Yes, still doing full breastfeeding

Many are very surprised that Eunice is still an exclusively breastfed baby.

1. Enfamama called me up, and asked me if my baby is >6 months (I registered the info in their website). I said yes, and she asked what milk powder is your baby drinking? I said, breastmilk. And she responded with a very surprising tone:"Oh, still breastfeeding?" And I said yes. Next she said, OK you know breastfeeding mummies can drink Enfamama too. And I said yes I know. End of conversation. :)

2. Everytime I bring Eunice to her monthly checkup, Dr Dan will never fail to ask me what milk powder is your baby drinking now? And I always tell him, breastmilk. And everytime he'll reply:"Oh still breastfeeding? Very goood.."

3. My mum in law doesn't check on my milk stock anymore when she comes visit us. I think she's finally assured that I have enough supply for her granddaughter. And breastmilk is as nutritious as formula as it's advertised as her granddaughter is as chubby as the other babies, and has a very good weight. So good that sometimes she struggled to carry her well. :D

4. My mum still checks on my supply when we talk on the phone. Still asking if I have enough for Eunice. I told her yes because now she's on solid and I still pump 3 times a day. The next question is so when do I plan to stop. I told her I don't know yet I haven't planned. And she started to get worried about teething, biting, etc etc. And I told her, yeah yeah I know, and we'll cross the bridge when we come to it.

5. Some aunties that I met also very surprise that Eunice is still on breastmilk. I don't know where on the earth they heard that a mother can only produce breastmilk up to 4 months and it'll then slowly reduce to nothing. I'm been feeding & pumping for the past 9 months. And yes, sometimes the supply dropped and that's mainly due to my lack of sleep, but most of the time it has been maintained at 18oz-22oz a day.

Look at my cutie pie enjoying herself while suckling from mummy

When Eunice was admitted for high fever, she's spared from dripping because she drinks breastmilk. I thank God that I have endured so far.


I always encouraged my friends to continue breastfeeding no matter how hard the situation seems to be because I believe one day all these effort will pay off. I'm blessed with many breastfeeding moms around me and the encouragement and companionship to each other is a great motivation to keep me going on.


And as for me, my weight has gone back to my pre-preg weight even though I still eat like a cow. But many commented that I look thinner than last time (with bigger assets though :P). And I do notice that all my jeans are very loose now. But my tummy is still bulging.


Besides, my period has finally came back to me when Eunice hit her 8 months. I used to worry that my supply will be affected when my period is here but thank God it still maintains, maybe just slightly lesser but it's still more than what Eunice consume everyday.


So, when do I plan to stop? I don't know. I am used to wake up at 5.30am to pump everyday, and so used to lift up my shirt whenever my baby cries at night. Like I always tell EG, I've not been sleeping through any night ever since I become a mother. But I'm not complaining. One day I'll wean her off. The only thing that I look forward to after weaning is I can stop pumping. But I haven't planned the day yet.


We'll see. :)

Eunice's Tooth Chart

Though teething is not a very nice experience for all of us (but still manageable), but I'm nevertheless very happy that Eunice's teeth finally are coming out!! :)

Since Eunice is now teething, I'm going to update her tooth chart, just for fun!

Eunice's Hospitalised + Teething Episode

A week before we went to KL, while Eunice is 8.5 months old, Eunice had some fever. We fed her infant paracetamol (PCM) and it subsided. A week later after we came back from KL, her fever came back, and it's high. Hitting 39C. We had to give her suppository through her back in order to bring her fever down.

We brought her to Island Hospital for Dr Dan to check. She just had her PCM and her fever subsided then. And she remained active and was playing with the nurse. Dr Dan said she looked perfectly OK. So, we sent her back to her babysitter. When we picked Eunice up, babysitter told me they fed Eunice PCM at every 6 hourly (instead of 4 hourly) and it seems like her fever is under control. So, I felt rather relieved.

Her last feed of PCM on that Friday was 4.30pm. I was thinking even if it's 4 hourly, we should feed her last PCM at 8.30pm before she sleeps. When we reached home around 7.30pm, I told EG i think Eunice is rather warm. To our shock, her temp went up again to 39C. So, again, we gave her suppository to bring the temp down.

At night, Eunice woke up and cried. When I picked her up, I felt that she's so warm. I quickly shouted at EG to get him to get the thermometer to check on Eunice and to our shock, her temp had shot up to 39.8C! Quickly we brought her to another room with no air cond, and EG brought a tub of water and I kept sponging her. At the same time, we gave her suppository again. However, her temperature couldn't go down. And she was shivering a bit and still trying to babble. I remember my friend's suggestion to dip baby into water to bring the temperature down, and so I did, at 3am! Thank God after that, her temperature went down to 37C. And I actually called in to Island Hospital asking if I should admit her. But since her temperature already went back to normal, we have decided to bring her to hospital the next day.

So, the next day Saturday, there we went again to Island Hospital. This time, they took Eunice's blood for blood test and tried to collect her urine for test too. Talking about blood test, I was trying to imagine how do you take baby's blood esp. they will struggle. The nurse actually wrapped Eunice up in a blanket tightly, leaving one arm out. And that's how they drew her blood. Eunice was crying, but not because of pain because the moment it's done and when I picked her up, she's quiet. But I think she didn't like to be wrapped up and got poked. No one likes it. The result was out in less than an hour and thank God that the blood test shows everything is OK and hence Dr Dan said no antibiotic is needed.

As for the urine test, you must be wondering how do collect baby's urine since they don't take instruction.. :).. They sticked a plastic bag "there" so that when baby urinate, the urine will be collected. The problem is we waited from 10.30am to 1pm, Eunice wasn't urinating yet.

We went home. And to cut the story short, EG and I woke up every hour to check her temperature. It was really so tiring for both of us. And at 5am, Eunice passed motion and while I changed her diaper, not only I notice her stool was loose, also her diaper was light. She wasn't urinating much. I know my baby well, she urinates A LOT. Sometimes until the mamypoko diaper overflows! But this time she's not urinating. So, at 5am, I called into ISland to get ready with Eunice's file, and off we went to admit her.

Eunice was especially cranky in the hospital. Besides, she didn't want to drink too. Neither from my breast nor from the bottle. Actually she drank, but not to her usual 3 hours schedule. It's dragged to 5 hours sometimes. We had to get the nurse's help to syringe feed her. After every feed, she'll poo loose stool. However, thank God that her temperature was back to normal in hosp. The max it went up to 38.5 and after 1/2 day, her temperature was all back to normal. But she's still esp. cranky. We thought there was wind in her tummy - as she was passing gas, and still passing loose stool. So, EG and I were carrying her the whole day, walking up and down the hospital aisle. She only slept in the cot for 5 hours herself (allowing me to sleep for 5 hours on the lazy chair as well), before I had to carry her again to rock her / let her sleep on me.

When the doctor came the next day to check on her, the nurse told him that Eunice drank breastmilk - though not much but she drank. And Dr Dan said oh it's very good. Since she's drinking mummy's milk, then she doesn't need to go on drip. Phew! Imagine my relief when I heard that!!

The not-so-happy looking girl watching casper in her ward

Doctor suspected that Eunice was having roseola - a kind of baby measles. I did notice some rashes on her cheek and doc told me it's very safe and once the rash comes, it means the baby will be ok then. Since Eunice didn't have fever anymore, we discharged her the next day.

Taking care of sick baby is never fun. Eunice got extra clingy to me (maybe she's still not feeling comfortable) after she came back from hospital. And still, she's not drinking as much as she used to. We had to syringe feed her a bit before she was willing to drink direct from me.

