Erin's milestones

Erin is now at 7 months and here's her updates so far:

1. height and weight - average

2. started crawling by 6.5 months, even before learning how to sit up straight

3. finally learned how to sit up straight at exactly 7 months. Now crawling like speed demon

4. Already started solid by 6 mths. Munching away everything we gave her, and what she found on her own

5. her first solid food was an envelope!

6. still on breast milk :)

7. seen doctor due to fever - twice

8. she can fit both of her fists inside her little mouth

9. everyone likes her hair :P

10. Is learning to pull herself up and stand on her own

Turn & turn

I manage to saw Erin turned for the first time on 17th Dec, barely few days before reaching 4 months old. Now that she's getting used to turning herself, she'll do that every chance she got, even while trying to sleep!. We need to hold her still while patting her to sleep, else she'll turn again and cry cos she won't be able sleep in that position!

Erin's Journey

Little sweet Erin was born on 20th August, after a two weeks alarm (red spotting) earlier that causes me to take leave from work in anticipating the birth anytime. There were frequent contractions especially late at night, but then it just stop the next morning. This just going on for 2 weeks and my hubby kept on asking "it is time, is it time".

Her birth was initiated due to sudden lack of movement in the womb. When I go for checkup, the doctor scanned everything, assuring everything was normal and suggested to go for CGT just to be sure. The first CGT result was not favorable, showing low heartbeat most of the time. I need to go for second CGT again as they suspect that it could be my stomach was empty. Though the second CGT was normal, the doctor advises to induce the labor due to the signs that I had earlier on, including the earlier CGT result. Furthermore the cervix is already at 2cm and can already feel the baby's head.

I was warded the next morning for the induction. A tablet was inserted to start the labour around 11am, but only manage to get few mild contractions and that's it. While waiting, CGT scan was done and again the result was not favorable. The nurse face was abit panicky and quickly redo the scan after asking me to move my body abit. There onward the baby was very active and everybody was relieved. There was no signs of labor whatsoever and doctor suggested to insert another tablet, which was done around 7pm. By then the contractions become stronger and more consistent. Around 9.20pm, there's already heavy bleeding and I called my husband telling that its time to come to the hospital.

By the time I was in the delivery room, it is already around 6cm. My hubby arrives few minutes later and the doctor broke the water to speed up the labour process. He then says should be in another 2 hours before the last phase of the labor comes in. But minutes later after the doctor went out, the contractions was so bad that I told the nurses that the baby is on the way out. The nurse quickly called the doctor back and by the time they get ready, the baby's head can already be seen. In just 3 pushes, little Erin was born into this world at 10.32pm. My hubby told me the doctor and nurses were having difficulty catching the baby because everything just happened so fast. I was relieved that everything was over. Erin was crying very loud. After quick cleaning, the nurse passed Erin back to me and she nursed for the first time.

Now I'm staying in a confinement centre, with Erin sleeping beside me. Even at night she's with me the whole time to establish easier breastfeeding journey. I'm happy to say that she's been breastfed exclusively and there are excess milk as well, which I'm planning to pass to William instead.

Finally a "mommy"!

After a long wait of many months, William finally called "mommy" when addressing me. It first started with just a "mi" few weeks back, then evolved to "mimi", and now finally "mommy". He still uses "mimi" most of the time though, and we need to correct him once in awhile.

William is able to call "daddy" perfectly though. Funny thing is when he tried to say dolphin, it sounded a bit like "daddy". Now his daddy has become "daddy dolphin"!

Cute Moment

We need to be careful of what we are doing in front of our child, even when they are at very young age. William as of now is already 20 months old. He'll be 2 yrs old in another 4 months time, and by then off he goes to nursery. Just hope that he'll catch more good things rather than bad things while he's there.

Anyway, all these while whenever he wets the floor from his drinking water or milk, I used the nearest dry cloth I can find. And when he wets the floor in our room, the nearest grab was his clothes from the laundry basket. Sometimes he automatically used that help me dry up the floors too.

