Child labour

Anyone fancy some extra help for your Lunar New Year spring-cleaning? We have one little over-zealous worker up for hire.:)

Thankful Tuesday

Inspired by MamaJ, Tuesdays shall now be the day for me to write about the things I am thankful for in the past week.

Now, the past one week odd has been rather awful. First of all, there was the terrible food poisoning incident. Then I was all stressed up and having milk woes while holding the fort on my own as The Husband was away for an overnight retreat. Next, The Helper had gastric and Anya developed hives which brought us back to the family doctor's clinic again. When the week neared the end, we thought things should be picking up. Unfortunately, Anya caught a cold (must be due to all the sleeping in an air-conditioned room to ensure that her body was cooled so that the hives would not flare up.) which resulted in runny and congested nose as well as a low grade fever. Then, on Sunday night, as her fever finally cleared, she had a sudden bout of redness around her anus and vaginal area which brought about a whole lot of tears. And Arielle has just caught the bug from Anya while now, I am plagued with constipation (probably the result of those anti-diarrhea medicine).

A tearful week

All of the above on top of having to feed a fussy baby every three hours where more often than not, she took an hour to finish 120ml of milk (we are suspecting colic as the culprit), preparing for the coming Chinese New Year and other daily chores around the house.

After an hour-long feed.

Sigh... Some week we had!

However, be it good times or bad times, the bible says, "..give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.". So, here I am, coming up with a list of things that I am thankful for/about this week.

# Arielle's developmental milestone as she begins to 'coo', 'ah' and even smile in response when we talk to her.

#Another of Arielle's developmental milestone where she is sleeping from 11pm all the way till 7ish in the morning (with some help in the form of patting and recovering her pacifier, usually from 5am onwards).

#Porpor who took a taxi over to babysit the little ones upon learning that I was in bed with food poisoning while The Husband had to finish up some urgent work.

# Having a trusty & genuinely caring family doctor in our lives so that we always know who to turn to when one / some of us is plagued with common or minor illnesses.

# The SIL dropping by with breads for a catching-up session but was really to show that she cares.

# The electric fan and air-conditioners that help to cool the rooms where the little ones could sleep comfortably in when weather is hot and humid.

# The loving nature in Anya who is never stingy with her kisses and affection for her baby sister even though she is still adjusting to the fact that Daddy and Mommy has to inevitably divert some of their attention away from her self to baby since the latter's arrival.

# The availability of full cream fresh milk and cheese, as well as yogurt products suitable for toddlers now that Anya decides that she has had enough of formula.

#Fellow mommies' encouragement and advices coming in when learned of my milk woes.

# Our Father's presence during frantic times where little ones' cries became inconsolable; His peace soothing them and us as well.

Wow. So there was a whole lot of wonderfulness happening this week too. We are indeed experiencing the joy of suffering. Praise God!

Six weeks old

 My little Arielle, 

My oh my! More than six weeks has passed since you were first laid in my arms! This week has been a super busy and tiring. What with Mommy's food poisoning episode, Daddy away for a 2-day retreat, Chinese New Year preparation and Auntie Mel falling sick. I really want to pen down your progress so despite eyelids drooping and all, here I am, doing a short note. 

Right from Day 1, you were a sleepy baby. As such, Mommy find that you could go through the sleep-eat-wake cycle very well. After every feed, if you are not due for baths nor is it nighttime, we usually change your diaper and lay you at your little recliner or playmat for 10-20 minutes. Without fail, once that 10 - 20 minutes was up (the length of time here depends on how long you took to finish your feed earlier on), you would start your I-wanna-go-to-bed cry. And once we put you in your playpen, you drift into slumber with ease. This is a stark contrast to your Jiejie who slept very little when she was your age. In fact, at one month old, she was already taking only two naps a day. A routine that she stuck to all the way till a few months ago when it was reduced to one nap per day. 

However, things start to change this week. 

Looking like a dude in your stylo hairstyle and hand-me-down onesie from T gorgor.

Generally, we noticed that you are more alert now. While you do look around at your surroundings when you are awake, now you respond quicker to movements. You are also able to track moving objects (so long as they are not too fast). 

When Mommy places you on the playmat, you take a keen interest in those sea animal dangling above you and will even thrush your little arms at them causing them to sway to and fro. 

