Bundle of JOY is back to her bubbly self

Good morning princess!

After 48 hours of feeding every 2 hourly, vomiting literally all over the house, the crankiness, the midnight wakes, the endless washing of her very smelly clothing dunked with vomit, EXCESSIVE sterilization of bottles & feeding utensils (to avoid additional bug attack) and feeding of medication..... MY PRINCESS is well now. We knew it the moment she stood up from her bed and calling us "Dadiiii and Mama" with a smile on her face.Phewittt! Praise the Lord.

She's back to her normal routine of sleeping from 8:30pm-8:30am this morning. Daddy and Mummy..the two zombies went to bed early too the night before. Hubby forbids me to turn on my lappy yesterday night so no FB, no Skype, no blogging and not even blog hopping. I believe all my 'dishes' in Cafeworld has all gone moldy by now as I write today's posting. But who cares, my  headache was so bad I felt as if my brain is about to explode. My eyes are so tired, I felt that its about to drop off the sockets. I crawled to bed at 9:30pm, hubby said he dozed off at 10pm.

The 3 SUNs were sleeping peacefully..finally...

This morning, Janice woke up with a smile on her face, no more long papaya face hahaha. She willingly took her antibiotics and drink her morning milky with a smile. She 'sang' with her own baby language in the car as I drove her to  the nursery. Daddy had enough sleep, so did I.

The sun is shining brightly this morning and the house is sparkling clean once again. The big wave has passed us by, we thank God for great doctor, the right medication and His strength to pull us through. I was so afraid and worried sick because this is the first time Janice had fever hitting 38.4deg with a bad swollen tonsils and a sore throat since birth. Life was a breeze for the whole 9 months and 3 weeks.Thank God for that!  

I'm glad to see the family healthy once again. Big Sun, Mrs Sun and mini Sun is now looking forward to the upcoming longgggggg weekends! Daddy said he's bringing us for a short trip....Whoohoo...

Get well soon baby

Sigh...my precious little gal is sick.She is having a real fever for the very first time at 9 months 3 wks old. The doctor said her tonsils were swollen and throat was red and sore. She has been vomiting since Thursday night after her final milky at 9pm. The sore throat somehow irritates her during the bottle sucking motion and it causes her to vomit everything out even before digesting .. sad! sad!. I'm giving her smaller feed i.e. 2 oz each time now. She has been waking up cranky & crying. The most painful thing to see is that she has lost so much weight for the past 2 days, her face is so slim now and she looked very tired.

Oh btw, yesterday midnight, I woke up to see her in distress. Carried her up and she showers me with her vomit.  Weeee THE JOY OF MOTHERHOOD haha...   I took a midnight warm bath at 2am in the morning... Brrrrrrrrrrrrr *cold gila*. Wanted to go back to sleep after shower but she is hungry for milk again...

Get well soon baby, daddy and mommy wants to see your bubbly self once again...

3-in-1 porridge

Why do I call it the 3-in-1 porridge!?! The lazy mummy's in action again. This is the porridge I will cook for Janice if I want her to have fruits, vegetables and protein all in a bowl. No need to give her fruits after meal :p. MALAS betul eh?

The soup I boiled was used to cook rice porridge for Janice. Of course I'll mash some carrots & apples from the soup pot to go along  with the porridge.

Janice and her new Beatles hairstyle!

Look! her fringe is way too long and I've decided to bring her to the saloon for a snip. She has been rubbing her eyes because the hair infront is poking her eyes. Just the front though since I intend to keep her sides and the back of her head long & thick for her 1 yrs old birthday :D

It only cost MYR3.00 for a Beatles haircut :p

Oh no mommy!! I can't meet the world with such hairstyle you know!!!!

Putting both hands together and started praying for her speedy hairgrowth hahaha...

Darling, this is the only time whereby you can have the 'tempurung' a.k.a coconut shell hairstyle and still looked cute! hehehe...

*Muacks*

Purple Barney soup!

