Happy New Year 2009

As soon as Caleb finished his evening feed, we opened the bubbly and started our New Year's celebrations early.  At midnight, we had a super view of the awesome Marina Bay fireworks display.  We could watch the entire show from our living room while Caleb slept right through the event.

Thanks for the glasses and bottle of champagne, Catherine!  

We even had a bit leftover for champage and orange juice 

with our New Years Day breakfast.

Sleep deprivation leads to...

Toasting in 2009 after an incredible 2008 full of so many 

exciting events for the Meyer family.

The view from our living room at midnight.

The Duck

Apparently, the housekeeping staff at the Ascott did not approve of Caleb's bathtub courtesy of Mount Alvernia Hospital so they arrived yesterday with a new bathtub.  The duck's beak even quacks which scared Caleb but otherwise, he seems to approve of the new tub.

Quack, quack

Growing Boy

On Friday, we stopped by the pediatrician's office to have Caleb weighed and measured.  At two weeks old, he is already 4200 gms (9 lbs, 4 oz) and has grown another 3 cm.  Apparently, he is eating enough!

Kevin returned to Ho Chi Minh City this evening.  He will return on New Year's Eve to enjoy the fireworks with us and then on New Year's Day, Gramma Jean and Grampa Dean arrive.  We cannot wait to see them and show them around Singapore and Vietnam!

You would think it is -30 degree in Singapore the way Caleb is wrapped up in his penguin blanket (thanks, Gramma Alvina)!  The air conditioning can be rather cool though.

Our growing boy!

Merry Christmas From Singapore

Caleb and I tried our best to wait for Kevin's arrival on Christmas Eve but we fell asleep.  We had made apple crisp and left it out for Santa and were pleased to see that it had been enjoyed by one of our late night guests!

Our Singapore Christmas was quiet and relaxing.  We still got a taste of the Canadian air hockey tournament we were missing when we got to Skype in as viewers!  We look forward to hear who will be taking home the trophies this year.

Santa was good to us.  After a delicious brunch we opened our gifts and stockings.  Caleb slept through most of the excitement although once awake, he seemed to enjoy his new toy.  We had an early Christmas dinner complete with cranberry sauce, dressing (thanks for your recipe, Alvina - it was delicious), mashed potatoes, corn, asparagus, and gravy.  We could not justify a turkey for the two of us so we had chicken instead.  It was a great meal.  To finish it off, the apartment management delivered a delicious chocolate cake to our suite!  

After an exhausting day of eating and playing with Caleb, we are heading to bed in preparation for some Boxing Day shopping tomorrow.

We wish you all a wonderful Christmas day!

Our 'cute little pudding' - the Christmas outfit from Kris, Krista and 'Baby Inside'.  I think it will fit 'Baby Inside' come next Christmas!  This is Caleb's 'seriously, Mom, not another picture' face.

All ready to open presents... well, at least Mom and Dad are.

As you can see, Caleb just loved his gifts!

Caleb and Mom

Caleb and Dad ready for their post-Christmas dinner nap.

Check out the Caleb's Album for more Christmas photos too!

11 Days Old

It is hard to believe that Caleb is already 11 days old! It feels like I was going to the hospital just yesterday but it also feels as though Caleb has been a part of lives forever. Here is a look of what we have been up to over the past 24 hours...

Last night Kevin called us over Skype from Ho Chi Minh City and it was the first time that I have seen Caleb react this way to a voice over Skype. He definitely recognized Dad's voice!

Chatting with Dad in Ho Chi Minh City. Kevin returns to Singapore tomorrow evening.

We got all dressed up in this fancy shirt (a hand-me-down from Cousin Matthew) to go to the hospital for the newborn hearing screen.  Caleb passed the test but considering we can see him react to various sounds, it was probably not necessary.  At least now when he is older and does not listen to me, I have proof that his hearing is fine.

 I put Caleb in the Baby Bjorn carrier for our trip out today and like all of his carriers, this one also had him sleeping before I had walked out of our apartment building.

Dad Returns to Ho Chi Minh

Caleb and I are on our own for three days as Kevin returned to Ho Chi Minh last night for work. So far we are coping well but we sure miss Daddy.  Kevin is such an incredible Dad - not only did he do all the cooking and straightening up around the apartment, but he changed diapers and spent lots of time playing with and soothing Caleb, especially when Mom needed a rest.

We miss you, Daddy.  We cannot wait to see you on Christmas Eve!

A Visit from the Ruiters

After an exciting afternoon hosting our Christmas social, we were thrilled to hear that Kevin's colleague, Adrian, and his family had just arrived from Kuala Lumpur to spend the weekend in Singapore. Adrian, Nancy, Lindsey and Sarah all came by the apartment to meet Caleb before dinner.

