Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Getting fit

This is a sponsored post

The slimming industry is definitely a booming industry. The advertisement promises great looks and a slim body without strenuous exercise or a strict diet. I particularly dislike these advertisements especially those targeted at new mothers.

Being a new mother myself, there is nothing embarrassing about having a few extra pounds after delivering a baby. That’s what Mother Nature intended us to have. The few extra pounds are needed to make sure that our body is able to provide the necessary nutritional requirements to our baby, during and after pregnancy (when breastfeeding).

That being said, having a fit physique is definitely a great confidence boost. In fact we should not work just towards a fit but a healthy physique. You can’t achieve that merely by going to a slimming centre.

What we need is a good regime which includes a good cardiovascular exercise, weight training and a healthy diet. And the result of this regime is a fitter you with a healthy glow, minus the hole in your bank account.

Sounds complicated and time-consuming. Not really. Actually, all we need is minimum 15-minutes exercise – 3 times a week. 15 minutes! That’s probably less than the time you spent in the shower daily.

OK, I am not asking you to replace your shower time with a fitness regime. I am merely saying that it is not as time consuming as you think. And you can make it work. If I can do it. You too!

Pillow to replace mummy?

Someone forwarded me an email about a pillow in the shape of a hand. The pillow can be placed over a sleeping baby to comfort and provide security to the baby. It supposedly helps to help the baby feel that his/ her mother is holding him.

The person who forwarded it to me says it's cute, and should get one for our new baby. Personally, I don't find it cute at all. In fact, I find it appalling.

How can a pillow replace a mother? Even if it is in the shape of a hand. Babies are meant to be held and comforted. The skin-to-skin contact is needed to help them grow and feel secure in the new environment. And babies are smart! They can definitely tell between a pillow and their mother.

Anyway, when I was a new mother, all I want to do all day is to hold my baby in my arms. That is the most beautiful feeling in the world. So I wouldn't want a pillow to take over my job, even if it can really do it.

Monday, December 25, 2006

Great hotel rates

This is a sponsored post



Hubby and I are planning for a trip to Phuket next month. As soon as we have our flight tickets confirmed, we started hunting for good hotel rates.

Like most travellers, I started with the websites offering discounts on rates, and I found this really great site for Hotel Reservation. At first, I thought that it is limited to hotels at United States but I was wrong. I found many great offers for hotels in Phuket. Actually, not just in Phuket, but in all cities all over the world.

The search function is really easy to use - Just key in your preferred travel destinations and dates and voila....the best rates available are now available! In fact, Hotel Reservation guarantee that the rates they offer are the lowest you can find. If there is a lower rate available, they promise to match the rate for the same dates and the same hotel. T&C applies of course.

What's great about this site is that it is truly caters for all your travel needs. Not just hotels but also flights, cars, vacation rentals and vacation packages.

And the news is about to get better. If you book now, you are entitled for up to US$100 rebate! How's that for a great deal?

I know that I have definitely found the site for my travel needs.

This post is brought to you by Hotel Reservations

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

I bought my own site

Finally, after months of deliberation, i bought my own site at http://justmytots.com/ .

There are still a lot to do at my new home, but I can't wait any longer to share this. Please update your links and see you at my new home.

Monday, December 18, 2006

Why so quiet?

I have bought my own domain! And right now, in the midst of setting the page up. That's why i have been so quiet on this blog. Any time i have for blogging (however little of it) is now spent on trying to figure out how to set up the new website.

Luckily i have a lot of help from my webhost.

Hopefully i will be able to introduce my new blog in a few days more. See ya.

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

Sunday Swim Session

This is a backdated post.

Went to Adventist with my friend to pick up our health screening report. Her husband, mine and Bryan came along as we do not expect our doctor's appointment to take long and we plan to have breakfast together later.

After our doctor's appointment, we went to Chung Hwa @ Midlands for dim sum breakfast, and proceeded to shopping at Gurney Plaza. (since Queensbay just opened, we figured that Gurney will be quite empty, and it is *he*he*)

Bryan was so excited with the Xmas deco there…the colorful baubles, balloons and stuff that it was so difficult to get him to nap. And he missed his morning nap, so he’ll get really cranky if he doesn’t sleep. Luckily in the end he did nap, for about 1 hour, while we had a late & light lunch at Dome.

Bought a new pair of floats at Parkson and we got home about 430pm. Breastfed him and tried to get him to nap. He wasn’t interested. So what shall we do?

Let’s go swimming again…with the new floats.

Results….

Bryan was not afraid of the water at all. The moment I let go of him, he kicked and waved his hands gleefully. This time, he even knew how to hold up his chin and to keep his mouth closed, as he bobbed up and down in water. But of course, he still did get a few mouthfuls of water in his mouth…I don’t want to think what’s in the pool water. I just hoped that the chorine will kill whatever bacteria in there.Hubby used the wrong setting on this photo, and it turned out blue...

After a few rounds of kicking around, when I tried to hold him close, he even push me away. He allowed me to gently support him and guide him as he floats but he refuse to let me hold him close.

The water, again was cold. In fact, I was feeling cold, but this boy did not seem to feel it.

As usual, when take him out from the pool, he wailed loudly and caught everyone’s attention at the pool.

Monday, December 04, 2006

Bryan’s trick to get out of car seat

How ah? Ask for nen-nen lo.

He discovered this trick last weekend.

Bryan: (smile sweetly) Nen-nen?
Shooi: Wait ah, wait till we get home ok?
Bryan: Ahhh…..(cry) nen nen nen nen nen nen
(cry some more & show tortured face)

With face like that, how to reject, so I took him out to BF him. He will smile

Bryan: nen-nen nen-nen (smile somemore)

After BF for like 2 mins, he will stop and want to explore the car. I will try to put him back to the car seat and there he goes wailing again.

This morning, he woke up at 6am. I carpooled with hubby today. So on the way to mum’s house at 730am, he repeated his trick.

Bryan: (smile sweetly) Nen-nen?
Shooi: This morning already give you liao mah. Ask poh-poh to give you when reach poh-poh's house. Car is moving.
Bryan: Ahhh…..(cry) nen nen nen nen nen nen (and point to my chest some more)

Aiyo…how did he learn this one!

Saturday Swim Session

The direction of the sun has changed and I found that the pool is shaded at 4pm onwards. (I think it’s earlier, but I haven’t the time to confirm). So decided to take Bryan swimming on Saturday, after a long stop.

My sis bought a pair of upper arm floats for Bryan a few month ago. They were really cute with Twetty Bird, Slyvester the Cat & Bugs Bunny design. I have not let Bryan use it before as they were quite big for his arms.

But now, I think they are the right size, and they are.

We went at about 430pm, and the water was quite cold, plus there is cool wind blowing. But surprisingly Bryan was not scared at all. In fact, the moment his feet touched the water, he wants to go in immediately.

But unfortunately, the “air stopper” pops up when we are in the water, so I dared not let go of him even when we are in the water.

And this naughty boy wanted to taste the swimming pool water, and kept opening his mouth. When I said “No”, he giggled cheekily.

Went round the pool a few times, but since the water is cold, we did not want to stay long. But the moment we pulled Bryan up, he wailed and struggled to get free. He was so funny that the security guard laughed at him, “Dia nak mandi lagi la…kakakakak”

Swim photos? Watch out for my next swim post!

Saturday, December 02, 2006

Yeah…I have Penang FON now

Finally after months of unsatisfied service with Streamyx, we have Penang FON at our house. Why are we switching to Penang FON?

1. Streamyx keep dropping off, especially on weekends, starting from Friday night. Lately, it is getting worse that sometimes it will drop off in the middle of the work day (on the rare occasions when I work from home) or during my night conferences on weeknights. This is a big problem for me as I regularly have teleconferences at night, and is an even bigger problem especially when I am the host for the meeting, and need to share presentations.
2. My Streamyx connection is only 512kbs at RM66 per month
3. Penang FON is up to 2GB/s at RM60 per month
4. Most of the people I know who is on Penang FON are satisfied with the service
5. Only setback of Penang FON is I have to incur another round of startup fee, which totaled RM300 (inclusive of 3 mths refundable deposit).

So now, I have to go and cancel my Streamyx account. Let’s hope it’s an easy process.