Haha! Don't worry folks.. Barney the purple dinosaur is still alive and kicking. I name this soup Barney because of its colour :p

A medley of beetroot, Japanese purple sweet potato and 1 cut of salmon & 1 clove of garlic (not in pic). The amount here is enough for lunch & dinner.

Boiled the beetroot with my free range chicken bones stock for 30 minutes. Next, purple sweet potato was added to the pot of soup. Boil until tender. When I was about to serve, I poached the salmon in the purple soup. Finally, blend the pot of soup into a smooth puree

Here you go, purple Barney soup. She licked the bowl clean that day and I'm ONE satisfied mommy!

Janice and her munchies

You may enjoy your Subway breakfast mommy but where's my munchies?!?

See how "TAM CHIAK" she looked when we pass her a piece of rice cracker...

*crunch crunch crunch* She will finish the cracker in less than 2 minutes!

1 more mum-mum pleaseeeeeee...

Lately, Janice's appetite has improved. Besides lunch and dinner, 5-6oz of milk in the morning, mid day, pre-dinner & before bedtime,  she has been eating oats with fruits for breakfast, snacked on rice crackers, rusk, Cheerios and yogurt. Though she's a big eater, she's still a petite 8.1kg baby at 9 months, 2 wks old.

Janice & her toy "DOG-DOG"

My parents went shopping with Janice at Toys R Us over the weekend and they came back with a remote control puppy that can sit, bark and walk. Ever since that day, she treats the dog pretty erm... "WELL"  and I hope the dog doesn't lose its tail before Janice turns 1 years old :p

Janice is learning to understand us when we talk

Whenever she is hungry...

Janice: Mama Mum mum!!! *Giving me a sad look & sometimes she will cry a little*
Me: WAIT Janice, mommy's preparing your dinner/lunch now
Janice would sit quietly while watching me preparing her meal.

................................................................

When she's hungry/craving for milk usually in the morning...

Janice: MUM-MUM MUM-MUM
Me: Daddy's making Nen Nen, Janice WAIT
Janice: *wait silently in my arms*

................................................................

Bedtime

Janice would usually sleep through the night in her own cot but occasionally, she would want to smell our armpits our cuddles and sleep sandwiched between daddy and I. We would get the cue when she stand up in her cot and do the dance for us in the middle of the night. All the time, she would fall into a deep sleep the minute we place her in between us but yesterday, she wanted to sit up and play when daddy brought her to our bed..

Me: *In a very stern voice* JANICE, NIGHT NIGHT....GO TO SLEEP NOW!!! ELSE , I PUT YOU IN YOUR COT!!!!

Janice looked at me with a sad face, lie down on her tummy and dare not move although I peeped at her several times before I eventually dozed off and saw that her eyes were still wide open.. This morning, I woke up and saw that she was still in the same position I saw few hours ago... sleeping like an angel :)

................................................................


We MUST have such conversation like this before daddy leaves the house without bringing along Janice...

Me: Daddy come back fast ok? Janice is waiting for daddy...
Daddy: Yes/Sure/OK!

If we don't have such conversation before daddy leaves the door, Janice will start to cry the minute daddy close the door and leave *I've experimented many many times and its proven*

................................................................

Daddy was wearing his socks in the morning and ready to go to work. Daddy asked for a hug from Janice before he goes out but our cheeky little gal refuses to hug... zoomed to the exit hallway in her walker and shouted "KAI!!!" (cantonese: Go out/shopping/going places) several times excitedly!

................................................................

When Janice is reluctant to finish her milk because she wants to PLAY

Janice: *cry...cry... pushed the bottle away.. cry...cry...pushed the bottle away*
Me: Don't make mommy ANGRY! FINISH YOUR MILK NOWWWWWWW!! *angry tone*

Janice would have tears in her eyes, looked at me sadly and yes...she will drink her milk after that -.-
She will look abit sad after she finishes her milk, I've to praise her for finishing her milk, give her a kiss and a hug before she returns to her cheery self again.

................................................................

Baby Janice can understand the word "NO NO" whenever she crawls to a forbidden area. Yes, and again..giving us that sad teary eyes as she move her body away from the forbidden area..

................................................................

