Adventures of The Little Milk Monsters

Sucking her thumb - The Solution!

2012-02-07T04:39:00.000+08:00

Emma keeps sucking her thumb til it has blisters. We tried putting on mittens, socks and she has learnt to pull them all off (and she throws them out of her cot!). So Tri (our maid) came up with this brilliant idea. She sewed adult sized socks to Emma's night time tee shirts!!! Now... try taking THAT off!!

Ten months old

2011-12-01T07:26:00.000+08:00

Emma hit the 8kg mark finally. I haven't really been weighing her as much as before. I figured that she is eating well (yes, lumpy, age appropriate food like pasta, bread and porridge ), growing well (teeth coming out, eyes bright, can crawl forward quickly, can stand unassisted for a short while, respond to action requests like "bye!" etc, there isn't any cause for concern.

I took some time the other day to teach her that she can pick up the delicious geber puffs with her fingers and place them in her mouth. She finally did it!

Toilet training has been smooth so far, when we see her face turn pink and she makes the em! Em! sounds, we bring her to the potty. Otherwise, we just put heron the potty routinely after breaky.

Emma loves swimming so when ever I get the chance, I will bring her into the water with her neck float. Last Sat, I got invited by a good friend, Theresia, to the Raffles Town club spa suite! Wonderful hotel room with a jacuzzi in the room! Travis n Emma had a lot if fun in the warm tub! She wasn't afraid of the bubbles from the jacuzzi either!

Watch her as she grows! hoping that I can complete her First year photobook by her birthday in Jan.

Emma slept in her own room last night

2011-12-01T07:07:00.000+08:00

Emma has been sleeping in our room (in her cot) fo ten months. Once she is asleep, we have to open the door carefully, tip toe to grab our stuff and close the door behind us silently. Lead we n I can't even use our own attached bathroom for showers. We have been using Travis' bathroom th last ten months! Lol!

It was time to RECLAIM our bedroom. I moved Emma's cot into the last bedroom in the house last evening. I put her in the cot and she rolled around in it happily. I left the room and closed th door behind me. No sound from Emma. Fiv minutes later, I stood outside the door to listen in. Silence.

And so she slept there for the night!

And since Travis slept in his own room as well, lead we and I could watch TV in our room again for the first time in many months!

Bliss!!!

7.885 Kg finally

2011-10-21T02:46:00.000+08:00

Her weight was stagnant for almost two months hovering at 7.2kg-7.4kg for the longest longest time. With 700ml of milk a day and three full meals, Emma has really grown... and I am pleased. =)

Emma hates her Pasta

2011-10-21T02:38:00.001+08:00

Think she hates chewing. She kept spitting it out... maybe its tasteless, or fishy (we mashed fish and added it into the pasta meal). I gotta keep trying out new menus and hopefully she starts eating more lumpy food which is age appropriate.

Emma the Gemma

2011-09-16T01:00:00.001+08:00

Travis' little sister - Emma finally reaches the 8th month milestone yesterday. Weighing 7.2kg, measuring 71cm. She sits very comfortably and has started to crawl a little! Emma has two bottom teeth at the moment and a third one is growing out very soon. She loves to eat her purees and hates to drink from the bottle as she prefers to be breast-fed. I cannot believe that I have managed to breast feed this little milk monster for 8 months!! I did think that 6 months would have been more than enough. We saved on buying milk powder for the last 8 months.

Feeling charged up, i decided to make her a black and white polka dot dress today. She will wear it for this Saturday's party ("Liwei's ex colleague Alex's 5 yr old son's birthday"). The dress turned out to be a hit with my friends on FB.

Oh well, I should really keep up with blogging. Been very busy and its very hard to find time when I am looking after two milk monsters. =) Ciao!

Mami B

Sleeping without diapers

2010-12-15T07:37:00.000+08:00

The LMM has been off diapers for many months now. To his credit, he has never once wet his bed since we removed the night diapers. I have now XL (opened pack) and XXL (unopened) pack of mamapoko diapers in the store.

But two nights ago, he did wet his pants. Just a little. When I asked him the obvious... here's the reply

LMM : "I spilled water only lah"
Mami : "Really? Where did the water come from?"
LMM : "From my stomach."