Sarah, Nancy and Lindsey checking out Caleb.

Caleb with the girls.

Dinner at Lau Pa Sat Festival Market.

Mom and Caleb - all tired out after a big day!

Christmas Social

To bring our new Singapore friends together and allow everyone a chance to meet Caleb, we hosted a little Christmas gathering at our apartment yesterday afternoon. It was so much fun to visit with everyone. Everyone was very excited about their upcoming due dates after meeting little Caleb.  Thank you to everyone for bringing snacks and a lovely 'birth' day cake for Caleb.

All dressed up and ready to meet Mom and Dad's Singapore friends.

Unable to stay awake for the arrival of the guests.

Kevin's impressive food table - all I made were the brownies.  I think Kevin may be able to challenge you in the vegetable tray department, Mom!

Kasia, Owain and little Matilda.  Matilda thought Caleb was very neat so hopefully she will be excited when her little brother arrives.  Kasia is due today.

Jana and Michael - Jana is due on January 9th.

Andrew and Yi Lin - Yi Lin is due January 23rd.

Jana cutting Caleb's delicious chocolate 'birth' day cake.  

Yoga Poses

Caleb was 7 days old yesterday and is doing great! Both baby and Mom had doctor's appointments this week and both are in fabulous condition.

Caleb has even started to take up some yoga. Although he is not as good as his cousin, Matthew, he seems to have the meditation and relaxation poses down.

Ready for some seated postures

Caleb in meditation after a long day

New Wheels

Even though Caleb has loved the Moby wrap, we thought there would be a time when carrying him will be tiring (based on the way he is eating, this could be tomorrow!).  Off we went to buy a stroller.  We paid for our purchase, left the box and put Caleb in his new McLaren Techno XT. How could we turn down a McLaren stroller - it is all about speed!  Caleb loved it - he was so happy - until we got home for a picture that is.

Mom and Caleb (note the hand) - just like being pregnant again!

Caleb's new wheels

Check out Caleb's Album too.  I have added more photos.

Caleb's Big Night Out

After bathtime last night, we really did go out!  It was the Ascott Raffles Place, our apartment's Christmas event.  Lucky for us, the buffet dinner and drinks were held on the 19th floor (we live on the 20th floor) so it was a perfect evening outing for Caleb.

Caleb was the star attraction.  The staff were so excited about his arrival (I think that housekeeping was just happy we did not end up having him in our suite).  He is now known as the Ascott's first baby.  

Family photo

And another family photo with some of the background view

After a big night out, this is how Caleb spent the majority of today - 

this is my favourite photo 

Bathtime

After a few days of cloth wash downs, we attempted to give Caleb his first bath. The Mount Alvernia Hospital gives each newborn a tub so we did not have to bath Caleb in the sink. Considering he was in fluid for 40 weeks + 2 days and then born into water, Caleb did not appear to love his bath but he was clean and happy once he was all dry and wrapped up afterwards.

Caleb's first bath

Dad ready for the handoff to Mom with the towel

Mom and Caleb all clean and warm

Caleb all cleaned up and ready for a night out

Thanks For the Emails

We just wanted to thank our family and friends for all the wonderful emails, blog posts and Skype calls of congratulations and support. We are so excited about Caleb's arrival and thrilled to be able to share the news with everyone even though we are so far away.  

We will do our best to get back to everyone in between feedings, changes, baths, and getting some sleep!

Visiting with Aunty Kim and Cousin Matthew over Skype.

The lovely gift basket that arrived today from the apartment management.

Caleb's first toy that arrived from the Robinson Family - Astrid, Stephen, Matt and Stewart.  Thank you so much for the blankets too!  Caleb also got a Christmas outfit which will make an appearance on the blog closer to the holiday from Krista, Kris and the "Baby Inside". 

Big Day Out to the Canadian Consulate

With my parents arriving in January, we wanted to make sure that we can get Caleb back to Vietnam to show his grandparents around.  So our first task was to go to the Canadian Consulate and apply for Caleb's Canadian passport and Canadian citizenship. But first, we had to get the appropriate photos.  When we arrived at the recommended passport photo shop, we were told that Caleb had to have his eyes open. Yah right. We had put him in a sling and he was fast asleep by the time we had walked to the photo shop so waking him turned out to be quite a challenge. We stripped him down thinking that if he were chilly, he would wake up but that did not work. We eventually got him to open his eyes for a few minutes but not during the time he was swaddled (hands had to be swaddled in for the photo too).  In the end, they took some photos of his eyes open and photoshopped them into the photo of him swaddled with the white background. I am sure that the Consulate does not recommend this place because they doctor the photos but we were happy with the results and the fact that we did not have to hang around the photo shop until Caleb was fully awake.  