When we talk to you at close range, your gaze falls onto our faces, your attention rapt. A few times, you even reciprocate by 'replying' in coos and 'ah's (this was another difference between you and Anya. Your Jiejie cooed right from day 1 so actually for weeks I was wondering how come you were so quiet). 

In addition, we find that we can stretch your wake-times longer as your I-wanna-go-to-bed cries has been coming later and later.

Wow, my little one, you are making so many progresses in one week! It looks like you are on a developmental growth spurt. 

It is really enjoyable, watching you hitting one milestone after another and figuring out how similar or different you are from your Jiejie. Looking forward to enjoy more of you and your Jiejie! 

Cuddles and Kisses,

Mommy & Daddy

Milk Woes

When I had Anya, one of the parting statements that my OBGYN had for me at my postnatal check was "Not everyone are meant to be cows.". Apparently, I was one of those cow-not-meant-to-bes. I stopped breastfeeding Anya when she was three and half months old because by then, I was producing enough for one miserable feed a day despite taking motilium and fenugreek.

Fast forward to Arielle... Well, the situation improved initially.

Right from day one, I was taking motilium (prescribed by OBGYN) and fenugreek, 2 pills 3 times a day. On top of that, I latched Arielle on every two hours in the day and every three hours in the night for the first two weeks. In addition, the jamu massage lady who came in for a week during my confinement helped me to clear the milk ducts, making me feel all bruised in the course of it. Oh, and also, I drank gallons of soup and other fluids (Organic milk booster tea too!). With all these, my milk production was established and somewhat stabilised.

At every 3 hours interval, I was producing a modest amount of 80mls when baby was drinking 110mls at the same intervals. While baby was only breastfed partially, I was happy as five to six feeds (out of seven) a day was breastmilk. With such results, I was ready to breastfeed all the way. In fact, I just called the OBGYN's clinic a few days ago to ask for a prescription for two months' supple of motilium.

BUT. On Sunday, I was struck down with food poisoning. A relative bad case with diarrhea, vomiting and gastric attacks. So I had to be on medication. The gastric was hurting me so much that I could not get out of bed (A bad joke that The Husband and I shared was that I was going to have another baby). This translated to irregular milk pumping sessions in the past few days and having to throw away those precious stuff.

Now that I am almost fully recovered and am expressing milk regularly, I find that my milk supply has dwindled. Right now, I am trying to latch on again, in the hope of getting my supply back. Sigh.. Feeling all stressy.

Live Commentary

Now that Anya can string together short simple sentences, we get a live telecast of what goes inside her little head every now and then. It is cute, really. Maybe I will eat back my words weeks down the road when I get sick of it or if her chattiness grows incessant as her speech improves. Right now, we are finding the idea very fresh and are simply adoring the little commentator's firing away.

Here's some example of what she will broadcast on a typical day.

"Baby drink milk."

"Shhh... Meimei sleeping."

"Anya hugs Arielle."

"Baby crying."

"Mommy's fruits. Mommy share fruits Anya." (meaning I shared with her my fruits)

"Mommy's phone."

"Daddy help, please?"

"Daddy no more?" *pauses to think then continues* "Daddy working."

"Anya go pompom."

"Ar-fin (Muffin) sleeping."

"Biscuits. Anya eats biscuits."

 Etc...

The cutest thing that she comments on?

"Anya crying."

For whatever reason that set her off into tears - be it a booboo, being disciplined or throwing a tantrum, she will burst into tears, then suddenly pause and announces, "Anya crying.", then carry on with her wailing. 

Often than not, because the situation does not allow it, we find ourselves pursing our lips and holding back the urge to laugh.

Besides being a little commentator, announcing all that she observes around the house, she seems to be getting a tad bossy.

Just earlier on when she was having lunch, she suddenly piped, "Baby crying.". The Helper and I pricked our ears and listened for sounds (if any) from my bedroom where Arielle was sleeping. Nothing. 

"Baby's not crying. She is sleeping." I replied. 

Apparently, she has extraordinary ears, either that or vivid imaginations because she insisted again, louder this time to assert her point, "Baby's crying.". Then she instructed, "Mommy, go check.", gesturing to the direction of my room. 

With that, I duly did what she instructed - lest she raises her voice further insistence and wake Arielle up. That would be a Anya-fulfilled prophecy.