Bryan's angpow saved the day

I was out for my regular car service appointment when the Penang FON staff came for the installation.

We asked the Penang FON admin to install on Saturday morning, but they never confirmed our appointment. So we did not expect them to come and thus did not prepare the RM300 for the start up fees & deposit.

Hubby had only RM100 cash with him, and was caught by surprise when the Penang FON staff came. He actually told them to wait while he confirm that he has enough cash to pay them.

We had Bryan's party just a few weeks ago, and all his birthday angpows are still at the top drawer in his bedroom. We haven't had time to even take it out from the packets and bank it into his account yet. So obviously that was the first place hubby went to hunt for $$.

Oh-oh...sorry dear, mummy & daddy will replace that for u ok.

Monday, November 27, 2006

Shake head

My colleagues warned me that the word that my baby will most expert at will be "NO" Bryan has not learnt to say No, but he is getting quite clever at shaking his head.

Me: Bryan, time to get out of bath now...up up!
Bryan : (Shake Head)

Me: (Try to put Bryan into the car seat)
Bryan: (Shake Head) (Throw tantrum)

Bryan: (Try to open the drawers)
Me/ Hubby: Bryan NO.
Bryan: (Shake Head)

Me: (try to get Bryan to finish his food)
Bryan: (Shake Head, pushes away the spoon)

The way he shakes his head is quite hilarious sometimes - very exagerated . MIL says he looks as if he is on Ecstasy.

Friday, November 24, 2006

New Mothers' Room

We have been asking for a new mothers room for a long time. There was a mothers' room previously but they tore it down to accomodate our company's expansion.

Pumping moms were asked to express milk at the sick bay at the in-house clinic. They did separate out a section for pumping moms but security is very loose.

A few mothers had their privacy intruded by people who were
1) looking for their sick friends; or
2) plain busy bodies

It is also not hygienic or conducive as there are sometimes unwell employees at the nearby beds.

So a few of us at the company had wrote multiple emails to the HR department and the Workplace services asking for a separate Mothers' Room and to ensure privacy and security for the pumping moms.

I had also wrote to WABA for materials to support our cause. WABA was very supportive to help provide materials. But unfortunately, the breastfeeding regulations in Malaysia is very weak. Eg 68% of the countries around the world has breastfeeding breaks for working breastfeeding mothers, but sadly, Malaysia is not one of them.

So since there are no rules governing the rights of bfg mothers, we had to champion our own cause.

I had been quite lucky that i do not used the old Mothers' room very frequently last time as
1) I extended my maternity leave until my baby is 3+ months
2) I worked from home for most of the days until my baby is about 10 mths old. I have been lucky that most of the projects that I was assigned when I returned to work do not require me to be physically at the office. I only went to the office once a week.

But since about 2 months ago, I was assigned to a new project that requires me to work with the local team and thus need to be at the office most of the days.

Anyway back to the blog title, as of yesterday, we have a brand new mothers room.

It is a bit smaller than we requested- we wanted min 5 stalls but were given only 4. But nevertheless it is a BIG improvement.

There is a bigger fridge now (1 door) instead of the miserable Minibar we had later, and there's a hot water pot and sink (but no soap *aiyo*) in the room. There is also some shelves for us to put our bags.

We had also asked for notice boards to be placed in the room, so that we can post bfg articles and our babies' photos. HR promised us this in Stage 2 of the plan (whatever it means).

Anyway, although this facility comes late for me (my baby is already 1 yr old) , I am still very happy on it, and am happy for the new pumping moms in my company.

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

How long to BF?

How long to breastfeed?

I really don't know. Main reason to introduce formula is I want to reduce pump sessions at work to max 1. Work load has been extremely heavy lately, with meetings/ teleconferences from 730am to 6pm, and then starting again at 9/ 10pm till midnight.

Basically, that has been my schedule in the last 3 days...Tonight also got conference till 12 mn. A few more days like that and i will see-sua (fall into pieces). Already i am having headache. So now taking a few minutes to blog and unwind, before getting back to work madness.

So introducing formula has nothing to do with planning for #2.

#1 has taken all my available time and not available time as well. And having #2 will surely kill me. Definitely have to wait till Bryan is bigger before planning #2. He still need 100% of my attention when i am with him.

Anyway, back to my title. Answer: don't know...kekeke. But probably not beyond 2, coz he will be a big boy then.

And when that time comes, i will surely be very sad and miss the special moments with him. Especially when he goes "mmmmm"....and gives me a smile during nursing, as if to say "thank you mummy"

Monday, November 20, 2006

The beginning of weaning

Bryan tried the EyeQ Gain formula today. At first sip, he made vomit face, but after that he accepted the taste and finished the 2 out of 3 Oz that mom prepared for him. Mom gave him another 3 Oz one hour later.

My frens at work was teasing me that if Bryan don't accept formula, then i will have to bf till he is 5.

I will soon be able to reduce my daily pumping session to just 1, but i will continue to direct bf Bryan whenever he's with me, ie nights and weekend.

But I am still a little bit sad. This would mean that our bfg relationship is slowly coming to end. Not that i want to wean now, but it marks the beginning....

Saturday, November 18, 2006

More formula samples

It's Bryan's vaccination appointment again. I told the PD that Bryan hated the HA formula and he laughed saying that Bryan had got used to drinking "champagne".

So he gave me some extra packs to try - 2 types, one plain flavoured (Eye Q Gain Plus) and the other vanilla flavoured (Pediasure).

My fren's daughter loved the Pediasure because of the vanilla flavouring, but i prefer to give plain ones. Also i wonder how can the nutritional requirement of a 1 yr old child = 10 yrs, since Pediasure is for kids 1-10 years.

Will try the formula on Monday and see how.

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Sleep talk

I used to talk in my sleep. When I was a school prefect in secondary school, sometimes I would start speaking in a disciplinary tone in the middle of my sleep. There was once in a slumber party during school time, I started talking in my sleep and gave my friend a good fright….kekeke. She woke up another girl in the room and she only relaxed when the the girl told her to ignore me as I was sleep talking.

After I got married, there were also a few occasions that I woke my husband up because he thought that I was talking to him.

Somehow, after I have a baby, the sleep talking stops, at least according to my hubby. Perhaps we were both too tired to notice even if I did.

But it looks like Bryan had inherited my sleep talking behaviour. There was a few times, that after I had tucked him to bed, and I was sure that he is fast asleep, I heard him giggling. When I checked him, his eyes were shut but he was still giggling happily.

Last night, I left his room immediately after he fall asleep and asked hubby to stay behind in case he wakes up. Hubby told me later that Bryan was making “brrrrrrrr” sound with his lips. This is his one of his latest favorite game during the day now.

Then at 11:30pm, I was at the dining room packing my stuff for work tomorrow. Bryan’s room’s door is wide open and I can see Bryan from where I was. He tossed a bit and suddenly sat up and said, “Aeeeiiiiiii (surprise tone)”, so I asked hubby to go in and check at him.

Hubby went & came out and said, he’s still fast asleep.

Looks like he is really developing a habit to sleep talk. Sleep talk, ok, but please don’t sleep walk/ crawl....keke.

Monday, November 13, 2006

Look at me, or...

Hubby was commenting that Bryan is getting more and more demanding. When he "talks" to us, we have to look at him. If we don't he will do anything to get our attention. Normally he will place his palms on our face and turn our face towards him.

The 4 persons closest/ who spend the most time with Bryan are my parents, hubby and me.

My parents - their activities revolve around Bryan when he is around. So he has their full attention most of the time.

Me - I consider myself pretty attentive to Bryan when i am with him.

Hubby - Quite attentive most of the time, but if there is something interesting on TV or if he is talking to someone, or working on something, he has a tendency to ignore Bryan for a while.

So looks like Bryan figured out a "sure-win" formula to get hubby's attention
#1: Swat at his glasses; or
#2: Hit or bite his mouth/ cheek - somehow Bryan noticed that these are more sensitive and will aim for these if hubby ignored him.

Hahaha..okay, it is not good to hit people, and whenever he does that, we will tell him that it is wrong. But at least gotta give him credit for being sensitive to what irks us the most.

Sunday, November 12, 2006

I'm front facing now!

