Dear Cepheus,
We noticed that you have begin to go on all fours and is now trying to learn how to crawl. You flipped from back to belly and then push yourself up on all fours. However you do not have the strength to push yourself forward. Your mummy also started to train you to sit up on your own. You actually managed to sit upright by yourself without much support for quite a period before you loose your balance.
Dear Cepheus,
It seems like after introducing you with semi solid food and porridge, you begin to refuse milk. No matter how hard and how often we try, you rather scream and cry than to drink your milk. The only way we can feed you with milk is when you are sleeping and we have carry and rock you to sleep first.
You going on to 8 months old and have yet sprout any tooth and your mummy is worried. However, it doesn't seem like a problem to you as you can still gum down any biscuits we pop into your mouth.
Love always,
Daddy
Dear Cepheus,
We brought you to Safra Mount Faber's swimming pool today. Your mummy bought a neck float off the internet and she was your "swimming instructor" for the day. She spend a lot of time in the water bringing you around the pool. Took you a while to get use to the water but we think that you like it.
Below is a short clip of your "swimming lesson" today.
Love always,
Daddy
Dear Cepheus,
After about a week of feeding you with rice cereal, if seems like you enjoy eating semi solid food. You finish them much faster than drinking your milk. You are always eager and ready to open your mouth when we put the spoon near. However, you tends to be impatient and tries to grab the spoon and pull it towards you. We have to distract you with soft toy so that you will keep your hands to yourself.
Your mummy feels that you are ready for puree and we bought some pumpkin and make some puree for you. Here's how we did it, you might wanna keep this in mind so that you can make some for my grand children next time.
Dear Cepheus,
You have recently "found" your feet and you spent a lot of time holding, grabbing onto them. You are even capable of lifting them up to your mouth and suck on your toes. I guess this is part and parcel of growing up and we will just have to keep your hands and feet clean all the time.
Dear Cepheus,
You have started learning how to crawl recently. Whenever we put you on the play mat, you will flip to your tummy, push up your backside and try to crawl. However, you are only able to move backwards for now. Your mummy and I can't wait to see you move forward.
Dear Cepheus,
You took your 3rd vaccination jab today, luckily the PD says you only need the 6-in-1 as you have already taken 2 jabs of pneumococcal vaccination prior to this. Singapore Government recommends 2 times pneumococcal vaccine before 12 months old a 1 more booster shot before 24 months old. Your mummy thinks that you are a brave boy as you only cried for a few second after being poked by the needle. The PD suggested that you should start on semi solid food and we made some rice cereal for you. I can't say that you like or dislike the rice cereal as your tongue reflex is pushing out most of the cereal.
Dear Cepheus,
You are now 5 months old, weighing about 6.5kg and at a length of 65cm, which is about average for a baby of your age. We guess you take after me and your mummy, we are both skinny. It seems like you are having constipation as you did not pass motion for 4 days in a row. Being the typical parent, I brought you to the PD for a check up. The PD stuck his finger up your rectum to check for hardened stool and there was none. He then insert some medicine to help you pass motion which you did within an hour. I am so sorry to put you through this. You were crying really really loud. I guess it must be pretty uncomfortable. The doctor also suggested giving you some home make apple juice (boiling a apple without it's skin in water) to give you some fiber to assist you in passing motion.
Dear Cepheus,
You turn 4 months old today. Your mummy thinks that you have been a difficult baby, giving her a hard time for the past 4 months. Although difficult, you brought us endless joy too with your lovely smile, cute cooing and funny pose while you are sleeping. You never failed to melt us with your smile and laughter.
It seems like our arms can feel that you are growing well too. Your mummy and I suffer from arm numbness and pain every now and then, especially after carrying you for more than 30 mins. I think your mummy and I need to go for some gym workout to buff ourselves up. You have inherited your bad temper from your mummy and like to have things your way else you will "scream and shout" till we give in. Your mummy thinks that your temper is worse than her! We are so gonna spank your ass when you grow up as revenge! ;p Happy 4 months old son!
