It's been a month ..

Oh my goodness how time flies! It's been a month since I last blogged at the rate I am going it's gonna be 12 entries per year! Yikes !! So much has happened over the past 1 month.

In terms of Nat's diet, she is now on solids. Loves the homemade, sun-dried, blender grinded brown rice cereal with veg or fruits. Current combination would include Japanese carrots (its' natural sweetness is so yummy even mummy love it), broccoli ( taste a little too concentrated for me. The broccoli has a strong distinctive taste when pureed without additional water, but Nat doesn't seem to mind), and steamed California white peaches with organic baby apples (this dish creates such a lovely aroma! definitely finger licking good and she always ask for more). Was thinking of trying fish next.. not sure how to go about it...will have to find time to research.

On her physiological development, she is gaining dexterity with her fingers. She has learnt to stick out her tongue ( see pic above), kick off her shoes, grab her feet, place her feet in her mouth, twist and turn in bed... She is still a little wobbly when seated on her own ie can't prolong sitting down and not topple over. Can't crawl yet and no sign of her first tooth at this stage.

We visited Dr. Toh for her pneumoccocal Jab today and she suggests that we place her on the walker to strengthen her calf and thigh muscles, which we haven't after so many months. One of my colleague has placed her kid in the walker since he was 4 months, but we've heard so many scary stories about walkers that even though we own one we weren't sure when's safe to start using it. So today is the inauguration of her walker. We finally opened the box which has been lying in Nat's room since birth and Chris got it fixed! ( Hey girl, your daddy would only do this for you.. it's extremely rare that daddy would be the handy man in the house. He even jokingly asked if 'gong gong' could fix it instead. But Daddy did it! Such commendable efforts!*applause*). As for the jab, she was really brave! One scream and that's all it takes. Perhaps playing with mummy whilst the injection happened reduced the pain significantly as she saw the angelic face of mine and managed to calm her nerves =)

On sleeping pattern, she goes off to bed by 6.30pm and falls asleep before 7pm. Wakes up at 10ish and early morning at 3ish, sometimes 4 for feeds. She is fully awake by 6am. Which I didn't quite mind as it is close to the time I too wake up to prepare for work.

As for sleep styles, apparently Nat is quite a mobile sleeper. We find her in various positions at different times in the night, turning 360 clockwise in her cot! When she sleeps next to me, she'll wake me up with her little kicks and boxes. She'll pull my hair and yank it really hard when I ignore her. I'll end up screaming and she just laughs it off. How sadistic! And she never does this to Chris.. ok may he has much shorter hair.. but Nat this sort of good stuff you can leave it to daddy k.

Got to go for dinner now.. back for part 2 in a bit.

Developments - the flip!

Nat has mastered the skills of flipping from back to tummy. Attached are the captured moments of her turning!

At 6 months she is using all her senses to explore and learn about her surroundings. She gets more attuned to colours, noises, reacts to Junior's presence and of course my disappearance ie not within her sight. The traits of seperation anxiety seems most accentuated during this week whilst I am home. She demands to be carried and showered with attention all the time. Always wanting to be part of the action! She gets irritated particularly during naps and cries as soon as her little bums touch the bed, her upper torso is still in my arms when she makes her usual protests of being left alone in bed! Got to repeat the putting down process at least 2-3 times before she settles. She'll take short 15 - 30 mins naps in the day. She is at her best when we are out, no tantrums simply a matter of dosing off quietly in the baby carrier or infant seat.

She enjoys looking at books together. We schedule bedtime reading either before or after her bath depending on how alert she is. Grandma will read to her in Mandarin to help her develop an interest in her mother tongue. I will read to her in English. She loves it when both daddy and mummy sing her a medley of nursery rhymes. Repeating in different tones and pitch just never fails to amaze her. She loves board books which are colorful and sturdy, so she could bang her little hands on them. Compared to previous, she is starting to notice finer details and displays interest in alphabets/ words rather than just concertrating on the pictures. I am amazed at how much patience she has when it comes to reading. She listens attentively even when I re-read the book a couple of times at one seating. Love reading to her as it also provides a great opportunity for cuddling and socializing.