Since Bryan is 1 year old now and is above 20 pounds, he has met the minimum requirement to sit in a front facing child car seat.

So we turned his seat around, hoping that he will "enjoy" the view more and will be more cooperative in the car seat.

He was,..for the first few minutes. He went "Aeiii" when we placed him in his NEW seat arrangement and was happy that he can see his daddy from where he were.

But it was only a few minutes, before he started fretting again...hai.....

Friday, November 10, 2006

Fake cry...

If there's anything Bryan is good at pretending, it is pretending to cry. If he wants something, and we don't give it to him, he will pretend to cry.

He'll squint his eyes and open his mouth wide wide and make sniffling sound with his nose. Pretty hilarious. Always give hubby and me a good laugh when he does it.

But as soon as we give in to him, he'll be at la-la land again.

I wonder how ALL babies learn to "pretend" from such a young age.

Thursday, November 09, 2006

Ng ng....real keh?

Mom went for medical checkup this morning with dad with Bryan tagging along. After her medical checkup, they took Bryan to Botanical Gardens for a short detour. Coincidentally, they saw a man feeding rice to the monkeys and of course, Bryan was excited about it.

On the way back, Bryan stared at my mom and said,

Bryan: Ng ng
Mom: Huh? You want to ng-ng ah?
Bryan: Ng Ng
Mom: Wait, wait till we get home ok?

So immediately when they got home, mom let Bryan sit on the potty, and true enough he "ng-ng" into the potty.

I think it is just luck. :P

Sunday, November 05, 2006

Sunday at the garden

We had breakfast at home today. Hubby & me, eggs with ham and Bryan, oatmeal and half an apple. Since the day is airy and cool and it’s still early for Bryan’s morning nap, we decided to take Bryan for a walk at our apartment’s garden. We’ll take that as an opportunity to “train” him to sit in the stroller.

At first he refused to sit in the stroller,..*biasa* lah. So we stopped by the water fountain, and let him look at the fishes and tortoises. Then we slowly put him into the stroller.

Then as he gets used to the stroller, I pushed him round and round the water fountain making funny noises and pretending to chase daddy. Later we went for long walks around the garden & apartment ground.

Then as we are about to go home, Bryan spotted the playground and pointed for us to go there. We were a bit hesitant at first to let him go play as some of the seats are wet from the night’s rain. But after we checked it out, some of them are quite dry with spots of water that we can easily brush aside.

Oh boy, did he had fun at the playground.






















We’ll come again next weekend ok?

Japanese? style fish porridge..

My colleague PH taught me how to make a simple but nice Japanese style porridge for Bryan. Just need salmon, leek, cabbage, and some ginger & garlic.

Went to Tesco yesternight, and no salmon, and no small cabbage.

So I bought a garoupa tail block, leek, ginger. And attempt to cook this ala-japanese stype porridge, but rojak style la.

First I cook the soup, with leek, garlic, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, ginger and garoupa tail. I remove the vege and fish when they are cooked.

Vege (brocolli, carrot & cauliflower) – to gently mash into smaller pieces.

Fish – to remove the skin & bones. Mum asked me to remove the skin before feeding to baby because she say that where mercury is stored (if any la). Not sure if it's true.

I strain the soup through a sieve to remove any fish bones if any. I think the soup is good for breastfeeding mothers as well. Just add a bunch of fenugreek and it’ll be good for milk production. If only fenugreek works for me..haha.

Then I cook the soup with red rice and I return the vege and fish when the porridge is almost done. I did cook more than the usual portion for Bryan. So I removed Bryan’s portion and season the rest with a bit of salt and pepper (for hubby & me to share).

I add some homemade ikan bilis powder to Bryan’s porridge for the extra goodness.

Results.....

And a happy baby customer....

Miss Astro 2006

So, pretty boh? Bryan thinks they are very pretty leh. Everytime the advertisement goes on air, he’ll stop what ever that he is doing and glue his eyes to the TV. Normally he’s not much interested on the TV and would prefer to play with his toys, explore the house or play with us.

If we try to block his view during the advertisement, he'll swat us away. If we still block, you betcha he's gonna get angry.

Hmm...looks like men/ boys fascination with beautiful women starts young, heh?

Friday, November 03, 2006

Formula?.........*uwek*

I decided that after he turned one, I will start introducing formula to him. Last week, we tried giving formula to him.

First time – by me, on Friday at midnight. Reaction: - UWEK!

On Monday, I passed the tin of formula to my mom and ask her to try giving him some when the chilled EBM is finished.

My mom tried once. Reaction: - UWEK! ...again!

To make matters worse, now he don’t want to drink from the milk bottle, even though it is EBM. Mom had to spoon-feed the milk to him now, most of the time.

Cham lo. I hope it is just the brand of formula that he dislike. My mom took a sip of it and said that it tasted & smelled awful. Well, the type of formula is the HA type, so we guess maybe HA tasted awful, as I had read from somewhere.

His next paed visit is less than 2 weeks from now. I’ll ask for another formula recommendation & sample then. Maybe a vanilla flavoured one? In the meanwhile, we’ll just have to continue of 100% BM until then.

Thursday, November 02, 2006

Bryan is 1 year old

Happy Birthday to Bryan
Happy Birthday to Bryan
Happy Birthday to Bryan
Happy Birthday to Bryan


Yeah...my darling is officially ONE! That means i have met my stretch goal of breastfeeding till he is one!! YooHooo!!

Interesting/ New achievements this month:-
  1. Expert at operating the tv and fan remote control.
    • That’s the only 2 remote we let him play with. When he is at his bedroom, and the fan is off, he will point to the fan *eh*eh* and then search for the remote to turn it on. He will press press all the different buttons on the remote until the fan turns on. And when he press the button, got style some more one leh…he’ll point the remote to the fan.
    • If he got hold of the tv remote, he’ll be pointing to the tv and press the different buttons to change the channel
  2. When my parents came to our house, he’ll show around the house.
    • Show them his toys
    • Show them where the pet tortoise is
    • One of the tortoises escaped and my mom asked aloud, “Eh, now got only one tortoise hor”. Then Bryan actually showed her where the tortoise was hiding – at the opposite corner of balcony
  1. If we ask him “Where is Bryan?”, he’ll point to his photo in the living room, before patting his own chest.
  2. Learnt the magic of the pointy index finger. He has learnt that pointing his index finger helps get him what he want – whether it is a toy or for us to carry us to where he wants.
  3. Recognizes the items in the house, and where they are, fishes in the aquarium, tortoise, tv, fan.
  4. Crawl on four at “running” speed. He’s really quite an expert at crawling now. Will take a photo and upload later.
  5. Can recognize places. When I send him to my mother’s house each morning, immediately when we arrive, he’ll stretch out from his car seat to look out the window to search for my parents.
  6. Can recognize when it is time to get out from daddy’s car. He can recognize the sound of the reverse sensor (during parking). So immediately when the sensor stops sounding, and he hears the sound of the hand brake, he’ll hold his hands out for us to take him out from the car.

So how did we celebrate his first birthday? Nothing really special as it was a working day and neither hubby nor I took the day off.

We just went for dinner with my parents and sister at the Shanghai Ding Tai Feng restaurant that is near our workplace & house. As usual, Bryan can’t have anything on the menu, so I brought different types of biscuits for him. Most of the biscuits ended on the floor, so it was a real mess. I jokingly told Bryan, that the next time they see him, they’ll probably take out the “CLOSE” sign.


Saturday, October 28, 2006

Please don't pang-sai tonite, ok

Last 2 nights, it was as if I had travelled back in time to be a mother to a newly born infant.

On Thursday night , Bryan woke up at 430am ++. I breastfed him and he refused to go back to sleep. Instead he cried and cried and cried. Finally, hubby took him out to our bedroom, turned on the lights and let him play with some toys. Turned out, he want to pang-sai (pass motion) *shit* roll eyes*

He went back to sleep at ~630am, when it was time for me to get ready to work. I can hear our alarm clock go off in the next room as he dozes off.

Yesternite, Friday - Bryan woke up at 1230am. Again, I breastfed him and after that he cried continuosly. Refused to let me cuddle him and refuse to sleep on the bed. During the day, his EBM consumption had been very low, only about 10 Oz cause he napped for a long time. So i thought, maybe hungry. I refuse to take feed him my EBM in the fridge, because if he is not hungry, it will be wasted.

