Official baby in the house

The 'official' baby in the house..

Thats Soph.... tho her grandparents still like to fondly refer to toddler K as a baby, which I explained to K that he is not, anymore, as I want to instill into him that he is now a grown up boy ie he is to behave in a grown up manner, give in to his sister, take car of her, dont snatch her toy, etc... u know, all those values associated with growing up :)

Anyway Soph at 9.5months

- still has eczema :( Much to our dismay as it can look real red and bad during flare ups

- already has 2 lower front teeth about a month ago and now is starting to get 2 more lower and 2 new upper - all in the center that is. Interestingly, her teeth grows out 2 at a time (ie a pairing), which I understand, is the normal way, but different from K whose teeth only grow out singularly. So hence, perhaps, she does have hope of having straight teeth, ie no braces yippee!

- dislikes to sit (totally!) Likes only to be held to walk, so much so, she will start yelling crying if you make her sit down or stop helping her to cruise the house. 2 weeks ago, I actually contemplated buying a walker, but agreed instead w her Papa not to do so, so that she will not be neglected

- falls asleep on her own, sucking her left thumb

- still sleeps at 7pm, but waking up ranges from 4 or 5 to even 6plus or 7. The best thing about her is that she can self entertain when she wakes, hence, she can be busy playing on her bed or just sucking her thumb when she wakes up, never cry or scream like her brother who is so used to having ppl running into his room to 'greet' him.

- loves to take her 'chinese' porridge now that we have just started for 2 weeks - typically 1 tablespoon of brown rice, with 3 medley of fresh vegies or tofu with fish (ngor hu) if available. This portion is served as lunch and dinner

- ingredients for her food's totally organic, except for the 4 times a week kampong chicken egg yolk and fish. And I held off wheat in the mean time, so no breads, pastries etc, as very very scared she will be allergic to this common staple ingredient which happens to also be an extreme allergen food. Will keep it at bay a year, at least

- spends most of her awake time with the helper Gigi than anyone else in the house

- extremely adores her Kor2 -the sight of him makes her break out into a grin

- can wave bye bye from a month ago too - this one taught by the helpers

- has a super loud voice, just like her kor2 so her screams, cries (esp when she is unhappy) can be heard from few doors down

- wants me and her GM to cary whenever she sees us , and preferring us over Gigi, any time, all the time!

Milky me

My dearest daughter, Sophie, is 9 months, 2 weeks and 4 days old today.

And, finally I see my breastmilk supply starting to dwindle down, a lot, since 2 weeks ago.

Its all caused by irregular pumping as I start to stretch the pumping frequency to 6hours or more per day instead of the usual 4. As I do this more and more often over the days, my body reads it as baby not needing as much milk anymore, and as such, the 'factory' starts to produce lesser!

So from 300ml per 4hours, I have gone down to 250ml per 6hours. Even my before bed and early morning supply's at an all time low. Just did a 190ml when in the past I could make at least 270ml, minimum?

Guess I have been, at the back of my mind, expecting this day to come as I actually stopped expressing during K's time when he was 10mths old. At that time, I just couldnt get a let down and by then my breasts no longer felt full, which I still do nowadays, luckily.

I do feel quite sad. Cos, maybe I cant bf Soph for as long as I hope - I had in mind 2 yrs actually - as she doesnt really like to latch on.... preferring the bottle so then she can turn to look left right up down as she pleases. As a matter of fact I only latch her in the middle of the night (should she wake up) or for her first feed at 5am when she awakes - when she is still all calm or sleepy.

Ahh.... not only the above, finally my EBM stock will start to fall too as I now no longer can cover for K's daily consumption too! Oh I so hate seeing empty milk containers/bottles! And oh, I dislike even more that I no longer have 400-500 bottles of milk.... And worst, I have to find alternate use for my dedicated breastmilk-only freezer!

Sob sob.

Whats the Plan Daddy?

"Whats the Plan Daddy?" - I face this question almost everyday until TT gave up on me. Never a planner was I and this time round, i made my dear wife mad and disappointed. From the original plan of going Shanghai, we downgraded to Bali and when we couldnt get any air tickets (to almost anywhere else in the world), i made the decision to drive up to Malaysia. I am really extremely disappointed with myself too be'cos the trip was also to celebrate TT's birthday at the same time. No thanks to my indecisiveness, we had to downgrade from a 3 star holiday to a budget self drive tour. And guess what?! i've yet to finalise on the itinery eventhough the trip was just round the corner (next wednesday to be precise). What i have in mind now is to drive up to Bukit Tinggi and spend 1 night in Colmar Tropicale before leaving early the next day for Klang, to taste the famous Klang Bak Ku Teh for breakfast. After which, we'll head to Penang to visit Sophie and Kayden's Grand Mee and to see their cousin for the first time!! We will probably spend the next 3 days in Penang (hopefully a day at the beach hotel) before heading back to SG. On the cards, i've plans to try the seafood in Klang (which Wikipedia quoted to be the best in Malaysia - they have this fermented Coconut juice specialty... Yummy!!) But maybe next time.....

