Alven’s First Month!
14 Jan 2006 — The date was 15 December 2005, the time was 10am sharp: at a healthy weight of 3.2 kg and only after 3 hours of labour on Yanwei’s part, baby Alven was born!
Isn’t he adorable? And Yanwei looked great too! And she was just as lively and spirited as ever, sharing with us all her labour stories. Doesn’t seem like someone who just delivered a baby less than a day ago!
Fast-forward to the present…
Alven is 1 month old! And perhaps more importantly, Yanwei has survived her one month confinement period! Can you imagine? Not being able to do basic things like wash your hair, bathe, leave the house, use the fan/air-con for one whole month!?! In addition, not being able to eat any of your favourite “cooling foods” and having to load up on “warming” foods. All of these coupled with the stress of having to care for a new baby?!? Whoa! Now that all those restrictions have finally been lifted, there’s much cause for celebration indeed!
And that’s exactly what we were doing today. Of course with such occasions, one certainly can’t turn up empty-handed. In the old days, the typical present would be a gold bracelet or anklet for the baby. But Alven hardly needs 101 gold anklets hanging from his little leg, so Billie and I got him a baby activity pool instead. And to really spoil him rotten, we even got playballs to fill it up with!
Looks so fun right? Even I feel like playing with it. Ok ok I admit I’m partially living out some childhood fantasy… @#$% never got to play with those playballs when I was young! You know those places like the old McDonald’s or IKEA where they filled up an entire space with them, and you could dive into a million balls and get lost… those ones? Dunno why but as a kid, I never did get the chance to play in them?!? @#$%!
AIYAH never mind lah! What’s past is past! Next lifetime!
As expected, Yanwei’s place was brimming with friends and relatives! Even as we climbed the stairs to her second floor apartment, we could already hear all the excitement. Along with the noise, my nose also picked up the whiffs of food. Hee hee… and surely enough, there it was. Yes, the catered buffet spread set up along the corridor is indispensible for all such occasions, ranging from 21st birthdays to weddings to housewarmings — what would we do without them.
Of course as with all first month celebrations, guests are given red-dyed eggs, symbolizing happiness and the renewal of life. Isn’t it great that these old customs are still being practised?
Hey… where is Alven anyway? Being the star of the day, everybody wants to get a bit of him…
…here he is! Despite all the commotion around him, he’s sound asleep in his… no, not auntie’s but grandmother’s arms! I know! How crazy is that?!? The lady in the picture is Leqin’ s mum, not sis! So young right?!!
And where’s Yanwei and Leqin?… Well, after a month’s worth of sleep deprivation and basically serving as a feeding machine, Yanwei’s not looking terribly glam, so I pun-chan her today. Next time got chance then take family portrait ok? In the meantime, here’s a couple of photos where let’s just say, the two of them look a lot less haggard…
Other than Alven, there must have been a dozen other babies and toddlers around that day!
Including Rijia and Weixun’s baby son Ian, and Royston’s baby girl Chloe. In fact, after a while, it got to be a bit too much and I had to bid Yanwei and Leqin adieus! Somehow I did feel a bit suffocated and terribly out of place. I’m just not quite at that stage of my life yet and found it all rather overwhelming. Like I told William, one thing at a time, for now, let’s just settle on our hotel venue first! And choi, choi, choi, no shot-gun wedding for us please!