Since i plan to introduce formula after he officially turned 1, i decided to open a tin of formula. Made 4 Oz for him, but the moment, Bryan had a sip of formula, he spit it out. Actually, it looked as if he wants to vomit. (*formula really that bad meh???*).

For the next 2.5 hours, hubby and i tried this and that to calm him down. Finally, hubby took him to the living room and let him play some toys. And turned out, he want to pang-sai. Went back to sleep almost immediately after he pangsai and we changed his nappy. Think it was close to 4am by then.

Aiyooo...this baby ah!!!! Do you have to pangsai in the middle of the night? Can pangsai in the morning, afternoon or evening mah. Why middle of the night one???!!!!

I was about to go mad with Bryan crying non-stop and me feeling so sleepy & tired after a long day at work. Luckily hubby is very patient and helped to comfort Bryan, otherwise, i sure go cuckoo.

So today, hubby and i have been telling/ asking Bryan, "Want to pangsai boh? If yes, do it now ok? No more pangsai tonite" And he did pangsai in the afternoon liao la.

So, i am crossing my fingers for a good night's sleep tonite. Let's hope my wish come true.

Going to sleep now...ZZZZZ

Thursday, October 26, 2006

1st birthday party

We decided to take advantage of the Raya Holidays to have an early birthday celebration for Bryan. Afterall, it is only about a week earlier, as the actual day is next Thursday.

I had thought and planned about this day months in advance. I was thinking of a few options

#1: Afternoon garden party at the BBQ corner at our apartment grounds. The place is nice, shady and spacious. I was planning to hang balloons & streamers at the tree branches to create a party environment.

#2: Dinner party at a restaurant.

#3: Small party for just relatives at our house.

Finally we decided on #3, and I am happy about it cause
#1: It has been raining the last few days and the grounds are muddy and wet. It also rained towards the evening as well.

#2: Went to hubby’s colleague baby’s first birthday party and it felt more like a wedding dinner.

#3: Since only relatives are invited, Bryan is familiar with everyone (almost). Also, as it is at our house, Bryan was very comfortable…no stranger anxiety at all.

All the food at the party is home-cooked
Mom: Fried noodles + egg jelly + red eggs
MIL: Fried bee hoon + curry chicken
Me: Pasta with cheese & tuna
Aunt #5: Swiss roll blueberry cheese birthday cake, creamy cream puff, tuna rolls, cheese tarts

Unfortunately, Bryan cannot have any one of it, not even the birthday cake. Paed had advised me to continue to avoid giving egg to Bryan for fear of allergy.

Nevermind la darling, by this time next year, you will be able to enjoy everything on the table.

MIL had to hold Bryan's hands at the sides to get this photo, as Bryan will pull the cap down as soon as we put it on for him....






Sunday, October 22, 2006

My Super Manja Prince

Since Bryan is unwell, he is cranky and expects everyone to treat him like royalty. He expects entertainment - make it varied entertainment all the time. He gets bored easily and when he is bored, he is CRANKY again.

And he has learnt to use his magic index finger!

*Point* point* must get him the item he wants
*Point* point* must carry him to the place he wants

So this holiday, hubby and i are destined to be slaves to this little prince.

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Caught by the sick bug

I had to leave Bryan at my mother's house yesternight as
1. I had to entertain a colleague from America for dinner
2. I have a 730am conference call and hubby have an early conference call too.
==> I will have to leave the house at 630am to send him to mom's house if i take Bryan home

I called home a few times yesternight to make sure that Bryan is ok => drink milk oredi boh? Sleep liao boh? Before i went to sleep at 1130pm ++, sis sms me to inform me that Bryan has some slight fever...38C++. Since it's late already, i told her to tell mom to just monitor, give some kiddi paracetamol, put coolfever, and see how things are in the morning. Anyway, paed said that it is only considered high fever if > 39C.

Then i got a phone call at 1240mn from my sis - Bryan is having a high fever - 39.2C . Sis asks that i take him to see the doctor. But so late liao, it'll take me 30mins to change my clothes, pack some of Bryan's stuff and get to my mom's place. Another 20 mins to get to the hospital, another 20-30 mins there for the paed to arrive & examine him. No one is going to get any sleep, esp Bryan. So i told my sis, (mum taking care of bb, cannot talk on the phone), wait till morning and see how. Just continue to check bb, and sponge if necessary.

In the morning, bb's fever had subside, but mom said that bb is still cranky and ask that we take him to the paed. There's no way i can take the day off because i have a few meetings scheduled with my visiting colleague, and there's no way i can reschedule the meetings as he leaves this afternoon. Luckily hubby took the day off as he was not feeling well himself.

So hubby went over to mum's place. Checked baby - still no fever. But my mom & dad insists to see the paed. So off to the hospital they go. The paed is a very popular paed, and it is usually a very very long wait.

While waiting, hubby and mom felt Bryan's body got warm and asks the nurse to check his temp - sure enough fever again - 38.7C. As the paed is still not in yet (still at the ward doing his rounds), she gave Bryan some paracetamol.

Hubby warned the nurse that Bryan hates taking medicine, so to get him to take 2.5ml of medicine, the nurse had to separate it into many many sessions. Each session, just put a few drops into his mouth. The paed arrive about 30 mins later, and when he sees Bryan, fever has gone down to 37.2C .

Turned out Bryan has some throat infection and have to take antibiotics. No choice as there are some white spots at the throat. But luckily don have to admit yet. Have to monitor for the next 2 days and if he is still ill, will have to take him back to the paed.

Anyway, now he is slightly feverish - up & down. Has no appetite for food. Does not want to drink EBM out from the bottle. So he barely ate during the day except for a jar of Heinz pureed vegetables.

Actually my mom ask me not to take him back for the night as he is very very clingy and mom is afraid that I will not be able to get anything done, since i normally need to work from home.

But since he rejects EBM from the bottle, I need to take him home so that i can directly breastfeed him. And i do want to spend time with him. Luckily he accepts direct breastfeed. In fact I had to breastfeed him more times than usual last night. But it's ok, coz BM will help him to recover faster.

Poor baby, pls get well soon.

Sunday, October 15, 2006

Hello, pretty stranger

Although Bryan is wary of strangers, he is nevertheless attracted to young and attractive strangers. When he sees them around, he will be staring at them for a few moments, and if they do not notice him, he will call out to them, "Eh, eh, eh.."

And hubby will go, "Baby pang-ten* again"
* (hokkien literal - sending electricity = flirting)

And Bryan does this to all attractive girls of all races - chinese, indian, malay - waitresses, shop assistance, the girl in the lift, and the indonesian maid who clears our table in the coffee shop.

Was at Gurney Plaza yesterday, and we were queing at the carpark payment machine when we heard Bryan go "Eh, eh, eh...*giggles*". We turned behind us, and there was this sweet young girl winking away at him.

And during dinner last night, he was teasing the ladies (malay mother and daughter) at the next table so much, that the mum just came over and scooped his face up in her palms. *geram-nya*

With a toothless smile like this, how can any girl resists his pang-ten, right?

Thursday, October 12, 2006

Happy Birthday To ME

Happy Birthday to ME
Happy Birthday to ME
Happy Birthday to ME
Happy Birthday to ME

(clap) (clap) (clap) (clap)

Monday, October 09, 2006

Lessons from a baby

This morning, Bryan tried to play spider-baby again. He tried to pull himself on the display cupboard in our living room, by placing his palms on the glass door. Since the surface is flat, it is hard for him to hold on and of course he fell, brushing against the side of the cupboard (1). He tried to get himself up, and fell some more, now against the coffee table next to the cupboard (2). Determined to get up, he tried to balance and pull himself up, only to fall to the floor (3).

And did he cry? No. Instead he got angry with himself and swatted his forehead with his palms. And tried to do it all over again.

I find this amusing that i related this to my colleagues over lunch. And my friends remarked that sometimes we should look at babies and learn from them. Baby perceive pain differently from us, and their determination for success is so strong.

How true? There are indeed lessons that we can learn from a baby. Things that we forget as we age...

