Ariff Chan

Dahlia in December 2007

2008-01-11T18:58:00.000-08:00

Here are some new photos of Dahlia in December. We found a place called Cotton Onwith great clothes for babies and toddlers. Dahlia also had a good time with our shopping one day.....

Dahlia in August 2007

2007-09-09T06:42:00.000-07:00

Here's a photo of Dahlia and me in the lounge of our townhouse. The other one is of Dahlia crying . The other is of her looking directly at the camera.... Dahlia likes to have her photo taken.

Dahlia and Kiefer

2007-08-19T00:54:00.000-07:00

Here's Dahlia with Kiefer Wright, having fni on a Friday afternoon. The other photos are of Dahlia playing at home.

Dahlia enjoying August 2007

2007-08-18T19:01:00.000-07:00

New photos of Dahlia in August playing with her toys in the family room. She is now 7.33kg and 69cm tall. She enjoys a good laugh and is now taking more "solid"food. Well,sort of solid.... it is mashed food - porridge/rice, carrots, pumpkin, chicken, beef, zucchini, broccoli, peas, apple. banana, etc, cooked at home and blended. She also loves baby custard (Heinz) for breakfast and dessert.

Dahlia in June 2007

2007-06-29T17:10:00.000-07:00

Here's a photo of Dahlia with our new "Bumbo"chair. It's made of a safe and soft, rubbery material, that holds her well as she sits on chairs, etc. It's a very comfortable little chair and it measn she can sit on our adult chairs easily. She loves it.

The other picture is with Suriani and Dahlia, wearing her winter coat. With the hood on she looks like a little smurf. Dahlia loves going out.

Dahlia in May 07

2007-06-16T22:45:00.000-07:00

Top left: Yum Cha at Imperial Kingdom, with David and Penny Simpson, Ian and Jane Davey and Alan and Carmen Fong in 5 May 07

Top centre: Dahlia asleep with her pillow, sewed by my mother.

Top right: Here's a photo of Dahlia with her sunglasses (the real thing for babies). It's winter in June and the weather is getting colder.

Bottom right: Dahlia smiling cheekily. We're at the local Glen Waverley Community Centre for Dahlia's immunisation shots. The room is full of parents with babies. The photo was taken on March 2007.

Bottom left: Here's Dahlia after her latest round of immunisation shots in May 2007. She usually has a cry during the actual injection but recovers quickly and starts smiling again very soon....

Museum Victoria Visit June 16, 2007

2007-06-16T22:23:00.001-07:00

Here's a few photos from our visit to the Museum Victoria.

Left: Dahlia, Suriani and I in front of the skeleton of a Blue Whale.

Centre: Suriani and Dahlia in front of three replicas of Terracota Warriors from Xian, China.

Top right: Dahlia & Suriani with Betty and Kiefer Wright

Bottom right: Dahlia in our house, smiling as usual when she is being carried.....

The museum had an exhibition titled the "Great Wall of China: Dragons, Dynasties and Warriors". We went with our friends Betty, Richard Wright and their son, Kiefer, who is 20 days older than Dahlia.

The exhibition was good - they even had a genuine terracota warrior from Xian on display (not the ones which we took photos of here.

Dahlia is now 8 months old, weights 6.7kg and is 65.5cm tall. Ever attentive, she loves going out and exploring the world.....

Over the last couple of months, Suriani has been taking Dahlia to "Gymbaroo" which is a gym and playgroup for babies and toddlers. Dahlia loves to play with the swings, a round plank on wheels and enjoys the singing and dancing.

China Pics from our Sept 2005 trip

2007-04-05T16:40:00.000-07:00

Terracota Warriors in Xian - from the tomb of Qin Shi Huand Di in the ancient city of Xian.

Huang San (Yellow Mountain) - a revered mountain range, said to be the the inspiration of many Chinese landscape paintings and poetry. Accessible by cable car and a long trek or a 4-5 hour trek up the mountain. There are a few hotels up there. A lot of the gear is carried up by hand by porters, up the mountain.