Per my earlier entries, Natalie has started on solids. To date, she has been introduced to sweet potato, rice cereal and apples. We're trying out peaches and brocolli next. Freezing the presteamed and pureed baby food really does help to save time as you are able to prepare the varieties in batches. Apples seems easily digested and produces sweet smelling poop. Digested sweet potatoes has a stronger stench and takes longer to digest. So rather than daily poop, we typically had to wait 2-3 days. Was really worrying at first cause she is a breastfed baby and poops on a daily basis. We've even prepared suppositories for her as a precautionary measure. I've also introduced Heinz teething biscuits to her to soothe her gums. Can't wait to see her first pair of milk teeth!

Cute random poses

Nat & Bumbo

Bought a Bumbo seat for Nat and she simply can't get enough of it!

The seat which comes in bright lime colour is an instant hit with Nat. The Bumbo seat's soft polyurethane material supports her little bumps comfortably and structurally it provides excellent support for the lumbar area of the vertebral column. Based on my google results, Bumbo has a favorable orthopedic effect that is important to assist in the correct spinal development of an infant. The seat's raised leg spaces result in an increased flexibility of the baby's hip and knee joints, which has the benefit of decreasing stress on the baby's spine.

Check out the happy face! Great for both feeding and playtime!

6month visit

We visited Dr Veronica Toh today for her 6th Month injection and oral vaccine.

The lucky her had her Grandpa and great-grandma tagging along as well!!

She was really brave today. Only cried a loud shrill "Maaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!" when the vaccine was given and stopped immediately when she was picked up by me. I could tell that the bond between us is only getting stronger. I am no longer just her favourite food source but her favourite parent as well. It gets really apparent at this stage where she learns to recognise familiar faces and creates a hierarchy of her favourite caretaker. Of course, I'm thrilled that I took the first place in her heart. Daddy loses out a little, but I'm sure he'll get on equal footing very soon!

So daddy don't fret k! Work on your playskills and I'm sure she'll be charmed by your creativity!

As for her allergist visit, we've cancelled it. Veronica reassured us that the reaction is common amongst breastfed babies and effects may not be permanent. We could give cow's milk a try again when she passes the 1 year mark. Meanwhile, we could feed her with soya as an alternative. This saves Nat from becoming a lab-rat, and saves us a couple of hundreds from seeing a specialist. Really can't bear to see her going through any painful prick tests... we'll just have to give soya a try and keep our fingers crossed.

Btw she learnt how to stick her tongue out today! Saw her playing with her tongue when I woke up this morning. Baby Nat never fail to amaze us daily!!

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!

Food for thought - Are you civic conscious?

The recent admission of a 3 year old in the ICU of KK children's hospital as a result of contracting the seasonal swine flu, starts me thinking if Singaporeans are civic conscious would we be in a better position to prevent the pandemic from spreading? I am sure one may conclude with a resounding yes. But hey how many actually walk the talk?

I recalled when ngee ann postponed their first day of school, both chris and I were hoping that SP may do the same so he could work from home since students are so well travelled these days. However that didn't happen. In fact Chris ultimately did fell ill, not a result of the influenza, but overheatiness caused by superb durians from malaysia!! He got a fever the very next day, which slowly developed into flu like symptoms. Fortunately, being kiasu parents, we've pre-prepared couple of boxes of N95 masks (high quality German make direct from source- let me know if any one is keen on stocking up, we are so good at sourcing that we manage to get them at a good factory price). So chris wore them whenever he came near Nat or me. He wore it in the car, in the room and aircon places. He even insisted that I wear it too as there is still a 5% chance of risk. We wore it when we went to crowded places and not surprisingly we nvited lots of stares. Friends mentioned that we were really civic conscious to wear the masks as we shop along Orchard and Tampines One. This gets me to my point. With stats on H1N1 increasing on a daily basis till the extent that authorities decides to produce sporadic reports and only highlight the ICU cases, it goes to show that the level of civic consciousness remains at an unhealthy standard.