1. We will always make mistakes when we are learning, and life is a never-ending learning experience.
2. It's ok to fall. Just learn to get up and try again.
3. Just because you fail the first time, it does not mean you will fail again.

These are indeed priceless lessons in life. Imagine, if a baby does not possess them, they will never learn to stand, walk, run, talk, ...

As adults, we are often afraid to make mistakes, to challenge our limits and to try new things. We are hampered by our past failures and painful experiences. But if we don't learn to let them go, how far do you think we can go...?

Sunday, October 08, 2006

Caring daddy

LK can be such a sweet and caring daddy sometimes. Eg,this evening, I went to the hairdresser for a wash, cut and set (got wedding lunch tomoro , and was out for 2 hours. He took care of Bryan, fed him porridge and kept him entertained while i was away.

When i am back, I prepared Bryan's bath water, and LK bathed and dressed Bryan while i vacuum the floor a bit and relaxed. Nowadays, Bryan has developed a wanderer spirit, and would be crawling all over the place or pulling himself up using anything & everything. LK would usually be the one who will rush to Bryan side to prevent any potential accidents.

And t0night, when its time for Bryan to ZZZZ, LK accompanied me while i nurse Bryan. It has been a long day and as the room is dark, it is a nice snoozy opportunity. It does not take long for LK to snooze off, and i was getting sleepy myself. Besides, during breastfeeding, our body releases the oxytocin (happy) hormone which helps one to relax.

Mana tau, this naughty baby go and give me a BITE....ARRRRGHHHHHHHH

So far Bryan has been a good baby while nursing. Except during the initial teething stage, he does not bite me during nursing as he understands that it is a no-no.

It was REALLY painful as he has 4 teeth now - 2 top & 2 bottom. So to let Bryan know that it is a BIG NO-NO, I smacked his cheeks a few times with my fingers (gently only la, angry but he his still my precious baby), and put him down immediately.

Of course la, Bryan begin wailing immediately, he cried even harder when Lk picked him up to comfort him as if to complain about me. But it did not take long for him to stop crying and i continued nursing him, with a bit of fear. But luckily no more biting and Bryan fell asleep soon after.

I fell asleep with Bryan and was only awaken by LK some time later. By the time i got out of Bryan's room, LK had retrieved all the dried laundry and was folding them at the living room.

So sweet! I want to write it down to remind myself to be thankful and appreciative of my hubby. Being a working mother is not easy, and having a caring husband certainly helps to make motherhood more enjoyable.

Friday, October 06, 2006

Mid Autumn Festival 2006

Today is Bryan's first Mid Autumn Festival. We bought him his first lantern, a battery operated Baby Donald Lantern which emits the Twinkle Twinkle Little Star song, a few weeks ago.




















Bryan also have a David Beckham lantern which plays the "Here we go, ole, ole, ole song". The figure will kick the football when it is switched on. My aunt #3 (his great aunt) bought it for him.

At his paternal grandma's house, his aunt Lena also gave him a small round lantern. Again, battery operated but no music.

That's certainly a lot of lanterns for a baby who has yet to learn how to enjoy a lantern. To Bryan, the lanterns is just another toy that emits music and light. Another potential object to explore with his mouth..Ewwwww..

Although the weather is hazy (thanks to Indonesia's forest fire), we decided to take him to the apartment grounds for a short stroll to enjoy the festive atmosphere. The hazy weather certainly did not stop residents from enjoying the night.

At the BBQ area, a group of students was having a BBQ party.

A group of middle-aged aunties was having pot luck at one corner of the garden.

There were groups of children lighting candles on the path way. I tried to capture the atmostphere with my camera, but the photos turned out blurry as i was using the night mode without the tripod. Anyway, below are some of the clearer ones.




Happy Mid-Autumn festival Bryan.

Thursday, October 05, 2006

So tired

The last few days has been so hectic - at the office, and continue to work somemore after Bryan is asleep. The last few nights, i have been working till about 1am. So tired....

Lk also the same - a lot of work and have been working late as well. So if you go to my house now, u will see a big pile of clean laundry sitting at the corner. I just cannot find the time to tidy them up.

This morning when the alarm clock goes off at 630am, i realized LK was no longer at my side, nor is he in the bathroom.

I found him sleeping next to Bryan instead.

Shooi: Baby cry meh?
LK: Er...donno. I don't remember why i am here also...

Cham la.
Me: i didn't even hear baby crying over the baby monitor (if baby did la)
LK: Must have heard baby cry and went over to baby's room to comfort him, but have no recollection of that. He did remember waking up at 530am because baby was tickling his chin, but cannot remember when or why he went to Bryan's room in the first place.

Arrggghh...Both of us so overworked. Can't wait for the long Deepavali & Raya holidays to start.

Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Taking charge...

Finally Bryan realized that he is capable of taking charge and it is sometimes pointless to cry.

This morning, LK put out a few toys on the living room floor for Bryan. Then he left to go to the kitchen to get a drink while Bryan is engrossed with the toys. I was in the kitchen at the time. After a few minutes, Bryan realized that he was alone in the living room. LK noticed that and said, "Oops, he just noticed I'm gone. He’s going to cry now”

But to our surprise, Bryan did not cry, but instead just quickly crawled towards the kitchen. Not sure how he figured out that we are in the kitchen. I am so proud of him.

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

Learning to drive?

Normally we do not allow Bryan to the driver seat, as we do not want him to make it a habit. But today, he got a fright from fireworks when we are about to reach home. And as i release him from his car seat, he called to his daddy. Since we have already parked the car, I decided to let him go to his daddy.

And as soon as he is behind the wheels, he started playing with all the knobs, and handles. Obviously he had been fairly intrigued and was excited to be allowed to touch.

His favourite obviously is to turn on the car wiper and to spray the water. He als

Later i found out that my dad regularly let Bryan sit with him at the driver's seat while waiting for my mum to finish her marketing.

No wonder he is so familiar with all the different car "control items" - whatever you call them

Monday, October 02, 2006

Bryan is 11 months old

Now he can
  1. Say papa, mama, mum-mum, bye bye, bear bear, ai, kai-kai. These are the common words he says each day. Sometimes he will surprise us by imitating certain words as we say it.
  2. Pull himself up to a standing position.
  3. Take a few steps while holding on to something. Usually it is merry go round in his play pen.
  4. Understand most of the things we say. Eg
    1. When we say “suei-chiau” (sleep), he will find the nearest pillow and plop his head on it for 2 seconds. LOL. If only he can really go to sleep when we ask him to.
    2. Up or “Chi Lai” when he is bathing, he will get up, of course with our help. But will still cry because he loves playing with water.
    3. When we ask him to not put objects into his mouth. He will usually obey but sometimes can get angry. If he gets angry, he will throw the item down with force, only to pick it up again in a few seconds to continue playing , …and attempting to put it into his mouth.
  5. If we leave the room and go to another without him, he will crawl after us…usually crying along the way.
  6. Get down from his mattress (~ 6 inch high) on to the floor with no problem. No more hitting his head when getting down.
  7. Has developed fear of strangers. Takes a while to warm up to strangers now, and is quite clingy when he is in new places or among new people.
  8. He’ll clap my hand when I say “High 5” and offered my palm.
  9. Ask for food whenever he sees us eating.
  10. Can “drive” his car…backwards.
  11. Sleeps through the night with occasionally waking up for 1 feeding. Usually at about 530am because of the azan from nearby mosques. That’s the trouble with staying in apartments, can hear sounds from different directions.

He loves - The mirror.

He still doesn’t like to:-

  1. Sit in the stroller
  2. A bit more cooperative in the car seat. Still will cry to be let out of the chair but not loud (bad) enough for me to get him out. (Except yesterday night on the way to LK’s colleague’s baby birthday party. Did not cry loudly but was as if trying to make himself vomit. I know he is capable of doing that, so LK said to get him out quick).

And he has 2 little teeth at the bottom, and another 2 emerging tooth at the top. OK, now mummy got to start planning for your 1 year birthday.

Sunday, October 01, 2006

Crawling on fours

Yippeeee.....Bryan is now crawling on fours! And I was there to witness the very first crawl, together with my mom, sis and LK.