"Thousand Island" Lake - a lake resulting from a dam, with a lot of small islands, hence the name.

Dahlia in March 2007

2007-04-05T15:26:00.000-07:00

Here's some photos of Dahlia in March 2007. She sleeps soundly for 5-6 hours at a time now (not the 2-3 hours when she first came home). She is also very alert and loves to interact with people (loves being carried).
Attached is also a photo of Suriani, Dahlia, Betty and Kiefer at our home. Kiefer is 20 days older than Dahlia and is a happy young gentleman.

The other photo is Dahlia in her play "gym". It's colourful, jingles and makes lots of noises as she plays with the various items in the gym. Dahlia loves it! The gym helps Dahlia develop her motor skills and hand-eye coordination (and I would think her mind as well). Plus, it's a lot of fun!

More Chinese New Year Photos

2007-03-11T20:22:00.000-07:00

Here are some photos from our first Chinese New Year Dinner in our home, with Dahlia.

There's also a photo of Dahlia receiving an ang pow (red packet with money inside) from my brother, Kok Weng.

Dahlia's First Chinese New Year

2007-03-11T18:58:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the Year of the Pig 2007! Dahlia's first Chinese New Year Celebrations on Feb 18th were wonderful.

We had a family dinner on CNY Eve at Imperial Kingdom Restaurant - our local Chinese restaurant. There was a Lion Dance and our family got to give some äng pows"to the Lion.

We also had ÿee sang" at my parent's house where Dahlia received her first äng pow".

Feb 2007

2007-03-11T18:37:00.000-07:00

Dahlia is growing and interacting more and more. Here she is having an afternoon nap. The middle picture is of Dahlia with her aunty (my sis) Yoke Cheng and my dad.

The other picture is of Michael, Fiona and Aidan in our living room.

Wan Dahlia in Dec 06 and early Jan 07

2007-02-02T22:27:00.000-08:00

Wan Dahlia is now into her first "new year". We celebrated by watching the fireworks displays from the comfort of our home. We managedto catch the fireworks displays on TV - watching the Melbourne and Sydney new year celebrations.

She is now 3.8kg plus and growing everyday.

Dahlia smiles and makes baby noises as if she is having a conversation with you. In fact, if one talks to her, she likes to respond and smile back.

Dahlia's First Christmas and Boxing Day 25 Dec 2006

2006-12-30T15:19:00.000-08:00

Here are pictures of Dahlia during her first Christmas holiday season in Melbourne.

In the photo at the far right are my parents, Mr & Mrs HC Chan, brother (Dr. KW Chan) and sister in law (Dr. FL Chao), who are with Dahlia in the living room.

Friends in Melbourne 2006

2006-12-24T20:39:00.000-08:00

Left: Suriani, Dahlia, Tyler and Samantha at the Jessie MacPherson Hospital at Monash Hospital

Middle left: Joh Yiong and JF

Middle right: Andy and Shirley Lim

Right: Carita and John MacGregor

Friends in Melbourne

2006-12-24T20:15:00.000-08:00

We had the pleasure of visits from Sukanya and Veronica, friends from our MBA days at Monash (photo at right).

This Christmas is also special as we caught up with Jeremy, Nelson and Wendy Fung again. Jeremy will be in Year 11 and Nelson Year 7, in 2007.

Wan Dahlia sleeping

2006-12-24T16:03:00.000-08:00

Dahlia seems to be able to sleep anywhere, even if it is noisy.

She must have got used to a "less than quiet" environment when she was at the hospital - which is a great thing, as she is able to sleep outside, at restaurants, etc.

She looks like so much like her mom in the photo with the blue blanket.

Dahlia at the hospital days before coming home

2006-12-01T21:04:00.000-08:00

Here's Wan Dahlia in hospital a few days before coming home.

Summer's here

2006-12-01T20:43:00.000-08:00

1 december 2006 and it's Dahlia's first summer in Melbourne.