Our little bug in a rug - Caleb loved the Moby wrap (thanks for loaning it to us, Cousin Matthew).

At the photoshop - Caleb is swaddled but his eyes just would not open or at least they would not open when the photographer was ready to snap a picture.

Open eyes but not swaddled

The final result

Look Who's In Charge Now

When Dad got up to make breakfast and Mom went to throw in a load of laundry, look who got the entire king-sized bed to themselves!

Who wants to sleep in a crib when you can have a king-sized bed!

Happy "Birth" Day, Caleb!

Caleb Gordon Meyer

Born December 12, 2008 at 19:46

At Mount Alvernia Hospital, Singapore

Weight: 3960 gms (8 lbs 12 oz)

Length: 54 cm

After Kevin announced to our son that it was 'time to leave your womb' and tried a couple accupressure points that we had learned about in our prenatal class, I was awakened by a 'pop' sound (seriously, I really did hear a 'pop') at 3:30 am. When I stood up, I discovered that my water broke but since I felt nothing else, I went back to bed until about 6:00 am.  I got up and had some breakfast and then at 6:30 am had another water gush. We were planning on waking up early anyway as we had a scheduled doctor's appointment at 9:30 am (which you all know about from the previous post). I called our doula, Ginny, to see if she thought we should bother going to the doctor's appointment and she said that if we went, the doctor may be able to get an idea of how far along I was and would likely monitor the baby's heart rate.  So, off we went to Dr. Lai's office. We took the MRT train and then missed the shuttle so walked to the doctor's office. The walk was obviously good for me because once we got in to see Dr. Lai, his exam showed that I was already 3 cm dilated so off we went for fetal monitoring and then to hang out at home. Dr. Lai was pretty confident that he would be seeing us later that day.  And he was right - by the time we got home (via the MRT train again), grabbed a quick smoothie and were in our apartment, my contractions/surges had started (~12:00 noon).  At the time, I was not really sure that was what they really were. They were not painful but just uncomfortable. Kevin called Ginny again and she said to start timing the contractions and to call her and head to the hospital when the surges were 3 - 4 minutes apart and 45 -60 seconds in duration.  Kevin was on the ball - he had every surge recorded, timed and was calculating patterns.  All I had to do was breath. Within 45 minutes from our last call to Ginny, the surges were about 4 minutes apart and varying in intensity from 30 seconds to 1 minute. I was starting to get a little concerned about the taxi ride to the hospital. We had visited the hospital but never via taxi (yep, the Singapore train system is terrific) so after eventually working up the courage to call for a taxi (and realizing if we didn't, we might have our son right in the apartment), we were on our way to Mount Alvernia Hospital at 3:00 pm with a taxi driver who drove like he did not want me having a baby in his car! Ginny was already there filling up the tub for our planned waterbirth. A nurse attached me to the fetal monitor for 30 minutes to check on the baby's heart rate. Kevin and Ginny helped me breath through the surges which were getting more intense. At 5:00 pm, Dr. Lai arrived and his examination showed that I was 9 cm dilated. Now that is motivation! We headed for the tub and after some serious bearing down (the hynobirthing taught me to 'breath the baby out' but it took a lot more than just breathing to get the little guy down through the birth canal during the final hour). At 7:46 pm, Caleb Gordon Meyer was born into the water. He opened his eyes under the water and looked up at everyone and within seconds I was holding our perfect little son. It was an absolutely wonderful experience.  Caleb is healthy and happy and both Mom and Dad are doing great!  We are now home after a two night stay in the hospital and looking forward to having Caleb meet family and friends via Skype.

The delivery room was dimly lit and we avoided using camera flash so a lot of the photos are a bit dark (the photo above was taken in the delivery room just minutes after Caleb was born).

A photo journal of the big event...

Kevin's reaction when I told him my water broke.

Our last photo as a family of two.

Kevin talking me through a surge.  Kevin is laughing because Ginny wanted to take a photo because I was smiling.  I was smiling because I kept thinking of a line Ginny used in our prenatal classes: "every surge brings you closer to meeting your baby".  How could I not smile!

Just minutes after stepping out of the tub with Caleb (Kevin hasn't even cut the umbilical cord yet).  This is our first photo as a family of three!

Our wonderful doula, Ginny, with Caleb and I.  Thank you for helping us have such a positive birth experience, Ginny!

The new Dad holding a wide-eyed Caleb.

Mom and Caleb (about 15 hours old).

Dad and Caleb relaxing in our deluxe hospital suite.

Caleb all dressed up and ready to go home.