The Story of the Pencil and the Eraser

2010-11-02T14:38:00.002+08:00

Dear all,

Encourage you to read it and be thankful, pls.

*Pencil:* I'm sorry

*Eraser: *For what? You didn't do anything wrong.

*Pencil:* I'm sorry cos you get hurt bcos of me.

Whenever I made a mistake, you're always there to erase it. But as you make my mistakes vanish, you lose a part of yourself. You get smaller and smaller each time.

*Eraser: * That's true. But I don't really mind.

You see, I was made to do this. I was made to help you whenever you do something wrong. Even though one day, I know I'll be gone and you'll replace me with a new one, I'm actually happy with my job. So please, stop worrying. I hate seeing you sad.

I found this conversation between the pencil and the eraser very inspirational. Parents are like the eraser whereas their children are the pencil. They're always there for their children, cleaning up their mistakes. Sometimes along the way... they get hurt, and become smaller (older,and eventually pass on). Though their children will eventually find someone new (spouse), but parents are still happy with what they do for their children, and will always hate seeing their precious ones worrying, or sad.

"All my life, I've been the pencil.. And it pains me to see the eraser, that is, my parents getting smaller and smaller each day. For I know that one day, all that I'm left with would be eraser shavings and memories of what I used to have..."

This is to all the parents out there...cheers!

Travis' 3rd Birthday

2010-10-20T16:34:00.000+08:00

Travis really loves birthday parties. On the morning of his birthday party, he woke up and asked,"is it my birthday?" He walked into the living room and saw that we hung a banner shouting "Happy Birthday" and some balloons along the sides of the banner. Not satisfied with the decoration, he said,"These balloons are not enough.."

So as usual, we went down to Bez Balloon at Ubi to buy his helium balloons. We bought 18 helium balloons ($1 each), 7 pet walkers ($5 each) and the balloon auntie Joy gave travis a free Garfield balloon + a whole packet of new balloons. Paid $50+ for everything and went off in our car filled with the balloons.

Balloons really set the party mood. Just by adding these colourful balloons, the living hall looks more vibrant and party-ready.

My mum bought a Barney cake from Angie's the Choice for Travis and Liwei's mum cooked all the food for the party herself. She made mee siam, roast pork, sliced fruits, fried rice for the guests.

For this party, we invited about 6-7 little guests with their parents, hoping that the kids will have a good time playing with each other.

Travis really enjoyed the candle blowing and cake cutting part of the program. Beaming throughout the happy birthday song.

We were exhausted at the end of the party. But for the little birthday boy, the party just started because he gets to play with all the left over balloons after the guests have left. He hugged a red balloon to bed that night.

Turning THREE

2010-09-15T16:52:00.000+08:00

The LMM is turning three this month. Just two more weekends to his birthday party. I spent some time reviewing all his videos yesterday afternoon. Videos of the LMM on the first day he was born all the way to more recent times. I felt sad after watching the videos.

From the videos, I recalled the times his cries were a lot more feeble, the times when he couldn't even flip over, the times when he tries to crawl unsuccessfully to daddy, the times where he could only walk with assistance, the times where he blabbered only one or two words at a time.

Those times seemed to have gone by in the twinkling of an eye. He is now dashing about the house, hitting the drums, the cymbal, drawing on his bed sheets, demanding for his big biscuits, refusing his milk, always asking,"we go where?? where are we going???" & "Why??"...

But I also believe that one day, when he grows up, calls home and tells me,"Mum, I am not coming back for dinner tonight.", I will also feel sad and miss the times he calls out to me for everything that he needs.

Happy Birthday Travis. Happy 3rd Birthday.

Mami Bel

Beat the doctor

2010-09-07T19:36:00.002+08:00

‎"Travis, it was the doctor that pushed you out of mummy's tummy."

Travis: "I wanna beat the doctor."

"Why?"

Travis: "cos he's naughty. He pushed me!"

美人鱼

2010-09-07T19:35:00.004+08:00

天乐："这是什么？＂

爸爸："这是美人鱼。＂

天："有尾巴吗？＂

爸："有。＂

天："我要吃！＂ (~_~;)

I "tah jia"!!