Our dear baby is only 9 months old and we think she can understand quite alot of things. Hubby & I are praying hard that we'll have God's wisdom to bring up this precious gift God has given us.... To lead her the right way and she will grow up to be a Godly lady.

Am I neglecting my responsibilities as a mother?

She crawled towards me excitedly as I lifted her up, hugged her close to my chest and gave her a kiss on her smooth chubby cheek. I literally sniff her and aww..how I miss her smell. "How are you my darling? Have you been a good girl?". That's what I whispered into her ears every single day when I picked her up from her nursery. She would smile from ear to ear and I could see the joy in her big round eyes. I looked forward to evenings just to see that smile on her face. It gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling and it almost bring tears to my eyes.

On some days, I see that she has been crying before I arrive. Her eyes were a little swollen. "Was she crying earlier?", "Was she disciplined for being naughty?" or "Did she had a fall earlier?". I trust she's well taken cared off by the caretakers. I'm not blaming them but its just a mom's natural reaction out of concern.On many occasions, I asked myself the same ol' question over and over again......

Am I neglecting my responsibilities as a mother?

 I had a memorable childhood, blessed I would say that I've my mom with me since birth til when I left for further studies at the age of 18. My mom was a home maker back than and mom was the one I cling on 24/7. The bonding was priceless. I ran to my parents when I'm sick, in pain and when I'm lonely and looking for someone to play with.

In this modern age whereby mothers are stucked in a rat race, I'm guilty for being one of them. My baby is with the nursery from 9am-6pm and by the time we arrived home, its already quite late and the hours spent with her is very minimal. She would be too tired to spent time with us and it isn't fair that hubby and I keep her awake for selfish reasons. Her most active hours are with the caretakers, her needs were fulfilled (I hope) by caretakers and disciplinary actions (in an appropriate and Godly manner, I hope) are given by caretakers as well.Geez, isn't that supposed to be my job as a mom? Apart from the weekly updates from the nursery, I've no clue on what's going on in our daughter's daily life. SAHM has been telling me how important it would be to stay close to a child at her tender first few years of her life... which I already missed for the past 6 months since I started work after my 2 months maternity leave.

Recently, hubby and I noticed our 9 month old baby would usually wakes up cheerful until I place her into her car seat. She is exceptionally quiet in the car throughout her journey to the nursery. She looked upset but she knew she doesn't have a choice but to accept the fact that mommy has to work and she must be with the caretakers. Again, I feel guilty for having my child going through this 5 days a week. I enjoyed the slight traffic jam because I can reach out to her as she grip my hands tight and give me the sweetest smile as if she's telling me "Its OK mommy...".

She would lift herself quietly when we arrived at the nursery and I would whisper to her..... "Be a good girl, mommy love you".Totally different from the time I pick her up from the nursery in the evening. She will be very happy and back to her bubbly talkative self once again. She even greet strangers in the lift with her "bye bye" and loud laughters!

As for now..I pray that the Lord would send his  Guardian Angels to surround and protect my precious little one and she will be in safe hands until she's back in my arms again tonight.

Another update from her infant teacher @ 9 months old

Receptive/Expressive Language Skills

Janice’s pays increasing attention to speech and verbal requests like “wait, don’t cry, am coming to you.”  She is also trying to imitate words and sounds and noticed she is talking to self in mirror.

Thinking/Cognitive Skills

Janice is exploring objects in many different ways (shaking, banging, throwing and dropping).

Gross and Fine Motor Skills

Janice pulls herself up to stand with furniture support and walks while holding the cot. She can stand momentarily without support. At her stage, she may be able to walk soon so both of you gonna have a big headache!

Language Development

Janice likes to babble, regular repeated sounds (eg. Mama, dadada).  She will play around with these sounds. (This is important for sound producing mechanism necessary for later speech). Janice is beginning to understand emotions of caregiver’s voice. She likes music and rhymes, especially with actions.

Just the 3 of us

My hubby can be pretty sentimental at times. The words he spoke to me surprises me and his actions would sweep me off my feet. Hah! Talking about the sparks that keeps the relationship burning :p That's him, the man I vow in the eyes of our Lord to love and cherish till death do us part. He's still calling me at least twice a day just to say Hi. This has been going on since our dating days friendship days and it has turned out to be a habit for us until this very present day.