Cepheus at 4 months old.
Love always,
daddy
Dear Cepheus,
I am very happy to witness another of your development milestone at 16 weeks. You are able to flip over from back to tummy all by yourself! Bravo! Welldone! Your mummy and I are so proud of you. You was able to flip over earlier this week but with much screaming, crying and grunting. After a few days of "self training", you are more proficient and able to flip over quickly with ease. This also means that changing your nappy will be a challenge for mummy as you flip every time we put you down on your cot/mattress/bed. I can't wait to see you crawling and sitting up by yourself!
Love always,
daddy
Dearest Cepheus,
You are now 12 weeks old, weighing about 5.3kg with a length of 59cm which is at the 25th percentile. It seems like you have found your hands recently and you are happily sucking on them as and when you can and grabbing things to put them in your mouth too! You are also more responsive now when we talk to you with all your "ah", "eh" and "huh" replies and endless smile.
I'm not sure if I am over sensitive but it seems like you recognized me. You are always smiling and "talking" to me and prefer to look at me whenever I am in your line of sight. Your neck is stronger too as you can hold up your head longer when we put you on your tummy. Your mummy is very happy that you can sleep through most of the nights now.
Love always,
daddy
Dearest Cepheus,
Everybody has been telling us that you look more like me than to your mummy.
The picture above is a comparison of me at 2 months old vs you at 2 months old. I hope you do grow up with some features that resemble your mummy.
Love always,
daddy
Dearest Cepheus,
Your mummy has given me a new nickname, the human rocker because I have been rocking you to sleep. It seems like you are addicted to my rocking as you will sleep easily everytime I rock you but wakes up when I put you down on the cot. Your mummy is also sort of blaming me for cultivating this bad habit. She also mentioned that you like to look at me. I think you recognise me as you will follow me with your eyes and cry when I'm out of your sight.
My arms, legs and back are aching with all that rocking and carrying. I was discussing with your mummy to buy you a sleeping sarong so that you can sleep longer, have a round head and hopefully it can help to prevent you from constantly sleeping on the right side of your head.
Your mummy took this cute picture of you.
Love always,
daddy
Dearest Cepheus,
Your mummy and I brought you to NUH last Thursday for your checkup cum vaccination jab. Prof Prabha said that you are doing great and he shall see you in 6 months time. As usual, you are very well behave except when you are hungry. Throughout the visit, you were busy looking around with your curious eyes. Nevertheless you bawl your eyes out when the nurse administer both the 6-in-1 and the pneumococoal vaccination on both your thighs. It pains me just as much too just by listening to your cries. I regret to inform you that these jabbing processes will go on every few weeks till you are about 1 year old. Please forgive me and your mummy for putting you through this unnecessary pain but bear in mind that this is for your own good. You developed a slight fever after the jab too and became better after we fed you with some fever syrup. Your mummy actually cried when she found out that you are having a fever because she blamed herself for being a bad mummy for not noticing your rising temperature earlier.
I am not sure if it was those jabs that made you cranky but you didn't sleep much and wanted to be carried throughout the weekend and that gave me, your daddy, some good arms and legs training with all the carrying and rocking. My limbs are still aching as of now. ;)
P.S. I think you enjoy bathing, see how excited you are in your bathtub.
Love always,
daddy
Dearest Cepheus,
You have been acting cranky for the past few days. It started on last Saturday afternoon after your mummy left for her dim sum lunch with her colleagues. You simply refused to sleep on your own in your cot and wanted to be carried at all times. The same thing happened again on Sunday morning 4am after your feed. I have to carried you for a couple of hours before you are willing to sleep. To make things worse, you started vomiting a lot of milk on Sunday afternoon. We were having Father's day lunch with your grandfather and you decided to vomit out almost half of your feed all over your mummy. It seems like bringing out extra sets of baby's clothing is not enough, I think we need to bring out an extra set of mummy's clothing as well. You vomited twice again on Monday over our sofa and living room floor. At the rate you are going, our flat is going to smell like your mummy's breast milk.
