My Breastfeeding Journey

I am happy and proud to proclaim that I have achieved my first 4 months of breastfeeding journey!!

 

Because I didn't get to continue breastfeeding Isabelle after the 2nd month, I told myself and DH that with Gabrielle, I must give it a try, atleast beyond 2nd month. 

 

It didn't start off as smooth as I expected it to.  It wasn't easy. The thought of giving up and surrendering to formula was tempting and sounded easy. Struggled every now and then although deep inside, I knew that I would regret if I do.  And today, I am glad I persisted. The more I persisted, the more it reminded myself of my regrets of not giving Isabelle my best. DH gently reminded me that I did, and 2 months was better than none at all.

 

During the first month after Gabrielle was born, the ratio between formula and direct latch was initially 70/30.   After completing confinement, I slowly eliminate formula from our schedule.  And now, I am glad to say that Gabrielle is a 100% breastfed baby!! 

 

I am beginning to enjoy the fruits of breastfeeding.  Not only it is healthy.  It is free, convenient and most of all, I know I am giving her my very best.  And I love the bonding.  DH is getting jealous that Gabrielle doesn't fancy him as much! :) 

 

Just recently, strangers would comment that Gabrielle is so healthy looking and would normally look surprised and in awe when I said she is a fully breastfed baby! DH said I should be proud of myself :)

 

4 months is just a beginning! I hope I can continue until she says NO.



My Mommy is my
breakfast, lunch, dinner, supper & sometimes, midnight snack!

 

 

Happy Birthday Gabrielle!!

Finally, she is here!  Please meet Gabrielle our little princess number 2.

And she was born on 1st April! 

Popped at 6.57pm.

Weighing 3.19kg.

/d/d/fd.d.d/fAnd her arrival has made our life busier, sleep deprived (for me definitely)

but complete our life and family

 in so many special ways that we can't imagine.

Amen!

Our Little Chat

Picture sourced from google search

Me :          Are you happy being with Mommy?
Isabelle:   Yes... of course (apparently this is her latest most favourite sentence)
Me:          Are you sure?
Isabelle:   Yes... of course
Me:          Can Mommy go to work in the office like Daddy?
Isabelle:   Yes... of course
Me:           Are you sure? Mummy can go out to work?  Whole day?
Isabelle:   ***Pause***
Me:           Mummy will go to work soon okay?
Isabelle:    No.. I want to stay with Mummy (hug).  You no go to work.  You must promise me.
Me:           Teary eyed

Welcoming Megan!

No no no.. Megan is not my 2nd baby although I do wish she is mine because she is just so adorable and smell so baby-ishly good!  But I am not greedy.  I am happy enough to be her aunt. :)

It felt so good and the feeling is so familiar when she was in my arms.  It reminded me so much of Isabelle and how much I miss Isabelle's baby days.

I am so proud to introduce to you my niece, Miss Megan.  My brother's little baby girl and our family's new bundle of joy.  Came on board on 30 December 2011.

It is a funny feeling to see my own little brother growing up, get married and now, became a father!  But it is a joyous feeling though and I can't wait to share lots & exchange parenting tips with him and my sis-in-law.

As for now, I am counting days and hours and moments till I get to see and sniff Megan again!

"Hello! My name is Megan.  Nice to see you here. "

"I want to carry baby Megan."

"Hush hush... go to sleep."

A Guide to Baby Skincare by Four Cow Farm

Dear Friends and Mothers,

I am so happy to share with you this warm invite from Wai Quan of Goodness Me to attend a talk of how to handle and to get to know more about baby eczema.  

Please do feel free to leave me a comment if you are interested to join.  Alternatively, you can register directly with Wai Quan.  Just remember to add in your email subject 'PinkBibs Friends' when you contact her to secure your seat.

Me and Isabelle are current fan of Four Cow Farm's baby wash after reading about this wonderful product in MieVee's review.  It is luxurious, safe and most of all, Isabelle mild eczema on her legs disappeared after 1 week of usage and has made no return so far! I am so glad I found this! :)

F.E.V.E.R.

Isabelle is down with fever since Thursday night.  I am praying she recovers soon and she will be back to the usual active and cheeky self in no time.  I miss her naughty-ness (is there such word?) and I miss having her playing with her toys and chasing the dogs and the duck.  She causes no fuss.  Other than having to hold her down for her medications, she clings on to me most of the time. 

This episode lead me to get to know about Mr Fever and my discovery only amaze me even more!  Our God is not only wonderful but clever and thoughtful!  Look at how He makes FEVER works for all of us.  I can't help but to be in awe of His creation.  Who on earth could have created anything like our human body to be so 'automatic' but God?