We sent her to bbsitter the next day. Her rashes came out on her face first and later spread to the body. Thank God the rashes are not painful / itchy. After 2 days, the rashes subsided (that's FAST as normally it takes 5-7 days according to the internet). And one day when I went and picked up Eunice, the kakak who takes care of Eunice told me her tooth has came out! I was very surprise as we still haven't gotten over the fever + roseola thingy yet and her tooth came after that! But of course we're very happy. Sometimes I think parents are funny creatures - we'll just get extra ecstatic over baby's development. :o)

And when Eunice hit her 9 months, bbsitter called me one day while I was late in picking up Eunice as I was stucked in the heavy rain - telling me that my baby has been extra cranky. Didn't want to drink much & kept crying. Of course I got worried. And I noticed that at home too when I took care of her myself. It seems like only my breasts can soothe her and I was exhausted & complaining to EG - how could someone drink so much?!! Later on we suspected that Eunice's 2nd tooth was cutting out as she had almost all the teething symptoms mentioned in babycenter. That's why she's so cranky. She's crying almost all the time and this is the first time having me seeing her crying coming out from bbsitter's place as she's always coming out happily playing with kakak. :(

None of the teether helped her. Eunice has 4 teethers and none of it helps. Some told me feeding cold fruits helps - I tried, and she vomitted! We bought Dentinox teething gel for her too and it doesn't seem to help much. :(... I couldn't seem to find any way to help her. But I really thank God that her tooth finally cut out after 2 dramatic days!!

So now, Eunice is back as a happy girl - with her two front teeth. :D

And mummy is stuffing her with fruits / nutritious food that she can to build up her immunity system.

And daddy is already eyeing on other "not-that-cheap" teethers to help his precious, hoping that her next teething experience will be a better one.

It's NEVER fun to take care of a sick baby. And teething is NOT FUN too.

Eunice @ 9 Months

I remember when I first carried Eunice to her babysitter's place when she's merely 3 months old, I was so envious of the other parents who carry their children at the sitting up position. I was hoping in my heart that Eunice will grow up faster.

And now, Eunice is 9 months old. She can sit up well. And I'm carrying her at the sitting position to babysitter's place every morning. But ironically, I don't feel any relief, but rather, more tired. But of course, more joy. Every parent is happy to see their kid grows.

Why am I more tired? I used to think that cooking for babies is easy. Easier than feeding milk. Oh my gosh! How wrong I am to think that way. Maybe I'm just not good in cooking, or babysitter's food taste much better. Feeding Eunice solid can be one of the things that I hate to do the most, esp. now that she's more cheeky, she'll BLOW OUT her food all together when she dun feel like eating or when she lazy to chew. =.=... Till now I have tried cooking porridge with stock, without stock, over the stove, in slow cooker, double boil, all also not to much of her liking. So sad.... I am worried that she won't get enough nutrient through breastmilk, and now that she's not eating much makes me even more worry. However, I try to relax a bit since babysitter thinks that her eating amount is perfectly normal. So, as long as she eats in the 5 days @ babysitter's place, I'll just do my best during weekend to make her eat more. :P

At her 7.5 months, Eunice is already standing up by pulling herself up. I always have to be near her to make sure she is holding onto a steady platform to stand, or to support her when she falls.

Besides, Eunice is now crawling everywhere. I didn't buy any safety guard rail in the house as I told EG I'll want to teach her what to touch and what NOT TO touch by reasoning if we can. Of course if we really cannot, then we'll go for the guard rail for safety purpose. Because of this, I always have to catch her back to her playmat whenever she crawls to places where she shouldn't be.

And now that she's more verbal, and playful, sometimes she wants to be held, and wants to have people to play with her. Hence, there are times where I have to sit in her playmat to play with her to keep her entertained.

I couldn't believe that now I'm busier than when she's a baby. And now I understand why others told me that babies are easier to take care of now. Now, I can't cook I can't bake. When Eunice allows me to have some break, I'll rather surf net / watch tv / blog (now you know why I don't blog so often :P)..

But anyway, I'm still happy that Eunice is growing up happily and healthily.

Cutie pie sitting up straight @ ~7 mths

First standing in her cot @ 7 months

Mastering her stand-up skill

Standing straight up @ 8 months

Doing her rasperry blow during mealtime =.=

Playing with her food

Went for her first hair cut @ 9 months

My Breastfeeding Journey

Eunice is 7 months 1 week and 1 day old now. It also means that I have been her moo moo cow for 7 months 1 week and 1 day. *phew*

I pride myself in my determination has helped me go this far, and that Eunice has been on breastmilk exclusively. And she has been growing well~! Many are amazed by her michelin legs and round tummy. Well, at least I prove my mum and my mother in law and many aunties wrong - they always think breastmilk is less nutritious and it's impossible to provide enough for a young baby.

I wouldn't say the journey has been easy but I thank God that my breastfeeding journey is rather smooth. I don't produce A LOT bu I just produce enough for Eunice. I guess that's good enough. She has been drinking 20oz a day before she started solid and my supply is always between 18oz to 24ozs. During good days, it'll go up to 26oz. :). Now that she starts solid and skipped a milk feed, her daily consumption at babysitter's place has reduced to 14 - 15ozs but my production remains at +/-20ozs.

To date, my fridge has 49 bottles of breastmilk with avg of 4-5 ozs, some at babysitter's place. I have 68 bumblebee storage bottles and almost all of them are filled up. To make sure I fully utilise the bottles, I try to make sure I have minimum 4ozs per bottle (mix after pump). And for the stock that I have now, it can only last Eunice for 10-15 days for day time only. If for full day, I guess it will be all gone in less than 10 days.

I actually budget to buy an Ameda double breastpump after I confirm that I can go on with breastfeeding after my confinement, but when I went over to the shop, the sales person actually recommended me UniMOM Forte (never heard before leh...!) :P.. It's 50% cheaper than Ameda, except that it's a bit bulky and slightly heavy. Well, since I don't carry laptop to office, I just put this breastpump in a bag pack and carry to office everyday! In order to convince me to buy this cheaper breastpump, EG also volunteer to carry my bag for me if we ever need to bring it around. :P ... So far, I have no complain and it has been serving me well. :)

Of course I do crave for new branded breastpump. Well, I told EG this is what girls normally want to do - having >1 bags, >1 purses, >1 shoes and what more for this breastpump that's on daily usage. However, he's right that if a cheaper breastpump has already been doing its job well, why do I need to spend more for a branded one? Ahhh... So I'm still not getting any till now. Probably for my next baby I'll buy a Medela or Ameda then. :)

Many asked me how long I plan to breastfeed. I haven't really thought about it yet as I really enjoy breastfeeding now (though I don't like the pumping). But I do plan to do it as long as I have enough supply for my little one. For now, the target is when she reaches 1 year old.

I really thank God that it has been a great journey so far. :)

Eunice's first crawl

As a working mum, I often worry that I'll miss my baby's growth, esp. Eunice is spending almost the whole day @ babysitter's and only spend 1-2 hours with us before she goes to sleep. So, I try to spend all my time with her whenever I can, esp. during weekends. And I try to record / take as many pictures that I can to keep as our memories.

This time, I took a pic of my little cutie pie first few crawling when she's 6.5 mths old. She wasn't very stable as you can see but I think she did a great job in crawling! *proud mummy*...

Told you, I'm just amazed by baby's development. She learns soooooo fast! 1 month ago she was just "rocking" herself on her four, and then she started moving her hands and legs forward. Now @ her 7th month, she is crawling around my house! :)

The next thing that you'd expect from me is her walking around the house! :)

Parklon Playmat

Since Eunice hit her 6 mths old, she has been trying to lift herself up to crawl. We have a small piece of comforter where we let her lie down in the living room to have her tummy time or play time when she's not sleeping, but now the comforter is too thin for her. Several times she tried to crawl forward but she fell forward, and hit her face to the hard tiles. Of course she cries everytime.