2010-09-03T11:18:00.000+08:00

The LMM has been asked to sit in the Thinking Chair in school.
I asked the LMM why.
He replied,"Someone hit me, so I hit my friend."
He paused for a little while and smirked,"I tah jia!"

Faint.

Could it be the Ip Man advertisement he has been watching?
He would shout,"Ye Wen, Yong Chuen! Yen Wen, Yong Chuen!" while throwing punches in the air with his short arms.

So much to teach this little monster. sigh.

The Little Negotiator...

2010-08-30T16:16:00.000+08:00

Travis seemed to have grown up very quickly. He is only turning 3 years old next month.

During dinner, when offered a bit of water, he would try to gulp down the entire glass. We wouldn't let him for fear that he might be too full from the water and would not have appetite for the food. His response:"Wait I fall sick how? I don't drink water I will fall sick you know?"

He loves to use papa & mama's toilet bowl. We want him to use his own. There was once, I smelled cigarette smoke in his toilet (must be from the neighbour upstairs) so I quickly pulled him out of the toilet and offered him the use of my own toilet. The next day, when he wanted to go to the toilet, he headed straight to my toilet. When I asked him to use his own toilet, he said,"Got smoke leh! Got smoke how?"

Oranges are his favourite. He would declare loudly,"Mama, I have no cough." When I nod my head, he continues,"So I can eat orange?"

He is also a druggie so he loves medicine. He saw his grandfather's medicine on the dining table once and he started to cough very loudly. "I sick leh...I need to take medicine."

When we slap his leg for being disobedient, he would examine his leg very carefully before whining,"I need to see doctor. Got blood already. I am injured."

Daddy's Mini-Me

2010-04-22T17:44:00.000+08:00

I particularly love this series of photos. Both of them really look like versions of each other.

Let's Fly Kites!

2010-02-28T14:46:00.000+08:00

Its been ages since I flew a kite. I almost forgot the joy of getting the kite up in the air and the

pleasurable challenge of flying the kite higher and higher, that we'll want never stop til the string finishes.

Saturday Evening 5:30pm. Sengkang - the land of kites.

When we reached there, I was astounded by the breathtaking view of hundreds of kites flying in

the air. There were fish kites, bat kites, smile face kites and this giant sotong kite which was more than 6 storeys tall!

Travis tugged and the strings and watched in amazement as his kite took off to the air.

"What's this.....?"

2010-02-02T03:48:00.000+08:00

Questions.

We've always wondered when the LMM would enter the Questions phase. We always thought of Questions he would ask and how we would answer and how he would ask "Why?" again to that answer.

The Questions have started.

The LMM would now ask us Questions in the same manner we ask him Questions. He then answers his own Questions. He is asking for the sake of asking.

For example, when the LMM sees the housekeeper Marilou washing the dishes, he asks,"Who wash the dish? Who? .... Auntie!"

When he sees a new toy,"Who buy this? Who? ..... Mami buy!"
When he sees something he knows,"What's this...? Phone, yes? Phone!"

Soon. Soon we'll get the WHYs from him.

Travis' School Year End Party

2009-12-24T15:56:00.000+08:00

Travis and his classmates performing the song - "Mami, Mami, I Love You" waving the paper hearts in their hands and dancing to the tune. The LMM seemed to know all the moves and was happily singing along.

The school's principal handed Travis a paper bag with his photo on it. Inside the bag was a CD of all the wonderful pictures he took in while in school!

No party would be complete without the hotdogs, sweet drinks, cakes and biscuits.... here's a picture of

Brennan and Travis enjoying their party fare in a little corner...

Spiffy Dresser

2009-12-02T21:09:00.003+08:00

I like dressing him up. I take pains to make sure he's well co-ordinated from top-to-toe to go to school, to the library, to the malls, to where ever we take him. The clothes really last a long time as we usually get him stuff for bigger boys, and let him grow into them. It's different for shoes though. Too big and he'll trip over them, too small and we worry that he'll get blisters. Feet really do grow a fair bit at this age. Come to think of it, it's probably time to buy him shoes again.