I've never thought abt it until now. The whole process of planning year-end holidays really worries me. Just imagine few years down the road with Kayden and Sophie in school. The painful responsibility of coordinating a whole family trip will fall on my shoulders.....Arrghh...... Ask anyone who knows me well, i'm never the person who will run after a bus (even within a few steps away) or join in queue for something, let alone booking leave few months in advance to plan for a family trip. With the picture of a disappointed TT in mind (& unnerving me), throw in another 2 picture of Kayden (throwing tandrum and insisting on his desired holiday destination) and Sophie (repeatedly asking where we are going), I think i will go Nuts!! Such a simple task, some of you might think. Let me tell you - its not as simple as you think. '

To plan such a trip involving 2-3 adults and 2 kids requires meticulous detailed planning with in-depth knowledge of the kids daily schedule and dietary needs. You put a jungle-basher in charge, and you will get nothing short of a group of grouchy and angry men behind.

And so i've decided..... i shall sign a treaty with my dear wife tomorrow. The treaty will entitle my dear multi-tasking wife to the full responsibility of coordinating future holiday trips. My contribution will be to bear the financial aspects of the trip. This makes complete logical sense to me now since TT is a Human Resource Manager and i'm into Finance. Bingo!! Another problem solved!!

Random random

When I bump into friends I rarely meet/see, either physically or online, their remarks, more usual than not are... "Haiya you cheat my feelings, everyday I visit your blog, no updates one", or "Haiya why never write already, I visit everyday leh"...

I feel...

1) absolutely guilty. Not only do I disappoint some of you, but I do also lose that momentum to write, and its ever so hard to pick up again. Not to mention, once an event has passed, my rusty failing memory just refuse to remember any, hence I find myself having forgotten when did Soph even got her first tooh, needless to say K, and lotsa other milestones. Whoops. But lucky I do try to track them in a calender!

2) more than (1), thankful. Thankful that I do have friends who think oif us ever so often to bother reading about us :)

What have I been doing?

Actually, haha, I really cant rmbr anything significant that steals my time everyday. Well if they are Tues, Thurs or Fri (ie my work days), obviously every single hour I have, that is not spent on travelling, eating or sleeping, is well, simply spent in the office!

Then on Mons and Weds, I go w K to school in the mornings as classes his age in GUG are parent-accompanied ones... I quite enjoy the sessions I must say, tho I wish so much that he would T-A-L-K. He simply refuse to utter a word to anyone, the whole time he is in school. Of course, comparing him to all his school mates, he is definitely the SHY-EST kid in class! Even more than the girls. Somehow the girls in his class are all very outspoken, fluent, smart, etc... perhaps generally it is true girls are faster than boys at a young age... but then, Soph's still not crawling or walking at this age. Oh well, another entry on Soph's developments later :)

Weekends in the past few weeks, we have spent back at our flat - cleaning up as we are preparing to rent the place out. At least we will get some income :)

Other than that, the shopping bug is back to visit me! I usually love surfing on the motherhood forum checking out the sprees, or lookng for great bargains etc. I especially love buying the kids clothing nowadays, esp bb girls stuff - they are all SO CUTE! WK, who is now a super active seller on Yahoo auction just remarked, "I am busy selling things, while you are busy buying things. Hey!" Haha, not only can we not get rid of old stuff from the house, but my expenses on buying well exceeds too his side line income :) keke

Have also been thinking and trying to plan short trips away but goodness the whole of Singapore seems to be flying off during the school hols from end Nov to the whole month of Dec. Getting deals on airfares or even seats at this point is simply impossible. So most probably we will do the easiest, a drive trip to Msia...

Other than the above, when I can, I will snap photos of the kids. Usually Soph as she is the only one who can sit still for the camera, not by choice, but rather, cos she still havent found independent mobility! :) K, as you can guess, is simply way difficult to capture on 'film', never staying still for even a second or two.

Pictures say a thousand words? Of my michelin baby and oh-my-goodness-he-is-now-so-long-&-big son....







Btw, after using the SLR to take photos (tho I am still not using it best), I no longer prefer the compact Ixus. I think really, the feeling of taking photos' simply different :) Btw I am completing my free Canon course registration :) First step, after so long, but better late than never!

hands & feet

I love taking photos of little hands and feet...

Arent these gorgeous?



Look at the folds on her arms, and boy, those curled up toes...

These are of Sophie of course, our Michelin baby...