To all Family and Friends of Baby Skyler,

Thank you for your faithful readership and for all your love for Baby Skyler.

We’ve started a new Blog for Skyler’s 1st Year. You can simply click on the link at the side bar on the right or go to http://www.skyler-1.blogspot.com/.

With Skyler’s birth on 28th December 2005, this Blog, an open letter to our “as-yet-unborn child”, is now complete.

Please do continue to visit Skyler’s new Blog, and do leave a little message or two of love for our Little One!

See you at Skyler’s new Blog! =D

Skyler’s Papa and Mama

Precious Child of God,

Today marks a very important event in your walk with God, Baby Skyler – your baptism!

And what makes this event even more special is today is Easter Sunday!!

Just as Easter is a celebration of the resurrection of Christ, so baptism is the symbolic act of our dying to sin and rising again in the light and Spirit of God. Easter carries with it the essence of our faith – that we serve a risen Lord – and baptism is the declaration of our faith to the world. Isn’t it simply wonderful, then, that we celebrated both Easter and your baptism today? =)

In many ways, your baptism is linked to Papa and Mama.

Firstly, you were baptised today in the very same baptism fount that Papa was baptised in as a baby. Yup! After so many years, and after so many architectural changes, the baptism fount in the sanctuary of Saint Andrew’s Cathedral remains the same.

While some people are cynical about infant baptism and say that infants should not be baptised because they are still ignorant and as yet unaware, Papa and I believe that God does honour infant baptism. Consequently, we believe that the Spirit of God has descended upon you, and that you have entered into a covenant relationship with God, Baby Skyler, just as Papa did with God when he was baptised as a baby.

Secondly, you were baptised today by the very same priest who baptised Mama years ago, when Mama was still a young teenager! Reverend Ng Koon Sheng had just become a priest when he baptised Mama. He left to join a church in Hong Kong shortly after that and only just returned to Singapore a few years ago. From the sermons he preaches, it is clear that Rev. Ng is a God-fearing man who loves God a lot.

Evidently, he also loves babies a lot. During your Kow-Fu’s and Kow-Moh’s wedding reception, he came over to play with you and gurgle at you. Today, when he was baptising you and you cried, he brought you close to him and hugged you tightly, even though you were dripping with water from the baptism ceremony.

And after Easter service today, when he carried you for a photograph, he cuddled you so lovingly and cooed at you enthusiastically. He commented on how fair you are and how you’re just like a little water bottle, and joked about wanting to bring you home with him. =)

So that’s how your baptism is so so SO special, Baby Skyler.

Your godparents are Godpa Bentley, Godma Stephanie and Godma Audrey.

Godpa Bentley and Papa were classmates in their A-level years, buddies during their military training, and schoolmates again in university and teacher training. And Godpa Bentley was the one who brought Papa back to join the Saint Andrew’s Cathedral Youth Fellowship, where Papa met Mama. Isn’t that wonderful? =)

Godma Stephanie is Godpa Bentley’s wife. She owns a flower shop and is a very creative person. Godpa Bentley and Godma Stephanie have a son, Joshua, who was at your baptism too.

Godma Audrey is one of Mama’s best friends. We have been since our school days in MGS. We used to have lunch together every Saturday at “Hisatomo”, a Japanese restaurant in Raffles City. The name of the restaurant means “Long-time Friends” or “Friends Forever”. Godma Audrey would always order Spaghetti Napolitan and Mama would always have the Spaghetti Bolognaise. Sometimes, we would share a California Maki too.

Papa and Mama pray that you will have good Christian friends too, like we do.

So, Baby Skyler, congratulations on your Baptism! Fight valiantly under the banner of Christ against sin, the world and the devil, and continue His faithful soldier and servant to the end of your life!

AMEN! =D

To sleep, perchance to dream…

Most Dearest-est Baby Skyler,

Every time you go a stretch and don’t sleep much for a number of nights, Papa and Mama will feel SO tired and exhausted. Hours and even days will go by in a blur for us.

We’ll also feel like the only parents in the world who have not “trained” or succeeded in coaxing their little baby to sleep through the night. So many “baby experts” have expounded on the benefits and importance of training babies to sleep through the night, but Papa and I are reluctant to impose any kind of schedule on you before you’re ready, and we also can’t bear to let you “cry it out”, as recommended by these “experts”. It always breaks our heart when you have trouble sleeping and cry or scream in frustration, so we’d much rather carry you in our arms and soothe you to sleep rather than do as others advise and let you “cry it out”.

It’s always comforting, though, to know we’re not alone in our sleeplessness. Apparently, this lack of continued, uninterrupted, long stretches of sleep is a common characteristic of parents of babies below the age of 2!

In the foreword to the first anthology of the strip “James”, a strip about a feisty little 2-year-old boy, Mark Tonra, the creator of the strip, said:

“I used to sleep. I have very distant memories of an uninterrupted horizontal posture that was as restoring as it was unconscious. I may even have done it for hours at a stretch. With my eyes closed.”

In “Baby Blues: Ten Years and Still in Diapers”, Kirkman, a co-creator of the “Baby Blues” comic strip, made a dedication to Sukey, his “partner in sleep deprivation for a decade and a half”.

