Our second purchase for the house was a mirror cabinet for one of the ensuites. We bought it last week from Ikea, and finally, after a lot of huffing, puffing and squabbling, it got put up.....about 2 minutes ago. Kudos to DH, but I dread the forthcoming DIY jobs.

Wonder if I should invest in a gag gadget, or calming injections, so less huffing and puffing goes on? Then again, trying to put up a cabinet 20 minutes before having to leave for Mass is never a good idea *hint*.

Talking about Mass, the new parish is pretty small, but seems friendly enough. The congregation was rather well behaved, kids included, apart from a little 5 1/2 month old Puppy who kept cooing and squealing. It went down well with the ladies though.

PS: DH is objecting to the negative portrayal of a huffer and puffer - I'd like to stress that he actually did a remarkable job with the mirror cabinet, and has been working extremely hard with unpacking today, and I still love him very much.

24 weeks today - Puppy's really growing up. I just felt a tooth emerging from his lower gum earlier.

We went to the hospital today and the nice doctor confirmed that Puppy didn't have a swallowing problem. I suppose we knew that all along, but it was good to be sure. The doctor checked if he had a cavity on his upper palate, which he didn't. He is now 8.6kg, and all seems well.

I thought I'd try baby rice again, since Puppy hadn't had it in ages (weaning's a bit hit and miss at the moment). I decided to invest in some infant formula to mix the baby rice with. What a decision - standing in front of the baby formula aisle in the supermarket is mindblowing. I'm so glad I stuck with breastfeeding. I decided to just get a readymade packet of each of the major brands. I tried SMA Progress this afternoon - just 4-5 tablespoons of formula with 1/2 tablespoon of baby rice. Puppy seemed to take to it rather well.

Puppy's also managing to sit up.


We're also enjoying the new place, glad we have a bigger space to put our junk.


Now you see it


Now you don't

So, we've finally moved. Hurrah! Well, not so hurrah as there are loads of boxes left to be unpacked. DH has been wonderful, almost singlehandedly doing the unpacking while I entertain Puppy. We've managed to clear the kitchen and dining room of boxes so far. It would help if the packers actually labelled the all the boxes accurately, but I suppose they did as good a job as possible, considering the level of mess the old house was in.

Puppy has started sitting up, kinda lunging forward, but at least not toppling over immediately. There was also a little accident last evening. DH fell out of his car seat, flat onto his face. He suffered a nasty scratch on his nose and a fat lip as well as a gashed right knee. I'm sure he will have loads more scratches and gashes in the future, but seeing him cry the way he did wasn't very fun. The immense guilt was also unbearable. I'm just relieved he didn't fall on his back.

The movers are coming tomorrow to help us pack. The past week has been spent trying to sort out papers and tidy up a bit. I'm glad we paid the entra ?285 to have a full packing service - we couldn't have done it ourselves. I'm just really nervous with the whole thing, and hopefully by the time the movers leave tomorrow, I'll have calmed down. I know I'll feel better once everything is in boxes. Funnily, I'm not actually worried about the move, just the packing.

Will be back online hopefully in a couple of days.

This looks good, let's hope it actually is.

Well, Pope Benedict has addressed the issue in person. Not that the speech was anything to be sorry for.

Now, would whoever said this, issued this and did this (scroll down to graffitified Pope photo either apologise and/or say what you said/did wasn't really intended as such, or admit you're truly ignorant and forever hold your peace.



........Didn't think so.

First purchase for our new home.

And Puppy blissfully unaware that he is 22 weeks old today.

Glad I worship a God who I believe can see the funny side to things:

Whenever your children are out of control,
you can take comfort from the thought that
even God's omnipotence did not extend
to His own children.

After creating heaven and earth,
God created Adam and Eve.

And the first thing he said was
"DON'T!"

"Don't what? "
Adam replied.

"Don't eat the forbidden fruit."
God said.

"Forbidden fruit?
We have forbidden fruit?
Hey Eve..we have forbidden fruit !"

"No Way! "

"Yes way !"

"Do NOT eat the fruit! "
said God.

"Why? "

"Because I am your Father and I said so ! "
God replied,
wondering why He hadn't stopped
creation after making the elephants.


A few minutes later,

God saw His children having an apple break
and He was ticked!

"Didn't I tell you not to eat the fruit? "
God asked.

"Uh huh,"
Adam replied.

"Then why did you? "
said the Father.


"I don't know,"
said Eve.

"She started it ! "
Adam said.