The daddy was especially heartache to see his gerger who's learning to crawl, but always hit herself onto the floor. So, when my friend shared with me about the LG playmat, EG said we must get that for gerger.

After some searching in internet / forums, we got Parklon playmat (couldn't afford LG prime where the price is 2x of Parklon). I'm quite lucky to find a website to give me a good price and with free postage from KL to Penang!

As usual, the father is more excited than gerger.
We both like the packaging.

One side of the mat. We just took out from the packaging so it's slightly wrinkly.

My timid gerger was scared when we first put her on the mat. She dare not move and started crying. Haiyooo... I had to carry her and "introduce" her new mat to her by introducing the Pooh bear, Pigglet, Donkey and etc slowly. After a while, she's happily playing there! Phew!! Imagine if she doesn't like it - I'm going to cry as $$ wasted! That's always the risk to buy toys / stuff for babies as they won't be able to tell u if they like it!

The timid girl dare not move on her net mat

After warming up, now this is her playing area!

EG likes the mat very very much. Not only it's now safe for gerger to play on the mat, it's also very nice to lie on it. He sometimes will just take a short nap on the mat while gerger is playing. :)... He even suggested to buy another one to put in our bedroom.. =.="

Even though the mat is slightly expensive, but I think for daily use and safety purpose, it's worth all the money. And the material is very good. I believe we can keep it for the next baby in the future. :)

Eunice's nicknames

It's a funny feeling when I first became a mummy. When I first "met" Eunice, I didn't know how I should call her. Suddenly I have a daughter. Suddenly I'm a mother. I don't know how to describe the mixed feeling. And at the very first time, I called her "baby...". When my mum called me while I was still in hospital, she asked: "How's Eunice?". I found it funny as it took me a second to process who Eunice is. :)

Later on, I still referred her as baby. And trying to get used to it by calling her Eunice.

When I took care of her at home all by myself, EG will buy lunch back for me and check on both of us. He'll ask me how's his precious. I'll tell him how his 小瓜 (xiao gua) treated her mummy (me) as that's how some people call the young children. As usual, EG found it funny and asked me why it is called 小瓜 (xiao gua). And later on we translated it to english and it became Melon. :)

When we started to send Eunice to bbsitter and when I started working, EG and I only see her after work everyday. And normally we'll miss her terribly after work. And EG started to call her "girl girl" - sound sweet right? And one day, while chatting to EG about Eunice, he suddenly typed "gerger" - referring to our little precious. And since then, we have been calling her gerger - since it sounds really cute and no one has this name too. :)

Recently while chatting to some friends, I noticed they also call Eunice gerger. It makes me laugh everytime. A friend actually asked me why gerger? :D... I wonder how they would pronounce it actually. But my answer to my friend is - you know how we pronounce burger? The "ger" there... is the same "ger"...

Wakakakakaka. :)

Our dearest Gerger

Timid Girl

Both EG and I think that Eunice is a timid girl.

Why? There are a few incidents proves that.

1. Eunice was looking at Daddy playing guitar, suddenly, Daddy sneezed - OK la quite loud. Next thing we know - Eunice was crying loudly!

2. Eunice was playing herself on the floor on the thin mattress. Mummy was watching tv beside her. A repairman was outside fixing the gate and he started drilling. It wasn't very loud. Eunice stopped playing, looked at Mummy. I know she's shocked as she never hear this sound before. I asked her, "Yes girl?". And she started to show me the N shape mouth and started crying!!

3. We bought Parklon playmat for her as she has hit herself few times on the floor while trying to crawl. It has a HUGE Winnie the Pooh and her friends printing on the mat. The first time we put her down the mat, she didn't dare to move! And started crying again! I had to carry her on my lap and told her many times that "See, it's pooh bear! No scared scared!" And hit the pooh a few times before she could start playing happily on the mat. =.=

4. We bought Fisher Price stacker for Eunice. It has a small duckling on top and it has rattling sound when you move the stacker. OK, it's louder than her usual toy. This girl... when we showed her the toy and make that sound, she started crying! I don't know if it's because of the duckling (the duckling is quite cute ma... =.=) or the rattling sound. I had to hide it behind the sofa. Before I brought her to sleep, EG tried again by showing her the toy. And once she saw it, she started crying again... Gosh...! We had to slowly "introduce" the new toy to her the next day. Now she can play with it well. =.=

5. We brought her to almost everywhere we go. People always comment that she's very obedient, cooperative with parents as she normally will just sit down on our lap - not moving much - and just observe her surroundings. Actually, EG and I know that she's actually scared as she doesn't recognize the place. As long as we're holding her, she'll be OK. But if we pass to someone else, she'll start crying. Once, we were @ Pr Sam's house and Pr's wife - Suzie tried to talk to her softly. After 1 minute, Eunice showed her N lips and started crying again. It's very obvious that that cry is due to fear.

There are many other times where she would jump while we cough / sneeze / someone else talked slightly louder.

I seriously wonder where she got this timid gene from. I don't think so it's from me. Must be from the Daddy then. :P

Because of this, Daddy pampers his daughter like crazy and very protective over her. That's why I always say sometimes I can see smoke from Eunice's head - because she hangus already!

Trying to crawl

I almost forgot about this. :).

I was very surprise to see Eunice @ 23wks old lifted her tummy off the ground and went on her four on one Saturday morning when I let her play with us on our bed. Later, my sister who was in Penang visiting actually took a video of her trying to crawl in her playpen while I was taking my bath.



My little one is trying to crawl. And now @ 25 wks, she is more stable on her four and she's trying to move forward. She is also trying to sit down while getting on her four.

It is such a joy to see her grow. :)

Starting on Solids

Since the day Eunice was born, I pray so hard that she'll grow up faster. I pray that she'll reach 6 months old soon so that I can take a break from breastfeeding / expressing and she'll start to eat like what we eat.

And now, Eunice is going to be 6 months old in a week time. How time flies! Now I hope the time can go slower so that I can enjoy her as a baby now.

Anyway, Dr Dan been asking me if I want to start solid on Eunice when she reached 4 months. After reading up the internet, I have decided to hold back the solid feeding till she's 6 months old to prevent any allergy. And furthermore, Eunice is on breastmilk exclusively - it should be nutritious enough for her till she reach her 6 months.

So I waited. And a week before she turned 6 months old, I have decided to start feeding her some cereal. Even so, I have read up about cereal feeding - whether to buy the instant one, or make my own homemade one. Well, in the end I went for the instant one for our conveniences in the future. There are so many brands out there - and after surveying a few rounds with EG, we have decided to get Why Not? Organic First Flavor Cereal for Eunice.


My first attempt of feeding was quite successful. To my surprise, Eunice took the feeding very well. She will lean forward eagerly to "eat" her cereal, and I followed the tips online to leave the spoon in her mouth for her to chew & swallow the cereal. To remember this special day, I took her pic after fed - so cute right? :)

And I'm glad that I got this Tommee Tippee bib. I tried feeding her in the normal cloth bib and end up the cereal is falling everywhere. And this bib is really cute, it has a pocket in front too - to "takung" all the cereal that the little one spit out. :). And it's very easy to clean it. Just wipe it and leave it there to dry. And use it again during next feed. :)



My naughty girl actually tried to grab the spoon while I'm feeding her. After I'm done feeding her, I gave her the spoon but she didn't know how to control it and she smacked it on her face. Hahaha! So I took it back.

