Josiah my big boy!

Since I am a mom of two now, many mothers I meet with one child always asks me if it is easier because of my big age gap.  I struggle to answer them because although it is easier in some ways, it is also harder in others.  What matters is that I was not ready to look after a newborn with Josiah being so needy and in my care almost 24/7 when he was aged 0 to 3.5 years old.
So for me and our family, having the gap was so important for my sanity and maintain some sort of calm that I need in order not too lose it.  HAhaha....sorry making myself sound like a loony.  But mental health is no laughing matter, and being a stay-at-home mom in a foreign place without family makes it more important to keep mental health in tip top condition.
So let's see the pros and cons of the larger than average age gap between my kids. They are exactly 4.5 years apart but in schooling year would be 5 years apart.

Pros

1.  Able to give Joanna almost 100% of my attention from Monday-Friday, 9am till 3pm.
2. Josiah is able to change, feed, entertain himself most of the time so even when the both of them are home, it is not too bad
3. Josiah is already sleeping through the night so if Joanna has a good night, Shaun and I have a good night too
4. Only one set of nappies and bottles
5. We are able to start travelling again because we only need to handle Joanna 
6. Less sibling rivalry 
7. Josiah can help me with simple tasks
8. I hardly feel guilty spending time with Joanna because I feel that Josiah doesn't need me as much as when he was 2 years old.

Cons

1. Starting all over in terms of buying baby stuff: bottles, diapers, creams, rocker, high chair, baby spoon, potty training stuff....list goes on and on. Maybe some people would keep all the baby stuff but living in apartments makes it impossible.
2. Dealing with lack of sleep after getting used to sleeping uninterrupted for few years.  Your body really does go whacko!  We try to minimise the effect by taking turns with Joanna but then age also plays a factor. Very tiring!
3. Having to start a collection of baby toys again.  Joanna has a few from Josiah's time and I even let her play with most of Josiah's boy toys but it is necessary to get her a few age appropriate toys.  
4. Books!!  She needs all those board books again.  A lot of which were passed on already.  
5. Clothes.  Well, maybe this is not a fair point since she is a girl and I would have had to buy new ones anyway.
6. Both of them require my attention in different ways.  I need to sit and help Josiah with school work, but then Joanna wants to tear his homework, Josiah wants to play boardgames but she would just come and try to eat up the pieces...etc
7. At the playground, I'm literally being torn apart, Josiah runs around everywhere and I'm having to be with Joanna at all times making it hard to keep an eye on him

My sweetie pie and baby girl *hugs*

I caved and got this double stroller from Craigslist

Josiah being cheeky, annoying Joanna by sitting in her car seat

Still the same 4 teeth - where is the rest??

April updates

The month of March and April flew by.  We did our first holiday on our own with the kids to California to visit my cousin.  Needless to say, I was all stressed up about the trip as it involved airplane ride, sleeping in other people's house and with the time difference, who knows!  It all worked out perfect - we had a great time with family.  WEather was wonderful.  Visited Disneyland for 2 days - woo hoo!!!  Went to Hollywood and had lots of delicious home made Malaysian food thanks to my Koo Ma.  We headed back to NY, back to school for 2 days and then headed to Washington DC for Easter break.  We took the Amtrak there and it was surprisingly convenient way to travel for us.  Definitely be doing more holidays using Amtrak.   I was excited to see The White House, and other historical places and had a relaxing time in DC.  Oh yes, also celebrated my birthday there :)
Our first trip in one hotel room with both the kids.  Went well too - Joanna just went to bed late but she was fine so we were fine too.

Pictures will help me remember what happened :)

Josiah went fishing for first time and caught 3 fishes

Our pathetic family shot in Disneyland...well, better than none

Joanna has her first swing ride at 9 months old

Joanna's milestone:

- able to crawl, sometime will crawl on her knees

- sleeping through the night

- calls me Ma Ma

- can identify Shaun, Josiah, 

- has 2 teeth at the bottom

- is not allergic to peanuts

- still sucking her 2nd and 3rd finger on her left hand

- loves reading her books

Photo Story

Basically, let me try to remember things by looking at pictures on my phone...

