Counting Crows, finally! .flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } Counting Crows, originally uploaded by monster-ru. i finally saw them on sunday, and it was well worth the wait! adam duritz sounds as good live as he does on the CD, and i'm not being biased. :) it was really incredible. the highlight for me must be when they played an extended version of Round Here - "did you think that you were dreaming..." and this time, it was about a girl named "Mary". (no more Maria - pui!)Setlist is here: Le Ballet D'or / Have You Seen Me Lately / Hanging Tree / Mr Jones / Colourblind / Cowboys / Good Time / Anna Begins / Round Here / Washington Square / Big Yellow Taxi / A Long December / Rain King / Blues Run the Game / Hard Candy / Meet on the Ledge (Fairport Convention) / Holiday in Spain.a bit disappointed that they didn't play Mrs P's Lullaby, but it was still a very good night. adam durtiz said something about trying to squeeze the most number of songs into a short amount of time. also chuffed to bits that the babysitting went so well. when we got back to the hotel at 11ish pm, (after a drink at the bar!) our friend was sitting in the dark so as to not wake Xander up! (p.s. - the boy also started to walk properly on his own. he took quite a few steps on sunday by himself, and last night, he gained enough confidence to walk around all by himself!) more updates the last week has been a really busy week.amongst other things, X has learned to say a new word - "ba-ba" for bubbles. (we have a bubbles machine that we just used yesterday at a friend's baby's 1st birthday party.) He also managed to repeat the words "huai dan" (bad egg) after me, which was really funny becos my mum actually warned me not to say that too often in front of him, as it might be the first chinese words he'll learn. Oh well, too late for that now.he was also really sweet when i put him to bed just now - he leaned forward to give me a kiss without me asking for one. :-)i can't believe how fast things are progressing with him, and i don't even have the time to document them! NAB can really cook anything. .flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } beef kway tiao (dry), originally uploaded by monster-ru. up the stairs .flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } up stairs, originally uploaded by monster-ru. i haven't blogged much at all - haven't really had the time cos looking after this little monster, er... bundle of joy i mean, is taking up quite a lot of my energy.the boy has indeed grown a lot over the last couple of months, and it is quite amazing how much he was developing as he approached his first year.this photo was taken a couple of days ago, when he crawled to the stairs (where i was standing), and then started making his way up. i was quite intrigued because he had never shown any interest in doing that, and he even made it all the way to the top, with very little help from me. (i really wished i had a better photo, but i was too nervous about him falling down!)he'd never really been keen on crawling, but he is really enthusiastic about walking. we got him his first pair of shoes on the weekend, and i have a feeling that very soon, he'll be walking on his own. at the moment, he is also trying to stand up on his own, and getting him to sit in his pram for a long-ish period of time without him protesting is also damn near impossible now. tonight is the first night that i have seen Xander roll from his back to his front in his sleep, (tummy time, with his head up but eyes closed!) and then sleep facing down. then he turned his head again to switch sides.strange to see him moving so much in his sleep. i know he inches towards me during the night, but this is quite interesting because he usually does not voluntarily go onto his front. meanwhile, this nasty cold and horrible horrible cough made him projectile vomit most impressively earlier on, and the useless GP didn't even give him any meds.oh, and make that 3 CDs that i have bought since Christmas. the new REM album was released yesterday. happy. i have purchased 2 new CDs since Christmas. Hooray!! i don't recall a period in my life ever that i have bought so few CDs... the poor boy has fallen sick again, and this time, i think it's the worst ever.he's coughing, and throwing up, and not eating much at all. the worse thing is that he hates taking his meds, and it is such a struggle getting him to take any of it. tonight, as for the last few nights, we made him take some and he threw all of it up, including the milk he drank before that. the poor little fella was feeling so sorry for himself, and it's really heart-breaking to see him being so unwell...he has however, made the connection that shaking his head means that he doesn't want something... so that's quite sweet.(AND FINALLY! i am so happy to see Casey Stoner making mistakes on the race track! the others have a chance!) teeth the boy's top teeth have cut through now. He has been miserable for the last couple of weeks or so (and so have we!) and i thought that maybe it is just the two top ones. But i looked closer today, and i think all the 4 front teeth have started to appear! and i think more from the sides are coming because he seems to be chewing things (including his fingers!) with the side of his gums! God help us! my son can now kiss on demand. It's the sweetest thing on earth. i feel like such a bad mummy today.first, i woke my son up by taking him out of his pram where he'd earlier just fallen asleep in, and then put him into a cold cot-bed in a cold cold room. and the worse thing was when i attempted "Controlled Crying". i wasn't going to give up or give in. But after 45mins, i decided that it was enough...so, besides feeling like i'm a bad mummy, i also feel a bit of a failure where this is concerned.sigh... tomorrow i will try again. YEEESSSSSS!!!!! Counting Crows will be playing at Hyde Park this summer! YIIPPPPEEEE!!! Xander, the bully .flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } smack!, originally uploaded by monster-ru. Taylor is 2 mths younger than Xander, but very recently, she has got bigger and taller than him. Still, he does not get intimidated, but smacks her one in the face when she does not give him any attention! Rats! .flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } xander being ill, originally uploaded by monster-ru. We had plans for this year's Chinese New Year. We'd got the car from mum, and i'd recently bumped into a chinese lady whose kid is a month older than xander, who told me where i can drive to (somewhere really near, not chinatown!) to get some stuff for the new year.We wanted to do something. Have a party, invite the neighbours, get some friends around, and have a proper reunion dinner. Unfortunately, i fell sick over the weekend and then the boy got quite ill last night. I ended up having to hold him in my arms all night so that he would get