Here are some pics of her at home, enjoying her life of sleep, feeds, burps and nappy changes.

Wan Dahlia comes home 29 Nov 06

2006-12-01T20:18:00.000-08:00

Wan Dahlia was discharged from the special care nursery on Wed 29 Nov 06.

She has a baby cot in our bedroom with all the necessary equipment (bottle warmers, steam and milton sterilisers, etc) handy.

As you may have guessed, we had little sleep that first night as we had to get up every few hours to feed and burp her. We also changed her regularly with hre Huggies Newborn nappies. Huggies are easy to use and good value.

She is now 2.3kg and looking more like her mom everyday!

Wan Dahlia on the milk bottle with EBM

2006-11-18T18:11:00.000-08:00

Wan Dahlia used to take about 30 mins to get through 40ml on the bottle of EBM (expressed breast milk).

She has grown and this is her photo at around 1 month of age. She is active and her eyes are always looking around her, when she is awake.

Beijing Holiday

2006-11-18T17:22:00.000-08:00

Here are some photos from Beijing.

From left:

Temple of Heaven (where the emperor used to pray for a good harvest, etc)

Emperor's Throne (in theFobidden City)

The South Gate of the Forbidden City

The Great Wall of China (at the Badaling section of the wall, about 1 1/2 hours out of Beijing)

Wan Dahlia 14 to 16 Nov 06

2006-11-18T16:47:00.000-08:00

Dahlia's feeding tube has now been removed from her nose and she is able to feed via her mouth.

Her feed has gone up to 40ml every 3 hours of EBM (expressed b reast milk).

Wan Dahlia 11 Nov

2006-11-11T16:10:00.000-08:00

Dahlia is doing well and out of the ïsolet"or incubator. Her weight is now 1.850 kg (or abour 4.1 pounds) and is now 1 month old (although her original due date was dec 11th).

Here she is with her grandparents.

Friends in Malaysia

2006-11-11T15:35:00.000-08:00

Left pic:

Friends in Malaysia, at the KLCC for dinner.

From left: Sharifah Sinora, Shu Chien, Suriani, Sufian, Ganes, DC, Monique

Right pic:

Malaysian friends, from HK, visiting Singapore: Chew HC, Xiao Yu, Sze Yeen (front).

Friends in Singapore

2006-11-11T15:15:00.000-08:00

Friends in Singapore:

Left picture: Gerard Lee at a dinner before Su and I returned to Australia.

Right picture: New Year dinner: (from left) DC, Elly, Sylvester, Suriani, Christina, Marcos and David Ye.

Family and friends in Singapore

2006-11-06T17:16:00.000-08:00

Left: Alan, Joh Young and DC at the Hyatt on Scotts Rd, Singapore

Middle: cousins together in Singapore: (from right) Janet, Jennifer, DC, Suriani, Michelle, Elsen, and Janet's hubby, Eddy and kids at the "No Signboard" Seafood Restaurant in Geylang, Singapore - a fantastic place for Chilli Crab, Pepper Crab and various other seafood dishes.

Right: (from left) Sam, Kee Hoe, Suriani, Joshua and DC at the Hyatt on Scotts Rd, Singapore.

Dahlia 6 Nov

2006-11-06T16:42:00.000-08:00

Dahlia is growing and is now 1.6kg, up from 1.2kg at birth, just over 3.5 weeks ago.

She is 35 weeks old and can suck and grip strongly with her hands. Her eyes are alert and she loves to wriggle and move her hands and legs.

We bought a pink cotton top for her and put it on after her first bath - her first "baju" (shirt).

The Dahlia Flower

2006-11-06T16:04:00.000-08:00

Wan Dahlia Amira Chan. What does the name mean? Where did we get the inspiration?

Dahlia is a special flower (with many, many varieties and colours - I've attached pictures of 3 types).

Amira means "Princess" in Arabic.

Dahlia is a genus of bushy, summer- and autumn-flowering, tuberous perennials that are originally from Mexico, where they are the national flower. The Spanish discovered dahlias in the mountains of Mexico.