Arriving home in the sling.

40 Weeks + 1 Day

In an effort to calm any overzealous family who notice when we are not online tomorrow morning, I am letting you all know that we have a doctor's appointment at 9:30 am and will likely not be home until the afternoon.  We will let you know how the appointment goes but in the meantime, you can check out Dr. Lai's very cool office gallery that we get to visit in the morning at A Company For Women.

Estimated D-Day

Today is my estimated due date and I am sad to report that it looks like I am not going to be one of the <5% of women who give birth on their due date.  We have tried our best to trigger labour naturally:

(1) Eating spicy foods... check out this week's menu:

Sunday - a dish of pickled jalapenos (a local favourite here which I love)

Monday - Mexican

Tuesday - Indian (I was feeling something that night but honestly, I cannot tell the difference between contractions and indigestion?)

Wednesday/Tonight - Indonesian Redang

(2) Walking - Today we checked out two new parks.  We strolled through the lovely Esplanade Park and the War Memorial Park which were on our way to the grocery store.  We even found a little pathway with some interesting flowers and greenery. 

Walking through Esplanade Park with the Esplanade Theatre and the Singapore Flyer in the background

Kevin on our jungle route

A rather interesting flower - I will have to look up what it is called

(3) Raspberry Leaf Tea - I drink this stuff nonstop, cup after cup... Kevin is sure I am going to float away.

(4) And of course, the other well known ways that I won't discuss here...

I'll take any other ideas that you have (with the exception of castor oil... I am just not there yet).  But in the end, I don't think we are making the decision when the little guy wants to come out...

Slow Loris

Last night we ventured out to Singapore's big attraction, the Night Safari.  It was a great night out.  We took the tram around the park. In the dark, you cannot see fences so it is an up close and personal experience with the animals.  The coolest exhibit was the mangrove walk which was part of a trail where you walked through an enclosure of bats.  They were everywhere.  The most interesting animals, were the slow loris - my namesake.  And that is exactly how I feel right now... slow!  Because flash photos are not allowed, it was hard to get any good pictures.  

At the MRT station, on route to the Night Safari

Entering the Night Safari

"The slow loris is one of the few mammals that produce venom"

Engaged

Gabby, you called it in a blog comment posted earlier this week.  

At my doctor's appointment today, I discovered that the baby is indeed fully engaged in my pelvis and is still in the best position (spine out, on my left side).  Excellent news!  I was able to see the baby really well including with the 3D ultrasound.   Just to confirm that the baby's heartbeat was strong, the doctor hooked me up to the CGT for 20 minutes.  It was so neat.  When the little guy was moving around, his heartbeat would go up a bit and when I talked to him, the heartbeat decreased.

A photo of the 2D ultrasound photo taken today - a profile shot where you can see he has my nose!

Christmas Elves

I was surprised by a knock at the door this afternoon and the arrival of the 'Christmas elves'. At my door were five apartment staff and a real Christmas tree for us!  They hauled in the tree and added lights, decorations and ribbon.  And now, we have a beautiful tree and it feels much more like Christmas in Singapore!

The 'Christmas elves' - they would not let me do anything to help so all I could do was take photos!

The finished product

39 Weeks

In honour of my final 'official' week of pregnancy, I hosted a little mothers-to-be get together with the girls from our prenatal class.  We were meant to go for a swim but it ended up raining so we spent the afternoon chatting and snacking.  I kept busy all day preparing whole-grain brownies and gingerbread cake (an effort at healthier versions of my favourites), spinach quiche, fruit and fresh vegetables.  

Kevin, you will be happy to know that there are leftover brownies for your arrival on Friday!

Baby Meyer already hitting on the girls!  My friend, Jana, is expecting a baby girl in January.

Yilin and I.  Yilin also is expecting a baby girl come late January.

Downpour

I had to pass on my swim today with the rain coming down but I did make it to yoga and home in time before the downpour. 

I like to call this my private pool since 

(a) no one else uses it and

(b) this is the view from my window

'My' infinity pool - glass on all sides which makes looking over the edge and down 19 floors a rather exhilarating experience

Check this Out

After a week of turmoil in the world stretching from India to Thailand to Nigeria, it was refreshing to watch a video that a friend, Dan Tutt, posted on his blog last week (see Friday, November 28, 2008 post). The video is ~1 hour long but I recommend you watch it instead of this week's episode of 90210 or Grey's Anatomy. The video is very moving and includes great reminders of how we can make the world a better place.  

Dan currently is battling colorectal cancer (CRC) and his blog is full of important information so check it out. Regular screening is recommended for everyone over 50 and anyone over 40 with a family history of CRC - tell your family and friends.