It's Gym Time!

These pics of Nat enjoying her new Gym mat is simply too adorable to not share them on the web.

At 6 months she is now able to hold her head steady whilst lying on her tummy! Soon she'll discover a whole new world once she masters crawling!!

PS:Hey TT, thanks for lending the playmat to us! She really loves it!

Multi/ Mono tasker

Chris showed me an interesting article in the papers today as an attempt to get back at me as I always complain about his inability to multi-task.

Headline reads - "Avid multitaskers do badly in multitasking : US study".
Results of the research conducted by Stanford University shows that the people who multitask the most are the ones who are worst at it as they are more easily distracted and less able to ignore irrelevant information than people who do less multitasking.

Can't deny the facts as I do agree that there is indeed some truth in this outcome. I for one believe that people multitasks most of the time. Even for myself when it comes to daily affairs like looking after the baby, I multitask. Take for instance, feeding baby whilst replying emails, playing with baby whilst attempting to have lunch/dinner. However, many a times I realise I do end up spending more time completing each job. Let's take the example of feeding baby whilst replying mails. Though not a direct effect, I am sure baby would find it stressful as well as I try to clear my emails quickly. The attention which she used to have ie the eye contact, the cuddles are no longer possible as I try to type and carry her latched on at the same time. Unconsciously I may even try to unlatch her before she completes her meal just so that I have 2 free hands to type.

Let me list another personal example which clearly illustrates the pitfall of multi-tasking ie distraction. Checking emails at the office and updating my blog at the sametime. I get side tracked so often as I move a long the emails that I ended up doing tasks which are enjoyable but of less importance first. There was once I got so engrossed with finding the meaning of a word and ended up reading an entire chapter on wikipedia. Unwittingly this eats into my work time and thus the list of unfinished work just piles up as the day passes by. This was made worse with my procrastinating attitude. Somehow fire fighting becomes a way of life as I have the tendency to leave the more important tasks to the very last minute. Squeezing more tasks together and therefore had no choice but to fire fight each one at the 11th hour .. and to this I term - miultitasking!

Chris says that I should plan my day ahead. But hey I am a good planner and could come up with a long list of to dos. But when it comes to execution, there is always that good excuse lurking in the background. Can't imagine myself as a stay home mum... Worse I think! Won't even be able to bathe and feed my baby on time? I'll definitely lose the I-quality time, which I do get once in a while as I make special trips across the roads to indulge my cravings to shop! Writing this makes me realise that the best way of multitasking is to farm your work out ie DELEGATE!! Doing so you would be able to maximise the output per unit time. Never regretted hiring a helper to manage baby on my behalf. She is the best baby monitor one could ever purchase! So key task in multitasking -> is to Delegate! or better still EMPOWER so you don't even need to do the thinking and things get done automatically like clockwork!

Allergy

Nat had her first episode of allergic reaction today!

Her body was filled with red patches which we initially thought was heat rash/ hives. Not knowing what caused it, we were speculating around hygiene factors ie sunarti didn't wash the sheets thoroughly, she used too much detergent etc.

We brought her down to the pedeatrician immediately. The pedeatrician took one look and asked about her food intake. Reaction was likely caused by the formula milk which baby had taken in the afternoon. It was our first attempt at transiting from breastmilk to formular milk as my production level has dipped quite a bit over the past few days. She was only given 60ml mixed with breastmilk and within an hour the hives appeared. So what does this mean? Will she not be able to take any diary products at all? The pedeatrician suggest to send her to the alleeginist for tests so we could determine the source.

Looks like I would have to continue with my fish diet and weaning off from breastmilk would likely not happen within the next couple of months!

baby cereal recipe -using organic brown rice

If you'd like to make your own breakfast for baby, then try this baby cereal recipe which is both wholesome and easy to prepare.

Ingredients

1 oz brown rice powder
4 fl oz water
a little formula/breastmilk

To make the rice powder, grind brown rice in a blender or food processor. This is best achieved by grinding in small quantities - but to make the powder really fine.

Bring the water to a boil.

Add the rice powder, stirring constantly with a wire whisk.

