Just a thought.

When i started this blog, the intention was to pen down Anya's growing years and make this a gift for her in years to come.

Barely two months passed, and it has evolved into multi-purposes! While the core purpose remains the same, it has also become a tool to update friends & loved ones about our lives, an outlet for me and a platform for exchanging tips with other mommies. Motherhood takes on an even greater meaning when I'm always looking out for something that I can blog about amidst daily affairs. As I externalize, beliefs are formulated and memories become sweeter.

So it seems, up to now at least, I have greater motivation than before to write. :)

Starting on solids

I kept thinking that I will start Anya on solids when she turns six months. At lunch today, a couple of church friends advised us to start early since she is showing signs of ready for solids. "What signs?" I asked. Well, what she explained was somewhat similar to what i found here & here .

Now, the "kiasu" mommy instinct took over and alarm is slowly creeping in as I have yet to read up sufficiently on how to go about starting her!

Okay! It is time to make a trip to the library!

P.S. Mommies out there who have gone ahead of me, do share your wisdom & experience!

Vrrroooomm!

Since she is at the phase where she is intrigued by things that emits sounds, I have been on the lookout for such toys - which i came to realize are plentiful in the market! Just over the past few days, I have acquired two play-a-sound books and a 'remote control'.

And yesterday, I was at ELC to make an exchange for a faulty toy and couldn't resist their one-day-only 20% storewide sale (the shopaholics' soft spot!). So, i went home excitedly with this (now, i came to realize that most parents are always equally, if not more, excited than their kiddos when it comes to new toys!):

Cute right? She can make-believe that she is on the roads and I thought it will be good entertainment and distraction for her whenever she's in her car seat & stroller. We introduced the toy to her when we were out for lunch in the afternoon. The verdict? At this point in time, she is a emotional and easily distracted "driver" who will take it out on the steering wheel & horn whenever someone talks to her. Oh, and she is dangerous too! 'Cos she has shown to have a tendency to fall asleep behind the wheels.Heh!

Before she goes to sleep...

It's official, The Caterpillar has learnt to sleep without my help. All I need to do to put her in her cot on her tummy, give her her dummy & a hankie to sniff, and she will soothe herself to sleep.

If she isn't sleepy yet, she will wiggle around, scream & squeal, practise her flipping and lifting her torso etc. When that happens, I will check on her every few minutes. Now, here is the catch: I've got to brace myself before entering her room because I may be about to find her in some awkward, contorted, funny or even self-endangering position.

Just this morning, I had to check on her countless times. At one point, prompted by her distress cry, i literally jumped out of my chair & sprinted into her room to find that she had apparently bumped her head against the side of the cot while trying to roll over. Another time, I entered the room just in time to see her bump her head yet again. Thankfully, on both occasions, they were just light knocks & she stopped crying the moment I picked her up.

Oh, and on another time, i went into the room to find this:

All in the name of homecooked food

I always enjoyed cooking. To me, pottering around the kitchen is therapeutic and serving up loved ones' favorite (& hopefully delicious) dishes at the table is part of my love language.

Unfortunately, when i afflicted with hyperemesis gravidarum when I was expecting Anya. Cooking became an impossible task since smells of food is one of the triggers for my vomiting. Instead, we would pop over to the in-laws' place for meals, eat out or The Husband would 'da-bao' back.

After delivering Anya, taking on the new role of being a mother and its responsibilities naturally became the top priority while cooking remain to be in the backseat. Even after getting the hang of the routine of feed-wake-sleep cycle, i realized that making dinner was not going to happen any time soon as there really isn't much time left when life has been divided into 3-hour cycles with ironing, laundry & cleaning to be slotted in between her sleep times. But it has to happen soon! - because I plan to teach Anya the values of eating together & table manners once she starts solids when she turns six months. And I need to be able to have food on the table that we adults can eat in order to do that right?

Therefore, in the past 1-2 months, efficiency became my new focus. Like an athlete who is obsessed with finetuning the speed of his 100m sprint, i devoted my mind & my body at completing the task at hand quickly (without compromising much on the quality lah :P). Ironing each piece of shirt is akin to running a race in which i strive to better my timing. Likewise for other chores. These days, I take 5 minutes to iron each of The Husband's shirt (it was 15 minutes in the past!) , and with the help of a new appliance - a mere 15 minutes to vacuum the floor!