"Fever is not an illness. Far from being an enemy, it is an important part of the body's defense against infection. Many infants and children develop high fevers with minor viral illnesses. While a fever signals to us that a battle might be going on in the body, the fever is fighting for the person, not against.

Fever is an important part of the body's defense against infection. Most bacteria and viruses that cause infections in humans thrive best at 98.6°F. Raising the body temperature a few degrees can help the body fight the infection. In addition, a fever activates the body's immune system to make more white blood cells, antibodies, and other infection-fighting agents. "

Source:  http://www.miamiurgentcare.com/page/page/3655289.htm

But anyway, fever... please do go away as soon as you finish fighting all the viruses or bacterias and whatnots.  Thank you.



Mothers of Yesteryears - I Don't Know How They Do It

I have a sick little baby at home since Monday. And it reminds me of how my Mom took care of us and attend of us when we were sick during our childhood and at the same time, handled a whole lot of housechores minus the modern technology gadgets and stayed sane! My Mom had 3 children, 1 dog, a home to take care of and also to chaffeur us around for classes and I only have 1 child, a messed up home and am going nuts!

We have microwave to instantly heat up the food, the washing machine and dryer to do the laundry, vacuum cleaner to quickly suck up all the dust and whatnots, nevertheless the internet to read up on remedies and how to sooth a sick whiny baby and the list goes on. We have everything today, yet, when my baby falls sick, everything else goes haywire. Somehow, the 'engine' just stops working. But what did our mothers have in their days? Nothing more than their pair of hands and a loving heart.

Our usually clean and organised home is now messy and almost unsightly. I stopped cooking these 2 days and no home cooked food, except some porridge for Isabelle. My hair... oh... so greasy and scarecrow-y. But I know, everything else can wait and nothing comes before my little precious.

And to make things worse, feeding my sick baby the medicine is a struggle! War! It hurt our hearts so much when we see her struggle. As much as it hurts, we had to do what we had to, for her good.

Now, I pray my little baby will recover soon... very very soon. And I wish I have half the courage and strength my Mom has.

Early Birthday

Isabelle will have 2 birthday parties for herself this year!

These are pictures from her first party back at my parents' home. We decided to celebrate it earlier with Ah Kong & Ah Ma (and the rest of the troop back home) because they will be flying off for their annual holiday this week and won't be in town on the actual day. So, this is an early celebration. Nothing extravagant, just a dinner outside then back home to cut the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse cake and all our loved ones to celebrate this occasion together.

I book for this cake very last minute and the baker tried his 101% best to make us the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse! Bravo!

My little baby is already 2, so fast!

For her bigger scale 2nd birthday party posts, stay tuned! Coming up after this Sat! :)

My Little Fashionista

*picture sourced from google search

Mummy: Time for nap

Isabelle: Take out… change… *trying to remove her t-shirt*

Mummy: No, no need to change darling. We will just change your diapers.

Isabelle: Take out... change… change… hat…. *whining away*

Story

Isabelle insisted me to change her into her jacket with a hood for her nap, when all I wanted to do was change her diaper. It sounds crazy to be wearing a jacket at home with weather like ours! Well, thank God weather today was cool after a heavy downpour and the jacket is quite appropriate.

She would sometimes make choices of shoes for us when we were going out too. And yeah, did I mention she can't tolerate me wearing glasses and even tucking my now long fringes behind my ears?? AARRGH!

Little fashionista in the making perhaps?

Oh boy.....

Crib or Co-Sleep

*Picture sourced from google search

Few weeks ago, I decided that it is time for us to return Isabelle to her crib. I anticipated it will need a LOT of getting used to after having her co-sleeping with me since she was 5 months old.

So the adventure begins. We tried for 2 nights. And as expected, I had the worst and most dreadful 2 sleepless nights of my life. I woke up like a million times to check on her and to hold her hands poking my hands into the crib through the railings (holding her hands while we sleep is a habit I picked up when she starting co-sleeping with me). I miss having her next to me, I miss turning over and smelling her hair and sometimes, with her legs in my face.

Here are some pictures of our co-sleeping milestones and mostly taken when I woke up in the morning before leaving my bed or in the midnight. They are also reasons why I simply can't just wean myself from sharing my bed with my little precious.

Isabelle at 6 months old, sucking her fingers in her sleep.

Picture taken when I woke up in the morning.

Isabelle at 7 months old.

Picture taken in the midnight when I return to bed after a visit to the washroom.

Isabelle at 14 months old.