Hmm...i hope i will be there to witness his first unassisted step as well, which will not be too far away.

Monday, September 25, 2006

Bite = kiss (love) ?

Sometimes when Bryan is geram, he will grab our face and try to bite our cheeks, nose or chin. He will do it when he is over excited when we are playing with him, or if we annoyed him - either we hugged or tickled him too hard, or he just plain want to do that.

He does that to other children or babies too. His cousin Mel (7 yrs old) is very scared of him coz she say he bites. And when he gets close to baby cousin Jasmin (6 wks old), he will open his mouth as if he wants to bite her. But he is more gentle with Jasmine than with Mel. With Mel, he will lunge forward, but with Jasmine, he will lean gently forward.

And Bryan only do this to people he knows and likes. Maybe it is his way of showing affection. I mean we kiss him all the time on his cheeks, so i guess biting is his way of kissing back.

Ouch, love really hurts sometimes...LOL

Sunday, September 24, 2006

Hair cut #3

Took Bryan to his third visit to the barber today. Not as bad as #2. He was a bit scared and cried a bit, but calmed down very fast too.

He looked sooooo cute after his cut.

Good food = bad food

All the good food in life are usually bad food. All the food that cause high cholestrol / calorie are usually food that we enjoy very much - seafood (crab, prawns) , roasted meat (satay, char siew, sio bak) , chocolates, cheese cakes...

And not only adults have to watch their intake of good food but babies too, as they may cause allergy.

So far i have been very careful about Bryan's diet cause he had some minor eczema before and his paed told me to be careful when introducing solids.

Yesterday, Bryan had 2 types of good food
1. Bak hu, at MIL place. LK ate some and Bryan asked for some. So since it is only pork, we let him have some. Yummy yummy. For someone who is used to taking unsalted food, bak hu must be very delicious to him.

2. Beef koay teow - we had beef koay teow for dinner, and i forgot to bring any baby rusks for Bryan. There were also no stalls selling bread nearby. So since Bryan had had beef before, we thought it should be safe to let him have some koay teow. He loved it. Of course la, the beef koay teow was very nice even to our taste buds.

But when we got home, we discovered some hives on his right cheeks, and knees. It disappears after his bath and after i applied some calamine lotion on it. This morning, he was fine until we let him play in our bedroom without turning on the fan/ air con, and the hives appeared again. This time more - on his cheeks, neck and on his waist where his pants elastic bands are.

So i quickly put some calamine lotion again and it dissapear after a while. It seems that the hives appear when he is feeling hot. He never had these before, so we are assuming that it is either due to bak hu or beef koay teow. We suspect it is koay teow coz we can never be sure that the soup does not have anything else other than beef. They may put some seafood in there - cuttlefish, scallop, etc to make the soup tastier.

Eeekkk... that was certainly a scary experience. So Bryan, no more sinful good food for u until you are older.

Proud grandparents

My parents are really a pair of protective grandparents. It is obvious to everyone that they love Bryan to bits. Their neighbour, an elderly woman also took care of a baby girl - YanYan who is about 2 months older than Bryan.

But the girl is very "smart" - she understands most of the things we say, she can say quite a lot of words, can walk/ run unassisted and can imitate a lot of actions - the most funny is the "kepala sakit"action where she will put her hands to her forehead feigning headache.

So in comparison to YY, Bryan is very quite far behind, but i have always told my parents to not care or compare about it. Children develop at different speed and there is really no use to compare. And to be honest, Bryan is not behind in his development milestones, so there's nothing to worry about.

Last Friday, my mom told me that she don want to take Bryan out when YY is outside. Coz YY's grandma said to the other neighbours that YY is faster in her development than Bryan

How kiasu, and in a way sad, coz the old people's kiasuism is in a way affecting the children, since Bryan will have less chance to play with YY until my mom gets over it. Luckily, me knowing my mom, it won't be long.

Babbling Baby

This weekend, Bryan has been babbling non-stop. And it is the cutest thing ever. Besides the usual, baba, papa, mama,..he is starting to say bear bear, bye-bye. And some "complicated" words he imitated us this weekend.

1. Puk Ke Yi (mandarin for "cannot") => when we told him that he cannot "bite" or beat his baby cousin Jasmine.
2. Ice Kim (ice cream) => when MIL tempted him with ice cream
3. Hallo

My sis also said that he said "Fish" before when she showed him the fishes in her aquarium

It is usually a surprise to hear him say those words but unfortunately is difficult to get him to repeat it.

But i think he has yet to learn the meanings to those words or learn to control when to say it. Most of the time it is a long string of babbles. And if he hears a song he likes, you can bet the babbles will continue.

He have also learnt to make the finger movements to the Twinkle Twinkle Little Star song. Although i sing the song to him all the time, i rarely make the finger movements. This weekend, i started to make it and he learnt to copy me in no time.

So it is really true what most people say. When babies learn to talk, they do learn very fast.

Sunday, September 17, 2006

Genting

Safely back from Genting Highlands yesternight. It was a pretty relaxing trip, something that i had not had for a verryyy long time. Since my mid-term pregnancy, LK had avoided taking me on any holiday. And since arrival of Bryan, we take him everywhere we go, so it is usually quite tiring.

Although we did not take Bryan to Genting, he was constantly on our mind. Everytime we see a cute ride at the indoor theme park, we'll go,..."hmm..you think Bryan will be able to do that next year?" or "i think Bryan will love that ride by this time next year". Or when we saw a huge aquarium with huge fishes at one of the casino entrance, the first thing i said was, "Bryan will love this". And LK would say,..."eh how is our cutecute boy doing..." and that's a signal for me to call my mom to check on Bryan.

So taking Bryan to Genting is definitely in our plans when he's about 2 so that he can enjoy the indoor theme park.

But one thing i dislike badly about Genting is the poor air quality...there are just too many people smoking, indoor and outdoor. Arrgh...my nose was terribly irritated the entire journey. That makes it less attractive as a vacation spot for kids. So i certainly would not take my kid(s) up there frequently. Once in a while (i mean a few years) ok la, but for a yearly holiday getaway, i would prefer some place like Camerons. Yeah, LK and i like the cool places. We are not much of a shopaholics so highlands serves us very well as vacation spots.

So was Bryan a good boy in our absence. Except for the extended bed time, he was a pretty good boy at my mom's place. No complaints. Normally at our house, he'll be asleep by 830 - 900pm but at my mom's place, 1030- 1100pm. Too playful, i guess. Luckily he slept through the night, so my parents can still have a good night's rest.

My dad slept with him the 3 nights while my mom shares my sis's bedroom (in my old bed). Guess Bryan is a real kong-kong grandbaby. My dad even took 2 days leave so that he can help babysit and take him kai-kai. No wonder Bryan did not miss mommy and daddy at all! He was treated like a prince the entire 3 days.

And he almost finished my entire frozen breastmilk stock (about 30 bags of 3-4 Oz) during the 3 day stay at my mom's. So that goods news. Before that, he rejected frozen milk and i had to throw away a few bags coz they have expired (> 3mths old). Luckily he accepted frozen milk again, otherwise, i will have to start him on formula when i am away.

So now, i can start again with the storing, ...not that i have that much extra to store anymore since i am very lazy to pump now. :P

And i just read in the breastfeeding forum that HA formula tastes bitter and some babies don't like it. Cham la. Bryan quite particular about milk taste, so i hope he will be cooperative when i need to start supplementing with formula.

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Will

Tonight, Lk and I will be going to Genting for 3 nights (tonight included). This is the first time that we are going away without Bryan.

Coincidentally, my financial advisor fren , Hong is also going on a 2 week Europe holiday with his wife.

So yesternight, he came to our house to finalize our will and also my life insurance. I have been talking to him about increasing my life insurance coverage and also to write our will. But we didn't get any of it finalized until yesternight. Now both him and us can go for our holiday in peace. That if something happen, he doesn't owe us anything and I know that Lk & my estate will be carried out according to our wishes, and most importantly, Bryan will be taken care of materially and financially at least.

Before i had Bryan, i had no fear of death. If i go on a holiday, i have no fear. But now with Bryan, I fear death not because of death itself, but of what would happen to Bryan.