So last night, we had the luxury of having home-cooked dinner for the first time in months! Nothing fanciful, but definitely a milestone for not baby, but mommy me! :)

For the adults

For the furkid

Sleepyhead goes to church

The little one wakes up between 9am - 10am on a normal day. On most Sunday mornings where we'll attend church, we will literally dig her out from her bed at 830am. Then we'll bathe her, dress her, give her her milk & be out of the house within the next 45 minutes. The end result being having a little "stoner" in the car seat instead of the usual chatterbox. Like this morning, she was stationary in the same pose (as seen in the pic below) throughout the entire 25 minutes ride to church, drifting in and out of sleep.

Back to the sixties!

The Husband is always on a lookout for exhibitions on history of Singapore. He read from the papers that there is an ongoing one on "Singapore 1960".. So, with some spontaneity (thank God we still have it despite having a baby in tow!), we decided to trod down National Museum of Singapore in the late afternoon.

While the exhibition is a relatively small scale one with little photographs (we are usually more into photographs), I enjoyed revisiting our National Museum since we hadn't step into the premise since it reopened in 2006! I didn't even know that one can book the venue for weddings! Isn't it beautiful to exchange your vows in a beautiful iconic architecture? I would love to! - Maybe if we ever do a renewal of vows years down the road. :P

Bangkok: 7-11 August 2010

After a hiatus of more than 1 year, I'm back on my annual shopping pilgrimage to Bangkok. This time round, it is neither with girlfriends nor alone, but with The Husband & The Caterpillar. :)

The trio who stormed through Bangkok!

The Husband and I had initially planned to go to Hong Kong. However, we were dissuaded after hearing a friend's narration of how her colleague brought his baby on a 5-hour trip to Perth. The baby cried non-stop the moment the airplane took off. He brawled and howled. And when he finally quietened down when the plane was about to land, there was a standing ovation in the entire plane. Gosh! I'm not sure if I can bear such embarassment! :P So, The Husband & I decided that a 2-hour flight to Bangkok should be bearable for us, just in case Anya should pull off the same stunt... ...

The Planning & Preparation:

Pre-trip planning was not so bad since we are relatively familiar with the place, so I did not have to do much research on itinerary. All I did was to gather all the addresses of the specific restaurants that we wanted to visit, did a bit of reading on points to note when bringing infant on a flight, pick the hotel (the usual Amari Watergate), decide on the length of stay, while the husband did the booking (for flight, airport transfer & hotel) via a tour agency. In anyway, we wanted this trip to be a relaxing one where we'll spend half the time in the hotel so that the little one will not be over-stimulated.

The packing, however, was another story! To cut it short, let's just say that I felt as though I squeezed half of Anya's room into her suitcase. Oh, but for the benefit of other mummies who wanna bring your kiddo overseas, just a few tips here:

1. I was 'kiasu' that Anya will not sleep well / get bed bugs when sleeping in the hotel's cot, so i brought along one of her waterproof bedsheet (for that bit of familiar smell & touch) & her lullaby projector.
2. We brought along a swimsuit, a neck float & her floating duckies so that she can have fun in the pool / bath tub.
3. For ease of moving around, we ditched our usual Kate Spade diaper bag which is carried on the shoulder and brought along a haversack instead.
4. We brought both the BabyBjorn straddle as well as the stroller. We used the straddle most of the time as Bangkok's pavements are general filled with potholes while places like Platinum Shopping Mall & Chatuchak Market aren't exactly stroller-friendly. The stroller came in useful when we were in the airport and upscale shopping malls where there is ample walking space, and also during breakfasts in the hotel & dinners in restaurants so that we can free our hands and dig in!
5. DVDs! To while away the time in the hotel when she naps.

How she fared:

She did quite well for the plane rides. We tried the feeding-at-takeoff method during our departure flight and she fell asleep at the bottle. The only slight fussing was when the plane was preparing to land on our departure flight.

She started fussing when we were about to land in Bangkok

On our ride back to Singapore, we did not even time her feed to coincide with the takeoff. Instead, she fell asleep in my arms, contentedly sucking on her dummy. When the air crew announced that we about going to land, we knew better this time and tried to distract her by playing with her & giving her her dummy.