So while it doesn’t help that other Papas and Mamas have forgotten what sleep used to be as well, it is at least assuring to know we’re not alone, that millions of loving parents before us have survived years of sleep deprivation and somehow managed to keep their sanity and sense of humour intact.

Well, it’s been more than 3 months now and Papa and Mama have more or less gotten used to the idea of sleeplessness. Of course, there are long stretches of days too when you sleep very well and, sometimes, for many hours at a go. =)

We love you, Baby Skyler, and we love all the things we can do together with you when you’re awake.

Your loving parents who, like Mark Tonra, also used to sleep,

Papa & Mama

Skyler Darling,

Today is Papa’s birthday, and it’s also your 3rd Month celebrations! Hooray!!

Since Papa was at work, Mama and you spent the day making a card for Papa. You were a very good girl and contributed a nice little footprint for Papa’s card. Mama also took a picture with you and printed it out immediately so we could paste it on Papa’s card. What a labour of love for the most important man in our lives, Baby Skyler! =)

Later in the day, we all travelled to Kow-Fu and Kow-Moh’s house to celebrate Papa’s birthday with them and with your Gong-Gong and Po-Po. Being the sleepy little baby girl you are now, you slept through most of the dinner and cake-cutting! =P

Birthdays used to be more elaborate affairs before you arrived, Baby Skyler. In fact, Papa and Mama used to have a week-long celebration that stretched from Mama’s birthday to Papa’s birthday. Now that you’re here and just a little baby still, we’re content to simply have a nice simple dinner together. When you’re a little older, though, I’m sure we’ll return to having big bashes on all our special occasions together.

Papa and Mama do so love to celebrate. So once you’re just a little bit older, Baby Skyler, we’ll celebrate every little triumph and victory in our lives together! After all, we always need a little excuse to have ice-cream!

Happy Birthday, Papa! Mama and Baby Skyler love you lots! You’re our man!

Dearest Skyler,

Today, we celebrated Mama's birthday. Wow! It's such an interesting experience for Mama and Papa. We'd always celebrated each others' birthdays alone - just the two of us - but now there's you!

Papa feels so guilty! Papa has been so busy with work and taking care of both of you and Mama that Papa has had no time to get Mama a birthday gift or even a card. Feel SO bad!!! Then, to make matters worse, Papa had to work so long today that Papa had to rush straight home to help take care of you that Papa didn't even stop to buy Mama a cake! So terrible, so terrible!!!

Anyway, we had a simple dinner at home with you watching us (since you can't eat the same food we do as yet). Then, Mama asked Papa whether there was going to be a cake! Papa's heart dropped all the way to the floor (or it felt like it). Papa had been so horrible - did not prepare for Mama's birthday at all and then did not even get a cake for her. So, Papa immediately rushed off to the stores to get a cake before they closed.

Papa managed to get a chocolate-based cake in time as the store was going to close for the day already. Thank God!

Once Papa got home, we set the cake up and took photos together as a family to remember the occasion by.

Thank you for behaving yourself so well today. And for making Mama's birthday so special.

We love you!

Papa and Mama

Dearest Baby Skyler,

What a week of FUN we had! =D Papa had his 1-week break this week, so our little family of 3 went all over Singapore to enjoy ourselves.

The highlight of this week was, of course, our trip to the “Art of Star Wars” exhibition at the Singapore Science Centre on Tuesday. This was particularly special for us as Papa and Mama are huge Star Wars fans. Being able to bring you along with us to this exhibition and share our likes with you meant so much to us.

Star Wars is a significant film in pop culture. Created by George Lucas, the first Star Wars movie in 1977 – “A New Hope” – wowed the audience with its huge space vehicles and many interesting characters. What was most impressive, though, was how George Lucas made such convincing space scenes and dogfights with the limited technology in the 1970s.

We also went all over the place to eat this week. We visited Goodwood Park Hotel, Delifrance,

Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf at Borders,

Swensens,

and even Sakae Sushi at Changi Airport Terminal 2. Boy did we have fun! =D

Papa and Mama love bringing you all over the place, Baby Skyler. You make every experience special! =)

Papa & Mama

Dearest Baby Skyler,

Look how much you’ve grown! =)

Today, we brought you for your post-delivery check-up at The Children’s Private Clinic at KK Hospital, the hospital where you were born.

The paediatrician who saw you, Dr Tan Keng Wee, was a kindly elderly doctor. After he asked about your development, he did a series of checks on your motor skills and found that you were growing very well indeed! He was particularly impressed with how strong your neck was. =)

The doctor also commented on how talkative you were, since you were merrily talking to yourself while he was writing up your report.

So, Baby Skyler, you’re now 5.23kg and 59cm long. Though you’re still very small in size, Papa and I can’t help but marvel at how much you’ve grown since your birth. You were only 3.44kg and 51cm long when you were born!

One day, precious Baby Girl, you’re going to be taller than both Papa and Mama! For now, though, while you’re still light enough for us to carry, we’ll treasure the feel of your warm baby-soft skin against ours as we cuddle and hold you in our arms.

Papa & Mama