"Did not!"

"Did too! "

"DID NOT ! "

Having had it with the two of them,
God's punishment was that Adam and Eve
should have children of their own.


Thus the pattern was set and it has never changed.


BUT THERE IS REASSURANCE IN THE STORY !


If you have persistently and lovingly tried to give children wisdom and they haven't taken it,
don't be hard on yourself.

If God had trouble raising children,
what makes you think it would be
a piece of cake for you?

THINGS TO THINK ABOUT!


1. You spend the first two years of their life
teaching them to walk and talk. Then you spend
the next sixteen telling them to sit down and shut up.

2. Grandchildren are God's reward
for not killing your own children.

3. Mothers of teens now know why
some animals eat their young.

4. Children seldom misquote you.
In fact, they usually repeat word for word
what you shouldn't have said.


5. The main purpose of holding children's parties
is to remind yourself that there are children
more awful than your own.


6. We childproofed our homes,
but they are still getting in.

ADVICE FOR THE DAY:

Be nice to your kids.
They will choose your
nursing home one day.


AND FINALLY:

IF YOU ! HAVE A LOT OF TENSION
AND YOU GET A HEADACHE,
DO WHAT IT SAYS
ON THE ASPIRIN BOTTLE:


"TAKE TWO ASPIRIN"
AND "KEEP AWAY FROM CHILDREN"!!!!!

Reports that there is Muslim anger towards a recent speech by the Pope sent me first to read it, and as I did so, into incredulity. As Puppy was wriggling around, I printed out the speech (provisional text) - there were 5 full pages of text. Of these 5 pages, the offensive material was contained in 3 paragraphs (40 lines, left justification, size 12 font, Times New Roman). Those 3 paragraphs recounted the Pope's recollection of a book he read, by Adel Theodore Khoury.

How a quote used early on as a starting point to illustrating faith and reason (and I suppose an underlying subtext to the objection of the use of violence in the name of religion) could be so taken out of context is beyond me. I accept that this is a sensitive topic, and indeed the Pope himself, well aware that this was so, went out of his way to emphasise that this was a quote. I wonder if all those protesting have read the speech, or simply accepted faithfully, and without use of reason. Talk about 'if you say jump, I'll say ''how high?''.

One more time. It was a speech on the topic of faith and reason, not whatever whoever wants to misconstrue it as. Read the text!

Plastered on the front page of The Sun today was this article about an asylum seeker who had infected several girls with the HIV virus. Moral of the story - don't sleep around!

Bought some Organix fruit puree from Tesco earlier. It was on offer - buy 2 packs for £2.00. In view that we are moving next week, I saw no point in making up my own purees, freezing them, only to have them all melt in the removal van. That didn't stop me from getting a couple of ice cube trays though, to prepare me for my future puree making sessions. Anyway, I tried Puppy with the summer fruits pot. He managed to eat 5 teeny mouthfuls of that stuff before giving up. Each mouthful was greeted with a grimace and frown. After that, he promptly created an avalanche from his behind. Nice one. I finished the remaining 95g of the pot. Yum! I wish I were a baby all over again ! We'll try another flavour tomorrow. Oh, and he also nibbled half heartedly on an oatcake.

Puppy is 5 months old today. Unbelievable how much he has changed and developed. Here's to the next 5 months and beyond. Daddy and mummy love you very much!

Puppy and I have been full of lurgy the past 2 days. I'm amazed at the amount of snot that can emerge from a baby's nose, and the severity of their sneezes! What's more bizarre is that while adults are full of self pity and lethargic while struck with lurgy, Puppies seem much livelier! He is a little more irritable, I have to admit, but all yesterday and so far today, he has wanted to do nothing but play. He refused to go to bed last night, and finally at midnight, DH had to take him out for a walk in the buggy. I was absolutely exhausted and grouchy by then.


Termite position


'Ill? Who says I'm ill?'

5 years on, and we still remember the events of 911 like they were only yesterday. I remember it well. For some reason, I was home early. I was living in the Vauxhall Road flat at that time with Hannah and Emma. I switched the television on, and it was all over the news. A plane had crashed into one of the WTC towers. As I watched, another plane flew right into the second tower. It was so unfathomable at that time, nobody had the foggiest clue what was going on. As the events unrolled the words 'terrorist attack' were used over and over again.