The first time we tried putting her down for a nap in the cot provided for by the hotel, she seemed to sense the difference and would not stop fidgeting. By nightfall, she finally gave in to sleepiness though it is apparent that she stirred more than usual throughout the night. On the second day onwards, she had adjusted well to the cot, thankfully!

Daddy multi-tasking - feeding & watching DVDs

And then Mommy took over to burp the sleepyhead

Bath times had to be the most enjoyable of all for her during this trip (thus, worthy of many pictures!). The rubber ducklings and neck float served their purpose well! I would run the water in the bath tub with her usual bath oil till two-third full. Either one of us would accompany her in the tub and there she had such fun floating & kicking around!

Duckies waiting for the little Missy to join them in the tub

Our water baby!

Covering her modesty with *ahem* the duckies

More fun in the tub than the pool!

Anya & the capsized ducklings

We also tried bringing her to the pool once. Unfortunately, the icy cold water in the wading pool proved to be unsuitable for babies as Anya yelped the moment the soles of her feet touched the water! After a few tries with the same response, we wrapped her in her towel and adjourned back into the hotel room where she had much more fun with her rubber duckies!

Look Ma, I'm doing my stretching before going into the pool!

Now, what is Daddy doing?

We limited the length of time for each outing to no more than 2 consecutive feeds outside. On the second & third day, it was always going out at noon time, back in the hotel by late afternoon. Put her down for a nap. Go out for a dinner in the evening and back before her last feed. For the fourth day, we arranged to meet a friend who is working in Bangkok for an early dinner. So during daytime, the husband stayed in with Anya in the hotel while i ventured out to Platinum to do some shopping. We brought her out only in the late afternoon and was back by 9pm. This way, disruption to her naps was minimized and she could be at her best moods most of the time when we were out.

Feeding her in a quaint cafe in Chatuchak Weekend Market

(left) Baby's, (centre) Mommy's, (right) Daddy's

Looking so adorable in the new hat that we bought from Chatuchak Market

At Siam Paragon

All in all, we thought she was such a darling throughout the trip. Most of the time, she was contented to be straddled onto us. A few occasions when we were dining, she got impatient being left in the stroller and started crying. Even so, she usually quieten down once we picked her up. It was only once when we were in a full house seafood restaurant that she screamed and cried - attracting the attention of all the other patrons on the same floor. And that was because we were so engrossed in our food that we forgot that it was time to feed her! Heh! *sheepish smile*

Falling asleep while we were waiting for our dinner to arrive

Sitting in the stroller while Daddy & Mommy dig in!

Instead, we have received so many favors and smiles - all thanks to her!

Our room was upgraded from a deluxe room to a suite that has an adjoining TV area. We were quite thankful for this as we could watch DVDs in the TV cum study room without waking her up from her sleep in her cot in the adjoining bedroom.

Posing with her toys

One occasion, we bought a slice of chocolate cake from the hotel's bakery. The staff there found her so cute that they gave us another complimentary slice of cheesecake.

In Suvarnabhumi Airport on our way back, there was a check-in counter dedicated to those with infants & young children as well as the wheelchair-bound (Hmm... Maybe Changi Airport can take a leaf out of their Bangkok counterpart?). Also, a customs officer specially opened up a counter at the immigration area for the three of us when she heard Anya's cries amidst the snakes of queues.

Wherever we went, be it the wholesale shopping centres, malls, restaurants, random staff & patrons (usually women, as you might have guessed) would come up to her to play with her, stroke her thunder thighs or talk to us. The shyer ones would just smile from a distant. As The Husband observed, he had never felt like a ladies' man until the Bangkok trip as he was the one straddling her most of the time and women kept going up to him. Haha!

The trip has served as a great opportunity for some father-daughter bonding while I did some hardcore shopping (Heehee!). There were also plenty of couple time for the husband and I whenever the little one went down for her naps, and we got to enjoy some good food as well! Last but not least, there are also some wonderful memories from this trip that I can narrate to the little one about when she grows older. :)

Another decent family portrait (again, the furkid is missing).

Flip, flip, flip, flip, FLIP!

I left her on her tummy in her cot while I was in another room. One minute later, went in to check on her and found her on her back, beaming at me from ear to ear! My little champion!