Anyway it's a special experience feeding my little one. I'm going to try with more food on her so that she can taste the different types of food. And I'm going to get busy preparing her food then! :)

And ooohhhh, her poo got smellier after the cereal... Gosh... :).. But as long as she poo, I'm happy. Let's hope that she'll be able to take the other food well!

Happy Eunice @ 5 mths

I always pray that Eunice will stay healthy and happy all the time. For me, there's nothing more important than these. :)

Eunice is 5 months old!! :)

Baby grows amazingly fast! Everyday Eunice will do new things that will amaze both me and EG, and again she just never fails to put a smile on our face. Parenthood is so fun, and full of joy to see the little one grows!

I failed to record down her growth (not as dedicated as some other mummies)... but I'm just so happy to see her showing off her new actions everyday.

When Eunice is @ 15 wks, one night, I heard her making sound in her cot next to my bed. I woke up and thought it might be her feeding time. When I went to her cot, to my surprise, I saw her doing her neck exercise on her tummy! I was so happy that she can finally turnover. After she turns over, she gets so excited that she'll be kicking her hands & legs vigorously - as if she's swimming.

Later on, her neck got stronger and she can lift up her head really high. And for her now @ 20 wks, rolling over is a piece of cake for her. I put her at one corner of the thin mattress on the floor, the next minute, she's already on the other corner. :) ... Sometimes she just couldn't stop rolling and it makes it extra hard for me to change her diaper... =.=

For her sleeping pattern, I really thank God that Eunice has not been giving much problems. Ever since she's 3 mths, she only asked for feed once between 12am to 6am. At least I can have a stretch of 3 hours+ of sleep. Later on, it improves to 4-5 hours stretch when she's 4 mths+. And now, she has even further improved to 5-6 hours. There's once I fed her at 11.30pm and next thing when I woke up at 5.30am with hard, engorged breasts, she's still sleeping soundly in her cot. I went downstair to do my motherly duty (express) and when I came up again at 6am, my little cutie pie has already woke up and was busy playing in her cot herself, with daddy still sleeping like a pig. =.=.

Eunice has been moving a lot when she's sleeping. Thus, she always knocked her head at her cot, and she'll make a crying sound since it's quite painful. Hence, now, we covered her cot with cot bumper. I felt sad initially as I couldn't check on her easily anymore with the cot bumper covers up her cot, and also I was thinking if she'll feel scared since she can't see us also if she wakes up in the midnight, but apparently, she's doing very well in her cosy cot. She likes to pull down her cot bumper and chew them in her mouth. :P

In fact, now she puts almost everything into her mouth. I bought her a curiosity cube and she tried to put that into her mouth too. It looks really cute as I see her trying to fit the BIG cube into her small mouth, her lips touched the flat surface and then realize it can't fit. :D

And she's talking so much now! From all the goo goo sound, she now is making more syllables like aa aa.. baa baa.. daa daaa... but no maa maaa yet... EG is very happy coz he thinks his precious is calling him already... *perasan* :P

After months of thinking and discussing, we finally bought the quite-pricey bumbo chair for Eunice. We wanted to make sure she can fit inside and we brought her to try @ Peekaboo. After that, EG straight away told me that he WANTS to buy it for Eunice as she looks SO CUTE inside. :D

I'm not sure if Eunice is going to crawl soon because she can also lift up her butt while she's on her tummy. And she can turn 360 degrees in her cot. You might see her head up in her cot. After you come out from the bedroom, she might be in the head down position in her cot. Sometimes I wonder how she did it.

Anyway, this girl shouts and talks a lot at home. But when we brought her out to Pastor's house for CG 2 weeks ago, she was all quiet sitting in our arms / on our laps. Later on, we notice she's actually scared as she never smiles to anyone. And she made the noise as if she's scared when I tried to sleep her in Pastor's room after feeding - as she doesn't recognize the place. So, we called her Jaguh Kampung. :)

OK, some of the pics. But the most updated ones are definitely in facebook. Nowadays, taking her pictures is our hobby. And now I can't wait for her to reach 6 mths then she'll be starting her solid soon! Yay!! :)

Mama's Update

Today, Eunice is 4 months old officially. *grinning*

So how's mummy doing for the past 4 months?

Again, it feels like it has been >4 months. And I'm back to office for 2 months already. It really feels longer than that. :)

I remember myself searching through the wardrobe just to find some clothes that can make me look less "chubby" when I'm coming back to work. I even went and bought some new clothes since I can't fit in most of my jeans / skirts. I couldn't pull them up and they got stucked near my butt. Argh....

I used to be sad over it but then again, what can I do right? EG commented that my face has already grew as thin as pre-preg time, except for the body, esp. the middle part. Those skirts that used to be hanging on my butt last time couldn't accommodate my flabby tummy.

However, after few week back to office, I felt that my skirts are getting looser and looser. And one day, while preparing to go work, I just tried out my jeans and to my surprise, my jeans can already go all the way up! But still, button it up is a challenge. Of course I'm so happy but EG still commented that my tummy are bulging, like I'm fat! :P

Now, this morning, I saw my weight continues going down, though I have been eating like nobody's business (breastfeeding / expressing makes me feel almost hungry 24 hours! and insufficient food causes low milk supply! :P). The power of breastfeeding!

Now I'm just waiting for the day to fit in my old Levi's jeans... If I can fit it in, then I'm back to my pre-preg size... Yay! Can't wait!!

As for breastfeeding, as much as I don't like expressing milk, I think I'm getting more and more efficient in doing that. Now I can finish my job in 20 minutes. And I won't say I have a lot of supply as compare to others, but at least I have enough for my girl. That is good enough. Demand = Supply. And I have milk storage dated >2 weeks ago frozen in my freezer, and still sending some fresh ones for bbsitter to feed Eunice daily after work. I'm glad that Eunice is growing really well though she's fully on breastmilk. And having her only wake up once normally between 12am and 5am for feed really helps me in building up my supply as I have good rest... :)

Other than that, I'm doing fine as we're so used to Eunice's pattern now and we just cannot stop pampering her as like what EG always says, she's only going to be a baby once, and if you don't pamper her now, when she grows up, you'll miss all these moments.

So my lil' cutie pie, we'll still continue to hold you and rock you to sleep you everynight as long as you don't fuss for so long okie... Muaks!

**Missing my little cutie pie so much today on Monday after spending so much with with her during the weekend... hugz!

Eunice @ 3 months

Eunice is approaching 4 months old. How time flies. I'm amazed sometimes on how fast baby grows. And if only I could record them down fast enough... :)

Eunice is already 6.25kg on her 13th week when we brought her to check on her running nose. When we went back again for her 3rd month vaccination, she has put on another 300gm in a week and she's 6.55kg! I was shocked that she actually put on so much and really wonder is my breastmilk full of fats. But well, every parents will be proud that their babies are chubby, so am I.... :)... At least that means she's growing well. Moreover Eunice is on breastmilk exclusively and Paed always told us that breastfed babies will not be obese.

1. Eunice can now smile and laugh to others. She's very good in that actually, esp. if you look funny. Hehehehe... Many ppl tried to make funny faces to her and without fail, she'll smile back to them. There's once when I brought her to church, ppl (age from 30 to 60 :P) were queuing up to make faces to her to make her smile/laugh. Dr Eddie commented that she's very joyful. :)... Even when I brought her to Dr Dan for 3rd month checkup, she also smiled at Dr Dan and Dr Dan actually commented that she's so happy to be out. :).. I'm really glad that Eunice is a cheerful baby - just like what her chinese name means.