Simmer for about 10 minutes (don't forget to keep stirring, or the rice will stick).

Then stir in enough formula or breastmilk to give the consistency that's best for your baby.

Dim Sum Episode

Had this craving for Dim Sum for a while and so we brought Nat to 'Yam Cha' at Yan Palace this morning. Travelled all the way to Chinatown as their dim sum is relatively well known and perhaps value for money. It was 10am by the time we reached, and the restaurant was already almost full. We were brought to the only 2 seaters at the far end of the restaurant. Most families were there with their old folks, mine just couldn't find the time as they had some other 'fun-filled' activities which they had conveniently not included us.

Anyway, we were served to the far corner with aircon switched on at full blast above us. I wouldn't have bothered requesting for a swop if Nat wasn't with us. The waitress agreed and brought us to a 4 seater. Then came along her supervisors who kicked up a big fuss over the swop and reprimanded the waitress for allowing us to do so. The male supervisor sarcastically remarked that the girl ought to wear his jacket instead. By now almost everyone is staring at us, with the female supervisor shouting atop of her voice to get the waitress to swop us back to the original seat. Not wanting the whole restaurant to continue staring at us we caved in.

As you could imagine their dim sum became the worst which we've tasted.I would have left the place if not for the fact that we've started on the dishes. We shifted the table out a little to avoid the draft. Had the quickest yam cha experience and we are never going to return to that restaurant again.

As we left we noticed a long queue of people waiting to enter. The fact that they have a good flow of loyal customers just reinforces the bad attitude - take it or leave it. Zero customer service for Yan Palace. We'll see how long the business could sustain.

What is your prototype?

What kind of parent are you?
Are you the type who would give in to your kid's whims and fancies as you feel so guilty not being there to watch them grow? Or the pushover who just doesn't know how to say no? Or one who simply loves to control each and every little thing they get their hands on? Or the type who gives them a free hand but sets parameters in which you would like them to grow?

Would want to think of myself as the latter, but somehow i have a feeling my compulsive control temperament may take the reign. Just looking at the way my mum manages the maid today makes me wonder if I may have taken after her.. . expecting the helper to do everything to the 'T'ie following the operations procedures without a glitch. Honestly I think it boils down to insecurity. I feel insecure about leaving my baby with the maid. I hate it when she does things to her standard, cutting corners, skiving whenever we are not looking and coming up with excuses to cover her ass. Just today I scolded her for not responding when I talk to her. How would I know if she understands what was conveyed when she does not acknowledge with a simple OK or yes. Tried explaining to her why Filipino maids ought to get higher pay ... at the very least they respond with a 'yes mum'. She'll only respond with a 'ya'when she is either in a good mood or when she is truly listening. Take for instance if I had to work her past her bedtime she'll not respond and proceed to do things in a rushed manner, wearing a black face at the same time. So you might be wondering 'what time does she sleep?'. I must say she has at least 10 hours of sleep each day. At my mom's, she tend to sleep at 9ish and at my place she could go to bed at as early as 8-ish pm waking up only at 7am! I've tried explaining about the concept of customer care and the need to service with a smile. She meerly giggles with some sort of understanding and forgets about it the very next day.

The other issue about her is she simply does things at her own slow sweet pace. Hubby just cannot stand how she has no sense of urgency! To the extent that he would simply take over some of the tasks, but this made things worse! She doesn't know her place anymore! My mum and I often end up playing the bad guy as we are the key personnels ordering her around! I got to keep reinforcing the idea that she is the one earning a living not us. Appraising her each month before giving her her salary seems to work for a while but when new issues comes up the old ones gets forgotten and production became inconsistent again. My dad irritates the hell out of me when he keep asking her to take breaks and rest. How can I manage her when there are so many Indian Chiefs in the hourse! And she is smart enough to know who to go to when she had issues. I think I ought to really scold her really harshly to instill a healthy level of fear and to reinforce my training. Bad habits are so easy to pick up but difficult to correct. Till then it'll be too late.

Am feeling kinda frustrated now as I meant to dedicate this page to parenting, but ended up writing all about maid management!