First: Fell Sick at 13.5mo

My mind is all with my little Natalie these few days. I think about her day and night, regardless where I am. She fell sick since last weekend, had a very high fever. Even with PCM, her fever will go up till 38C on last Saturday. On Sunday, we brought her to Dr Pong in Adventist. He told us not to worry and to sponge her often to bring the temperature down.

The whole Sunday I was beside her. She's cranky because her body was scorching hot. But we couldn't feed her PCM in less than 4 hours. I tried to wipe her with a wet handkerchief but she'd cry and cry when I wipe her face. I guess it doesn't feel nice to do that. But when she hit a point when she was too lethargic to fight back, she'd just let me do whatever that I want, and look at me blankly. :(

Poor girl!

I always call her a tough girl. I remember visiting Dr every month during Eunice's time when she was less than 1 yo as she always came down with flu. For Nat, she's perfectly healthy even though we brought her out more often, and I am more relax (or cin-cai) in her stuff, let her bite ANYTHING that she wants, and didn't really bother to make sure everything is sterilised. She has been well all these time. Except few weeks before she turns 1, she had throat infection and was prescribed antibiotics for 5 days. However, even so, she was still active and eating well. Fever was low grade and recovered in 1-2 days.

22/9 - Little poor girl stopped fighting and just let me put the wet hanky on her forehead to cool her temperature down.

22/9 - Little girl's lethargic look

22/9 - Slept almost the whole day on Sunday

Dr Pong checked her ears, lungs and throat, all are clear and said it should be viral. We were asked to monitor her a few days. Yesterday her body has a lot of rashes, we suspected it's Roseola, like what Eunice had in her 8th month. Today is her 5th day, her fever is still there though now the PCM feeding gap can last up to 10 hours. However, with the fever there, it still worries me.

I hope she's teething. And I hope her teeth will come out soon. Yes, still toothless at 13.5mo.

Hmm, I am not sure if it's co-incident or what. Eunice also had her first antibiotic course for throat infection few weeks before she turned 1, so as Natalie. And Eunice had roseola and was admitted (lack of knowledge then) at her 8 mth and her first tooth erupted after that. I sure pray hard that Natalie's fever was nothing serious, and it's the same as the sister, whereby her first tooth is erupting soon!

Verdict of a full time working mum. This is the time when I wish I can leave all my stupid projects and bring my poor little girl home. :(

World Breastfeeding Week

I am a breastfeeding mum, yup, still am. So, anything related to breastfeeding will somehow gets my attention.

August, or somewhere in August, it's World Breastfeeding Week (WBW). There will be a lot of writeups regarding breastfeeding in most of the parenting or baby magazines, and lots of posting regarding breastfeeding in parenthood or baby forums, and websites. It's quite hard to miss it actually.

So, about me. I "celebrated" WBW during Eunice's time, and now, I celebrate it again. Breastfeeding looks never ending to me. Hahaha! At least for now.

I breastfed Nat for 1 year already. *Grin*. Previous experience with Eunice definitely helps me a lot. But she's a different baby comparing to her sister - she is not as addicted to my boobs as much as her sister. There are times when I need to force feed her, and she often just latches for 2-5 mins just to satisfy her hunger, and she continues to her own exploration.

I used to pump 3 times a day. Morning 535-545am when I wake up, 1030am  & 430pm in office. I used to over supply since my baby doesn't like to drink much. Eunice has been clearing my stock for me. Even so, I still have my freezer full of milk and had to buy a chest freezer to keep my 80-100 bottles of precious milk. Ever since Nat turns 1yo, I cut my morning pump but continue to pump two times in office.

Friends in mother's room asked me how long do I plan to pump? I seem to be there forever LOL! I don't know but my plan now is to pump until she's 18mo, then we'll see if she still wants my boobs or not. I believe, weaning her this time won't be as hard as during Eunice's time. But I'll still be sad.

I thank God that I can breastfeed my two girls. They are beautiful girls. I thank God for the supply that He has blessed me with too. Nat grows up healthily. She has less allergy problems as Eunice's hence she doesn't have the frequent flu and cough. She's easier to take care, and she looks more solid with high resistant. Haha!

Breastfeeding, is a mixed feeling. At one point, I yearn for the freedom of myself, but I feel sad thinking my baby is not sticking onto my breasts for comfort too. It's just the same feeling that I had 2 years ago. But I am sure, this time, I'll be able to handle it better. I hope.

It's a tough journey but it's worth it. I am glad that I had great support from hubby to 100% breastfeed my two girls. Some said about being ugly, breasts sagging, no time, tiring, hard to take care, etc etc but I often reply back and said it's all worth it. Just 1-2 yrs of "suffering", and it's for the baby's well being for the whole life. It's surely worth it.

Breastfeeding rocks. I am going to enjoy the last 1/3 of my breastfeeding journey with my little naughty Natalie. I hope she'll love my boobs for a while more. :)

My pretty girl at 1y12d :)

Note: There's a great writeup for breastfeeding here. I got the comics from there. I am sure, those comics bring a smile to any breastfeeding mums. :)

Happy Father's Day!