2. Her neck got stronger on her 3rd month. We let her have her tummy time often esp. on the weekend to strengthen her neck muscle. Comparing to last month, she can now hold her head much higher. But she still gets tired quite fast. :)



3. She's trying to turn. You can see her putting her legs over but her body still cant turn over fully yet. She'll try a few times, got tired, catch her breath, and lie back to her back and relax. :). Sometimes, I will help her but just pushing her a bit and voila, she's on her tummy! But bbsitter warned me not to do it many times as it might cause her to be lazy and I might need to get up to turn her over during midnight... ooppss....


4. Eunice's motor skills has developed in her 3rd month. She started to grab things using her hands and she can hold it really tight and not letting go. We normally will put her down in her rocking chair in the study room, and give her a thin blanket or lampin for her to entertain herself. She'll grab it, pull it up to cover her eyes, pull it down to see the things around her, and continue for maybe 30 minutes. Sometimes she'll scream when she lost control and couldn't pull down the blanket / lampin which covered her whole face. Then we'll help. :P... It's quite funny seeing her behaving that way as if she's playing her own hide and seek.


5. We noticed Eunice loves guitar. Whenever EG plays guitar to her, she'll be all quiet, not moving, and just staring at her daddy playing the guitar. She could just sit there quietly and stare at EG playing for >30 minutes sometimes. Even though sometimes EG is not playing the song exactly, but he's sorting out the chords, she'll still just stare at her daddy. We also found that playing guitar to her helps to wind her down esp. at night as after listening for a while, she'll yawn.


6. Eunice is getting playful. Everytime when I pick her up from babysitter, the kakak who took care of her will always tell me that "dia kuat main...". I can imagine that. She will kick her legs and swings her arms excitedly when she got excited. Sometimes when I send her to bbsitter, when they come and pick her up, she already starts smiling at them. Well, at least I know she's happy there. :)

7. She's getting more and more alert of her surrounding. And she likes to hear people talking, as in conversing. Many times I notice she'll just stare at us when I talk to bbsitter while picking her up, or when I'm talking to my friends. And the funny thing is, she'll chuckle when we laugh over some jokes. :)... And she also gets distracted easily if I talk while feeding her. Many times when I was talking to EG while feeding her before sending her to bbsitter, she'll stop sucking, but still having my nipple in her mouth, and look up to see what we're talking. Ahh.. cute, but we had to stop our conversation to make sure she's drinking well. :)

We love to see her grow everyday. And we can somehow see her personality developing along the way. And EG thinks that she's going to be like me - clumsy and not-so-gentle type of girl. Well, I don't really mind as long as she's healthy and happy. That's all I want. :)

Finally... YES to Bottlefeeding!

5th June 2010 - A day to remember - I successfully bottlefed my little cutie pie!!

I was holding her, playing with her while waiting for EG to come and feed her. While playing with her, I just tried to put the bottle into her mouth and told her... "Hey baby, mummy feed u OK?"

To my surprise, she started sucking! Even EG was shocked. And both of us kept really really quiet while she's drinking, thinking she might suddenly "realise" that it's MUMMY feeding her... and she finished ~5oz of milk!

So, I tried again during the weekend. And without fail, she's taking bottles from me very very positively. And she can drink really well now without throwing tantrum! Previously bottlefeeding her is always something that really stresses me out because she'll cry cry cry, and I can hear EG trying so hard to pacify her, and she'll continue to cry cry cry, and end up threw away some of my milk - my hard worked expressed milk. =.=

So, both me and EG are very happy with her "performance" last week. And I hope next week she'll continue to be an angel like this. :D

And from last weekend onwards, daddy got lazy to bottlefeeding his precious since mummy can do a good job too... hmm... =.=

Daddy & Daughter

EG loves to talk to his daughter. Since now Eunice can lift up her head quite steadily, we let her have her tummy time on her playgym often to further strengthen her neck muscle.

One day when EG was talking to his precious again, I thought it looked very cute and I took our camera and snapped a few pics. I was trying to get one clear picture but Eunice kept moving.

When I download the pictures last night, funnily the pictures can form a sequence of some form of story. I posted in facebook and put some funny captions. But here, I'll let your imagination go wild on what are the conversation between daddy & daughter. :)




I love the last pic the most. Eunice is smiling. It's so nice. As if she enjoys talking to her daddy so much. :)

I just love to see how this loving daddy spending time pampering his daughter. :)

Sleep Train Adventure II

Eunice is now 3 months old. Time really flies. But I always feel that she has been with us for really long...

We're spending a lot of time with her after work to catch up what we've lost while she's at babysitter and we're working. :)... And now we're better in "controlling" her and reading her signs to meet her needs - either she's hungry / wet diaper / sleepy / etc - to make her a happy baby. :)

However, sleeping her is still a challenge as she'll fuss before she sleeps though she's really sleepy. We tried to find all info in internet and found out babies need to wind down before they sleep, and the winding down process is the tough one that makes them fuss.

Babysitter taught us a way to let her sleep on her tummy during her naps. Eunice didn't like it before she went to babysitter but I dunno how they can make her like it again. :P... So we did that and she really sleeps very well.

We also noticed that we can sleep her easier at night during weekdays. Later we found out that if Eunice has enough naps, it'll be easier to sleep her at night as she's not over-tired. Besides that, we also found out this little pampered cutie pie needs air cond to sleep! Gosh.... even babysitter told us the same thing - she said Eunice will fuss and be restless if there's no aircond for her to sleep.

So, we moved her playpen from the living room to our study room so that we can on the 1HP aircond for her when she naps (instead of the 2HP aircond in the living room - save cost! :P). Besides, it's also more convenient for us as we can watch tv or do some housework while she's sleeping in the study room... EG is extra happy with this decision because he can surf net in the study room with air cond while his precious is taking her nap.

We recently bought Lampe Berger Eucalyptus essential oil to help Eunice with her running nose. And somehow she can sleep better now. Not sure if it's because of the oil, or because she had enough rest during day time. Also, we read that a 3 months old baby needs 10-11 hours of sleep at night. That means Eunice needs to sleep by 9pm till 7.30am the next day. So instead of sleeping her at 10.30pm+ previously, now we'll sleep her around 9.30pm to make sure she has enough sleep.

If she's in good mood, and no over simulation, and she's wind down, EG will be able to sleep her in 30 minutes, but it'll take longer for me because Eunice will look for my breasts for comfort... =.=. But we're trying to make this routine fix so that she'll get used to the time. So far it works well.

However, she still doesn't sleep through the night. She'll wake up 1-2 times for feed (that's still OK) but sometimes she'll wake up and starting talking / shouting - expecting ppl to play with her... that's hard on us... but thank God that it doesn't happen everyday (**pray hard**)...

Besides that, my electricity bill also almost went up double since we on it earlier for her to sleep earlier, and can't off it too early as if it's too hot, the cutie pie will wake up and complain and end up no one can sleep... =.=

Bottlefeed vs Breastfeed Part II

Follow up from the previous entry.

When we picked up Eunice from the babysitter few weeks ago, babysitter told us that every Monday, Eunice will protest whenever they bottlefeed her with breastmilk. But of course after a while she'll give in and drink on the following days. However, thinking about her crying for my breasts while feeling hungry breaks my heart.

So, I told EG we have to try to bottlefeed her during the weekends in the day time.

And so we did.

Initially, the little cutie pie will CRY~~~ but later on she'll suck on well. Then later we found out that she will only drink well when she's VERY HUNGRY. So, we always make sure that she's really hungry before we fed her in bottle. And also, everytime after her feed, she'll look at EG with her two big eyes - as if she got cheated big time. EG had to apologize to her many times and explain to her that bottlefeeding is to help her better when she goes babysitter on Monday.