We are going to consult the paediatrician at NUH about this during your checkup this coming Thursday. Hopefully you are not ill.
Love always,
daddy
Dearest Cepheus,
We brought you out on 2 occasions during the last weekend. On Saturday evening, we went to United Square for dinner to celebrate your Grandmother's 54th Birthday. You were very well behave and didn't fuss much as you were sleeping most of the time. Below is a picture of you taken with your mummy, aunt April and your cousin Kaeus who is about 1 month older than you.
On Sunday evening we brought you out to VivoCity for some shopping. We were given a GAP gift card and your mummy wanted to buy you some clothings. Sad to say we didn't get anything as we did not see anything we like. You are very well behave on Sunday night too although the environment was alot more noisier than the restaurant on Saturday evening. You were very curious about where you are and kept looking around. Your mummy blogged about how well behave you were here whenever we brought you out. Seems like she wants to bring you out more often.
Although you were very well behave, bringing out a few weeks old baby is not as easy as what I have describe here my dearest Cepheus. Your mummy and I have to prepare and pack the diaper bag before we leave our home. We have to pack milk, diapers, napkin, baby wipes and pacifier. We made 2 mistakes during these few trips. 1st of all, we did not check where are the nursing rooms before we headed out. Some shopping mall are big and finding a nursing room may not be that easy as you need to walk quite a fair bit. During our VivoCity outing, I have to surf the net on my iPhone to search for the nursing room. The nursing room we went to is located at 1st floor next to bakerzin and it is horrible. It is situated inside the ladies room which means, me, your daddy cannot go in to assist your mummy. She had to single handedly carry you with your diapers and changing mat into the nursing room which is quite a difficult task as the toilet is quite busy with alot of people going in and out. This is where mistake number 2 comes in. We didn't pack extra set of baby clothing and you decided to pee when your mummy was changing you in the nursing room. As a result, your clothings were wet with your pee. We have no choice but to carry you around with soiled clothings.
*Lesson learnt today: Always find out where are the nursing/changing rooms before you bring your baby out and bring extra set of baby clothings as your baby may soiled themselves.*
Love always,
daddy
Dearest Cepheus,
Some point in your life, you will probably wonder why on earth we gave you this name. I have already explained here why your name appear the way it is on your birth certificate. I have always wanted to give you a unique English name. The moment I knew that you are a boy, I search through tons of baby names websites like www.babynames.com, www.babyhold.com and www.thinkbabynames.com plus flipping through many babynames books to find ideas for your name. Names that your mummy and I have considered includes Xerxes, Cornelius, Schyler and Zacchaeus. In the end, I have decided that I want to give my kid(s) Greek mythology names that starts with the alphabet "C" and hence, Cepheus became your name. Cepheus is the name of two Greek mythology kings and also the name of a Constellation. We, as your parents hope that you can be as bright as the stars.
As for your chinese name 宇恒，it was given on the advise of a fortune teller based on some calculation of the date and time of your birth plus the five element. Your mummy likes this name alot. I like it too as there is reference to the Universe and Cepheus is a Constellation as well. I think both names are nicely matched. That's how you get your name my dear son.
Love always,
daddy
Dearest Cepheus,
Your mummy is having a infection on her cesarean wound. Hence your primary caregiver for weekend is gonna be me and your grandmother. It seems like you have decided to become cranky while your mummy cannot take care of you. You have been crying and refusing to sleep since last night, waking up every 30mins. No amount of carrying and cuddling can comfort you. I suggested feeding you but your mummy and grandmother is worried that we will overfeed you as they have fed you not too long ago. Nevertheless they listen to me and after feeding, you went to bed quietly. It seems like you are going through a stage they called "Growth Spurt" which means you need to be feed more often and you will be fussier than usual.