Although i have been anticipating it, still, can't contain my excitement! Another milestone! A biggie one! Took a while to get over my excitement, and then it occurred to me to roll her over back on her tummy to see if she could do it again or was it a random act. Well, she proved to me she CAN! And she did it again, and again, and AGAIN! :D

So yes, an official announcement here. *ahem*

My caterpillar flipped on 17 August 2010, 8.02pm at 4 months & 9 days old. :D :D :D

Looking Back: 4 months

My (not-so-little anymore) Caterpillar,

You have turned 4 months old over the weekend when we were in Thailand. As I'm typing this now, you are seated on my lap with your little fingers tugging at my sleeves every now and then.

You are exactly 4 months old when this was taken

Such is an example of the physical proximity that we have whenever you are awake lately. When we are out, you prefer to be straddled on either Daddy or Mommy in your BabyBjörn to be pushed in your stroller. At home, you like to be seated on our laps or have one of us lying next to you playing with you or reading the bible to you.

Even when you are in your "recliner" with your favourite mobile gym over you, you refuse to pay attention to the mobile unless we are within your sight. As a result, your nap times have become especially precious for Mommy. Whenever you are down for a nap, Mommy would charged around the house like an Energizer bunny to finish up household chores. While it can get a little tiring at times having you sticking to me like a little leech (Occasionally, I even hoorayed in my head upon your Daddy's arrival from work to take over!), it feels good more often than not to be so needed by someone, especially when you seemed to know exactly when to break into your silly toothless grins to remind me of how thankful I am to be by your side.

"Mommy, are you still there?"

Speaking of your mobile gym, you are a little expert with it now. You will stretch out your arms in anticipation when you see me carrying it towards you. You know exactly how to "operate" it, your fingers deftly pressing the dials & your little fists punching the 3 dollies. Gotta thank Aunt Hx & Uncle SY for this lovely gift!

Besides your mobile gym, we have also identified a few specific toys that are your current hot favorites. They are namely your squeaky lion, your rattling penguin & all your nine little ducklings that you bathe with every morning. The similarities among your favorites? They all emits sounds! Your face would lit up without fail every time we squeak / rattle these toys in front of you.

Just last night, in preparation for doing up this post, I asked Daddy what he thought was your biggest progress in your 4th month. Without much pondering, he promptly replied: "Expressions!". Indeed, you are now even more expressive than you were in your third month. These days, there can be a variety of facial expressions whenever we look your ways, some examples are cheeky smiles, coy smiles, widened eyes & mouth apart as you concentrate at a toy in your hand, silly grins, imploring gaze (at us), faraway gaze as you make funny noises while blowing bubbles of saliva and more.

Very often, we will find you staring at us, trying to catch our eyes. And when we look your way, you will break into a smile and pump your feet while your arms fly wildly about. Sometimes, while looking at us, you will raise your eyebrows up & down (Think Cadbury commercial). This expression, as if you are in some conspiracy with us, amuses Daddy and always made him smile.

There were a couple of times when you were startled by my coughing or sneezing. Your immediate response was to look at me for comfort, and then you would start sobbing. While I did not capture that moment in picture, the image of your sad helpless little face with two wide fearful eyes has been etched in my mind forever.

These days, you are a little Miss Talkative. You "talk" non-stop during playtime even when you do not have an audience except for Muffin, your fursister. It amazes me how you managed to vocalize even with your fist in your mouth.

You have yet to flip, but you are sure ain't far from mastering it as you will always arch your body to form a "C" when lying on your back. The maximum that you have managed so far was to turn from lying on your back to your sides. The funny thing is after you turned to your sides, you had difficulty turning to your back again and you would start whining & yelling for somebody to rescue you. Still, there's really no hurry, my little one! Take your time to discover the works of your body. :)

Turning to your side & got stuck

This month also marked your first visit to the GP. This was due to a diarrhea that you are still recovering from now. I had brought you to my trusty family doctor who had commented that you look like Daddy (What else?) the moment she saw you. Because of the diarrhea, we had to change your milk formula to a soy-based one instead and we are now on our second try to re-introduce the cow's milk formula to your sensitive digestive tract. Although the GP & PD has assured us that soy formula are equally nutritious, Mommy somehow still feels that you will be shortchanged. Thus, I'm praying against lactose-intolerance and that your stomach can slowly adjust to the cow's milk again.

One little milestone that you have crossed this month is that you have learned to put yourself to slumber land without our help at nap times. While it is not 100% hit rate yet(you still need a bit cradling & patting now and then), it is definitely frequent enough to mention it.