Later on, it gets easier and easier to bottlefeed Eunice. And EG the daddy also developed his skills to bottlefeed her better. He'll cool her down, sing to her, praise her saying she's a good and smart girl, and burp her in between if she can't drink well. Slowly, Eunice has developed trust over EG and now, she'd smile to EG after feed - at least that means she's happy and contented. :)


Everytime when EG feeds her, I will try to hide everywhere in the house so that she won't see me. Whenever she wakes up from her nap, I'll have to call EG to pick her up if she fusses and prepare the milk beforehand so that EG can feed her straight away, and she won't see me and she won't ask for my breasts.

One Sunday, we tried to bottlefeed her before we went church, but she didn't want to drink (guess she wasn't hungry yet). So fine. I wasn't very happy coz I didn't want to throw away my 4.5oz of precious breastmilk and I brought the bottle out in case she's hungry within an hour. And viola, the little one started to fuss when we're reaching church. And I thought since EG has been bottlefeeding her for the past few weekends, she should be more accustomed to bottle so I stuffed in the bottle for her and expect her to suck and drink.

BUT... she didn't! :(... She only sucked for 1 second, then pushed out the teat with her tongue, making some unhappy noise, then turned her face towards my breast. :(... In the end, I had no choice and let EG fed her with bottle in church while I went down to car park to bring up her stroller (and because of this he skipped his prayer meet) and the little monster finished all the milk!

So now because EG has been meeting her needs to feed her during weekends day time, Eunice has officially became a daddy's girl...

And I think Eunice misses her daddy very much on Monday because babysitter told me Eunice cried a lot on Monday... :( .. and asked if we keep holding her during weekends... :P

And her daddy misses her like crazy especially on Mondays since he has been feeding her during the weekend...

And mummy is very jealous because she can't bottlefeed her baby.... and she feels that Eunice is more attached to her daddy now.... hmm....

What can a 2 months old baby do?

Eunice is now 10 weeks old. Only 10 weeks old but EG and I felt that it has been so long that she is with us. :). She's growing so fast. We're observing many different things from her everyday and it never fails to excite us.

So what can Eunice do now?

1. She can smile now. It's the real smile... The previous smilings were only reflexes but now if you smile to her, she'll smile back. Sometimes she'll even laugh (with no sound) with mouth open big. It looks really cute because she has no teeth now.. :P... It just melts our hearts everytime and brightens our days. :)



2. She can do her baby talk. Since her 3rd weeks, I noticed she has vocabulary rather than just crying. Over the time, the vocabulary increases and now she can talk more to you. She can talk to you like she is trying to tell you something. Or when she's not very happy she'll talk like she's complaining about something. :). I bought a clip-on fan for her thinking we might be able to use it on stroller or car seat. While testing, I clipped it on playpen and tried on her and again, she got all excited looking at the LED light changing. The next thing we know is, she started talking to it. Huhuhu... Must be thinking the lights are responding to her. So cute right? :). But it's not cute when I try to sleep her and she starts to talk to me with her sweet sweet voice. It's a big NO-NO to respond to her as she'll think it's playing time. So I had to ignore her... so kesian, but still so cute... :)

3. She can focus now. She can focus on things and follow you when you walk around. We did an experiment on that. EG tried to walk around her playpen and her eyes followed him when he's walking. And she also looked at EG when he went upstair or came downstair. Guess now she's no more heavy short sighted but can see much clearer now. :)

4. She has fwens now. :). EG bought a very simple cot mobile for her in her first month but she didn't give any response to it then. But since last few weeks, she has been looking at them and when we turned the music on, she'll get all excited and her legs started to kick vigorously with her smiley face. In the morning I'll get her to talk to her friends while EG and I are getting ready to go work.

5. She can lift her head up for quite long now. Her neck is getting stronger. It's so much easier to burp her now. She will sit straight for you to burp her (as long as she's not sleeping :P) and the success rate for me to burp her now has increased to almost 95%! :)



6. She wants attention. She cannot sleep in the playpen for too long alone as she'll get bored. And she's start making noise. All you need to do is just to sit beside her playpen and talk to her. She'll be all happy again. :)

7. Now she doesn't want to lie in her playpen IF she's not sleepy. So now I really appreciate the rocking chair that EG's colleague gave us as a gift - which initially I thought it won't be much great use. I'm even thinking of getting a bumbo chair now but it costs a bomb for a small thing like that! :P


8. She now knows day and night (i think :P)... She sleeps shorter period in the day time (max 1 to 1.5 hours), but at night she can sleep for 3-4 hours in a stretch. I think we're consider lucky that now from 7th weeks onwards, she can sleep from 11pm onwards till 3am for feed, and continue to sleep till I wake her up at 6.30am for feed again before sending to babysitter. But sometimes she's still a naughty girl and wants her daddy to hold her to sleep occasionally. It's not very easy when you need to carry AND WALK someone who's close to 6kg for 30 minutes to 1 hour. Pamper once a while is OK but I'm not making it a habit for her either since I think she knows her daddy is pampering her like crazy. :)

9. She's a smart girl now and she knows how to put her hand into her mouth! :P... I don't wear mittens for her unless she's sleeping. And at first she put her fist near her mouth and started licking her hand, and now she knows how to suck her thumb! It's so cute when I first saw it but of course I had to pull it out to make sure it doesn't become a habit for her. :)

EG can even observe that she's now developing her personality. But anyway, we're just so happy with her everyday though sometimes it's tiring. As time goes, we find that baby taking care is getting easier along the way. And to see this little one grows everyday, it just warms our heart everytime.

Parenthood is just so wonderful. :)

Breastfeed VS Bottlefeed

During my confinement, I have already introduced bottles to Eunice due to some unforeseen circumstances. I asked a Malay lady to come and do urut for me during my confinement every 2 days. The massage took about 1.5 hours to 2 hours. It definitely will clash with Eunice's feeding time. So, I usually pumped and get my MIL to bottlefeed Eunice when I did my massage. Sometimes, I also pumped for my MIL to bottlefeed Eunice before she sleeps so that I can have a break. :P

However, after pumping for a few days, I realised I'm getting less and less from pumping. Previously I could easily pump out 3-4oz, but later, I could only pump out 2.5oz max. I got panicked and then I have tried my best to direct latch Eunice as much as I can to re-establish my milk supply. When my massage sessions finished, I never pump anymore and I direct latched Eunice all the time.

When I brought Eunice back to Penang after confinement, for the 2 weeks I have been direct latching her all the while despite her growth spurt and demanding feeding hour (every hour OK!)... Nursing pillow was my good friend then.

I called up Eunice's babysitter to confirm on the date when we're sending her over, and things that I need to pack over. The conversation went on to discuss about her feeding.

BBSitter: "So, how many oz is she drinking now?"
Me: "I don't know wor..."
BBSitter: "You direct latch all the while? Have u introduced her bottle yet?"
Me: "Yah, I gave her bottle during confinement, she's OK..."
BBSitter: "Nevermind, you try to give her bottle again this week and see if she can take it.. but don't feed yourself, get someone else to feed her..."
Me: "OK!"

At that time, I never thought that it will be a problem as Eunice has been sucking hard everytime my MIL fed her last time. And even I fed her with bottles before when I had sore nipples and I pumped out to feed her through bottles. Though many said it'll cause nipple confusion or baby will associate bottles with mummy and reject nipples, thank God it didn't happen to me then. So, I never thought it will be a problem to bottle feed her.

Until when we defroze one of the stocked up express breastmilk (EBM) for her. EG tried to feed her when she started fussing for feed, and I was standing at the side looking. Eunice was pushing out the teat with her tongue and crying. I was shocked to see her behaving that way. I never thought that she'll reject bottle!