So it is definitely right to say that having a child is a life-changing experience. You will never think and act the same after the arrival of a child. Your priorities will be different, and you can be sure that most of the decisions you make will revolve around him (or her.)

Anyway, back to happier mood. Since i at Genting, wish me luck at the casino...kekeke.

Papa,mama,baba, bpa,bma...

After months of eh, heh, hai,..aei,...finally Bryan said papa, mama,papa, mama at the same time. Yesternight after dinner at my mom's place, on the way home, Bryan suddenly let out a string of papa, mama, baba, mapa,bma bma, and he went on saying that for a few minutes. It was certainly a very happy moment for both LK & I.

And just for the record, he was 10 months, 1 week & 3 days old when he said papa & mama.

Now is to teach him tht papa => LK, and mama => me.

Before this, he use to call me HEH (sounds like prawn in hokkien). My bfg friends at work use to joke that if I am HEH, then LK must be HU (fish)...hahaha...

Finally there's an end to my HEH days.

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Cooler bag

Bryan favourite bag is my Coleman cooler bag - that I use daily to transport my EBM from home/ office to my mom's place. Maybe because it is in bright silver color and I hav e a few key chains dangling from it.

But he can spend a long time, tossing & turning it, and take time to explore the key chains. If we are not paying attention, he will chew the labels & key chain too (EWwwwww...)

Yesterday, LK and I went to my mom's place together after work to have dinner & then pick him home. He was very excited to see us, and even more excited to see the bag. So after i had removed the bottles of EBM, i gave it to him to play on the living room floor.

While waiting for me to get the rice for our dinner, LK teased Bryan from the dining room table..."Nar bag" (take bag). To our surprise, Bryan got really angry and grabbed the bag close to him, screamed & kicked his legs. It was so funny to see him being so possessive.

We did not expect him to understand what LK meant. And we thought maybe it's because Lk made the hand movements.

So LK said "Nar bag" again without any hand movements. Bryan screamed again, and kicked angrily. It was absolutely hilarious.

It definitely proves that eventhough he may not speak, he does understand what we speak.

Sunday, September 10, 2006

First sickness

I am kinda proud that Bryan has never been sick since he was born. Yes, he had jaundice at birth and was admitted to the hospital once for vomit. But i don't really consider those as sickness.

For the hospital case for vomit, it was when he was 3 mths old. As he was still small, the paed was cautious and advised us to admit him. But during his stay, he was not given any medicine at all, although he as put on glucose drip (for fear of dehydration) and some vitamins only.

And i attribute his health to me breastfeeding him. Because he was and still is a breastfed baby, the paed say that he will recover without medicine.

Last Friday, was the first time he was really sick. His first fever. Mom called at 3++pm saying that Bryan temp was 37.6 C but i told her to just monitor as i have loads of work to do. Then, sis called at 545pm and said that Bryan' s temp was 38 C, and at that time , my immediate response is, i am going to send him to the paed.

So packed a few of his clothes and mine, in case he need to be admitted and then rush to pick mom & Bryan up to go see the paed.

His temp was 38.2 C at the paed's office and the paed classified it as symptoms of flu. May have got if fr Dad who just recovered. Anyway, paed say that he shd recover in 2 days time and advised me to breastfeed as much as possible.

Gave us paracetamol and some cough syrup.

Turned out that feeding Bryan those medicine was torture. He hated it. He vomitted the moment he tasted the medicine. I tried to taste it and it was very sweet. Smelt of medicine but sweet.

It took us a long time to feed him the medicine and he vomitted a couple of times during the process. In between, lotsa of cleanup - him, and the floor. And he looked so forlorn, as if we were intentionally tormeting him. He hunged tightly to my mom and in the process, vomitted over my mom's shoulder too.

But when i checked on him during the night, his fever has subsided, but i could hear a bit of phlegm in his breathing. So the next morning, i made him some rice cereal mixed with breastmilk. Then gave him his second dose of cough syrup. He really hated it, and tried to vomit out the syrup.

So that's it. I decided there and then i am not going to give him anymore medicine. Just monitor and let him get well on his own.

Luckily his situation continue to improve and there was no sign of sickness at all later Saturday afternoon.

So i guess, he just proved that breastfed babies do get sick very seldom but when they do, they get well really fast. I am so glad that I am still bfg him. This is probably another motivation for me to continue to bf him.

Friday, September 08, 2006

Ooops...I kiss someone's put-put

Yesterday was the last day of the Sushi King RM2 promotion. So since it was so cheap, I decided to take my mom for a treat. So after work, immediately rush home to P Terubong and fetch mom & Bryan. My sis & LK meet us at Sushi King BJ.

Arrived at BJ at about 6:10pm and there was a huge crowd outside. Luckily LK arrived earlier and therefore we can go in once everyone has arrived.

At Sushi King, as usual, we place Bryan into the baby chair. And in a few seconds, he turned around, grab the back of the chair, and pulled himself into a standing position. We did not even notice him doing it. When Lk noticed it, he was already standing proudly in his baby chair *pening*.

The chair does not have any strap to secure him & he would not sit still in the chair since he discovered a way to stand up. End up, we had to eat with him on our lap. Luckily it was just sushi, so fairly easy to eat.

After dinner, sis took mom home, LK drove home by himself and Bryan with me. But as it was late, he was quite fussy, so i had to keep entertaining him along the way.

As i stopped at the traffic light near my house, I forgot to switch my gear to Neutral but instead just continue to step on the brake. Then i played with Bryan and must have lose my footing resulting my car to slide to the front and knocked the backside of the Wira in front of me.

I kinda shocked and step out of the car and apologise immediately to the driver. Then i got back in to reverse my car. The driver inspected the car and realized that there were no damages, gave me the OK sign and got back into the car.

*Phew* Lesson learnt. No playing with kids while on the road! I may not be so lucky next time.

Wednesday, September 06, 2006

Bye Bye

Bryan can finally wave bye-bye to us. Now, sometimes when he hears the word bye-bye, he will wave his arms up & down. Started doing that last week. And last weekend, he started to wriggle his fingers after bye-bye as well. Like the way the fortune tellers count fortune with their fingers.

I use the word sometimes coz, he does not do it 100% of the time. But most of the time now :) .

p/s: I just figured out yesterday, actually it was my mom. The wriggling finger action...he was trying to snap his fingers. My aunt #3 like to do while playing with him.

Sunday, September 03, 2006

I need to pang-sai...NOW

When Bryan was a newborn baby, his bowel movements was very irregular. Average is once in 1 week, 7 days. Longest was 11 days.

Almost all the breastfeeding resource I read says that a breastfed baby will have very frequent bowel movements in a day,..sometimes more than 10. So inevitably, i was worried when my baby did not pang-sai when i took him home.

By the time Bryan is 10 days old, i had consulted 3 paeds about his bowel movements. All assured me that it is ok. Since he is a breastfed baby, i need not worry about constipation. It just means that he has absorbed all the nutrients from the breastmilk and thus, not much left to pass out from his system. And although it is not common, some breastfed baby really do not pangsai everyday.

His bowel movements was irregular until he started solid at 6 mths. Now he pangsai everyday, sometimes 2 or 3 times as he is getting healthy servings of porridge with vegetables each day, a lot of undigested substance since his body is still learning to adapt to solids.

And usually he'll pangsai after his meal, or sometimes in the middle of his meal. And when he wants to pangsai...he will start fussing for no reason. If he's at my mother's home, she knows how to read the sign and will let him sit on the potty. But with us, I am still learning to read the signs. Sometimes i get it, sometimes i don't. If i don't, i will have another soiled nappy to throw away.

Yesterday after dinner at my BIL's house, he started fussing. Checked his nappy, sure enough, it was soiled. Changed it and 15 mins later, he fussed again. Checked nappy again,...soiled again. Aiyo, this baby thinks his parents very rich...a lot of $$ to spend on nappies.

Today, while I was feeding him dinner...he started screaming in a high pitch voice. He wasn't crying, just screamed,..sorta in a sing-song voice. I said to dh, maybe he want to pangsai, better let him sit potty.