Picture taken in the morning when I woke up.

On the 3rd night, I was a happy and blissful mummy again ... because Isabelle was back in my bed... sleeping and snoring away, right next to me.

I guess there are things we need not rush into. There are things in life with kids that we should cherish as long as we could. Cuddling, co-sleeping, carrying them when they are as heavy as 20 bags of rice. I even miss having to rock or pat Isabelle to sleep which she doesn't need that anymore now. They are going to grow up and we are going to miss doing all that with them one day, soon. And did I mention, I think our babies do grow up, way too FAST! So for now, I am going kiss and cuddle her as much as I can while she still allows me to!

My Little Picasso

My little picasso at work today :)

Tools: Water color, brush, recycle paper and used toilet tissue tube.

Result: Loads of fun and a very happy toddler

Birthday Card for Daddy

Happy Birthday DH! May God continue to shower you with His sweet blessings and health through out the year!

Left ~ Isabelle practicing with the brush

Right ~ End result !

Didn't know what to get DH for his birthday present this year and he has 'warned' me not to spend a cent to get him anything. I know he meant good but I do want him to have something. Thus, this idea came to mind. I have started to let Isabelle paint with water color earlier this week. So we made a card for Daddy! Isabelle's first 'handcraft'!

Junk Food Lowers Your Child's IQ

Some useful info to share.

http://www.impactlab.net/2011/02/08/junk-food-lowers-a-child-iq/

http://www.themoneytimes.com/featured/20110209/feeding-kids-junk-food-lowers-iqstudy-id-101701709355.html

Happy stocking up your pantry with healthy food for your kids' future :)

Take It Out Mama

“Take out… Mama…take out”

No… not my clothes. But my glasses. Isabelle has developed a strong rejection against my glasses. Each time I put on my glasses to watch the tv or do something, she wants me to take it down immediately. I tried all ways to distract her but no won’t do. And no, it is not because she wants to toy with it but she just refuse to let me to put it on.

My sister-in-law said she is unmistakably a fashionita baby. Well, I think glasses does look fashionable too, don't they?

*picture sourced from google search

Okay, that’s all for now. And let’s hope Isabelle will try to accommodate to me needs towards my pair of faithful glasses. Hope you have a good week ahead! God bless.

How Could I?

* picture sourced from google search

I am still in disbelief that I actually forgot to give Isabelle her last feed of milk before she went to bed last night! After 22 months, I actually forgot the most important part of baby care! I am no one but a forgetful and bad mom!

She didn't fuss but it did took her longer than usual to fall asleep. I was wondering why and only realised this around midnight when I was cleaning up the kitchen. Then I saw the bottles and it struck me that I forgot about her last feed of milk!! My poor little one was hungry due to my forgetfulness. I actually let my baby went to bed for 8 hours with an empty stomach. I didn't what got into me last night. Sigh.

Bad Bad Bad!

Dreamy ABC

It is 2.30am when I documented this. Why? Because when I was about to shut down my laptop for the day/morning and let it rest as it has worked hard for me the whole of today, I heard my little Isabelle, sleeping right beside me on the bed, singing, at 2.30am . :)

She sang ABC in her dreams. I wished I recorded it because it was just so adorable and I know it would be amusing at the same, heart-melting to replay & listen to it over and over again.

I should call it a day now. Maybe she will sing again. :)

Good night and sweet dreams!

*picture sourced from google search

CNY Shopping Accomplished!

Although this is not a necessity, but I am very happy that finally, everyone has something new to wear to usher in the new year. Neither are we superstitious because we even wore black outfits for new year which is a taboo to some Chinese tradition. But because DH is a thrifty person when it comes to himself, I made it a point to him that he MUST get at least a shirt a year, for the new year. And for Isabelle, it is only natural we want to doll her up in pretty clothes all year long this new year as she will surely going to be the centre of attention.

We usually start scouting for new clothes about 2-3 weeks prior to new year. But this year, wedid the not-so-norm. We went to The Gardens this evening to finish up our assignment. And it was so relaxing because the usual crowd at the mall was nowhere to be seen. It feels so spacious and free! Probably most of the people from the city have already started the yearly pilgrimage back to their beloved hometowns. I even joked with DH that maybe it would be wiser to do it this way for the years to come, last minute shopping.

As in why I chose The Gardens was because I missed out on Zara’s sales which carries a range of pretty and sophisticated collection of kids’ apparels. And my alternate resort was to head to Isetan in The Gardens which I know I can find something I would like. And thank God, I found Trudy & Teddy. I will share the photos of my little princess in the pretty dresses soon! But I am still thinking dearly of Zara Kids. I must not miss the next sales again.