Joanna aged ?? in her snowsuit

Made this bath salt from jar, bath salts and food coloring for Shaun for  Valentines  Day courtesy of MOPS crafty Tuesday

Josiah loves his teacher, Miss Joong - check out his foot :)

I made these for CNY 2012

February 2012

February 3: First playdate with both kids. I took Josiah to his classmates house on the upper west side. We took a taxi there with Joanna in the Byorn carrier.

February 4: Our first attempt at hosting more than 20 people at our apartment. I cooked curry chicken, mixed veggie and caprese salad. Bought fried rice, fried noodles, chicken and pizza.

February 6 :Joanna drank her cereal (quite watery) from a small cup! So excited as she seems to be a good at baby led weaning! She had rice and tiny pieces of chicken yesterday.
Managed to cook with her in the carrier.
Josiah got his report card and it was not good.  Not good for me that is - he apparently doesn't focus during group time.  Teacher says he is playing his "pretend superheroes" making flying motions and the likes!  When confronted, Josiah was so surprised I knew about his antics :p
He promised to behave and has improved.  Shaun thinks teacher is just too hard on boys....

February updates...

Went to my first basketball game with S.  It was in the afternoon so Janice came to help look after the kids.  Definitely exciting, NY Knicks vs Orlando Magic..too bad Knicks lost at the last quarter.

Josiah was finally chosen as Star of The Week.  He was so excited and enjoyed finding things to bring to school in the mystery bag beginning with letters Q and R.  We gave him quilt, quarter, Quaker Oats, razor, Ribbon, red packet

His teacher said he did not understand how to give clues and instead just gave the answer to class....oh well, I did try to ask her what does he need to do but she told me that he would know.

Josiah recited John 10: 11, 14 for Midland Park Gospel Hall Sunday School Treat.  Will post video later.

Joanna is sitting up unassisted and not toppling over at all.  She is eating apple, pear, toast, rice, egg, cheese, sweet potato, carrot, oatmeal cereal in very small quantity.  Recently I caved and bought her some commercial baby food as it was a hassle to prepare 1 tablespoon of baby food 3 times a day.  I do freeze batches of apple, pear & carrot puree but would probably try to be more chill about her eating habits and quantity.  For instance, on weekends, if we are out or at church I do not even bring food for her.  She has milk and will have a little table food if suitable.  Very chill, right :p


Personal achievement this past month:

- Took Joanna to FAO Scharz to hang out and look at baby stuff.  Walked her around Central Park and even bought an artwork.  Not a big deal but Joanna hardly goes out with me alone unless we are going to the grocery store round the corner.  Central Park is a good 25 minute walk away and being a Malaysian at heart, I find that way too far :p


- looking after both kids till bedtime as S is busy with work/ work function/ NBA match. Figured out how to get dinner, bath & bedtime routine for both of them.  Thank God for Ipad2!  First dinner for Josiah, then dinner for Joanna, then bathe Joanna, dinner for me (if she is not fussy otherwise no dinner for me till late), bathe Josiah, iPad time for Josiah with threat of punishment if he comes in to disturb me putting Joanna to sleep, brush teeth and read story for Josiah, clean up mess from dinner, pray Joanna will sleep through the night....

- made my first ever CNY cookies : Almond cookies - looks good but taste okay only

- made pineapple tart for CNY - looks okay only but tastes good

- made new friends with another mum in building.  She has been God sent and so friendly and helpful.  We just had our first family meet-up and it went very well.  Planning to spend Superbowl Sunday with them over steamboat

- going out with other adults for lunch!  crazy but very good for keeping my sanity and need for socialisation

- taking Josiah for playdate with his classmate.  It is so difficult to make this effort as I'm still not comfortable bringing Joanna along.

- managing to print photos and make photo album for Joanna as well as greeting cards for the believers in London whom I miss dearly.

- planning lunch date with S as it is Restaurant Week in NYC.  We are going to Bar Boulud, owned by famous Daniel Boulud for $24.99 (3 course)

Josiah 5 yrs old and Joanna 7 months old 

Mini Shaun, she likes doing the lip thing

My big boy

I love this picture so much

Josiah's coat from his old school in London!