We smelled the milk. We thought it spoil as it has some milky smell while fresh EBM is odorless. So we threw away the first 5oz of milk which I collected so susah payah... We took down another 5oz to defroze and thinking of trying again the next day. In the meantime, I found out from internet that defroze EBM does have some milky smell comparing to fresh EBM. So, the milk was OK.

I tried to fed her once also and failed miserably. She's hungry but she refused to suck the bottle teat! And it has been war everytime. So we tried continuously everyday at least once to twice the week before we sent Eunice to babysitter. We tried many methods where I went upstair (I even went bathing so that she can't smell me) and EG trying to feed downstair, or he went upstair and I was hiding in the study room. EG even tried to feed in the guest room thinking maybe the master bedroom also has my smell. But this girl she just cried and cried, kept pushing out the teat with her tongue. EG tried to squeeze some milk into her mouth and she swallowed a bit and kept crying again.

She even pretended to sleep! Gosh... I heard EG telling her upstair "Eunice, please don't pretend that you're sleeping... it's not funny...".. But everytime, she won the battle as she will be crying so loud until EG worried that neighbours will be thinking we're abusing baby at home.

But one thing is, when she was crying, and when I picked her over from EG, she'll stop immediately, and when I lifted up my shirt, she showed her very cute anticipating face again and when she sucked, she sucked really really hard - she's really really hungry.

Because of this - not only I wasted so many oz of my EBM, I was also dead worry that if she will be able to be fed well in the babysitter's place though many told me not to worry as (1) the bbsitter is very experienced and they will spoon feed her (2) baby won't starve themselves. But the thought that she'll cry very loud until give up and give in to bottles since I can't suddenly appear to direct latch her breaks my heart.

Inside me I still couldn't understand why will full direct latching for 2 weeks caused her to reject bottles.

Thank God that my parents came visit on the weekend before I sent Eunice to babysitter. I got smarter and when I'm expressing the EBM, I kept extra 2oz for my mum to feed her rather than keep defrozing the stock up for babysitter. Again, I went upstair bathing when I let my mum feed her.

When I came out from the bathroom, surprisingly I don't hear any crying. I only heard my mum said... "Eunice guai... Eunice good girl... drink your milk..." I didn't even dare to come down or make any noise as I scared she'll smell me again and dun want to drink from bottle.

After 10 minutes, my mum called me and told me that my little girl has FINISHED the milk! I was SOOOOOOOO SURPRISED that I smsed EG straight away. The next day, we tried again with the frozen breastmilk to make sure she's not rejecting the frozen breastmilk now, and again, she finished them all. Gosh, I felt so relief after that. On the 3rd day, I got lazy... I was walking around the house when my mum was trying to feed her. And guess what, this little girl she is just too smart. She didn't cry this time, but she didn't want to drink as well... So I direct latched her again. But I'm already much relief that she's neither rejecting the bottles, nor the frozen EBM. At least now I know she'll be fed well @ babysitter's place.

True enough, when Eunice went to babysitter's place, she can drink 15oz a day with no problem. And now, it has been increased to almost 20oz a day! I have to work real hard in pumping the supply for her!

Anyway, I still couldn't understand why Eunice will associate EG with me and refused to take the bottle from him. And I finally experienced that babies are really very smart....!

PS: Daddy was devastated coz he can't feed his own daughter. But then, we'll try again in near future to get Daddy bottlefeed his cutie pie. :)

Eunice @ Babysitter

I have not been blogging for 2 weeks. No, not because Eunice is taking up all my time. It's mainly because I have been busy with my own stuff. :P

I have sent Eunice to her babysitter 1 week before I started working. When I sent her over, deep inside me I feel very relieved that finally someone is going to bathe her, clean her poo and feed her. I planned out my schedule for the whole week to make sure I do everything that I wanted to do for so long - hair cut, facial, massage, shopping, etc. I even went marketing and cooked nice dinner for EG.

However, when I got back to home, I miss my Eunice so much. I miss her making all the noise at home, miss her shouting at me asking for feed, miss her baby talking to me, miss her yawning sound, miss her direct latching on me, miss her banging her face on my breast when she's hungry, and miss looking at her sleeping in her playpen. How ironic it is.

I even smsed the babysitter a few times to make sure Eunice is doing OK there. I know the babysitter can take good care of her since there're so many good remarks from friends who sent their kids to her too, but I wonder if she fusses, or if she cries, will they entertain her like how we entertain her? I never like to see my baby cry because I want them to feel protected and contented. I read somewhere that it actually helps to build their self confidence.

To my surprise, my babysitter said Eunice has been an Angel there. She eats well, and can play her own and sleep by her own. That's a great news for me.

When we picked her up, they told me she can drink 2.5oz up to 3oz bihourly. And later on after a few days, they tried feeding her with 4oz also she can finish them. Gosh...! I didn't know my baby can drink SO MUCH...

The first night when she came back, she looked SO CONTENTED. I think she has been eating well and resting well there. And on that night, she actually sleeps on her own after I wiped her. That's such a surprise to me coz we used to have to carry her and rock her a bit in order to sleep her. And when I woke up in the midnight, I saw her playing herself and smiling to herself in her cot. That's just so cute. I wanted to play with her for the whole night but I didn't as I know it's a bad habit. I need to make sure she knows it's night time and she shouldn't be making too much noise. :)

After a week there, my baby's cheek got bigger and firmer. Carrying her horizontally might be a challenge now as not only she is heavier, but she also has grown longer. I tend to worry if she's being overfed, but after checking, I found out that babies who are drinking breastmilk will not be overfed since they poo almost after every feed.

Now that I'm back to office, I totally miss being with her esp. now she can start to look at you, baby talk with you and smile at you. That's so cute. I hope she'll grow up faster and her feeding time is less frequent, and we can bring this lil' cutie pie out to do more things together.

First Outing to the Mall

Since I'm pregnant, EG and I have been looking around for baby gadgets. One of it is stroller. Though many told us stroller might not be very useful but looking at the fact that we always go out together, of course we'll want to bring Eunice along. And since we travel to KL quite often esp. to attend friend's wedding, and I also want to bring Eunice back to Miri next time, stroller is in my list for sure as I dun think we can carry her everytime.

We have been looking around for a light weight stroller and the one that won't take up much boot space (imagine if we go KL and the stroller takes up all the boot space, then where am I going to keep all the other shopping stuff? :P). Most of my colleagues highly recommended Maclaren strollers for the light weight but the price is kinda high.

However, after surveying around, EG really likes Maclaren strollers comparing to others as he said, it's sleek, stylish and light. He can carry with one hand after folding it up. So after Eunice is born, we got the stroller. And see how happy the father is! :P

The happy father with the new toy for his princess

The quest sport model

The stroller is supposed to be used for babies from 3 months onwards, but if we have the head support, we can use it for Eunice too! So, we got a Kiddopotamus head support for her and off we went to Queensbay for our first shopping together with Eunice!

See how happy my cutie pie is :D

Overall, she behaves quite well out there. I think she likes to go out (this is my gene) and it's very funny to see her looking around amazed by many many things. It just never fails to make me laugh to see her looking so curiously for the surroundings. Maybe she's just too bored at home, just like her mother me. :P

The stroller is very easy to use and it's very light to push. Though there's no front bar but it's 5 points harness and after EG adjusted the strap nicely, this naughty girl can't even move much inside her stroller. But she's still turning her head left and right to check out her surroundings and it's really cute. :P... And of course, she never fails to get attention from others as well. Almost everyone who walk pass will look at her. :P

However, she only can stand for almost 2 hours and she started to make the LOUD rushing sound - means she's hungry. So quickly EG made the payment for our shopping and off we went home.

