on T.V., please.'

Simon: 'No, later.'

Chloe: 'Naughty, Dadad!' (Pointing her index finger at Simon)

Super Nanny

We have a super nanny at home and that's none other than Big sister, Chloe. When Raphael cries, the first one to get up and run towards the cot is her. If I'm nursing him, she will sit next to me and pat him.

The over zealous sister will be patting him so hard that it's more like smacking him. She is also trying to teach him the different body parts, pulling his toes and finger, pointing to his eyes and mouth, going 'Toes! Ears! Mouth!!' Ya, we know that but Chloe he's just a little baby, please be gentle. And of course, we know she loves him a lot cos I'm now singing Barney's 'I Love You' on a loop during bedtime so that she can hug and kiss him non-stop

Raphael at 9 days old

Zzzz...

Big Apple Sunnies

Children's Day present from school. The red lens just remind me of some aliens in the movies. She is wearing this in different ways till one side of the handle gave way, she broke it.

'Red! Everything is red.'

The upside down version is the best cos it rested nicely on her nose and is supported by the 'stalk' of the apple on her cheek.

'Red baby.'

Showing off her new sunnies to Raphael.

Mid-Autumn Festival

Mooncakes, checked. Snowskin mooncakes, checked. Pomelo, checked. Lanterns, ahh!!? Where are they? Thank goodness, we managed to get 2 at the supermarket. What's Mid-autumn festival without burning some paper lanterns. Haha...

Our plan was to go the the park to join her friends for some fun, I even got some sparklers. But the lousy weather, horrible heavy rain thwart the plan so we spent the evening on the roof terrace. Then the celebration was cut short when Chloe tripped and cut her lip on the flower pot, a little tiny cut.

A very excited Chloe waiting for Simon to light up her ducky lantern. She did not know what was the occasion but she is definitely very happy that she get to stay up way past her bed time. (I know, my sorry looking palm tree or what was left of it. Compared to my neighbor's lush green leafy garden, the dried up 'stick' there looks pathetic.)

'Quick! How long more, will you please hurry up.'

Chloe is now jumping and hopping impatiently, only a minute but like a decade to her.

Finally, her ducky lantern is in her hand. Yeah!

Lights! Yes, it's a candle, like the one on your birthday cake.

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Raphael Luke Soh

Presenting the new addition to our family.... Raphael Luke Soh is here! This is him on the weighing scale, testing his vocals, voicing his dislike of the hard and cold plastic compared to my warm chest minutes ago before he was whisked off to be measured.

We had some very nice midwives who actually followed my birth plan to a T. They cleaned and sucked out all the gooey with him laying my my chest and let me breastfeed him too. Basically, they left the 3 of us alone to savor the moment. Hmm...

Borned on 07 September 2008, Sunday
Weight: 3.77 Kg
Length: 51 cm
HC: 34 cm

All wrapped up. Nice and cosy.

Chloe and Raphael met for the first time that evening. She was not at all interested in Raphael initially cos 1) She just woke up from her nap on the way to the hospital, not warmed up yet. 2) There were our friends in the room, a little taken aback with all the commotion. A while later, after much coaxing from Grandma and Simon, she went to the bassinet and checked the baby she has been patting all these months (in my tummy).

She knocked on the plastic bassinet and said hi to Raphael like he's an exhibit. Then the action begins. She wanted to carry baby! She climbed up onto the bed, positioned herself nicely and asked Grandma to place baby on her lap. (Just looked at the excitement and anxiety on Grandma's and Simon's face, by the way I'm hyperventilating too.)

She shook his hands, high fived him, did an over all checked pointing to his eyes, nose, mouth etc and patted him. Chloe is definitely very into her new brother and there is not even a tinge of jealousy.

Still not very satisfied, she went on to touch his little toes and is about to unwrap him to feel his tiny fingers as well.

Our first family photo