Travis Cooks a Chicken

2009-11-05T13:59:00.001+08:00

2 year old little milk monster enjoys role-playing. His favourite past-time seems to be cooking. Wonder who bot those girly toys for him...hm....

Anyway, this morning, he wanted to cook a chicken dish for Papa.

LMM : "Papa, want eat chicken?"

Papa: "Yes"

LMM: "Wait arh..." (Singlish!?!?)

Papa: "Ok"

LMM takes the plastic chicken part and puts it in the pot, covers the pot and starts shaking it hard. He then opens the pot's cover and exclaims,"Wah!"

He transfers the chicken from the pot to a plate using a ladle (that yellow one in the picture without the handle!) and tells papa:"Wait arh..I make hot".

He walks over to his imaginary microwave and places the plate of chicken on the table," Tee Tee Tee...ok..."

Then he asks Papa,"You want CHILI??"

September is the Month of Birthdays!!

2009-10-01T04:01:00.011+08:00

As the year trudges along, I always look forward to September. The 22nd day is Papa's birthday and the 29th day is the LMM's birthday.On 22nd Sept, we celebrated Pap's birthday at Fort Canning's Jewel Box - a treehouse styled Chinese restaurant named Empress Jade. Food was fabulous. The LMM helped Papa blow out the candle as a dry run for his own birthday a week later.

On 26th September (Sat), we held a kids birthday party at the breakfast patio of our home. With unstructured toys and games strewn all over the party ground, the 2-3 year olds had a lot of fun chasing giant bubbles, getting in and out of the castle and farmhouse, fishing from a pond, taking ballon animals for walks, eating children's fried rice, biscuits and cakes. The adults have a hearty local meal of mee siam and chicken wings. (photos to be uploaded later)

In play school, Travis had yet another celebration on

his actual birthday 29th Sep (Tue).

More cakes!!!

And finally, we had a small party in the evening in the comfort of our home to celebrate the LMM's birthday AGAIN!! =)

The Little Milk Monster's New Den

2009-08-13T15:52:00.006+08:00

And so we have finally moved to our new place. The LMM certainly has more running space now and even has his own room. He couldn't sleep on the first night we moved in (1st Aug). He fussed around until 1am. And then it was mami's turn not to be able to sleep. It took us couple of days to get used to the new place.

It's Mine!!

2009-07-28T07:15:00.002+08:00

Like Mami, Travis also loves shoes. He's got better taste tho! This time, he picked daddy's Ferragamos to wear during his Uncle's wedding.

Fascination with Mirrors 21 months

2009-07-28T07:08:00.004+08:00

People say he takes after daddy.. some say he takes after me. I think the pictures tell you the truth. Ha. The LMM loves the mirror. When he dresses up with a new cap, or ...erm frog... he race to the mirror to check out how he looks. And after appraising himself, he may even say,"mei!" (*Pretty*)

I like Mama

2009-06-18T06:01:00.002+08:00

The 20 months old LMM finally said something really touching yesterday...

I came back from work and he hugged my legs, then said to me grinning,"I like mama.....Tian Le like mama"
Hearing those cute little words come out from his mouth really made me feel like crying.

Mami Bel

Words and Counting....

2009-05-29T23:04:00.003+08:00

The LMM started stringing words together a couple of months ago.. maybe at about 16-18 months.
He particularly like words like Big, Small (yes, he can differentiate sizes), Cut, Make, Cook, Knock, Mama, Papa, Ye Ye, Nai Nai, Milk, Duck, Fish (he also says Yu...). So he form sentences like:

"Cut Fish Cook Nai Nai"
"Cut Duck Cook Nai Nai"
....erm he actually means Nai Nai cuts and cooks the items.

LMM : "Big Yu"
Mami: "No, Travis, say Big Fish ... Da Yu..."
LMM: "Small Yu"
Mami : "sigh..."

Pointing at my pillow, he says,"Big Orgh Orgh..." and pointing at his pillow, he says, "Small Orgh Orgh"

And on his method of counting, hm..i really don't know. He skipped pure numbers and jumped right into algebra: "One, Too, Four, Oh, Bee, Five, Aee..."

