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.

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.

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"

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....

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.

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.

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.

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.....

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.

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 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?

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.

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

3. If we ask him “Where is Bryan?”, he’ll point to his photo in the living room, before patting his own chest.
4. 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.
5. Recognizes the items in the house, and where they are, fishes in the aquarium, tortoise, tv, fan.
6. Crawl on four at “running” speed. He’s really quite an expert at crawling now. Will take a photo and upload later.
7. 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.
8. 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.