Talking about calls from him...here's one..

Hubby called me at work and that's what he said "Eh dear, I realised that we've not taken a family photo for a long long time!". I started counting and counting... Oh yes...the last proper family photo taken was during CNY 2010 and Baby J was about 4months old! Hubby continued saying "We usually take photos of her alone, me and her or you with her... we hardly take any photos of the 3 of us together". So sad eh! Mmm...Hubby insist that he wanted to bring out the tripod yesterday evening to snap a photo of the 3 of us but I wanted to postpone the photo shoot until this coming weekend because I look very tired on a weekday evening. *Oh I'm so vain :p*

I promised my dear hubby that we'll be going for a proper family photo session at the studio when baby J celebrates her 1yo birthday.

At times, we spoke about going to zoos, play lands and fun places for little kids in the near future. We planned trips back to hometown, what's for dinner, teasing each other over the phone and sharing a joke we just heard or read.

I realised every 5-10 minutes conversation during office hours with him could brighten my day, keeps me going and looking forward to reunite with my SUNs....just the 3 of us! *Smiles*

When there's no playpen in the house....

Daddy placed me in a plastic container with my favourite toy and I love my new 'play area' :D

Just 1 hole and we can now go back to sleep in peace :D

After 3 days of fussiness at night, a drop in her appetite and discomfort on her gums, a tiny little hole was seen on her lower gums. She bleed a little and I believe its the teeth trying to cut its way through. Today, a white rough dot was seen. Praise the Lord, since that day...we can now go back to sleep peacefully at night :)

A quicky meal: Pea & Potato mash

A lazy mummy like me will always think of short cuts :p...especially when we've to run errants or to do some SHOPPING during weekends. Today, hubby thought instead of going to 1Utama (as frequent as 2-3 times/month...*yawn*), we decided to head down town to The Gardens, Mid Valley.

To save more energy shopping time, I've done a very easy lunch for baby J today. It's mashed P&P.

Boil and mash 1 tiny little potato.

 Boil some sweet baby peas

Once the baby peas are cooked, I've blended the peas until smooth. Add into the mashed potato and mix them up. I did not add any water into the mash because my baby loves it thick & gooey. You may add abit of water or milk into the mixture depending on your baby's preference.

Scoop the mashed P&P into the vacuum food container and we're ready to go! Its fast, its healthier and wayyyyy cheaper than bottled baby food ; )

3 restless nights

                                 That's how hubby & I looked like right now as I'm typing this post for the day! :)

My sleeping beauty no longer sleeps through the night. For the past 3 nights, she woke up a couple of times complaining with her eyes closed. She's mumbling and grumbling while chewing on her pacifier. She even call out "dada" & "mama" as she rolls in her cot trying to fall asleep. I know lah... teething is a normal process but it wasn't a happy sight to see my precious little one in pain. She's still a bubbly and talkative little baby during the day. I believe the pain and irritation is worsen at night.

Her lower gums are slightly swollen now with rough surface on the lower gum. I pray that her teeth will come out fast so all of us can have a peaceful night rest once again.... Errrr...how many milk teeth does a child develop? 20 ?!? *faint*

A nursery that provides parents their child's weekly progress (8mths 1 wk)

I've no choice but to send my precious gal to a nursery as young as 3 months old. After 2 months being with her 24/7! Argh ..it was truly a torture for me especially the first few weeks of transformation. Often times, I tried to wake up early in the morning just to spend more time playing with her before sending her to the centre because baby J sleeps at 8:30pm every night! Though the separation is only from 8:30am-6:00pm, Monday - Friday, I often felt that time passes so slowly at work! It took me weeks to get used to my new schedule and guess I was facing separation anxiety back than :D



Anyway, 8 months and 1 week has passed. Baby J is indeed very happy at the centre because my little social butterfly loves learning & playing with her little friends at the centre. A happy baby makes ME a happy MOMMY :)With all the fun & learning she had at the centre, no wonder she's so tired whenver she returns from nursery.

