Reaching 100

This marks my 100th post on this blog.

It's amazing that in the last 15+ months since the arrival of little miss Maegan, so much has happened, so much stories to tell and so many pictures to show how our little baby is growing up to be a little princess.


It has truly been an amazing time and it promises to be even more exciting especially with the "Terrible Two" phase coming around pretty soon for us.

I'm sure there will be many more stories I would be blogging about me being dad. So till the next 100 posts, have fun reading. Hope it brings you many smiles as it did mine.

:o)

A Sonny Obesession

Seriously, why are people obsessed with having boys?

Reason for my asking? Well, we've just found out today that Daphne's expecting another girl and the best part is that we're really excited about it.

But not quite some.

I sms my family to let them know the news only for my mum to call me back and say "Nevermind. It's okay. Girl also good."

The problem is, I am very happy with a girl. Maegan's been a great girl and I'm looking forward to have another one in the family.

Later that day, Daphne told her family about the news and the response that came back was somewhat similar. "It's okay that it's a girl. As long as she's healthy." Spot on but why the lack of enthusiasm.

It's troubling me that people's perception of a happy family is one where you have at least a boy and a girl and if all else being equal, a boy is a minimum.

The more I ponder, the more I realise that silent expectations hover around couples. First the expectation of when, then the expectation of how many, and finally, the expectation of a boy.

Maybe I'm different.

Truth be told, I would love a son. I would love the opportunity of bringing a son up in the ways a guy would. Familiar him with truths about life that only men understand. Important life changing stuff like supporting Liverpool and any team that plays Man U. That Mac is better than PC and why a PS3 is a great educational tool (something that mummies will never understand).

I would be able to tell him what works with girls and what wouldn't and never ever forget a girlfriend's birthday. I would love the day where my son would bring home a girl for family dinner and tell us sometime later that he has proposed.

It would be wonderful to have a son to rough things out with, answering all his questions about being a man and talk about how he intends to propose.

I would love all these memories. These are things that comes to my mind when Daphne was first pregnant with our son. Unfortunately, all these little thoughts were dashed when Mattheus passed away shortly after he was born.

When Daphne was expecting Maegan, we had a trying 9 months. Months of anxiety and worry because we weren't sure what to expect after our first born died. We took each day passed as a step forward in the right direction. We prayed and we hoped and God was gracious and loving to bless us with the most adorable princess.

Today, I look at Maegan and realise that what is important in life is not the wish of a son, but that of a precious child. I'm tempted to write an healthy child but really, every child is precious, healthy or not because the baby in our arms, son or daughter, is every bit our flesh and blood, every bit special and precious.

Do we often think of having a boy? Many times I guess but having gone thru what we have, having another baby in our arms, safe and sound, would in itself, be a great great blessing.

So my frustration and disappointment when people attempts to comfort us when we're having another girl. Perhaps it's that of culture. Perhaps it's that of tradition. Either way, it's a news worth celebrating.

And celebrate I will when my daughter is born. If not for everything else, I get to walk down the church aisle twice.

Now that's worth celebrating. :o)

How can someone so little bring so much joy

It's amazing I tell you.

I was looking thru the shelf of Times Bookstore's bestsellers and found that almost every book on that shelf have to do with how one can make millions of dollars. Either that or how you can find success or happiness.

Walking further into the bookshop, you find aisles and aisles of self-help books on finding purposes in life and the secret to joy and happiness. There is even a book on "The Secret behind the Secret." The fact is, everyone wants to be happy. Almost everything about self-help is about finding inner peace or success which ultimately is, finding joy.

I found out recently that joy comes in small packages.

They come bundled with unlimited moments of funny moments that makes you crack up and laugh. If only they came with an user manual that tells you how to create each moment and replay them.

Many moments are gone in an instant but before you know it, another one comes along.

That's little miss Maegan for you. For me, she's the joy in my life. (if you are wondering why not my wife, it's because it's the obvious that she IS the joy of my life :o) phew!)


Every day without fail, she would have a funny smile, a funny action, a funny sound or expression that makes you smile with joy. No need for juggling of balls or red nose clowns, little miss Maegan just have the habit of making people laugh.

Walking into the lift in church, she would look up at all the adults and see a stranger staring down at her. Without any reservation, she smiles with her sweetest smile and waves hi. The stranger smiles, laughs and waves back.

Yet in another lift, this time while we were shopping, Maegan in my arms started to recite the words she knew, answering each of our questions. "Can you say Daddy?" And her reply ... "da da di" "Can you say mummy?" "Ma MA!" "Can you say Auntie Nina??" "Na Na!" ... "Maegan, can you say Gong Gong?" ... a pause ... "MA MA!"

All of us laughed in the lift. Including 4 strangers witnessing all the happenings. As we were leaving the lift, the elder stranger said "Ma Ma!" and everyone started laughing again. Including little miss Maegan waving goodbye.

I can really go on and recall all the funny episodes we have like her special face when you ask her "Maegan, show daddy your funny face?" and grins with intensity she does.

Much more than the millions of dollars people keep wanting to get, perhaps joy is found in the littlest of things, or in my case, family.

I'm not saying that having millions of dollars is not good. I wouldn't mind having a couple myself which no doubt will bring me much joy. But if you were to ask me to choose between my daughter or a million dollars, I have no doubt that Maegan brings me more joy in the last 15 months than a million dollar would ever bring in my lifetime.

It is truly amazing. How can someone so little brings so much joy.

The fact is, they do. :o)

Where's the tooth fairy?

It's all so sweet in the movies.

Little girls asking their mummy about the tooth fairy and how they would place their fallen milk tooth under their pillow in wait for the fabled fairy to take it away or change it into something exciting.

What the movie never shows is how the tooth in that small little girl first come out. Now that would make a great movie.

It starts with a little stub that slowly makes it's way out into the wonderful world we live in. But not before creating excruciating pain for the little girl, breaking out into high fever and never ending sleepless nights for the parents.

That's our little miss Maegan this past week. Her little mouth has new friends. Yes, it's friends, not friend.


Since I'm not God and not very good at making teeth grow, I shan't complain about the timing of these three little tooth making their way out AT THE SAME TIME!

If one is not painful enough, Maegan has three popping out at the same time resulting in fever hitting 39.6 celcius and waking up almost every other hour for the past three nights.

She would cry for a good 30 mins before dozing off and shortly, the pain strikes and the crying starts all over again. Your heart aches when you hear her cry and not able to do anything about the pain makes it even harder to take.

So you start wondering if there is really such a thing as a tooth fairy and why does the fairy only come when the tooth drops out and not when it starts coming out.

If only movies shows the whole story. New dad's like me will probably be better prepared for the coming of the tooth (or in our case teeth).

For now, I'll just have to keep hugging Maegan when she cries at night and wonder why God chose to grow all three teeth at the same time and why the tooth fairy never come when she's needed.