This is how it goes: When you show signs of sleepiness, Mommy will put you in your cot on your tummy & give you your dummy. You would "talk" to yourself with occasional shrieks which meant that you have lost your dummy and i would locate it and put it back into your mouth. The "talking"may last as short as 1-2minutes and as long as 15 minutes and then, out of a sudden, there will be absolute silence whereby you have dozed off while sucking your dummy rhythmically. Occasionally, you would wake up shortly after you dozed off. Again, it is usually because you lost your dummy and once I have replaced it for you, you will gladly continue your snooze.

Just last night, we brought you to the PD for your second vaccination. You are now weighing 6.52kg, almost doubling your birth weight! Other than your diarrhea & a bit of sensitive skin, she pronounced you healthy & right smacked in the middle of the growth chart. This bit of news is music to our ears. After all, isn't that what Daddy & Mommy pray about every night during your bedtime blessing? - that you will always be healthy, thriving, happy, secured baby who will grow up be a God-fearing, righteous & joyful child.

Your second vaccination in Daddy's arms

You are the same size as Lad1, the teddy bear now!

I thought I should pen down the progress of Muffin's attitude towards you here too as I had not done so in your first 3 months entry. I recall the initial 2 weeks when Muffin would ignore your presence and whoever it might be who is cradling you. She would even heave with disdain before running in the opposite direction when we tried to get her to familiarize with you by letting her sniff your soiled diaper or clothing.

And then, she slowly showed signs of acceptance. Into the third week, she would wag her tail ever so slightly when you are in the same room as her. Gradually, it progressed to taking a few hesitant steps towards you to sniff you out. Under our enthusiastic & continuous encouragement, she finally broke the ice on the 4th weeks where she ran towards you (you were in your "recliner") when she thought no one was watching & kissed / licked you right on your lips. This little act, a sign of affection, had Daddy & Mommy heave a sign of relief after which, I promptly fetched a wet wipe to clean your face.

Muff's first sign of affection for you

These days, a lovely scene replays every morning after you have woke up. We will release Muffin from the kitchen & she will totter up to your bed in your room where you are still lying on. There, she will stand on her hind legs and propping her front paws against the bed for balance, she will lick your arm & fingers(which you will stretch out towards her), her tail wagging happily throughout. This is her way of showing that she has accepted you to be part of the family.

A goodbye pic with Muff before flying off to Bangkok

As what Daddy & Mommy talked about before you came into this world - your arrival would multiply the love in this family and yes, indeed, we have experience even more love & blissfulness with the addition of you.

Happy 4 months, my baby!

Clad in a suit inherited from one of the "gor-gors", you look like a jailbird on the run here.

We are back!

Woots! Yes, we made it to BKK & back! Right now, I'm clearing heaps of laundry & trying to catch bits of shut-eye in between Anya's naps. The hotel's A/C was not kind to my sinus and as a result, I had lost sleep over lotsa sneezing & runny nose in the wake of the night.

Anyway, am doing a short one here. Will be back to do the proper entry on the trip as well as a letter to Anya on her 4 months. Till then!

Busy busy!

What could i have been busy with?

First of all, Anya has been having diarrhea for a week now. She was actually recovering over the weekend, but we made a mistake of switching her back to her regular formula too early and the diarrhea came back - doubly worse. As a result, she gets cranky & weepy easily, napped lesser and wants me to be by her side all the time. The last part, i hope, is a cause of the diarrhea and not a new pattern (i.e. separation anxiety) that has evolved.

Secondly, I'm preparing for the upcoming trip. There are so much planning & packing that needs to be done now that we have a little one going away with us. I was looking forward for a getaway for months as I had not been able to do so during my pregnancy due to the excessive vomiting & motion sickness. However, i have been feeling a bit apprehensive since news of the bomb at the bus-stop & grenade in bin in Bangkok broke out. We are praying for safety throughout the trip, that we'll be protected & the HS will guide us to avoid places that might be of danger.

Anyway, we will be on the airplane in 48 hours, and here i am, with 2 suitcases barely filled. In addition, i have to ensure that the household chores, e.g. laundry, ironing, cleaning the floor etc, are done in advance so that i will not have too much back loads to clear after we get back. Gosh! Speaking of which, The Dog's bath is long overdue. Gotta get onto it lest the in-laws have a 'stinky time' taking care of her while we are gone.