Weeks before Father's Day, I have been trying to surf up the internet to see what I can do together with Eunice to give her daddy a small present. Many ideas came but in the end, I saw in Eunice's school's weekly report that they have been doing pasting quite a bit, so I'll let her do the same at home.

I use a heart puncher to punch out a lot of small hearts, and let Eunice stick on a big heart that I cut out. It's a secret project. We did it when daddy went to work at night. Oh she loves doing it. In fact, after she finished doing it, she still asked to do the same.

Stick stick stick. Look at her full concentration.

All the little hearts on the big heart. Got her to write I + Daddy.

Ever since she went school, her writing skill has improved a lot. I got her to write I & Daddy but I guess I over-expect on her. Hehehe.. There were still some errors. That's why in the end, I had to cut out the heart and paste it on another piece of paper. And I held her hand lightly to write the words.

It's supposed to be a surprise so I didn't tell Eunice much about it, knowing that she'll sure tell her daddy about it. Well, the next day, the moment she got into the house after EG picked her up from babysitter's place, the first thing she told me was, "Mummy, I want the small heart I sticked one.." Gahh.. no more surprise!

The happy daddy and his card

On the Father's day itself, we baked brownies together. I bought a premix brownies from Aus, which my friend recommended highly. It's super super easy. I only need to mix in melted butter and eggs, and mix mix mix. So I let Eunice do it, well, just action action only. But she surely enjoyed it.

The little girl doing the baking

I poured in the melted butter because it's hot. Then I got her to pour in the eggs. I mixed them together already and I asked her to mix it so she was just playing along. But I can see she's proud. I got her to pour in the chocolate chips as well, and arranged them. Then off into the over it went.

The proud girl posing with her brownies

Needless to say, the brownies was a success. Daddy and the big girl had it together as snack before bed time. And it's best to go with a scoop of ice cream. Yummy!

Happy Father's Day to our hero!

The yummy brownies with ice cream

Happy Father's Day to our hero! 

We love you!

You're the best daddy for us!

The purple dress

Last weekend while we were back to Taiping, we went to Fajar to find some cheap home clothings for Eunice to wear at home. She saw a purple dress, and told me she wanted to try it.

I told her it's not nice but she insisted that it's nice and wanted to try it. Alright, so I brought the dress into the fitting room and let her try it. So, that's how she looked in the dress.

I opened the door and let her daddy, and grandparents have a look of her in the purple dress. Daddy said it's too big for you. She asked, why? Daddy said you're still small. I said you need to eat more rice and grow bigger first. Daddy said, Yea, this dress is for Megan, not you.

Note: Megan is a 6yo girl at her babysitter's place.

So we didn't buy the dress.

She and her purple dress in the fitting room

After that, this whole week she kept mentioning about the dress.

Incident 1:
During dinner, she was eating her rice very fast, and big spoonful too. She told me, "Mummy, see I eat my rice so fast..!" Then I praised her, good girl. Then she finished her rice and told me, "Yay, I finished my rice! I big girl dy! I can wear the purple dress already!"

Incident 2:
I picked her up from babysitter's place and when she saw me at the door, she ran to me shouting "Mummy, today I finished my rice. I big girl already! I can wear the purple dress now!"

Incident 3:
At home, she went toilet herself and wore back her pants herself, and washed her hands herself too. I asked her, "Did you wipe? Did you wash hand?" She said, "Yes, I did. I big girl already, I can wear the purple dress already.."

Geez... EG said there're a few incidents of her mentioning the purple dress when he's with her too. Guess my little girl now has her sense of beauty now.

Now, before going to school, she will request what ribbon or clips to wear on her head. This morning, I asked her if we can just wear a hair band for her because we're late already. She said, "No, mummy.. Today, err.. I want to tie plait!".. Gee, I need to improve my hair tying skills really. I am never a mummy who knows how to deco herself, so now I have two girls that I need to "deco". I guess it's time to learn some skills. :)

Natalie: Bad Hair Day @ 10th Mth

My baby Natalie is now 10 mths old. Oh, she surely keeps me very busy. She's very different from her sister Eunice. But one thing for sure, they are equally manja. Once we raise voice, or if we beat her (lightly - especially when she keeps turning while changing diaper), she'll burst out in loud cry. Sometimes we look at her sternly when she did something that she shouldn't, she'll stare at us with her big eyes, waiting for our next response. If we smile to her, she'll give us her big wide smile, but if we continue to be stern and our voice sounds stern, she'll then cry out loud. :)

Nevertheless, she's still such a darling to us.