All I can say is this. Whatever the media says about George W. Bush, I actually like the man. It's never easy being the leader of the most powerful nation in the world. We get terrorists bombing us all over the place and mad dictators killing their own people, you can't expect him to just sit there and do nothing. Rightly or wrongly he went into Afghanistan and Iraq. Yes, there have been loads of casualties, but casualties happen in battles and wars. All this the media is harping on, why doesn't anybody acknowledge the amount of aid that the USA gives? So, everybody will criticize anyway. I say Mr Bush, pray for the right decisions to be made, and be strong. My thoughts and prayers during this time for all who lost their lives on this tragic day.

After yesterday's events and a night of cries for 'food! food!', I decided to try Puppy out with some baby rice.

Spoon - play!

Bored with big spoon (now flung conveniently on the floor) - try baby spoon

Hmm, where did all the baby rice go?

Bored of baby rice now

Let's have a rice thin.

Why does everyone say 'start with baby rice'? It's the stickiest, foulest product ever. Should have gone with my instincts and not bothered, since he already managed to eat an oatcake yesterday, but what to do with a packet of practically unused baby rice?

Looks like Puppy is ready to really have a go at solids now. We spent the day at DH's godmother's. First, he kept struggling when I tried breastfeeding him, although he's doing that a lot nowadays especially when there's lots of distraction. Then over lunch, he just kept wriggling. DH offered him a piece of Krackerwheat which he demolished. We then went off to evening mass at The Guardian Angels RC church. We went back to godmother's for dinner, and although I managed to feed Puppy quite substantially (I thought!) prior, he kept wriggling. Godmother kept suggesting we try him with some gorgonzola. I must say that just because someone looks like they want something doesn't mean they should have it or that it is necessarily good for them. Anyway when she finally asked why he wasn't allowed gorgonzola, I finally told her that he probably wasn't old enough to tackle 1) Mould on cheese; 2) Salt in cheese. She seemed to accept that explanation well enough because she never asked about gorgonzola after that. As a peace offering, I decided to vaguely wave half an oatcake in front of him, to which he promptly stuck his paw out. Half an oatcake soon became bits of oatcake. I offered the other half and pretty soon that too disappeared. It's rather interesting to see how he was actually crunching on that piece of dry oatcake although he doesn't possess any visible teeth!

21 weeks and 2 days. My puppy is growing up!

This is how domesticated I have become. I made my first lot of jam today. 'So what?', one may ask. This is a huge thing for me - jam?? I could buy a jar of that stuff for 89p in Sainsbury.Anyway, I had a punnet of greengages that needed eating, and I was afraid they would go off before we ploughed through them, considering we still had strawberries and raspberries in the fridge. 'Jam, hmm, should be easy enough to do' I thought. DH was away for the footie, and Puppy was actually behaving himself:



Cut fruit for jam.




Add sugar



Boil it up (cue Puppy, who decides now is the perfect moment to start complaining that I'm spending too much time stirring jam than playing with him).




Ready to go on toast - scrumlicious!




Later, work it off by pushing buggy a few laps round the block. *Pant*

21 weeks

Puppy is now 21 weeks. Meeting up with the other mothers yesterday revealed that he was rather advanced with his vocals, but not very good mobility-wise. Gwyneth is already trying to crawl and Mayumi can chew her own feet :) It was a nice little session, got to catch up with some of the mums and exchange updates. The only depressing bit was that I have officially entered the realm of Starbucks mumhood. Eeekk! Never though I'd be admitting to this! :-P

Puppy went in for his weight check today - 8.41kg (18lb 6), which puts him just under the 91st centile for his weight. I also got the health visitor to measure his length - 66.5cm (26.2inches - 75th centile). She said he was a 'textbook baby' :)




4 months and 23 days (20 weeks and 5 days)

This is a recount from a lady on an online forum that I'm on (in italics, typos included):

I have just heard this conversation from a family going past out house - it has really upset me for the lad involved

I am going to leave the language in as I think it is quite a relevent part of the converstion - and there wouldn't be many words left without it!

Dad, I can't ride this bike it goes to slow.
change fxxxing gear then
I can't they are stuck
just put your fxxxin legs into it
I am but it is really stiff
why you have to fxxxing spoil everything you little dick
I'm not I can't make it go faster
get on it and get going dick
*crying* I can't my legs hurt making it go
you're an fxxing mary your sister can ride it
I know that is why she goes slow dad
fxxing get in front you dick you have spoilt our trip out again your a fxxing mary we're all going home
*cue other kids 2?* can't we just walk dad
No we fxxing can't just cause your brother is a dick were off home
*carries on as family ride off into the sunset*

I feel so sorry for them I estimate the lad was around 7yo.