Personally I've encountered colleagues who were ill but did not have the decency to wear a face mask or stay away from the workplace. One mentioned that she is not responsible for the rest falling ill.. then WHO should be playing a preventive role? I was shocked to hear such a selfish remark! Doesn't she knows that her presence jeopardises the health of all within the same department / building and potentially spread to the families and wider social circle... Would wearing a facemask make one any less professional? It's all aesthetics! Yes you may find some shunning you for the day but at least one has done his/her part to prevent others from falling ill. I am sure this is not an isolated case and many could relate to this. So how could authorities prevent the spread of H1N1 when there are so many culprits out there who are not at all civic conscious and cares only about their external appearances? Perhaps we should learn from the Japanese! Japanese have no qualms about wearing a face mask as a preventive measure and it does not in any way hinder their professionalism nor make them aesthetically less appealing!

Looking from another perspective, though we use the term 'Kiasee' ( afraid to die) colloquially, we never seem to do well at relating it from a preventive perspective. In this instance, if people are afraid to catch H1N1, shouldn't kiasee-ism drives us to want to wear a face mask every where we go and keep young children and the aged at home or not go to overly crowded places?

I believe civic consciousness stems from showing consideration and it starts at home. As a parent I find it important to inculcate these values to my children. With consideration, you will find that you'll not only be doing what's right for yourself, naturally you'll start to think for the others around you. Yeah, the attitude of our society will not change overnight, but I hope it'll change for the better and civic consciousness should not be a restricted vocab used only to describe the Japanese in this part of the world.

Unique Wedding March !

Saw this really fun wedding march on yahoo. Would recommend this as the way to go in replacement of the typical wedding march! Perhaps something to think about when Chris and I hit the 50th year wedding anniversary when we resolemnise our marriage again!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-94JhLEiN0

5 months

At 5 months, Nat is now able to sit up with pillows propping her up. Her preferred position is no longer lying down, she yearns to be carried upright like a big kid or supported on her underarm so she could pretend to walk. She has the cutest giggles as she sashays from mummy to daddy =) !

At breakfast she even wanted to grab a slice of the roti prata from my plate. Her moto skills are swiftly developing and I was almost not quick enough to stop her from putting the prata into her mouth! Amazing how baby's physical developments comes fast and furious at 5 months. She's capable of easily bringing an object to her mouth for oral exploration. She stares at me whenever I eat and opens her mouth when I bring the food down to her level to tease her sense of smell. Looks like she can't wait to be weaned and try her hands in solids!

I am also under the impression that her reading skills may have improved tremendously as well. She spends more time staring at each page, looking at the colourful details and slowly using her fingers to flip the pages as she goes along.

She could concerntrate on the tv really well. Comparing her with one of my friend's kid, aged 9 months. She definitely has a longer attention span when it comes to cartoon viewing! Not sure if this will indirectly cause her to be anti social, or it might be a relative thing where she chooses between looking at the kid play or watching a colourful screen which changes scene every few seconds. Chris say we have another Sharon in the making since I too get so engrossed with whatever's shown on the tv.

Challenges

It's been more than 2 weeks since I've updated my blog! Here's giving you a quick flashback on what you've missed.

Firstly, I've started working,which explains the recurring guilt of 'I have not spent enough time with baby'.So more hugs and cuddles from both daddy and me whenever we have a chance to carry her.

Secondly, Nat is now looked after by her grandmamee who, like all grandparents, dotes on her. We still bring her home each night, persevering with nite feeds. Think this is the least I could do as a mom.

We've watched Harry Potter and the half blood prince, complimentary tickets from attending Kim Seng Young PAP's AGM. We've also attended the Lion's Appreciation Dinner on Friday. Doesn't seem like a long list huh? And tell you what I've totally forgotten about the time when weekends just zip by and it's monday again! Dread to be reminded now!

So what were my biggest challenges at work and home? I must say it's balancing time for expression, work and sleep!