It was really tiring for me as I have been carrying, cuddling, feeding and comforting you for the whole of today as your grandmother needs to cook and wash. I am sorry if we had accidentally starved you. As 1st time daddy and mummy, we are inexperience.
Learn from us son, so that next time when you are a daddy yourself, you know how to handle your own kids. I'm sharing my fathering experience(learn through the hard way as your grand daddy didn't share his fathering experience with me) with you through this blog. I will share more of my life experiences with you as you grow up. If you are well behave, I might even share some of my "girl wooing kung fu" with you but please keep it from your mummy. ;p
*Lesson learnt today: Feed baby on demand. If they want to drink, feed them. If they refuse to, don't force them.*
Love always,
daddy
Dearest Cepheus,
Today is your Lunar full month day, which means you are 1 month old under the Lunar Calendar. Looking back the past 2 weeks, it has been tiring for both your mummy and me. Your mummy spent most of her time expressing breast milk and taking care of you. I think she barely has enough sleep, waking up every 3-4 hours to express milk and follow by feeding and changing you. For me, I can only help out till about 2am in the morning on work days and all I did was just warming up the milk so that either your mummy or grandmother can feed you. That by itself is tiring enough. I cannot imagine how tired your mummy is. I will try to feed you from now onwards as I managed to feed you successfully all by myself a few days ago. You visited the paediatric today at NUH for a routine checkup. You weigh about 3.78kg now as compared to 3.1kg when you discharged for the hospital. I hope that the growth rate of 300 over grams per week is normal.
Your mummy and I brought you down to the neighborhood for a little walk and bought 2 packets of sweets to distribute. According to Cantonese tradition and culture, when a baby reaches full month, there is a need to distribute sweets. This is to symbolized the forming of friendship with those who receive your sweets. Your grandmother and I also went around to distribute your full month cakes to relatives and friends. Look at how cute you are now.
Dearest Cepheus,
Finally, after so many days since you were discharged from NUH, I managed to feed and burp you all by myself today. Your mummy was busy expressing milk while your grandmother went to the market. You started fussing and no amount of cooing and carrying can calm you down. There was some left over milk and I decided to feed you. It was actually very easy, the moment I put the teat into your mouth, you start to suckle. You drank up all the leftover and cry for more. Thank goodness your mummy was expressing milk and I request for some freshly expressed milk for you to drink. You must be hungry as you drank to the last drop. After you let out a loud burp, I managed to put you to bed after carrying you for a while. I feel so accomplished and proud of myself. The next thing I want to do on my own is change and probably bath you.
When you grow up and become a father yourself, I guess you will feel the same way as I felt today. That's one of the reason why I'm writing down all of my experience, so that I can share them with you.
Love always,
daddy
Dearest Cepheus,
Your mummy and I brought you back to NUH this morning for an appointment with Prof Prabha. They removed your dressing and did a quick check on you. Your surgical wound is healing great. I almost can't see the wound at all. They didn't hear any whizzling sound from your trachea too, which is good news. There are still a fair bit of excess skins on your neck but Prof Prabha says not to worry about that now as it can be corrected later. During this short trip, you are very well behave. You didn't cry or fuss except when you are hungry. Your mummy and I are so proud of you. Good boy!
Love always,
daddy
Dearest Cepheus,
It's been a week since you have been discharged from hospital. Most of the time, you are very well behave, sleeping quietly after drinking your milk. However, you do get naughty at times and kept crying. Last weekend, your grandmother was busy and your mummy and I have to take care of you all by ourselves on both Saturday and Sunday night. We let you sleep on our king size bed, in between both of us. You behave really well on Saturday night and slept quietly without much fuss. However, you are naughty on Sunday night. You refuse to sleep keep wanting attention from us. I have to keep patting you every now and then till 6am in the morning. I was so exhausted that I had to take half day leave from work. Please be a good boy or I will have to spank your ass!