The nursery also provide parents a 'Progress card' via emails. The mail arrives in my inbox every Saturday morning. A good way to start my weekend :)  I just got to know from a friend that in New Zealand, all caretakers are required to go through courses to qualify to be an infant care giver. Not only that, they're also required to provide a "progress report" to parents once a week. WOW...a requirement? Guess the infant centre baby J is going to now practises the same method.

Here's the teacher's weekly progress report for Baby J. From now on, I'll be keeping her progress report her for keepsake :)

              A photo taken by her teacher when Baby J was at 5 mths+. Photo is abit blur but I love the smiles of the 2 girls having a fun during play time :)

-verbatim-

Observation (Behaviour/Sleeping/Milk Intake/Others)

Receptive/Expressive Language Skills

Janice’s learning to smile and vocalizes to mirror image.  She is also learning to babble speech sounds and understands basic words (“bye-bye”). Extremely alert little girl, she turns her head fast towards sound. Noticed Janice enjoys two-way verbal exchanges and can imitate facial expressions like sticking out her tongue and trying to roll it too. She is beginning to combine syllables like “da-da” or “ma-ma”.  Suggest you also teach her some words like da-da (daddy), ma-ma (mummy), por-por (grandma) or kung kung (granddad).

Thinking/Cognitive Skills

Ha, Janice can hold arms out to be picked up when in her cot or stroller.  When she is in the toddler’s room, she loves to explore big and small items (especially those that rolls and makes sound).

Self-Help Skills

Janice is now sitting in a high chair for her lunch, a bit difficult but still trying. She is distracted easily with the environment, turning her head left and right, trying to get up too. To distract her from moving, have to give her a small bowl and spoon with some porridge in it.  She seems to enjoy it but very messy though.

Gross and Fine Motor Skills

Janice can transfer objects from hand to hand and rocks back and forth on hands and knees.  Now she is learning to stand up. Bears almost all weight while standing supported. Even learning to sit down after standing but can see the fear in her eyes. Well, she seems to get it right but will ask for help if she is stuck.

Socio-Emotional Skills

Janice is always a bubbly and cheerful girl.  Smile to everyone she sees including parents. Smart girl, she can sense moods of others, like when I am angry with her.  She will either put her head down or on the cheeky side will try to smile and show funny face to make me laugh. 

8 months old!

Yay! As I'm writing today's post, Baby J is already 8 months and 1 week old. How time flies...  I remembered during these time of the year in 2009, I was only 6 months preggy!

Taking care of baby J has becoming more and more challenging now because she's a very active and curious baby. Hubby & I literally keeps an eye on her like a hawk. Just a blink of an eye, she would've crawled towards the kitchen, touching the TV buttons or even chewing on something that she isn't supposed to chew! She is now standing with support, crawling EVERYWHERE around the house and she can now stand with a little support. At times, she will stand with just 1 hand holding on to a table. Daddy has made the house BABY PROOF.

She is eating 2 solids a day, 1serving of fruit puree and at least 5 bottles of 6-7oz of milk per day! She's still very petite and I'm wondering where did all the food go!

Baby J could say "DADA" when she wants daddy and lift both arms whenever she wants a cuddle. Her favourite colour is now green. She used to like white when she was younger. 

Lately, there's lots of noise and merry making at our little home. Baby J will be throwing her toys from her highchair to the floor and the next thing you know, she'll be searching for the toy. You picked it up for her, she will do it again and again. It's amusing for her and a pretty good exercise for us...so no complains :). She hits her toys on the table and giggles when you turn on her favourite Baby Einstein CD. She loves it when we start to sing "TWINKLE TWINKLE LITTLE STAR" to her. The minute you say STAR, she will start repeating the word "TA TA TA TA TA" like a broken record.

There's so much love around the house. Pretty tiring but FUN!

Mash potato with fish & Spinach

Baby is currently on 2 meals of solid a day. Her nursery will serve porridge for lunch while mummy prepares her dinner. Here's my recent experimental recipe I made and baby J loves it to bits.