One of the dresses from Zara kids which got me drooling and still drooling

*Picture sourced from zara.com

DH got himself an shirt in ash grey tone and a pair of classis blue jeans from Marks & Spencer. Handsome!

As for me, I managed to grab a simple top from Dorothy Perkins in dark mocha last 2 weeks (yeah, I am a coward because I dare not wait to hunt for my clothes too near to the new year). Photos coming up soon!

And our last minute shopping rendezvous ended with a ribsy note. We had our dinner at Tony Romas (unfortunately, their famous pork ribs are not in our local menu - for religious reasons). I am not a big fan of the ribs here so I opted for the pacific cod steak, pan seared sesame crusted served with rice and lots of greens. The captain suggested I try their scampi butter so did I. But the butter looked like a bowl of greasy oily heart attack causing cooking oil. I just left it untouched. The fish was juicy and tender. DH had Rib Combo Dinner (2 ribs and a stick of char-grilled giant shrimps). I love the succulent shrimps! Isabelle had her porridge I brought from home and stole some of our food. (Sorry, didn't capture any photos because the food was served very quickly and we gobbled them down very quickly too because we were very hungry)

Well, that was our first time last minute shopping story. And, here is wishing you and loved ones a happy, healthy, joyful and harmonious year of Rabbit!

Dedicated To : Those Without Kids (Yet)

During a lunch in a restaurant recently, while 2 mummies yak on, Isabelle and my friend's son communicated to each other across the table, by not talking, or babbling, but screaming. And they were having a blast doing that. I know their screams may not be music to all ears, not even to me but kids will be kids. And with that, they attracted some unwanted attention from the next table of a group of young office workers. I can accept the stares as I have been there, done that. But I heard one of them made a Malaysian remark 'Aiyoooo....' and with a face expression saying 'Why can't these 2 mummies and 2 kiddos do their lunch and shut up their kids?'. I tried to keep my cool while I tried to quiet down Isabelle by distracting her with some food. It worked on Isabelle but not my friend's son who was still on high screaming. But we managed to keep their mouths full with food so that they can't scream any further.

*Picture sourced from google search

Our young audience from next table continued to watch and (I believe) was still talking about us. I can't help but to look at them and then turn to my friend telling her (hoping these youngsters would hear me as they sitting near enough to hear even a whisper), "These young people had been a baby and toddler themselves before and they have most probably did the same thing our kids did earlier. Scream. They should learn to be more understanding towards parents but can't blame them because they are just so young and have a long way to go. Wait till they become parents one day with screaming kids like ours." Then I just turn to them again and gave them a big smile. It ended the staring game.

Call me sarcastic. But my tolerance level towards such audience, is very low.

Have you encountered such situation and what would you do? Would you have go for the sarcastic resort like I did?

Food Discipline

*Picture from google*

No one is perfect and that includes myself and my little Isabelle. But I am thankful her discipline in many aspects are so far, satisfactory although not flawless. I am specially thankful for her discipline towards food. She is not choosy and overly particular. Of course she have her preferences. Well, who doesn't?

Since day 1 we started her on solids, her daily diet consists of a fair amount of vegetables. And till today, she is still obediently taking in all her greens with no struggle at all. Apart from that, she will never say NO to bananas and apples. One of her favourite is steamed apples and omelette.

We rarely offer her unhealthy snacks, namely icecream, chocolates etc. She doesn't crave for it nor does she begs for it. But once a blue moon, we will let her taste a bite or two and that's it.

A bonus to that... Isabelle also learn to clean up any crumbs for her tray or table. And occasionally we catches her wiping her trays and table too. Never too young to learn & start :)

As parents, it is not easy to feel contented specially when it comes to our children's achievements. But in this case, I am a contented Mummy because my child could have been one of the grumpy fussy little eaters , but she is not. And I have no reason to complain or to ask for more :)

Our Nailstory

Since the day she was born, I clip her nails only during her nap time. I am a very timid & lack of courage careful mother. I was afraid I would accidentally clip her skin and hurt her.

Confinement nanny giving Isabelle the long waited nailwork when she was about 2 weeks old

But today marks another milestone for me and Isabelle! I finally gathered my courage and did it when she was wide awake. I sat her down on my lap and told her gently “Mummy is going to clip your nails and you are going to help Mummy by siting still. And we will be alright”.

In less than 2 minutes, we were done and I am so happy not only because I fought my fear but also Isabelle is such a good and understanding little princess. And I am so proud of her.