Enough procrastination!

It's been eons since I last updated this blog (the last post was a hasty update on the birth) - no excuse for taking care of Rosabelle day in, day out... decided I needed to start somewhere so here goes...I'm posting the last few monthly email updates and collages of photos I've been sending to family and friends. And then I will (try) to post more regular updates henceforth of our baby girl, who is now in Beijing and coming out of the wintry cold.

A quick update on Mummy's end - I tendered my resignation yesterday and decided I will first focus on Rosabelle, and enter the workforce again when the time is ripe - we've hired a local nanny to help with things and the housework. So...enjoy reading the 'updates' first (albeit old), and stay tuned!

• First 15 days
  
  Dear friends,
  
  After a hectic two weeks or so, the Shi family has settled down (somewhat) with the newest addition to our family coming out on 24 Oct 2008 - Rosabelle SHI Yue. The little one decided to come out early at 37 weeks+2 days old, weighing at 2.74kg, and measuring 48cm long. Mummy and little Rosabelle are doing great, though she (not Mummy) has a spot of jaundice still. Thanks to all for your well wishes!
  
  For those of you accustomed to getting emails directly from Wendy, she's understandably out of action for now, so don't be surprised to receive this email from me instead! For the StarHub and NYGH folks, she can only remember Jeannie's and Jinxin's emails offhand, so feel free to send this email around.
  
  We have attached some photos taken in the first 15 days - enjoy viewing them and we look forward to sharing the bliss of our bundle of joy with you!
  
• One month
  
  Dear friends,
  
  Some updates since our last email on Rosabelle - she turned a month old on 24 Nov, which was celebrated with an intimate family dinner. Now weighing at 3.9kg and measuring 52.5 cm, she is turning out to be rather feisty with her loud cries!
  
  She looks slightly differest from when she was first born, huh? Once again, enjoy the photos and thanks for all your continued blessings!
  
• Two months
  
  
  
  Dear friends,
  
  Greetings of the New Year from the Shi family! It's been a season of celebrations - Wayne got his best birthday present ever in December in the form of a darling Rosabelle, and we spent our first ever Christmas (not so 'silent night' in the form of crying...) and New Year with the addition to the family.
  
  However, brave Rosabelle had to go for an inguinal hernia operation on Boxing Day (endured 9 straight hours of fasting - can imagine how angry she was) and an overnight stay at the KK Hospital - she was a fighter and went back home the next stay and is now healing well. Her last weight before the op was 5.68kg, measuring 60cm - hope she catches up on any blood/weight loss! (She has been fast outgrowing her clothes, thank god for hand-me-downs!)
  
  She is starting to learn how to interact/play with us - favourite activities include watching nappies/clothes/curtains fly in the wind, staring at lights, enjoying a good bath (howls when we take her out of the water), and making lots of cute/funny noises in general when we talk to her! She also likes kids around her, taking well to Simon/Marianne, her cousins.
  
  Till the next round of updates - keep well one and all!
  
• Three months
  
  
  Dear friends,
  
  What an eventful month for Rosabelle! She celebrated her first-ever New Year, Chinese New Year, and turned 3 months old on 24 Jan, or a 100-days-old (a milestone in China) on 31 Jan. She also had the chance to follow the throngs of crowds at Sentosa with a trip to Underwater World.
  
  Rosabelle's favourite activities (in addition to on-going favs like bathing and looking at laudry flying in the wind) include catching peeks at the TV, playing with musical toy mobiles, kicking her feet, chewing on her hands, and enjoying walks/excursions away from the house (bawls if we bring her back in).
  
  We have not taken her latest weight/height, but at the last session on 22 Jan (where she was FINALLY cleared of her jaundice - yaay!), she weighed 6.8kg (97th percentile), and measures 60 cm (50-75th percentile) - imagine the 'workout' we adults have from carrying her around!
  
  We are planning to head back to Beijing in late March - till the next update, take care now and enjoy the pix as usual!
  
• Four months
  
  Dear friends,
  
  A short month, but photos galore nontheless! Rosabelle is now 7.47kg (close to 3 times her birth weight of 2.74kg), and grown slightly longer to a length of 64cm (birth length was 48cm).
  
  Favourite activities now including looking at books (and talking to the books...and talking quite a bit in general), doing exercise with the beach ball, and of course, going out around Singapore and looking at different things--in Singapore it's mostly eating around, and we even saw/took photos with Hong Kong celebrities Liza Wang and Law Kar Ying at Oriental Hotel!). We also took her to the Text 100 office in Singapore and she enjoyed being carried by and interacting with Daddy's colleagues. We've started feeding her teaspoon servings of bananas, oranges and apples - does not seem to be enough for her and she makes alot of noise if we are too slow with the feed, or stop giving it to her.
  
  Daddy Wayne is already back in Beijing, and will come back in end-March to fetch the ladies (Mummy and Rosabelle) - it'll be another exciting phase for Rosabelle when she's home in China, and in the mean time, she will get to enjoy sunny Singapore for another month!
  
  Signing off for now!

• Five months
  
  Dear friends,
  
  A jam-packed month as we got ready to head back to Beijing, as Daddy Wayne went back to Beijing first for his work (and getting the house and new car in order). Rosabelle made her last rounds of catching up with Mummy's friends and ex-colleagues, and having various outings and meals with the family (since it was the school holidays for Kor kor Simon and Jieh jieh Marianne).
  
  Rosabelle now wants every single utensil/cup she sees adults using, and will salivate heavily upon seeing food (haha, Mummy's genes to love food). Hopefully we'll have a fun time weaning her. She also has started 'talking' more, and chuckling heartily when we play with her.
  
  It was a slightly teary farewell (for Mummy Wendy at least) when being sent off by the family - no words can express how much gratitude and thankfulness I feel for going back to Singapore for Rosabelle's initial months as we were in good hands and showered with love all round (almost everybody who sees her commends Mummy dearest for taking such good care of us as Rosabelle has grown well). Thankfully darling baby girl slept well on the plane, and we landed in 2 degrees celsius Beijing weather in the early morning of 27 March.
  
  No more mere singlets/diapers for her like she was wearing in Singapore - back in Beijing, she is bundled up like a bak chang all the time, so poor thing, she can't kick and dance as happily, nor can she enjoy her 'clothes off'/naked time before baths. When we go out, it takes time to dress her out and she is confined to a stroller and rendered immobile because of the thick clothing-heh! The weather here is dry, so her cheek has broken out in supposed ringworm...she has also taken to sleeping quite a bit (maybe it's like aircon weather all the time and our house is quiet in the day, and she does not have so many people to play with in the day time).
  
  Thankfully, she has taken quite well to the local Nanny we have hired (the Nanny also has experience and really dotes on her too, and helps keep the house spick and span-phew!), but she still sticks to me and looks for me most of the time, so we'll have to give her some time to get used to her before I slowly get ready to go back to work in about another 3 months' time...