some sleep. (and me, very little.)So this is how he looked today... he felt so hot this morning, it worried me. And i feel bad because if i hadn't fallen ill, he probably wouldn't have either. :-(Luckily, our dinner was salvaged by NAB going to chinatown and bringing home some yummy "sioh bak" and beef noodles. So we all had a relatively good time, with Xander grooving to NAB's freshly-downloaded-from-itunes chinese new year songs and us being quite amused by that. Oh, and the dogs were not left out either. Finn was kind of entertaining X by letting him wave his hand at him, and Belle jumped up into my lap to be spoilt.Anyway, i've had a good Pig year, except for the bloody chicken pox. And i hope you all have a great Rat year ahead. vroom vroom! tomorrow, we get our very first car, courtesy of NAB's mum.whilst i'm a bit kan cheong because i have not driven for a few years and never in this country, i am also looking forward to being able to take the boy out to places besides the town centre and not be restricted by the fact that i can't take him out in the pram by myself if i have to use the train. (blame it on the fact that the space between the platform and the train is far too wide!)oh, and about something else unrelated, i took my tongue piercing out. might still put it back in, but it is looking quite unlikely... sick boy .flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } Dad i am so ill!, originally uploaded by taekwon-dodo. this poor little fella has been ill since sunday, and sunday night was probably the worst night ever in terms of dealing with baby. he sreamed and cried (and threw up as a result) most of the night.but the funny thing was that our neighbours had a new lodger and it was his first night - and we think he's the guy who when parking his car on our street, failed to check before reversing and nearly backed into us at high speed. the angry me wanted to "kanninabei!" and "chowchee" him jiaklat jiaklat, but it came out in a milder version instead because i am trying not to swear in front of the baby... - so it was a great welcome "gift" for him! anyway, the boy is still snotty and teary, and has lost a bit of weight. but after taking all his measurements, the midwife today (at his 8 months check) assured me that we have a very "proportionate" baby. hahaha! haircut - stage 1 .flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } haircut - stage 1, originally uploaded by monster-ru. The boy's fringe has got so long that it was getting into his eyes. I managed to cut a bit of it off this morning, before he started wriggling too much. At least now he looks less like a girl!(oh, and he started clapping with both hands all by himself this morn!) father & son .flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } father & son, originally uploaded by monster-ru. is this sweet or what? :)(lens test - new lens from Dad!) the happy bunny .flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } DSC01966, originally uploaded by monster-ru. Xander has really grown in the last month or so. and i don't mean growing in physical terms, but emotionally and the rest.there is just too much to say about his development, but in short, he is definitely displaying much more consciousness and awareness in what he does and what's going on. It really is amazing to watch him. Like the way he stretches his hand out to touch our faces in the mornings whilst we are still in bed, or the way that he chuckles when we play with him, or how he watches us when we are not really paying attention to him before deciding what his strategy for getting some love would be.so far, i think the 3-6 months period was the hardest, and i'm glad that that time is now gone. But i'm also very aware of how fast he is growing, and how quickly it will all go. So for now, i'm just really happy to be enjoying the good times. Nevermind that i have to wake up at least 3 times a night, and that he has started teething. :) Xander in a bunnysuit .flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } Xander in a bunnysuit, originally uploaded by monster-ru. this baby gets bored sitting in his pram. i don't blame him... i wouldn't be able to sit in a chair for too long myself. this however, means that daddy and mummy (mummy, usually! 'cos she has to carry him *and* push the empty pram at the same time! ) get really tired carrying him around in town.but it's worth it really. especially when he's looking like this, and everyone who walks past has a little smile on their faces. it is nice when someone else agrees with you that Boxing Day is the worst ever day in the entire year to have your birthday on. remembrance day 2007 .flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } remembrance day 2007, originally uploaded by monster-ru. (took this in the town centre today.) rollover .flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } rollover, originally uploaded by monster-ru. he hates doing this so much.i love the frame in the centre because you can just about see his rather unhappy face, looking all distressed, saying "mummy, why do you make me do this? i hate it, i hate it!" falling asleep .flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } falling asleep, originally uploaded by monster-ru. the boy loves falling asleep whilst feeding. This causes 2 problems:1. he can't fall asleep by himself anymore/when not feeding,2. he doesn't feed enough and so wakes up during the night to feed.whilst this made him quite easy to handle whilst he was still a newborn, this is really starting to make life more difficult for me.But nevermind all that for now. He's the sweetest thing. these days i love watching the boy observe his hands.he looks at them with such intent, and then moves his fingers so slowly and deliberately, as if to conjure up something. i'm being used as a dummy. but what makes this funny is that the boy would stick his finger into his mouth at the same time, so as to see which is "tastier"? i was on msn with ondine and there was the funniest typo error i'd ever seen:"hee hee..but if you just have him.. he'll be kibely"well, i thought that kibely is a real cute way to describe a baby... Finn on top of toppled compost bin .flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } Finn on top of toppled compost bin, originally uploaded by monster-ru. this is how he shows Belle who's boss... the boy has started having some puréed food in the last couple of weeks. today, i saw (and smelled) what was clearly adult-poo in his nappy. it was funny when he was clearly pushing, complete with visual and sound effects. but i wasn't laughing anymore when i had to change the nappy! a jedi kiss .flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } a jedi kiss, originally uploaded by monster-ru. acid clouds .flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } acid clouds, originally uploaded by bentann. i wish i had been in singapore to see this...