Sure enough, he did pangsai. So, he really does know how to communicate to us, we just have to learn how to read the signs, until he learns how to verbalize what he want

Back to the waters

It has been more than 3 months (i think) since I last took Bryan for a swim. The last time I took him swimming was in May 06, that's when he was 6 mths old. I then stopped because
1. heard that there are Cosackie cases in Penang
2. weather has not been good - i only take Bryan swimming if the weather is hot, so that the water is warm after the sun has set. Normally we'll go swimming around 6pm.

Today, he was such a well behave boy. I went for a facial with my friend, and left Bryan under his daddy's care. He was haing his morning nap when I left. When he woke up, his daddy fed him porridge for lunch and then both of them just had fun playing. No tantrums, no crying at all. I am so proud of both of them.

So because he was such a good boy, and the sun was rather warm, i decided to take him swimming at our apt pool in the evening.

Boy of boy, he was scare of the water when we first went in. He held on to me really tightly. This was a sharp contrast to our experience 3 mths ago, where he kicked the water gleefully the moment he went into the water. There was no fear of the water at all then.

I guess he has lost his natural swimming reflex and is starting to develop fear.

It took him a few minutes before he relaxed a bit and held out one arm to bat the water. Slowly his legs kicked a bit but one hand still held on to my swim costume tightly. Refuse to let go.

After about 10 mins, only did he fully relax, started to enjoy the water and waved happily to his daddy who was recording the experience on our new handycam. Although he did kicked the water ala froggie style, his kicks were not as graceful & smooth as the ones when he was 6 mths old. I do have a tinge of regret that i did not take him swimming consistently. But then again, his health is more important than his ability to "swim"

By the time we took him out of the water, he was very comfy with the environment and thus protested with a struggle and some cries.

It's ok baby, if the weather is good next weekend, we'll come again.

Friday, September 01, 2006

Handycam

Finally, we bought a video camera. So far, we have been taking video from our digital camera. The quality is fairly good, but it is troublesome to convert to dvd, and thus difficult to share with family. Also the recording time is not long on the camera.

So yesterday, went to the camera fair at Gurney Plaza and bought the Sony DCR-DVD605E handycam. Cost was Rm1999 + free gifts - dvd player (worth Rm290), 3 dvds, handycam bag, tripod, umbrella, 2 sony cups (haha) & desktop calculator (pasar malam quality one). The price is usually standard but we get more gifts if we bought it during the fair

Features:
- PAL
- 20 x Optical Zoom
- 800 x Digital Zoom - B&W Viewfinder
- 2.5 in LCD Screen
- Touch screen
- Carl Zeiss lens

The other model that we were considering was Panasonic. The advantage Pana model has is 30X optical zoom. But we have used Aunt 5 Sony handycam before and the video quality is very good. Plus Aunt 5 has bought the camera years ago and it is still in good condition, so sony quality is reliable. The Sony model is made in Japan. With Pana, we have no experience, and although the Lumix Panasonic camera we have is very good, i don't know about their handycam. Btw, we bought the Lumix camera coz it uses Leica lens and is also wholly made in Japan. Leica lens is the best (or one of the best) lens in the world. But their handy cam are not using any branded lens.

Another thing my sis cautioned me is to get a camera with built in flash (?) so that can get good night scenes. We have recorded good night scenes using Aunt 5's Sony. During our trip to Korea, I manage to record some street dance by the teenagers at their public park from easily 200-300M away and it was at night.

Anyway, I haven't tried recording on my new handycam yet. Can't wait to use it. It's definitely gonna help us capture a lot of precious Bryan moments.

Monday, August 28, 2006

Through Bryan's eyes

When I was young, every morning when my father takes me to school on his motorbike, I remember observing the scenery along the trip – how each tree looks like, the shapes of the trunks, the leaves, and the color. Who are the other people on the roads? I still remembered that at the traffic light junction of Masjid Kapitan Keling, sometimes I will see a man pushing his tricycle loaded with household goods. It looked as if he was pushing a MOUNTAIN of stuff, with the goods loaded way high above his head and literally spilling out from the sides & front of the tricycle. I used to admire how he managed to balance all those goods and at the same time felt pity for him, silently hoping that business will be good for him that day.

Somewhere along the way, as we grow up, we stopped seeing things as we got too preoccupied with our thoughts.

With Bryan, he notices everything. The rustling of the leaves at the garden, the birds in the sky or in the trees, the flowers by the roadside, the sunlight from the window on his bedroom wall and way the shadow moves against the light.

Last night, while waiting for LK to unpack our groceries from the car, Bryan and I “danced” to the movements of our shadows at the parking lot. He was so excited about the shadows and giggled with delight with each movement.

It was such a delight to see how his eyes light up when he sees these things. He constantly amazes me with what he is able to spot and observe.

His favorites are birds. He can spot a bird on the electric wire, from quite a distance away, and starts calling for them. He also has a particular fondness for a stray kitten who wanders along the corridor outside my mother’s house. The kitten loves to play along the dry drain pipes. Bryan will look out for the kitten each time he is near that area.

The first time I saw the kitten was more than 1 month ago. A boy was carrying the kitten tenderly. I thought the boy was going to take the kitten home to care for it. But he did not, and left it near the drain pipes. I think some kind souls must have been feeding the kitten, coz it has grown significantly. A bit thin and scrawny but looks healthy nevertheless.

If it weren't for Bryan, I would have forgotten about this kitten.

Thursday, August 24, 2006

Cute Baby Contest

There ..I’ve submitted Bryan’s photo for his first baby photo contest. It’s the Johnson’s Baby of the Year Contest. Actually I submitted 2 entries. Not because of kiasu but the grand prize is very attractive leh…RM15,000 cash and loads of other prizes such as digital camera + printer, toys, etc etc. Yalah, I know, what are the odds of winning, but if I don’t try then no chance. If try, at least got 0.00000……1% chance, Better than none mah hor. Rm15K will really help ease the load of his education fund off our shoulders. (kekeke...all mothers think that their own baby is the cutest,..ok!)

We thought of entering the contest early last month, but never got around to selecting the photos until yesterday. So scrambled to get the photos printed and to get all the forms ready, cause the closing date is 31 Aug.

Anyway, below is one of the photo I submitted


So, cute boh?

Tuesday, August 22, 2006

Gosh, I love feeding Bryan

Feeding Bryan is such a joy. Now, he gets 2 healthy servings of porridge daily. Each servings is about a small rice bowl, u know the bowls used by Chinese restaurant for serving rice. So I think that is quite a lot for a baby.


Open mouth...















AMMMM....Good boy....

And it will only take about 10 – 15 mins for us to feed him. And when we feed him, it has to be one spoonful after the other. He will protest if we delay. Sometimes the porridge is hot and we will blow slightly…he will also scream, scared that we will eat his porridge..hahaha. And if he comes near the kitchen when I am almost done with the porridge, he will get all excited about it already. Can smell ma…his porridge very yummy smelling one ok…

And because he loves his porridge so much, it isn’t very messy either. Sometimes, we don’t even let him wear his bib, if he’s going to take a bath after that. OK, I don’t believe in the crap that you should not bath after a full meal. It is so much cleaner to let him have his meal, rest for a while then take a bath. Besides, it will also allow him to have some fun getting wet while feeding himself water from the cup/ bottle.



Having some fun with his water bottle












I have read and heard of “horror” (hahaha) stories of kids refusing to eat. Who will just keep the food in their mouth and refusing to swallow it. Some children take hours just to finish their meals. Others, refuse to eat most thing except for 1 or 2 particular item.

I was so afraid that Bryan will be like that. Thus, between my mom and me, we make sure that he gets some variety in his meals so that he does not develop a dislike for mealtime. And if he doesn’t like a particular item, we will not force him to eat it. We’ll just omit the item and try again in another few weeks. Just like spinach. At first he didn’t really like it. He still eats his porridge, but not as fast as normal. So we stopped giving it. Then after about 1 month, my mom tried adding spinach again, and he seemed ok with it.

Now he is only eating porridge, but I can’t wait to add more items to his menu…not just rice, but different types of noodles (mee sua, koayteow, etc), pasta, sandwiches,…Anxious mommy hor….

Afterall, don’t everyone love to eat. And if you like what you are eating, you are sure to eat them fast right? I think kids (and babies) are the same. It’s just that some kids are choosier than others. So we as parents have a challenge to find out what they like and help them to “enjoy” eating.