Week to jan 15th

Sun: we went to Kim's place for lunch. We picked up Eunice (Kevin xiao's fren) and she left her phone and had an arduous time getting it back.

Mon: Josiah back to school - it went ok but he had the longest nap, even he mentioned it. S went to his 1st bball game NYK vs bobcats.

Tue: crazy day. Went for listed, girl was asleep so no need for crèche, went out for lunch, hung out in the park, forgot buggy board and poor Josiah walked back. Burnt the microwave cover cos I left it on the top of the stove.

Wed: went to BBB and got iPad holder. S picked up J and we ordered from the Land of Plenty. Spicy noodles but pretty good.

Thurs: rainy day. Picked up J but rain stopped thankfully. Made tau foo Soong. Woo!

Fri: play date on 19th floor, came back went to food emporium to buy cupcakes for J's bday celebration in school. Jackson asked me where are the party bags? Came back and J wanted to play with Jack and somehow all the neighbors ended up in the apartment. Made kaya also. Phew! J was star of the week - he needs to bring letters Q and R to school.

Sat: went to flushing and ate Malaysian in a Vietnamese rest. Bought groceries for Chinese New Year.

Sun: went to mary zudeima's place for lunch. Nice home. J learnt to lie today. Refused to say sorry. Argh!

Zombified

Still suffering from yesterday's lack of sleep.

S: did you like the chocolate muffin?
J: oh yes, it's so yummy and delicious, you must try it!
S: (laughs)
J: what's so funny?
M: (laughs)

You had to be there.

NYC so expensive

We had a late night trying to figure out our finances for the year. Our resolutions: eat out less! NY is such a tough place to live in. But then again, we felt the same way in London too. Is it just us?

S keeps thinking we save too much which is such a ridiculous concept. One can never save too much. One day he'll thank me.

First day back

S went back to work today, leaving me with the two kids.

Joanna sat up for the first time on her own. At 6.5 months, you did it girl!

We had hard shell tacos for dinner while Josiah had the usual delicious chicken soup.

It turned -6C today, absolutely freezing, the only comforting fact is that NYers tell us that this is as cold as it gets.

Warning: Too much poop details. Do not read if squeamish

Now that Josiah is back home and semi tolerating solids, I can blog about every mothers nightmare.

A trip to the ER at 1.30am!

Josiah has been suffering from diarrhea since Monday. It wasn't anything too bad, and so we just carried on as normal. Tuesday night he woke up every hour and I noticed blood in some of his stool. Wednesday took him to our Pediatrician who said it is normal and he looks fine. Thursday he was looking good in the day but once evening came about. He was in so much more pain. But somehow my "mummy instinct" did not kick in yet. Somewhere around 9pm, I felt like something was wrong. Joanna was being fussy and after settling her went to check on Josiah and found him so tired he did not even realize that he had gone all over himself. In hindsight, I should have gone then but we thought he was sleeping so we'll see what happens in the next few hours. I packed his clothes and stuff to bring to hospital, just in case. He slept with me and the moment I felt him stir, I quickly helped him to the toilet. He was crying so hard and I knew it is time to go. The next 24 hours was the worst experience in being a mom. The helplessness of watching your child in pain, weak, having to endure a battery of medical test... I cried so many times and felt so alone but had to carry on for him. They took blood, gave him IV fluids, took x-rays, ultrasounds but were unable to find anything. Yet he was still having painful bloody stools that left him sweating.

Since S was with Joanna, I knew that even with a switch I'd not be able to get some sleep. Luckily, I manage to get our helper to come for a few hours. And Mary, from the assembly came all the way from New Jersey so I could further sleep another 2 hours. It was all that was needed to keep myself from falling apart. For those with family and friends nearby, be thankful and grateful that in event of such emergency, you can turn to them.

Basically lab test came back positive for bacterial infection, basically severe food poisoning. We are guessing from him eating his chicken rice in Chinatown on Saturday, he ate it all because it was good. I have to say, I am not sure I can look at that chicken rice dish without feeling angry!