Yesterday, my mom told me that his cousin wets the floor from drinking water while playing. What William did was take off his pants and starts wiping the floor. After my mom changed his pants to a clean one, he takes it off and wipes the floor again when his cousin played with the drinking water the second time! I guess he must have thought that "wet floor = use own clothes". I will need to use a proper cleaning cloth from now on...

Finally Weaned

After been breastfeeding my child for 18 months, I have now successfully weaned him off during the last weekend. Some feeling still lingers a little bit inside me, missing the bonding time and touch that we had when he breastfeed. But seeing him feeding on his own makes it feel ok, knowing that he is growing up. Hopefully he will not grow out of me too soon. Now I will sit beside him and hold him when he feed, just to make sure that he feels at ease. But I guess I did this for my emotional needs too.

I must now start to take care of what I eat, since I was getting used to eating alot and not gaining weight due to breastfeeding. My breast size had shrunk back to its original size, so its time to go bra-hunting again.

He's Finally One

My baby boy is now finally one years old. This also means that I've breastfeed him for one year already. Haha... now I can claim for a Master cert in breastfeeding :)

Dunno why soooo many people today...

Although he's already one, he still only has 2 front teeth at the lower gum. The rest are still not popping out yet. In fact, we did held a small birthday celebration for him last friday night, and though he seems to be clueless about what's happening most of the time, he smiles happily when everyone sings birthday song to him. His biggest breakthrough on that day was able to climb the stairs all the way up to first floor by himself. But it has been a problem to us as now he's wanting to climb up every single minute he's downstairs... sigh...

The angpow is mine!!!!

William's first birthday cake

Ok, time for milestones:
1. eating rice now, but mostly giving him soft and easy to chew food (he has only 2 teeth!)
2. able to walk few steps without holding on to anything
3. crying out loud when people do not give him what he wanted (fake cry as do not see any tears coming out :P)
4. clapping both hands, wave bye-bye and blow goodbye kiss
5. shake his head and body crazily when asking him to dance
6. take something and put on his ear when hearing people say "hello, hello"
7. asking people for food by saying "zzzzha-zha". Not sure why he is not saying "mum-mum"
8. pull your hands towards his armpit whenever he wanted you to carry him
9. mimicking car sound when playing with cars
and ofcourse, not forgetting his latest achievement....
10. climbing up stairs

Wheee.... almost up

Little Bean Sterilizer

People will say I'm crazy for buying this, since my baby is already almost a year old and I had been boiling bottles to sterilize it since my baby were born. I actually don't mind boiling the bottles everyday, but my hubby says it took so much time to do this as I used actually quite a lot of bottles per day. The pot is not big enough and that I need to do the boiling process at least 2 times. There was one time I almost forgot about the boiling process, that the water in the pot almost dried up. In the end, he took me to go shopping for bottle sterilizer last weekend and we ended buying Little Bean sterilizer and warmer.

It is the cheapest brand that we saw at Jusco. Brands like Avent and Little Pigeon are soooooooooo expensive. This only cost RM149.90, and it is able to operate as sterilizer, bottle warmer, food warmer and juice maker. I think juice maker is just a gimmick :P

Anyway, when we opened the box at home, there were no instruction manuals at all. We need to rely on the picture at the box to know which parts is used for which purposes. A quick search on the Internet helped us to understand the product better. Amazingly, it actually never shipped with manuals and many people complained bout this on the Net.

I've used it couple of times and dear me, it does saves lots of time. It can fit the number of bottles which I used per day (haha, I put in more than what is wrote on the box :P). Just put in some water on the warmer, on the power, press sterilize option and that's it. Furthermore it auto shut down when done. Ahhh... how convenient. But now I do not have much excuses to complain no time to my hubby already :P

Baby Sign Language

Came across this in the Internet, seems to be an upcoming fave in the western countries. The videos available in YouTube also very interesting and funny. Since baby can't really talk yet, usually they will cry to get attention and we need to figure out what is it that they want by trying one thing at a time. Teaching them how to sign is a way for them to communicate what they need or want as it is easier for them to express themselves at this age using this method. I've studied how to sign for mother, father, milk, water, sleep and eat already and has started to teach my William for past 2 nights. No progress so far as he's preoccupied with crawling and standing up at this moment, not to mention little support from the rest of the family. I will persists....