Past couple of weeks had gone by like a mad rush. Now I fully understand what a working Mum has to go though!It's really a uphill task trying to complete what needs to be done at work and slotting time to express myself. I strive to express every 4 hours but haven't been succeeding at all! Perhaps it's due to the tonnes of work waiting for me or it might be that I've slackened and was taking double the time to get things completed? I think it's definitely the former... now that the unit is starting it's recruitment cycle again, so much more needs to be done and so little time!
Situation worsen when I have back to back meetings lined up, had no choice but to push back expression time. Rather than the ideal 4 hours interval, it became 5 /6 hours. Not only do I feel engorged, I feel really guilty for not playing my role as a mother well! Cause reduction in expression frequency may reduce milk production and quantity would thereby be affected. Natalie now takes about 600mls in the day, whereas I only manage to pump about 4/500ish ml in the office. Demand exceeds supply! Each time I delay expression, I've got to pump for more than 30mins to express it all out or try to rush expression by increasing the suction speed. Playing both roles well is really a struggle. I know my priority remains with Nat and my goal is to feed her on EBM till she reaches 12 months. It'll be even better if I could last longer and push till her 2nd birthday. What I need to do is to stick to the expression slots ( 8am, 12noon and 4pm) religiously and not allow work to supersede. Easy to say, but action requires loads of determination and discipline!

The other challenge would be waking up in the middle of the night to feed Nat. Pushing last feed to 11ish pm kinda help delay late night feeds from 2am to 3am. Since I started working, waking up now becomes a struggle! Her daddy who can't hear a single cry before could now react even faster than me! Fortunately, he'll help carry the crying baby to me for feeds. At least I don't have to physically get up and walk to the cot. Wanted him to help with bottle feeding for Nat's last feed, but it don't quite seem to work. It's probably the way he holds her or the intensity of his perspiration which can't seem to stop following even in the aircon environment and worsen each time Nat starts to cry. Chris gets irritated with himself and Nat too felt it and seems uncomfortable with the feeds. I would still have to take over to ensure that she finishes the bottle. So rather than feeding her from the bottle ( and we were just too tired to wash up after that) I have resumed direct feeding.

Panda Eyes

Since the day she fell ill, Nat has been waking up at least twice in the night at 2 and 4ish AM! I've tried pushing back her last feed from 1030pm to 11ish and it didn't reduce her frequency for feeds. Should I allow her to cry till she falls asleep in exhaustion? Sounds cruel right? And it'll definitely wake the entire household. Don't think I'll be able to withstand not rushing to cuddle when she cries atop her lungs and it'll be difficult to soothe her back to sleep.

Anyone with workable solutions? Please let me know.

Milk blister part 2

Nat's feeding definitely helped! She has punctured the blisters and now the duct openings are visible. Though painful at the point of puncture, at least the pain doesn't stay!

Linguistic Developments

Nat's attempts at talking sounds like stream of conscious monologues of cute baby noises strung together. Alphabet flash cards and large popout books forms her daily reads. Check out the video below to hear it 'live'!

Milk Blister

Got a tiny milk blister ( looks like a tiny white pimple) when I wake up this morning! It's painful whenever the baby suckles!Fortunately it's not thrush or mastitis or anything more serious. Suspect it might be caused by the pump. Have been trying the maximum speed yesterday cause I wanted it to express much quicker!!

According to my yahoo results, milk blisters usually develop on the upper areola and are thought to be caused by a plug of thickened milk, which then seals over and becomes inflamed. The most common contributing factor that causes these conditions is a back up of milk in the breast (milk stasis). Milk statis can be caused by poor position and latch, abrupt reduction in the amount of breastfeeding, breastmilk oversupply, irregularities in the breast from previous surgeries or injuries, or constriction of the breast caused by a too tight bra.

They can remain from several days to several weeks, healing on their own by peeling away the outer layer of skin. If blisters are persistent, they may need to be peeled open by a gynae. Puncturing the blisters on my own could lead to an infection. Breastfeeding would be the most effective method to promote drainage of the breast,whereas milk expression is recommended as the second choice.

Well, this means I'll have to wait till it goes away on it's own by increasing Nat's feeding frequency.

Nat has started to read on her own!

It so amazing the speed in which babies develop! I was just teaching her to sign with her hands and if you were to view the video attached you could see that she is putting in deliberate effort to view every page and even manage to flip the pages when she is done! Amazing isn't it?