He was released home a few hours before 2012. Hence, I did not celebrate NYE this year- to top it off, Josiah fell of the bed and had a bump on his head. Sigh, 2011 was not his year.

He has been on a diet of dry food like toast, cereal no milk, potato and chicken soup with rice. He is still going and in some pain so am still praying for full recovery. As his friends start school today, looks like he'd be home another week.

I'm dreading the next few days looking after both of them without S!

Josiah's Birthday

Our little big boy has turned five. Hard to believe that five years have passed so fast. We're most thankful of course that Josiah has recovered well from the recent Campylobacter Jejuni coursing through his body. He woke up with a little tummy ache in the morning but was ok for the rest of the day. He managed to keep down some toast with jam (no butter!), cheerios, rice and soup and... some blueberry muffins.

We didn't want to let him have a cake yet so we went to Food Emporium and he choose the mini dozen blueberry muffins. Tried to persuade him to go for chocolate chip but he insisted and after eating the first one said to me, "See? I do like blueberry muffins!"

It was nice with my parents first calling to wish him happy birthday, then S' parents, then the Leongs in the evening - who sang Happy Birthday for him and finally the Batchelors, who Josiah shares his birthday with.

It's not the scale of party that we had last year in London but Josiah was happy and that's all we can ask for.

ps: S had to forego his NBA ticket to stay in.

pps: Joanna had her first taste of broccoli today - she didn't look too impressed.

With my new favourite toy: Iron Man (with the triangle, mom)

The number five has to face me

2011 Lookback

Here are some of the 2011 highlights that we are grateful to our Lord and Saviour for in 2011:

• The wonderful and safe delivery of our beautiful girl, Joanna Ow Yang Jo Ling
• How the two siblings seem to get along. Josiah loves her and says that's the #1 reason he prefers NYC to London. The way she laughs when Josiah entertains her.
• How quickly Joanna started sleeping through the night. Sleep is a wonderful thing.
• Our fantastic parents. S' mum who came to help set up our apartment and then mine when I was so pregnant and couldn't get around, to helping out with the first few hardest months. My dad for entertaining Josiah for 3 months so Josiah wouldn't feel left out.
• The believers' at Midland Park Gospel Hall, especially the Huans and the Hamiltons who helped us settle in and had us over lunch and arranged a baby shower.
• The apartment - having a place to call home that is our little comfort from the madness of the city. 
• The smooth move from London to NYC. Our second major move to another city, this time when I was 7 months pregnant. Truly our Lord showed his name in Jehovah Jireh when all we needed came through.
• S having a job when so many are struggling this year in this tough time.
• Safety - despite the freak weather in NYC from an earthquake, to not-Hurricane Irene in August to the freak snowstorm in October, we were kept safe.
• For the dates that S and I have had. We've managed to try a few Michelin star restaurants (Jean George, Nobu and Daniel).
• Amazon and Fresh Direct: Internet shopping - the boon of every parent! And the bane when the credit card comes in.
• Geneva School - such a blessing to find a good Christian school and that Josiah was accepted. The weekly bible verse, and wholesome spiritual teachings.
• Splurging on our bed - so good we have to mention it!

Milestones for Josiah in 2011:

• Understanding time. Dates and days. Its so convenient now that we can explain he won't be able to eat / get something until xx.
• Counting to 1,000 in English, about 50 in Mandarin and maybe 10 in French and Spanish (we'll see if the last two last).
• Singing "Two Tigers" in Mandarin and some French songs we don't understand.
• Reading - he can read the Usborne reading series (Level 3), and is so keen on having stories read to him from either the Usborne series or the Jesus Storybook.
• Wearing his spider-man costume every other day (only the red one please).
• Speaking more confidently and talking. (Tough question: How did Joanna come out from your tummy? From your belly button!)
• Eating a wider variety of food - pizza, noodles and beef burgers (Shake Shack only). Fav food are chicken rice and chocolate chip cookies (with a small detour to pound cake for 4 months).
• Handwriting - after 2 months of Kumon, his handwriting improved where he can grip his pencil correctly and write his letters mostly legibly.
• Counting - again Kumon helped him to start basic arithmetic.