Love always,
daddy
Dearest Cepheus,
You are discharge today from NUH. Your mummy and your paternal grandmother fetch you from the hospital. I'm sorry that I am not able to bring you back as I need to go back to work. I have took almost 2 weeks of leave from your birth till your operation, can't be too long away from work. Welcome to your home. I hope you like it here. See how soundly asleep you are in your own cot with your brownie beside you.
Love always,
daddy
Dearest Cepheus,
You are doing great after your operation. After they removed the tubes from you, the stridor is pretty much gone except for once in a while, you make some heavy breathing noise. They have moved you to the general ward as you are doing really well and no longer required intensive care. Your mummy went to NUH today to be "tested" by the nurses. As you are going to be discharge really soon, the nurses have to ensure that mummy is able to feed, change and bath you before you are allowed home. Your mummy was very good and she pass the test with flying colors. Don't worry my son. You are in good hands and look at how cute you are.
Love always,
daddy
Dearest Cepheus,
From now on, you will be officially known as Cepheus Chia, 谢宇恒, this is exactly how it looks like on your birth cert. Your mummy and I have decided to omit your hanyu pinyin and dialect name to prevent mispronunciation. Shorter name means it's easier for you to write or shade during examinations. You are currently still staying in ICU under observation after your operation. I hope you can be discharge really soon. I want to carry and cradle you in my arms.
Love always,
daddy
Dearest Son,
Your mummy and I went to NUH early in the morning for your operation. You were push into the Operation Theater at about 9.10am. At about 10.30am, Prof Prabha spoke to us and informed us that your operation was a success! The surgeons managed to remove the entire cyst, including the linings and walls. This means that the possibility of the cyst coming back is very low. The cyst is a singular cyst and it definitely not cystic hygroma. They have sent the cyst for further examinations. You are currently staying in the ICU under observation. Your mummy and I are really happy that the operation was smooth and that you are safe and sound. Rest well my brave son, we are very proud of you.
Love always,
daddy
Dearest Son,
The paediatric surgeon said that your condition has worsen this morning and you start to experience breathing difficulties. They did a CT scan on you and found that the cyst is beginning to compress on your trachea causing you to have stridor. They have decided to tube you as a preventive measure. Your mummy cried when she saw you with all the tubes going into you through both your mouth and nose.
Your mummy and I had a talk with the paediatric surgeon and they have decided to perform the cyst excision operation on you on Tuesday. We are very worried as there will be some risk involve during the general anesthesia. Please be strong during the operation my son.
Love always,
daddy
Dearest Son,
The below is a recap of what I did on your day of birth
Dearest Son,
It was a long night for both your mummy and me, not because we are too excited over the fact that you are going to be born soon but because your mummy is having regular contractions and pain. Your mummy couldn't sleep and I dare not sleep. We are waking up every now and then, in pain for your mummy and in anxiety for me. We are worried that you are too anxious to come to our world and I am worried that I will fumble and do not know what to do should your mummy go into labour before her scheduled cesarean. Just a few more hours son, just a few more hours...
Love always,
daddy
Dearest Son,
We bought you a combi stroller and a combi potty at BHG at 15% discount today. Your mummy, although is only 2 days away to her cesarean operation, she still wants to go out to buy stuff for you. As usual, we couldn't help but buy more clothings for you. Your stroller will be delivered at a later date as it is currently out of stock. We are getting excited as it's only 2 days away till your birth.
Love always,
daddy
Dearest Son,
Prof Biswas has given us a date, 5th May, for your mummy to go for cesarean to bring you into this world. Hopefully you can continue to be a good boy and keep drinking the amniotic fluid so that your mummy can carry you as close to full term as possible. Prof Biswas says that you are growing well and everything else seems to be okay. Your mummy and I are now worrying about your operation, duration of hospital stay and hospital bills. We certainly hope that everything will be smooth sailing and you can be discharge as soon as possible.
