Beautiful Dawn: October 2006

Oh, No.......

I don't know where she picked that up from, but Zerlynde has been exclaiming "Oh, no....", covering her face with both hands, at the slightest opportunity the whole of yesterday. She's so cute.

Full Time Mothering........

The confinement lady left yesterday leaving me to fend for myself with a 26 month old toddler and a 1 month old baby! (well...... not exactly really since mum is around to help...)

Hubby called from KL earlier to ask how it all went. My answer was - on top of the every 3-hourly feed, I have had a day of bathing the baby, changing nappies (for both baby and toddler), entertaining the toddler, soothing the baby, washing up the milk bottles, making sure there's hot and warm water available, etc - basically attending to the needs of my 2 children FULL TIME.

In short, I have had a tiring and much as I'd hate to admit, boring day.

My salute and a new found respect to all those full time mothers around, especially those with more than 2 kids. I don't know what they do to keep their sanity intact in the long run!

No... I am not suffering from post natal depression, just being a bit grouchy. I know in time I will learn to enjoy motherhood (to 2) as it should be.

Zuwern's Full Moon

My Zuwern is 4 weeks old!

from Q, with love

As I was going through my CDs to import them into iTunes, I came across this all-time favourite album of mine. It may sound cliche, but if I am allowed only one album to carry with me to a deserted island, this will be the one (not counting compilations) I will bring along.

It has marvellous tracks such as the following:-

Disc: 1
1. Setembro (Brazilian Wedding Song) - Take 6, Sarah Vaughan
2. Secret Garden (Sweet Seduction Suite) - El DeBarge, Siedah Garrett, James Ingram, Quincy Jones, Al B. Sure!, Barry White
3. I'm Yours - El DeBarge, Siedah Garrett
4. Baby, Come to Me - Patti Austin, James Ingram
5. You Put a Move on My Heart - Tamia
6. Velas - Toots Thielemans
7. Moody's Mood for Love - Rachelle Ferrell, Brian McKnight, James Moody, Take 6
8. Liberian Girl - Michael Jackson
9. Love Dance - George Benson
10. One Hundred Ways - James Ingram
11. Rock with You - Brandy, Heavy D & the Boyz
12. Lady in My Life - Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones
13. Shadow of Your Smile (Love Theme from the Sandpiper) [Live] - Count Basie Orchestra, Frank Sinatra
Disc: 2
1. How Do You Keep the Music Playing? - Patti Austin, James Ingram
2. Something I Cannot Have
3. Human Nature - Michael Jackson
4. Everything Must Change - Bernard Ighner
5. I'm Gonna Miss You in the Morning - Patti Austin, Luther Vandross
6. Everything - Tevin Campbell
7. Just Once - James Ingram
8. If This Time Is the Last Time - Patti Austin
9. Somewhere - Aretha Franklin
10. Heaven's Girl - Aaron Hall, Ronald Isley, Quincy Jones, R. Kelly, Charlie Wilson
11. Prelude to the Garden - Quincy Jones
12. Sax in the Garden - Kirk Whalum, Barry White
13. At the End of the Day (Grace) - Quincy Jones, Toots Thielemans, Mervyn Warren, Barry White

And what I also like about this album is the cover booklet containing Quincy Jones' thoughts on and descriptions of all 26 songs.

For "Setembro", he wrote "every now and again I find a melody that is so spectacular and pure that it doesn't need lyrics. The notes here are the words. I didn't want to define this tune with lyrics......... I wanted it to be everybody's wedding song that they could fill with their own words of love. To quote the Brazilian poet Vinicius De Moraes - "May it be mortal, since it's a flame. But may it be infinite while it lasts.............."

For "The Secret Garden", he said "This song is what people used before Pfizer invented Viagra......" Inspired by Nancy Friday's book The Secret Garden, he "made this uneducated quess about what women expect and/or need from a relationship with a man. It unfolded into a musical one-act play with four characters: Mr Sensitive, Mr Poet, Mr Erotic Animal (Hmm, is this what we expect/need??), Mr Father Figure....."