Milestones for Joanna in 2011:

• Being born (woo hoo!)
• Sleeping through the night at 3 months
• Sucking her fore and middle fingers on her left hand to self sooth.
• Getting over mummy cutting said forefinger at 5 months (while trimming nails).
• Having a left foot that seems to have a life and beat of its own.
• Itchy fingers that scratch every surface and grab anything in its grasp.
• Crazy funky hair from birth that's mellowed a little in month 6.
• Already a high achiever (top 80th percentile in weight, although only 50 in height): Wearing 9-12 month clothes from Carters and size 4 diapers from Pampers at 6 months.
• Eating oatmeal cereal, carrot, apple and squash. Her favourite is toast.

Here's some of the lowlights of 2011 (well it wasn't all good):

• Josiah coming down with a severe case of food poisoning (campylobacter jejuni). I took him to the NYU medical center after he was so dehydrated. Thank the Lord it wasn't anything worse and thanks to Mary Z for spotting me when she had a party to organise.
• Not being able to be there for Steven Tallash when Mary was called home.
• Not living with a washer and dryer.
• Having to make friends all over again.
• Living with NYers - such a grumpy and arrogant city.
• Having to clock 100 hours while having 2 kids.
• S working late hours again (while having 2 kids)
• Having to relearn how to get bargains - it seems like we keep overpaying.
• Living further away from Chinatown(s) - no more Fortune Cookie / Gold Mine.
• Learning how bad Chinese food is in NYC - seriously, what's up with the quality?
• Learning how to tip - after tipping 10% in London, the 15-20% in NYC is like reprogramming.
• Losing S' DSLR on our trip to Philadelphia with all our photos.

Here are some milestones for us:

• Handling 2 kids and clocking 100 hours of work and cooking meals.
• The start of our relationship with french press and fresh bagels.
• Made a better effort making our house a home. Organized the cupboards, hanging pictures.
• Surviving more than 24 hours of no sleep during Josiah's food poisoning.
• First baseball game (NY Yankees) and American football (NY Jets)
• First American holiday (Philadelphia)
• First Thanksgiving dinner at the Huans.
• First MGPH conference.
• First time staying over at the Ninans.
• First baby shower at the Hamiltons.
• First iMac and iPad
• First time kitting up our home with the whole furniture and electronics.
• First time seeing the Bersih rally
• First Bugaboo (got the Bee)
• Here are some NYC firsts:
• Cruise around NYC and seeing the Statue of Liberty
• The MET
• Rockefeller Centre during Christmas
• Grand Central
• Central Park (the playgrounds, the zoo and the reservoir)
• Natural History Museum
• Empire State Building
• Macy's, Bloomingdales, Century21
• Chrysler building
• South Street Seaport
• DUMBO
• Flushing
• Highline
• Chelsea Market
• Flatiron, Union Square, Madison Square
• Walking around UWS, UES
• Finding Zabar's and Sable's

2012 Happy New Year!

Jan 1 2012: our goal for this year - to blog everyday. S will try and take a photo to add depth to it. We've started our first day of the year and of course, we didn't get to go to the meeting. Josiah is still recovering from his food poisoning. Thankfully he's taking solids but we've had to keep it simple. He asked for pizza and cake - but got Cheerios and rice instead. He's been a trooper though. I went to get supplies at D'agostinos, my one trip out for the day. Lovely weather. We stayed at home and tidied up the book rack after Max and Yoon Mei commented how messy our apartment looked. Sigh. We try but I guess we'll never be tidy. S left in the evening to get Josiah's presents. We just didn't have time to get it with J falling ill. Unfortunately they sold out of the one toy he really wanted - a 4 pack iron man set, so we got a subtitle instead. Will update how that goes tomorrow! We finally watched the King's speech. S tried to put Joanna to bed but no success. Yesterday was hilarious, she couldn't recognize S without his glasses on. She was so upset. Then again I clipped her in her high chair today. All these accidents...