In 1872 a box of Dahlia roots were sent from Mexico to the Netherlands. Only one plant survived the trip, but produced spectacular red flowers with pointed petals. Nurserymen bred from this plant, which was named Dahlia juarezii with parents of Dahlias discovered earlier and these are the progenitors of all modern Dahlia hybrids.

Ever since, plant breeders have been actively breeding Dahlias to produce thousands of cultivars, usually chosen for their stunning and brightly coloured flowers. The great variety results from Dahlias being octoploids (they have eight sets of homologous chromosomes, whereas most plants have only two).

The dahlia is named after Swedish 18th-century botanist Anders Dahl.
The dahlia is the official flower of the city of Seattle in the USA.

Source: "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dahlia"
Copyright (c) D.Chan
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A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU Free Documentation License".

Wan Dahlia at Jessie MacPherson Private Hospital in Monash Medical Centre

2006-11-05T15:57:00.000-08:00

The special care neonatal servies at Monash Public Hospital are divided into 8 "bays" (approx the size of a large room 20m x 10m) where they fit between 6 - 8 babies per bay.

Bay 7 and 8 are the Neonatal intensive Care Unit (NICU) bays and are for the really premature babies requiring extra special care. Bay 1 and 2 are the bays for those babies who are doing well and are getting ready to go home, putting on weight and growing well.

Wan Dahlia started in Bay 5 on her day of birth and was moved to Bay 3 the same day. She was there for few days and was doing well. However, when she was just s few days old she had an infection for which the doctors were unable to diagnose the cause (viral or bacterial). In fact, her blood platelets were low and had to have some transfusions. The doctors also gave her antibiotics and some antivirals. She recovered by her second week. She's a strong fighter!

The photo above is of the special care nursery at the Jessie MacPherson Private Hospital, located at the Monash Hospital (just doen the corridor from the public side). It is the equivalent of Bay 2. The first photo is of Suriani talking to one of the nurses, Mary who looks after Wan Dahlia every weekday. The third one is of Wan Dahlia after her first "shampoo" and just before her bath.

Wan Dahlia Amira Chan arrives

2006-11-05T05:05:00.000-08:00

Made in Singapore and born in Melbourne, Wan Dahlia Amira Chan was born on Oct 11th, 2006.

She was born premature at 31 weeks, but has come along strongly and is growing steadily and is very healthy. She is now close to 35 weeks.

She is placed in an "isolet" or ïncubator" to regulate her temperature and keep her warm. Being premature, she did not have a lot of body fat yet.

Wan Dahlia was initially fed via an intraveneous drip of glucose and other vitamin/nutrient solutions until she was ready to take on EBM (expressed breast mlk). She started with just 2ml every 2 hours. Today (neing 5th Nov, 2006), she is on 33 ml every 3 hours. She's come a long way in a short amount of time.

Return to Melbourne

2006-11-05T04:43:00.000-08:00

We said goodbye to Singapore and hello again to Melbourne in July 06. The last photo is the lounge room of our apartment in Singapore.

We are renting a new house while our own home is being rented out to tenants (while we were in Singapore). The house we are renting is only minutes way from our own home -in the same suburb. We had a great time in Singapore and thoroughly enjoyed the experience (great food, shopping, sightseeing, catching up with family and old friends and meeting new friends). Still, it was good to be back in Melbourne - going from the heat and humidity of Singapore to the crisp cool air of Melbourne.

Views from Singapore

2006-11-03T17:14:00.000-08:00

View of the Singapore Merlion taken from the water's edge. At the back of the Merlion is the Singapore city centre.

The other photo is a view of the vity centre taken from a hot air balloon. At the bottom of the photo is the Bugis area and also Shaw Tower. At the left is the War memorial.

Singapore

2006-11-02T22:36:00.000-08:00

Singapore was a blast. We enjoyed the time we were there from Nov 2004 to July 2006. This is a view of the financial district/city centre from the river/bay.