I love to see her waking up in the morning. I normally pumped in the room after I get up. Sometimes, she'll wake up when she heard some noise. And I'll see her struggling to sit up, trying hard to open her eyes, and kept making noises - as if she's going to lose any playful opportunity. And the moment she opens her big eyes wide, she'll greet us with her sweetest smile, the toothless smile. Yea, still no sign of tooth at 10 mths. :)

Both my babies have lots of hair, and we never shave them. It's too beautiful to shave their hair. Natalie has more hair than her sister. I managed to capture some of her pics when she woke up 2 days ago. I think she had a bad hair day. It really cheer up my days looking at her pictures. :)

It's not easy to take her pics and she's very very active

Sleepy look? Not really, just because she's moving a lot...

Now she looks awake :)

She and her two favorite fingers, which comfort her most of the time :)

I took a video too. :)

We're going to bring her for a hair cut this weekend. It's cute for her to have so much hair, I know, but I think it's kinda hot and unruly now. But I hope her hair will grow long enough for her birthday party in the next 2 months.

She's such a beautiful baby. :)

My little girl is standing up!

I know I seldom blog about little darling Natalie. My bad. :).. But she has been keeping me very busy when we take care of her ourselves.

Today she achieved another big milestone! She stood up in her playpen with support. :)

23rd March - Standing up with support

She's definitely very different from Eunice. I do think she has lots of my gene! This is what I wrote in my facebook today. EG and Eunice were napping upstair so today it was only me and Nat's time together. :)
  
23 Mar: Doing some ppt slides while leaving the small girl crawling herself, and my little explorer crawled from the living area, to her play area, then to the study room, and crawled out to underneath her high chair, talked to some pest at the corner, and continue to crawl into the oily wet kitchen and got caught out and "quarantined" in playpen.. and while I continue with my ppt slides, from the corner of my eye, I saw my little explorer standing up in her playpen.... :)... @ ~7.5 mths...


Such a cutie! Muakss! :)

Eunice's Love Language

Eunice definitely has her father's gene. She needs assurance, love, hugs, kisses to feel secure. :)

She always wakes up from nap crying, asking her daddy to hug her or carry her. Initially we gave in, but after a while she's getting overboard so we have been telling her she cannot cry after she wakes up, else we'll scold her or even beat her. If she needs a hug, just tell us and we'll give her. Don't cry. We told her not to cry before she sleeps, and will really keep to our words - No carry or hug until she stops crying. And if she gets overboard, she'll meet Mr Cane.

So, she has been quite good. But at times, cane will come out.

And after the whole incident was over, and everyone is already in happy happy mood. While we're going for dinner, in the car, she asked EG.

Eunice: Daddy, you love me or not?
EG: Of course I love you..
Eunice: Then just now when I cried why you no love me?
EG: (preaching mode on....)

It also happened before that after a big scolding from EG, after everything settles and everyone in lovey-dovey mode, Eunice will ask her daddy again..
Eunice: Daddy, you like me or not?
EG: Of course I like you. As long as you are a good girl and don't cry :)
Then hug hug..... :)

Wahahahaha! Hug, is my Eunice's love language. :)

Eunice is 3!

Eunice is 3 years old! How time flies.
EG and I always think she's growing up so fast, and she's such a big girl already. Last year when she's only 2 years old, she still look baby-ish, but now, look at her, she's growing up so fast and she's a big girl now. :)

I have been thinking about her birthday months ago. After thinking for a long time, we decided to have her party with her friends in her babysitter's place, rather than having me inviting my friends for her party - which she might not enjoy in the end. I am glad that my babysitter allowed us to do that. :).

My previous baker who baked Eunice's 1st & 2nd birthday cake couldn't bake for me this year because she's too busy with work. Hence, I got a recommendation from another friend. And EG has been telling me to have a totoro cake for her. It's one of her favorite cartoons. We had a very simple party at 5pm, all children already had their dinner. Hence it's just eating the cakes, and having some drinks and jelly, oh ya, and of course singing the birthday song. Eunice loves it. She still mentioned about it once a while that Bryan took the totoro's ears, and Jayden blew the candles, etc. :)

On the first day of CNY, my parents in law also bought a cake for Eunice for a simple cake cutting and birthday song singing session in Taiping.

And we went back to Miri for CNY this year. My sister bought cupcakes for her beloved niece. She has been asking Eunice if she wants a nemo cake or a garfield cake. But Eunice will give different answer everytime. Hence, my sister asked the baker to make 6 nemo theme cupcakes, and 6 garfield theme cupcakes. Gosh, my girl's eyes just went BLINK BLINK when she saw the cake! :). And in the few days in Miri, she just kept mentioned MY garfield cake, and MY nemo cake. I guess she's really a happy girl.

For a 3yo girl to have 3 different birthday parties, I think she's too spoiled. Hahaha! A friend commented that it's like a wedding! Having parties in different places. Anyway, at 3yo now, she has her memory and I am glad that all her grandparents could celebrate her birthday with her this round.

Totoro cake with her friends

Nemo and Garfield cupcakes by yiyi

Happy Birthday my little big girl! We love you very very much. :)