William @ 8 Months

Time sure flies very fast, in a blink of an eye, 8 months had passed. In between, he had fever 3 times with him hospitalised during the last fever which he had last week. That fever lasted for 5 days, with a high over 39 degreeC for few days.

His recent medical checkup reveals he's now at 9.1kg and 71cm of length. I still breastfeed him directly, though he will bit me at times when he is cheeky. My tolerance level when babywearing him is not as good compared to few weeks back as he is getting heavier. At times I wish he would grow up slower as I want to wear him longer. I've bought myself a new ring and attached it to a piece of cloth that I bought from Kamdar. Wearing him using that newly DIY sling is much more easier and flexible compared to the baby sling that I bought previously. It does comes handy especially when he was sick and want to be held all the time. He sleeps more easily in the sling too.

Hmm... what else to mention? Oh! He can crawl now and is learning to stand up on his own. Last night he managed to pull himself up standing straight a few times, but still can't figure out very well how to sit back properly. He now have 2 tiny teeth popping out from his lower gum and prefers porridge to cereal and biscuits. Also I'm trying to wean him off from bottle by giving him a sippy cup to drink water from, and hopefully he is able to feed himself next month. There are others that protested not letting him to feed himself yet, but I'll give it a try still. I can see that he is trying to do that when I feed him by grabbing my spoon and shove it into his mouth from his tiny hands, though the coordination is off :P

He also likes to throw things around and teaching him to put back his things now is hopeless. Telling him 'No' is also pointless. He will just look at the thing, look at you, smile, look back at the thing and just do the things he not supposed to do. I'm taking him for a studio photograph session soon and is looking for some cute outfits for him to wear on that session. Just can't wait to see how the phototaking session will be like.

World Breastfeeding Week 2009

Every year the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA) and UNICEF hold what’s called the World Breastfeeding Week (WBW) during the first week of August to promote breastfeeding the world over. The Mother-to-Mother Peer Support (MMPS) group in Facebook that I had joined recently will be holding an event as well in view of the world breastfeeding week.

This event will be on 1st August 2009, at Dewan Kuliah A, USM Campus (opposite CIMB bank) from 9.30 a.m. – 1.30 p.m. Itenaries includes interactive talks on breastfeeding during emergencies as the theme this year is “Breastfeeding: A Vital Emergency Response. Are you Ready?” and games for families. The significant event will be “One-Minute Simultaneous Breastfeeding” throughout the ENTIRE MALAYSIA. Breastfeeding mothers that unable to attend to this event venue may join the “One-Minute Simultaneous Breastfeeding” from the comfort of their home as well.

For more information, you may call at 016-4211782, email pgmmps@gmail.com or visit MMPS blog at http://pgmmps.wordpress.com/. As pre-registration is required for this event, you will need to email to pgmmps@gmail.com.

Fell from Bed

My poor baby fell from bed last weekend, all thanks to his dad who was too busy setting up the camera when trying to get some snapshots of him. Fickle fickle, turn head up and the baby is down on the floor. I just came out from the bath and saw my baby crying on his father's arm. We're so worried and monitor the baby closely, to see whether there's a need to bring him see the doctor. Luckily nothing happen my baby except for a small bump on his head. Somehow my baby's first fall was captured by camera as well. Here's the action, and boy, the father gets a good lecture from me...

Babywearing

I came across this term from one of the group in Facebook. Curious, I went in and checkout the group and unknowingly, joined the group as well. All these while we used baby carrier to bring William around for shopping, and after reading articles about babywearing, it seems that the baby carrier that we had are not so ideal when the baby reached certain weight. Other alternatives for baby wearing includes pouch, sling, mei-tai and some mothers DIY themselves.