But overall, it's a good experience to bring her out. We shall try again next time when her feed is not that often.

Temporary Fulltime Mum

It has been two weeks that I have been taking care of Eunice myself in the day time during weekdays when EG goes work. And when he's back, he'll help to carry Eunice when she fusses, buy food for me and do the housework when I'm tied up with Eunice.

So, many asked - how's it?

The answer is - it's VERY TIRING!

My everyday's job now is - feed, burp, change diapers (oh god!), bathe, carry when she fuss. Everyday feels so short now esp. at night coz I need to battle with her to make her sleep.

What do I dread to do?
Bathe her. It's not easy to bathe a baby esp. when she fusses. Thank God that most of the time she's still ok but it's a BIG TASK to bathe her. Everytime after I bathe her, I'll be sweating like nobody's business. Since now she still can't hold her head up, I'll have to carry her and support her to bathe her to make sure she doesn't fall inside her bath tub. And I need to talk to her when bathing her then only she'll be quiet. Another challenge is this little naughty girl will suddenly poo or pee after bathe and dirty the towel, new diaper, and sometimes the floor or bedsheet (coz I wipe her on my bed on the changing mat so that it's not so taxing on my back). That's really a disaster! But then again, I think babies like bathing in general...

What do I scared to do the most?
Changing her diaper. Baby won't tell you that they are going to pass motion, they just DO IT. That's the scary part. I kena few times with her poo on me when she poo together with gas! My Gosh..! The stain needs to be cleaned & scrubbed off seperately before throwing into washing machine to make sure there's no yellow stain on the clothes. I tried to make it fast but there are a few steps that I'll need to do before changing a new diaper - wipe off, make sure it's really clean, dry the pat-pat, put on some cream to prevent diaper rash, wear the new diaper. Between this, accident happens. Many times she'll just poo and dirty either the new diaper or the changing station, or the towel. Argh....

What do I can't do well?
I can't burp her well. I still can't though I have been trying to learn that from my MIL, EG's aunties, nurses from Columbia Asia, and the pead himself from Island. But I still can't burp her well. The success rate is only 50%. =.=! I seriously need more help in this...

What do I hate to do?
Sleep her. Everyday is like a gamble. I'm seriously not sure how she's going to fall asleep everynight. I just pray that she'll just doze off herself by 11pm without fussing too much! When she fuss, I have to carry her and walk around the room for hours to make her sleep. Sometimes I'm so sleepy that I just close my eyes while walking to take a rest. I'm still trying many ways to see which one works to make her sleep comfortably. So far I think swaddling her half body with two arms out help to make her sleep better. Will observe more and see. :P

What do I like the most?
When she plays with herself. She really looks like the cutest angel when she plays with herself in the playpen or cot. She's calm and just looking around in her playpen / cot quietly like she's trying to find out what's around her. And during then, I'll just call her and talk to her a bit, and continue my web surfing or do some housework or even cook some simple dinner..!

Another gesture that I love to see the most is when Eunice starts to make the rushing sound, I know she's asking for feed. (If I don't get her cue, she'll end up crying loud with tears...) And when I pull up my shirt, you'll see her very cute anticipating face waiting for u to feed her. It's really very cute. And sometimes when she fusses, I'll carry her and she'll start turning her head to my breast and knocking her face on my breast - then I get the cue - she wants to be fed. It's very funny to see her acting in that way - it makes me laugh everytime. :P

Overall, it's a very "special" experience to be a fulltime mother at home now. But it's seriously very tiring. Sometimes Eunice will fuss so much that I can't even go to toilet (when I'm alone at home). Weekend is slightly more relaxing as EG will be at home to at least help to carry her so that I can eat / go toilet / bathe. And now, I really can't wait to go back office to work as at least I can go out for lunch and have a break from all the feeding / changing diaper duties... (OK, I know I'm not a very good mum)

But then again, the thought of sending her to babysitter also aches my heart (and EG's) as I wonder if the babysitter will pay so much attention to her esp. if she fusses. Hmm...

Sleep Train Adventure

Since the 3rd week of Eunice, I suffered at night as my little princess refused to sleep at night and she wanted to be held else she'll be shouting. No, she's not hungry because she's fed before she slept. Yes, if you hold her, she'll be lying quietly in your arm like an angel but when you put her down, she'll transform into a monster!

Sleeping is so important to me. However, since I have this little one which I need to breastfeed on demand, I'm used to wake up few times at night to feed her, to the extent that if she doesn't wake up for feed, I'll still wake up to check on her, or change her diaper. But, I still cannot stand not sleeping till late at night. This little fella can fuss from 10.30pm when I off the light all the way till 3am... then only she's willing to sleep in her cot..! It's really a nightmare for me. Another time, she fussed from 3am all the way to 5am with no reason. I fed her, changed her diaper, made sure she's not too hot or too cold but she still fussed. I almost dieded. Mother in law came and help to comfort her and till 5am, guess she's too tired and she fell asleep finally!

I read up the internet / any books regarding baby sleep almost everyday during my confinement and try the methods suggested. So, after I brought her back to Penang, I make sure I open all curtains in the day time, on the radio / mp3 to make it not so quiet to let her know that it's now day time, and by 9pm I'll start to wipe her, feed her, carry her, but no talking, dim the lights, no noise (EG and I will be whispering) and try to sleep her to tell her that it's sleeping time now. It's a battle everyday. And I make sure she doesn't sleep so much in the day time esp. after 7pm. I'll do everything to wake her up - until the extent to wipe her face with wet towels. Kesian my baby right. But thank God so far she can sleep by 1am. But still we're not very happy about it esp. She'll wake up and fuss or ask for feed. And slowly she has dark circles on both of her eyes. :(

We later found out that it might be caused by evening colic. After the recommendation from my babysitter (yeah, I actually called up to ask for advice :P), EG went to pharmacy and bought Dentinox Colic Drops for infants as he also heartache see me try so hard to sleep this little monster every night. I also applied ru yi oil on her tummy to relieve her tummy pain caused by colic (though I'm not sure if it's really working but I just do everything that might help). So, so far, at least both me and EG can get 6 hours of sleep with some wakes in middle of course.

EG still wasn't very happy because he expects her to sleep through. Everytime when Eunice wakes up and make a little sound, the light sleeper EG will also wake up and look at her moving around in her cot. He said he pity her not able to sleep. And sometimes he'll actually go carry her and try to sleep her for 1 hour - which I stop him after he did it once as it might make it a habit for Eunice to sleep in the future. As long as baby doesn't cry, we shouldn't carry her esp. at night during sleeping time.

I then try to find some lullabies online. It works in the day time (or maybe she's just napping), but it doesn't work during night time. Argh... So I gave up, but I stick to the routine - wipe, change to pyjamas, carry & swing a bit, feed, and expect her to sleep soon.

When we see Dr Dan for checkup, of course we raised this concern. Dr Dan told us she's a baby. About sleeping through the night for 7-8 hours, Dr Dan said she's a 5 wks old baby and he doesn't expect her to sleep more than 3 hours a stretch. And her senses to differentiate day and night will only be activated in 3rd or 4th months. When I told him I tried to not let her sleep so much during day time, he asked "Why... just let baby sleep. She's just a baby..."

Guess both EG and I forgot the fact that Eunice is only a 5 wks old baby (though we felt it has been SO LOOOONG) and we should really give her a break and let her be a baby... :)..

But still, my sleep training still go on (just with less expectation) so that both me and EG can have some sleep at night!