Another recount:

I was in Asda earlier and there was a family..mum, dad and two boys of about 5 &9.

the mum and dad were walking around chatting away complelty ignoring the two boys.
they knocked a load of tins off a shelf, knocked into various people, were swinging around the trolley etc etc.

anyway the mum and dad were just carrying on regardless other than the odd "will you stop you little B***D" "keep that up and i'll give you a clump"

well the eldest boy was pushing the trolley that was very full, younger boy was hanging onto the side. running up and down the aisle....then the whole trolley flips up and is literally on top of the younger boy.

my heart was in my mouth, i ran over to help lift the trolley (which was incredibly heavy) off of the lad, i was really worried it may have broken his leg. thankfully he got up so seemed ok but clealry in pain and crying.

Mum and dad continue to shop along the aisle!! don't even look up. when the odler lad runs and tries to tell them what happened mum says " i dont want to F**King hear it" he tries again to tell her "i said i don't want to hear it" the poor lad just walks back to the trolley.

In this day and age, where people are contracepting and aborting away future generations, there are also people who, already having the most precious gift - another life - see it fit to treat their children this way. Absolutely shameful. When our government talks about having R-E-S-P-E-C-T, perhaps it should cut both ways.

I'm not talking about letting children get away with murder. On the contrary, I'm quite in favour of discipline. What I object to, is using methods which totally undermine the child, make him feel absolutely worthless, and with his mind already screwed up, trigger another generation with this behaviour, either with his own children or with his relationships with other people.

Should it be our business if we don't agree with how parents treat their own children? Is it our responsibility to intervene? What should we do if we see children abused this way in broad daylight? How should we do it?

10 years ago today, I was in Changi Airport waiting to board the plane to the UK and embark on a life changing journey. I would be going to university. Little did I know then, that I would stay on, get married and have a child. All I wanted to do was experience a few years of life overseas, get that all important paper qualification and then return home and get a good job. Life, as they say, is unpredictable.

10 years ago, I bid farewell to my family, on my mother's birthday. I keep leaving on my mother's birthday.

Happy 66th Birthday Mama!

Just read that Steve Irwin died while filming in Australia. Ironically, the man, who rose to fame through his enounters with crocodiles, snakes, spiders, and other deadly species, died when a stingray's barb pierced his heart. I enjoyed seeing his TV programmes, he was a delightful and colourful character who just seemed really down to earth and passionate about what he did. May he RIP.

SUKA

DH and I have just returned from a lovely day out in London. It was SUKA's family fun day. We'd never been before, and simply went to see what it was like. Also I was craving food from home. It was a rather pleasant experience, typical Singaporean style, with loads of food, cheesy tunes blasting from the sound system and games for the children and family, with loads of prizes up for grabs. We didn't win the tickets to Singapore but we did manage to win a couple of bottles of sesame oil and chilli sauce, thanks to Yeo's.



After that, we decided to drop by at DH's godmother's on the way home. She was delighted to see the Puppy, having last seen him at his baptism, some 4 months ago. She's also booked us in for lunch next Sunday, which will surely be an enjoyable experience as she is a wonderful cook.

IQ

DH and I sat down to do the BBC's Test the Nation quiz this evening. Out of 70 questions, I had 57 right answers while doing the TV version. Inputting my original answers to the online quiz where possible, I had 60 questions right. According to my age group, apparently this gives me an IQ of 124 doing the TV test and 145 doing the online test. Not too bad to one who enjoys reading 60p housewife's magazines and News of the World eh?

Botching up the devil's work

The news that a woman has sued over an apparently botched exorcism is yet another example of how things have gone out of hand in the litigation business. I mean, a botched exorcism? What in the devil made anyone come out with that?! Very soon people will be suing the Church because apparently God didn't hear their prayers.

Lung power

Puppy loves talking to Mr Parrot, Mr Monkey and Mr Elephant.

20weeks (2)

One of the things Puppy has been doing the past few days has been persistently rolling over. All very good, but he starts complaining about it, then you turn him on his back, and he rolls over to his front again, all the time making sure you know about it!

20 weeks

Puppy is now 20 weeks old. He is really responding to sound and gets amused by just about everything.