I attended one of their monthly meeting in 'Masyarakat Penyayang' recently and they had this 'library' where for RM30 per year, you can checkout these items to try out rather than buying it (I've scoped around, the cheapest is around RM80+). I've tried the pouch, sling and mei-tai and all of these had it pros and cons. Pouch is easy to slip on, but not adjustable should your size changes. Sling is adjustable but take sometime to put on. Mei-tai is easiest and comfortable to use, but only allow 2 types of carrying position. I prefered sling instead.

I've bought a sling myself recently but need to opt for plainer color so that my hubby can wear it as well. So tempted to buy another colorful one for myself. One of the babywearing mother taught me how to DIY it easily just by having the ring for RM20, and we can change the cloth anytime we want. Hmm... maybe I'll buy the ring during next group meeting.

My Breastfeeding Journey

Initially, I never had any plan to breastfeed my baby as I am someone who is more career-minded. In fact, most of the people around me are also mis-informed about breastfeeding and I did not even bother or interested to study any further information about it. When I was about to give birth, in my mind I was thinking "ok, why not try for 2 weeks for experience sake then let him go on formula". However, everything changed when I saw my baby for the first time after giving birth to him. He looked so small and fragile. From there on, I decided to breastfeed my baby for as long as possible as I know (even with my limited knowledge about breastfeeding) it is the best thing for my precious baby.

For the first 3 days at the hospital, I manage to breastfeed my baby but had bad case of sore nipple due to improper latching. I told myself not to give up and ignored the pain. After discharged, I went to confinement centre. Once there, the nanny there asked me to choose formula milk to feed my baby but i insisted that i want to fully breastfeed and did not give them any brand name of the formula milk. Things went well but later that evening, my baby keeps on crying and no matter how long i feed him, it is just not enough. The confinement lady kept on saying "breastmilk is not enough", "in hospital they secretly feed with formula", "all mothers also supplement with formula initially", blah blah blah till I was convinced that I had no choice but to supplement with formula.

A day later, my baby was admitted to hospital due to jaundice. It was then I was introduced to Spetra 3 breastpump, a unit provided by the confinement centre for mothers to express their breastmilk. When I first use it, it was only a mere 1oz, but as days passed i notice an increase of milk quantity and i knew then that the this pump is really suitable for me and is able to help in stimulating for more breastmilk production. Slowly my baby takes less formula milk supplement as I'm feeding my baby directly during the day (though he gets hungry every 1/2 hour), while express using the pump at night for the nanny to feed from bottle. By the third week, i am able to get 3oz and it was then I was introduced to Melissa from BabyParadise in order to buy the breastpump. While meeting her, she gave me valuable advice as to how to increase my breastmilk and how to breastfeed successfully. Her stories inspired me alot and I tried her advice at home after leaving the confinement centre. Furthermore, I took the chance to study more information about breastfeeding and milk storage from internet during my second month of maternity at home to better equip my knowledge. When I'm back to work, I still supplement my baby with formula for about 2 weeks and then onwards, it is breastmilk exclusively till now.

So far I've managed to balance my worklife and motherhood successfully. There are people around me who have mis-conception about breastfeeding and I gladly took the chance to explain to them with whatever knowledge that I have. It really take times for some people to understand but it is worth the effort as you will end up having more people supporting breastfeeding.

Damn Viral Fever

This seems to be a common sickness that happened for the past few weeks. My baby caught the virus (poor thing) and had a high fever (recorded 38.3 Celsius). Though he manage to recover from the fever the next day, but was infected with a very bad case of ulcers on his throat. Due to that, he do not want to feed directly perhaps it is more painful as he need to open his mouth more compared to bottle-feed. But before we sent him to see the doctor again, I thought he started to reject me and was abit depressed. The doctor prescribed an oral gel that can help to soothe the pain, and he started to direct-feed again after few days (to my relief).

However, soon after he recovers, I started to have fever and similarly ulcers after the fever. Now I had fever before but never felt so dizzy and weak before. My whole body ache very much. As for the ulcers, it was extremely painful and I really pitied my baby for having to suffer that. My husband boasted that he got good immune system and that he won't get infected. But few days after my fever, my husband caught the virus and his fever was the worse (39.2 Celsius). His condition was so bad that whenever he make the slightest move, his body ache all over and he feels his brain is banging against the skull. Now it is his turn to suffer from the ulcers.