 Wash baby spinach leaves. I usually soak fruits and vegetable with a few drops of vinegar.

Chop chop chop until super fine

Cube 1/4 of a russet potato and boil it in very little water until soft. While waiting for the potatoes to cook, I've steamed a piece of fish fillet in another stove. For this recipe, I've used a match box cut size of a Marbled Goby (soon hook). You may use Kurau or any other fish fillets.

Mash the potatoes and returned the mash into the sauce pan. Add in the chopped spinach and cook for a few a minute until the spinach is cook. Juice from the steam fish was added to the sauce pan.

Lastly, the steamed fish was mashed and added into the mash potatoes and spinach. 

Dinner's ready :)

Apple & Sugar Apricot

We went marketing last weekend and saw some cute little sugar apricots at RM9.90/box. Since baby J has a sweet tooth like me, I believe she's gonna love the fruit.

Mini sugar apricots. They're as big as a ping pong ball  & they tasted like sugar! Yumsss

I diced 1/2 a gala apple & 1 sugar apricot

Throw the cubed apples & apricot into the blender. Stop the blender when the fruits turned into puree.

Steam the fruit puree for 5 minutes and baby J's dessert is ready :)

Daddy can cook!

Baby J has started  solid 2 meals a day since 7.5mths of age. I've been rushing like a headless chicken on weekdays, leaving office at 6pm, picking my baby J from her nursery, rush home to give her dinner latest by 7:30pm!

To cut down on cooking time, I'll usually set the timer to boil the soup base in the slow cooker the night before. The next morning, I'll remove the meat from the soup and pour in the rice, reset the timer to start cooking in the late afternoon. By the time i arrive home, I'll just add in vegetables to the pot, give it a quick boil and "Abracadabra", dinner will be ready for baby J. Sounds easy isn't it? Its actually T-I-R-I-N-G!! It would be even more tedious if I wish to serve her fish or vegetables that I'm not able to add into the pot too early.

One fine evening, my dear hubby decided to take over the kitchen to cook fish porridge for baby J. Can you imagine... a man who can't differentiate between a Bombay onion and spring onion said he wanted to cook for his daughter leh!! He gave me a call to ask for the recipe. I gave him a simple step-by-step instruction and hope for the best :p. The minute baby J and I arrived home that evening, to my surprise..........this is what I found in the crock pot!!!

Woahhhhhhhhhh Pumpkin & Tread fin was cooked to perfection sitting on a bed of brown rice porridge!!!

That evening, dinner for baby J was served 30 minutes earlier because now DADDY CAN COOK!

Thank you dada! Yumssssssss

L'abeille said : Hey loukong!  When are you going to cook for me eh? :p

Baby J's 1st swim

Last Saturday, dadi & mami took me to the swimming pool. 

 Mummy asked me to pose for the camera.. as usual I like showing my tongue :p

Here's another pose before they throw carry me into the swimming pool :p

Initially, I looked abit clueless on what I was supposed to do soaked in water. Daddy hold my legs and taught me how to kick in water.

Daddy & I was having a splashing good time in the pool

After a while, II started to kick in the water like a little puppy towards mami.

 Mummy waiting for me excitedly as I kick my way towards her. Suddenly, leng chai kor kor jumped into the pool and I was distracted :p

 Swimming was fun but its tiring for my tiny little feet. I took my beauty nap right after mami gave me a warm shower that day. :D

Football Fever 2010

Makan Bola, 

Tidur Bola,

Main Bola,

Demam Bola,

.
.
.
.
.
.
.

CIUM BOLA?????!!???

Happy Dadi Day

I was surprised when I arrived at Baby Village to pick up baby J last Friday. Aunty Jessy shown me a row of photo frames with our babies on each frame! They're to be given to the dads for Father's Day.

 Aunty Jessy's 2 beautiful twin daughters made all these! Each frame were painted and decorated beatifully.

Baby J presenting her 1st Father's Day present to her daddi! Sweet!

Happy Daddy's Day to my dear Hubby! 

With Love,

Baby J & Wifey