Guardian soft toys

At 11 weeks

So unfit

DH and I went to play badminton last night. It's the first time I'd done any proper exercise in ages (well, since being pregnant), and it was absolutely knackering! We brought Puppy along and parked his buggy at the court tramlines. 20 minutes into the session, Puppy decided to flex his vocal cords, so we spent the next 40 minutes picking him up, putting him down and making funny faces while trying to get a few more strokes in. Such is life with a baby eh?

Puppy has been rolling over with ease, all yesterday morning. Pity he doesn't know how to roll back yet, so just squawks when he's tired of being on his front.

Cik Rathia

I learnt today that one of my former teachers in secondary school passed away last week. Cik Rathia was a feared teacher during my time. She was a massive lady who took us in PE. I remember her always wearing T-shirts which would stretch round her body and 3/4 trousers. She would blow her whistle and shout our her orders, sometimes sat in a deckchair. Us girls would run round the field, or round the neighbourhood, or do starjumps, or whatever exercise according to her commands. Her most famous threat if we disobeyed would be to sit on us! That usually put the fear of God into us and made us run faster (or find shortcuts away from her sight and use those!). It's teachers with personalities such as these that make her memorable. She was loud, obnoxious at times, but within, you could see she was a kind soul.

She taught me from 1993-1996.

Cik Rathia d. 25 August 2006
Eternal Rest grant unto her soul, may perpetual light shine upon her, may she Rest In Peace.

Doppleganger

Looking back on some of the older videos of Puppy, I realised that he indeed looked very much like my dad!


At 7 weeks

Which Blog?

I've been flitting between Blogger and another webblog site (Multiply) for the past couple of weeks. The main reason being I'm undecided which site to use. The other site enables me to post little videos of Puppy at work, which my family loves, on the other hand, I think that site isn't very secure in that anybody could easily download the videos, as I post for the public to see. DH suggested I use a site dedicated to uploading videos, which then can be played in Shockwave format. I think I shall try this out instead....nothing is foolproof to the most determined I suppose, but at least it will set my mind more at ease.

Breastfeeding and obesity

All that talk about breastfeeding being good for babies. Throughout university and now as a new mother, the benefits of breastfeeding has been drilled into me. Yes to the bonding, increased immunity, decreased infections, decreased risk in obesity etc.

The Guardian had this article recently. Well and good about trying to withhold weaning until at least 6 months. I'm on the path to doing that (save a couple of incidents with rice cake and breadstick), but decreased risk of obesity? Puppy was on the 98th centile for weight until just a couple of weeks ago when he dropped down to 91st. I was almost afraid of getting an obese breastfed baby. I have to say though, that looking at the bottle fed babies from the antenatal class, even the lighter ones look flabby with loads of folds. So maybe it's not so much weight, but body composition, and true to form, the breastfed baby really does look leaner.

Anyway, what do babies in the USA eat?

Birthdays

*Posted retrospectively from August 31st*

Almost forgot that today is Deborah Gibson's 36th birthday. Yes, I am that sad, but she was (and still is, to an extent) my favourite singer. I still think she does one of the best song lyrics. Happy Birthday Deborah! She's a puppy too!

On the same note, Happy Birthday Malaysia.

Rollover

Puppy did another 3 rollovers to his front today, only I missed the first two. He has also been flexing his vocal chords quite a bit!

Trying to get through to the United ticketing office is worse than getting through a queue in a busy hospital A+E department. You flit between getting told by the automated system to 'try again later' and listening to horrendous on-hold entertainment for 15 minutes before getting total silence, with no indication whether you're still on-hold or not. I must have spent 90 minutes trying to get through to them today, with no avail. Did manage to write a snotty letter criticising their phone system though. Posted it First Class to whoever cares to read it in the United higher circles. Hrumph!!

We've also received the contracts to sign for the new house, as well as a hefty figure to pay upon completion *faint*. All that plus £800 on this month's Mastercard bill already! Where does all the money go?

Conversion or Martyrdom?

The recent news that 2 journalists working for the Fox news channel had been released following their conversion to Islam has made me ponder what I would do if in a similar situation. I would hope that I would be strong enough to refuse to deny Christ, and need be, die a martyr. Clearly I'd rather not have to be faced with such a desperate situation.

On another note, while watching Narnia yesterday, we started discussing briefly the character of Aslan as an allegorical portrayal of Christ, the sacrifice and destruction of the table being particularly poignant. I must admit that I've never read any of CS Lewis' works, although I have heard much about him. I suppose I will have to start now, since DH mentioned that it may be due to Elizabeth Anscombe that Lewis did not publish another theological work after Miracles. The lady is in fact the mother of DH's godmother.