4 Months Now

My William is now 4 months of age already. Time sure flies quickly when you have a child to take care of. But he still look super small in my eyes. I still breastfeed exclusively though occasionally do feed him with formula when I leave him with my mother overnight whenever I travel outstation.

As of now, William can already turn and take his head up high. He also makes funny "emmk emmk" sound whenever he poo poo on his little potty (yes, we potty trained him already!!). Yesterday he manage to wave his hand "bye bye" to his grandma and cousin brothers when I fetch him home from my mother's place. He still drools alot and enjoy sucking his hand and fingers with "choc-choc" sound. Due to that, he's now famously known as "Choc-ky" whenever his daddy is around. Versions of his "Choc-ky" nicknames are:

1. "cowboy choc-ky" when he rides on his daddy's tummy.

2. "pilot choc-ky" when he sits on his baby-walker

3. "ninja choc-ky" when his daddy takes him on mimicking ninja jump

4. "super choc-ky" when we hold him up high and he stiffen his body flat like flying

Pilot Choc-ky on the job

He's currently learning to hold his own bottle. But most of the time he can't control his hand ending up pushing or popping the bottle away. His favourite past time now is blowing his wet lips, making noisy "brrrr brrrr" sound.


As for me, I'm losing hair like there's no tomorrow. Strands of my hair are everywhere. I think it is enough to make a new wig. Just hope that I won't become bald. Another thing to add is that baby likes to surpise you with their funny antics and they changed their habits very fast. The moment you are familar with their habit or trends, they changed and you have to relearn it again.

Poor William

Yesterday was William's 3rd immunisation schedule at the clinic. When we reached there, he was in a good mood and was smiling to everyone that he sees. Due to that, one the nurse there brought him for sight-seeing and all the nurses took turns to hold him and hug him. One of them even kissed him and left a lipstick mark on his cheek.

A quick check shows that he's weighing at 6.4kg. By the time all the nurses had played with him, he was getting tired and sleepy. When wanting to get his shot, he started crying and was struggling alot because he does not like being hug in a feeding position whenever he is sleepy. That's how he got his shot with a hardened muscle.

Few minutes after the shot, he was smiling all over again and cooing with the nurses. By the time we reached home about 4pm he was sound asleep. However, soon enough he started to feel a very bad pain on his leg and began crying loudly and would not stop crying no matter what we did. He looked so pity with so many tears flowing from his eyes. His thigh looks so red and swollen and we can see that he does not dare to move his leg. Luckily the swell starts to ease few hours later but he still wants people to hug him for comfort till he sleeps. Poor William. I wonder if he will be scared of going to the clinic again next month for his next shot.

First Chinese New Year

My baby celebrated his first Chinese New Year just after 2.5 months of age. Coincidently at stroke of midnight, he woke up for his feed and we took the opportunity to give him his first "ang pow". Here's the photo of him with his "big ang pow".

Happy Being Confined

I stayed at Sunrise during my confinement period for 1 month after delivery. For me, the stay is quite enjoyable as we get to share jokes and parenting information with all the mothers that stayed in the centre as well. Another plus is that there's an ex-nurse working there as well, so she is able to give valuable tips especially for new mothers on what to do. The ex-nurse is also the one that gives funny nicknames to all babies so that they are able to identify them should the parents brought them back to revisit the caretakers and nannies. I'm not sure why, but the nickname given to my child is "Attap Chee" as in attap seed.


Here's the group photo of all the babies that stayed in the centre during November 2008 month. Guess which one is my William :)

First Day Into the World

Finally I have some free time to download the pictures from my camera (I let my mom take care of my baby for the night :P). Here's some of the shots taken on the day that my precious William is born.

Ahh... eyes can't open yet

Small small knows how to "dig" ear already

Getting some peaceful sleep