Love always,
daddy
Dearest Son,
Your mummy and I spent a few days shopping and buying stuff for you. We went to Takashimaya's baby fair , OG private sale and Isetan baby fair. We bought about SGD$500 dollars worth of stuff. The list of items we bought includes clothings, shoes, toys, a play pen, baby monitor and a play mat.
We managed to buy those glow-in-the-dark stickers and I've decorated your room's ceiling with stars, moons and planets. It is a pretty sight and I think you are gonna love it. You are now 32 weeks old and both your mummy and I am getting really excited. We can't wait to hug and shower you with our love and kisses.
Love always,
daddy
Dearest Son,
I have good news for you today. Prof Biswas found that the AFI level did not further increase, hence, he has decided not to perform the tapping procedure. What a relieve for your mummy and I. The blood test result also shows that your mummy is not suffering from gestational diabetes. Nevertheless, to be on the safe side, we would need to visit NUH weekly for Prof Biswas to check on the AFI level. Please continue to drink more amniotic fluid my son. You are doing a good job!
Love always,
daddy
Dearest Son,
You are now 27 weeks old. Prof Biswas discovered that the AFI (Amniotic Fluid Index) is too high. The 2 possible reasons he gave for the high AFI were that the cyst has cause swallowing difficulties for you or your mummy is diabetic. He made an appointment to do the "tapping" procedure next Wednesday and requested your mummy to return to NUH tomorrow to do a blood test to determine if she is having gestational diabetes. We are keeping our fingers cross, hoping that everything will be fine.
Love always,
daddy
Dearest Son,
Today is the 2nd wedding anniversary for your daddy and mummy. Instead of shopping for present for each other, your mummy and I was out shopping for stuff for you. Your mummy wants to buy some glow-in-the-dark stickers to decorate your room. Although we failed to find those stickers, we managed to buy a very cute teddy bear soft toy for you. We have named it "brownie". Hope you will like it.
Love always,
daddy
Dearest Son,
Today, during a routine ultrasonography check, Prof Biswas detected that the amniotic fluid level in the sac is increasing. This explain why your mummy has been feeling bloated and uncomfortable for the past few days. Prof Biswas said that you seems to be swollowing the amniotic fluid well as he can saw that your stomach is filled with liquid.
Should the amniotic fluid level continue to increase, Prof Biswas is considering a "tapping" procedure. What he wanted to do is to draw out excessive amniotic fluid from your mummy's tummy. He might even tap your cyst to reduce it's size to help you with the swallowing. The procedure should be the same as the previous amniocentesis done on your mummy. This is to prevent premature delivery due to rapid expansion of your mummy's womb. This totally freak me and your mummy out. The vivid memories of that ultra long needle used earlier on your mummy during the amniocentesis procedure is still sending a shiver down our spines.
Please drink more amniotic fluid a.k.a your own urine son, this is for the good of your mummy and yourself.
Love always,
daddy
Dearest Son,
For the past 2 days, we have been going around, seeking opinions with regards to the cyst growing on your neck. We have so far consulted Prof Biswas (Gynae and Fetal Assessment, NUH), Prof Prabhakaran (Paediatric Surgery, NUH) and Dr TC Chang (TMC).
All of them say that you are growing very well inside your mummy's tummy, however the cyst will grow together with you. It is unlikely that the cyst will disappear by itself. The cyst is probably a branchial cleft cyst but could also be a thyroid cyst or even cystic hygroma. Whatever cyst it is, it will have to be removed by surgery after you are born. We are also getting your paternal granny to care for you when you are born as we do not feel safe to send you to infant care after your surgery.
Your mummy will have to go through cesarean to bring you to this world as the neck mass may potentially cause problem for natural birth. Although all the doctors say that the cyst is not really a danger, we are worried that it may block your esophagus or trachea which may affect your breathing and milk drinking when you are born. All we can do now is hope that the cyst does not grow too big. Please be well my son.
Love always,
daddy
