Owen is 3 wks old...

Here are some photos taken this wk 5th Dec 06. I managed to snap one when he was smilling after feeding time.

Dennis's 32nd Birthday...

We celebrated Dennis's 32nd birthday one day earlier on 25th Nov as he was flying off to USA on 26th. We had dinner at one of his fav restaurant in JB, New Hong Kong.

1 week old Owen...

Few days old Owen...

After being pregnant for 9 months, I was really glad that Owen was out of my belly. The last week of pregnancy was very tiring and heavy. Nevertheless, the relief was only temporary. After birth, the sleepless nights have begun. Actually, it is not too bad because during pregnancy period, I do get up like 3-4times to pee. So, waking up at night 3 times is allright for me. I was still coping well when I was in JB right after birth.

I moved to Hkg after 1 month and that was when I felt horrible. I was very tired all the time and could not cope with baby. Luckily, my mom accompanied me back to Hkg and she helped a lot. Otherwise, it would be worst. I think it was also due to weather.. it was winter and the house was cold. Dennis bought heaters for the house but still, it was cold. I did not feel good at all. I felt stressed out and often cried. I didn't like my body after birth.. for some reason, I thought I would fit into my old clothes.. don't know why. Naive thinking probably. I was even more stressed when I didn't know how to respond when Owen cried and cried.

Things got better when I calmed down and relaxed. I mean, I had to refocus and change my perspective. A lot of times, I always thought I was not ready for motherhood but you know what, you can never be ready. Taking care of a baby is 24/7.. no day off job. It is indeed very demanding and exhausting. I do get very frustrated on some days when Owen gets extremely cranky especially in the evenings when he refuses to sleep and drink milk.

Arrival of baby Owen Li Appel...

My due date was 13th Nov. I was still playing table tennis with my mom 2 weeks before 13th. However, I stopped 1 week before because my doc told me that baby might arrive early on 9th and Dennis would only arrive on 3rd.

Dennis came and we waited... waited and waited. On 9th, there was no sign of baby. Until 13th, there was also no sign of him coming out. My doc decided to induce me on 16th Nov, hence scheduled me to check in to hospital on 16th for induction. On 15th morning, I had very mild contractions and was not sure if my water broke or not. It was confusing. I went to hospital just to be sure and the nurse informed that I have dilated 2cms. I was like huh? It was not even painful.

Doc came to check on me and informed that my water bag was still intact. However, doc popped the pill for fast dilation and by 6.20pm, my water broke. Then, contractions started. Initially, I could still handle the contractions. By 10pm, the contractions were so painful. My back was like about to break into two... I did not have epidural because my doc did not encourage it and I was worried about the side effects plus the person administrating it. Now I know it was a painful mistake. The last contractions to push the baby out was pain from hell. Undescribable pain.... Really very painful! The worst was to coordintate the take deep breath when contractions come, hold the breath and then push hard. This combo was terribly difficult to manage. I can take deep breath and hold it but when the contraction came, it was an automatic response to let go of breath and moan in pain. That is the truth! In short, this is little advice for my gal friends out there. Pushing in birth feels like pooping a huge jack fruit!

Anyway, I am really glad it was over... and it was all worth it!

Owen Li Appel was born on 15th Nov at 10.52pm, weighing in at 3.25kgs and length was 52cms!

Pottery class in Prague, Cz 2006

I learned about this pottery class in Prague 6 through my Japanese friend, Masami. At first, I was nervous about it because to me pottery sounded so artistic and complicated but I decided to check it out. My teacher, Martin is really kind and patient. He gave us a lot of ideas and suggestions in our creations to help us obtain the outcome that we wanted.


Here are some of my masterpieces that I made. I left Prague sometime in May 06 hence there are some pottery which were still not ready. I have asked my friend, Masami to help me complete my work by glazing them. She made them really pretty!!!! My proudest work piece would be the square teapot! Enjoy....

Sarawak & Spore zoo short vacation...

Here are some photos taken from Sarawak's Cultural Village. There were many traditional houses in the village ranging from Iban, Melanau, Dayaks to the Malay, Chinese houses. It was interesting to look and walk around.

We also went to Singapore zoo recently in Sept with my relatively unnoticed tummy. The walk was good but I had to make sure I take little breaks in between to make sure I rest my legs well in order not to get swollen feet. My legs get tired easily nowadays and run out of breath pretty easy too. Each time I walk, I feel like this big whale waddling away... pretty tough to adjust to....

New baby boy arriving soon...

Yup... as scary as it sounds... we are expecting our first new born baby boy around 13th November 2006. I am currently in the 3rd trimester, 7th month now. The whole pregnancy has been quite an experience for me. It has ups and downs, the initial morning sickness part was not enjoyable at all... trust me! After this period, things improved.. I felt I am alive again so to speak.

2nd trimester which is from 4-6months is the honeymoon period and of course most relaxing time for me. I still continued to play table tennis and household chores as usual. I have been told by a lot of people that my tummy looks relatively small for the trimester that I am in.... Errr... I don't know.. maybe I am tall and have a bigger built. That is the only thing I can think of. Anyway, small tummy is an advantage sometimes. I travelled to East Msia for a short holiday when I was in 30wks and I lied about it saying I was in 27wks. Hahaha.....

Right now, I am into my 7th month and I start to feel the big heavy tummy growing more significantly. Sleeping at night has been quite difficult as I often get cramps on my right leg and had to get up to pee countless times through the entire night. I often hear people say when you are pregnant, you glow and look different, etc... For me, I think there is 0 glow and indeed I look different in terms of size and complexion. I tend to get little spots everywhere on my body and face and now I weigh an incredible 70kgs (12kgs increase from my initial weight). Ahhhhhh!!!!! Scary isn't it? This has been definitely my heaviest moment in my life so far!!!!!

Hmm... now, I am counting days to my due date on 13th November. I will write some more after I pop with new updates and photos on our little one.

Mom's Birthday Year 2006...

We celebrated mom's birthday earlier this year since everyone is home. Cake was really good...
It was a coffee cake. Yummy......