In the write-up on "The Lady In My Life", he mentioned "At the end of the song, I asked Michael [Jackson] if he knew how to "beg", and after I looked in his eyes, it was obvious that he was gonna "wear this one out". He said that he would give it his best........."

For "How Do You Keep The Music Playing", he says " This is, without a doubt, one of my favourite songs on the planet. I honestly can't tell you which I like better: the musicians, the melody, the lyrics or the incredible vocal performance by Patti Austin and James Ingram. It is absolute perfection all around..........."

Truly, this is a gem of an album.

Peace is...

More Titbits About Zerlynde

Ah Ma: Call me.........
Zerlynde: Siew Chen

Mummy: [Handing Zerlynde her bottle of milk]
Zerlynde: Thank you, mummy

Everytime she sees her baby brother crying, Zerlynde asks me to go "pau ti ti"

Daddy's handphone ringing tone is set to the song of "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" and his daily alarm tone to Ronan Keating's "When You Say Nothing At All". A few nights ago, I deliberately played these 2 pieces of songs at bedtime for Zerlynde. She looked at me with a hint of recognition, immediately sat up and said excitedly "Papa's handphone, papa's handphone".

In the Classical Baby Art DVD baby programme, there is one part where the main character, a baby in diapers, tries his hand at painting. He uses a brush to apply the various colours haphazardly onto a piece of paper, then mixes up the colour using his palms, ending with a brush against his forehead with his palm and leaving a trace of green there. Zerlynde does exactly the same thing sometimes when she is doing her colouring, except, instead of paint, she uses crayons. It's funny to see her rubbing her forehead with her palm with the imaginary paint and then cries out in disgust "dirty, dirty".

Zerlynde loves to sit on a bolster and pretend that it is a horse. I asked her earlier, "What colour is the horse?" She answered "Red Horse"

Colours

Zerlynde finally learned to name all the basic colours. She started off with purple and pink awhile ago, followed by yellow, green, blue, red and orange. And thanks to daddy with the help of Eric Carle's Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?, Zerlynde finally learned her Brown, White and Black.

And here's a picture of Zerlynde trying to put on her Snow White socks......

3 Weeks Already!

Zuwern is already 3 weeks old! And he is beginning to demand for more attention, wanting to be cradled, especially from midnight to 5am. Now, I'm remembering all the trials and tribulations of having a newborn; the nursing, the burping, the immobility, the constant worrying if everything is okay.....

Watching him with his vulnerability and innocence, I am filled with this overwhelming sense of wanting nothing but to protect him.

An Artist In The Family

No, these drawings are not done by Zerlynde. They are made by my very talented husband who had to learn the names of all Zerlynde's favourite cartoon characters as well as to draw them. Zerlynde loves "colouring" and she loves to "command" us to draw all her favourite stuffs, like ice-cream, birthday cake with candles, Elmo, Maisy, etc. And mind you, she can go on with this "game" for hours! Her poor "victims" include her aunt Kitty and her grandparents, especially her grandma who claims she cannot draw.

Earlier in the night, daddy had to babysit her for hours, hence the production of these drawings. Well, daddy didn't exactly draw them without help. He copied the pictures from a Sesame Street book and a Maisy VCD cover. And Zerlynde was thrilled no end with these drawings. She must think her daddy is so very smart, just like all other kids do.

Titbits about Zerlynde

Two nights ago as we were lying side by side, Zerlynde took a sniff at my arm and say "nice"... Such a charmer....

We were looking at a book together when she saw a cartoon character from Sesame Street on a pair of roller skates. She said "roller skates" to my great surprise. I never taught her the word. Later, she placed one foot on a piece of plastic cover and tried to roller-skate on it.

Zerlynde's fascinated with snakes. Even the shower hose and "mee-tai-mak" to her are snakes...

Hubby's Best Birthday Gift

It was hubby's birthday a week ago. I explained to Zerlynde that it was daddy's birthday and we both made a card for him. Then I gave her the card to be given to her daddy. When she saw her daddy at the stairs, she screamed at the top of her lungs "Happy Birthday" and handed him the card. Hubby was sooooooo happy.....