Then, when asked "who did this????" (something bad like mess up the table, drawing on the sofa, spitting saliva on the floor)
The LMM never fails to reply,"Ye Ye"

Mum Got Left Behind!!!

2009-05-24T23:09:00.002+08:00

Yes, I must admit that I haven't been blogging for so long!! Blame it on the on-going renovations lah... Just thinking about the selection process for the tiles and laminates is enough to set off a spinning headache.

The key reason why I'm blogging tonight is because the funniest thing happened today.

We drove to KBG MRT station, parked our car and took the train to Tampines One (our first sua-ku trip there). After an hour at the place, we took the MRT back to KBG to pick up the car and bring LMM back to Grandma house for lunch. It was an absolutely HOT day, so Mami and the LMM walked to the sheltered bus stop while poor Daddy walks a further distance to get the parked car. When he arrived to pick us, I put my bag in the passenger seat and then the LMM in the car seat while Daddy came out to put the pram in the boot. In the HEAT of the moment, after hearing the car door slam (that was mami closing the door after packing the LMM in the car seat), he... drove off!!!!

"Hey!!! Hey!!!" cried out poor mami Bel.

It was so hilarious I broke out in laughter at the bus-stop, amidst the weirdest stares.

As it happens, in the car, Daddy was asking Mami (who wasn't in the car) whether the aircon is cold enough or not. Not getting a reply, he looked at the back seat and realised to his horror that Mami wasn't there!! He asked LMM,"Ma Ma where???" The LMM said, "Ma Ma no more..."

And they drove back to the bus stop to pick mami up.

When Mami got on the car, both the LMM and the papa were laughing hysterically. Hilarious.

mami bel

The Zoo! The Zoo!

2009-03-15T22:45:00.004+08:00

This time, we went PREPARED! Mami Bel even made a list of things to bring the night before:

Coleman filled with ice cubes and water
Bread for a hungry baby
2 Huge Packets of Rice with Chili Sotong, Mussels, Beef Rendang, Long beans.
Travis' Milk
Travis' lunch

Travis eating the bread in the trolley (available for rental at the entrance S$15)

Travis pictured here with Mami Bel

....and here with Daddy.

Things we must bring (also) the next trip:

1. Mosquito repellent

2. Umbrella and Hats

3. Swimming costume and Change of Clothing*

* We kinda knew that there was a new wetpark at the zoo but it completely slipped our minds to bring swimming costumes or even another set of clothing. This wet park beats the IMM one in size and variety. We'll be back with a vengence!!!

Travis the Fish Monger...

2009-03-15T22:31:00.005+08:00

We have bought the LMM numerous toys and none can compare to a simple masak masak set which we got from Kiddy Palace for less than S$20. It comprises of a knife (see the above), lots of food which are pre-cut and joined together by a velcro tape. When you slice the food item using the knife, the velcro gives you the crisp cutting sound. Quite realistic if you ask me. So here we have the LMM cutting fish early in the morning while waiting for Mami to make him his milk. He always shouts with a smirk on his face:"FISH! FISH! CUT! CUT!"

Belated 2009 CNY Photos!

2009-03-15T22:13:00.007+08:00

Yes, it's March and I'm uploading CNY photos..hahaha...

Better late than never.

Enjoy!

He Talks!

2009-02-27T01:52:00.002+08:00

Verbal communication with the LMM has moved to a higher level.

Morning:

Travis: "Murk! Murk!"

Mami Bel: "It's Mi-elk, MILK, not Murk!"

After milk....

Mami Bel: " You want Oats? Oats?"

Travis: shakes head and says "Cheeze! Cheeze!" trying to pry open the fridge persistently

After eating Oats (Mami asks for fun. He always has to eat his oats anyway.)...

Travis: "Papa!"

Mami: "Papa is sleeping dear."

Travis: "Papa!" ignores Mami and walks to the bed and tries to climb into it

After everyone ate breakfast

Travis: "Park! Park!"

Mami: " ok, pack your toys"

Travis: walks over and puts his things into the toy box, places the storybooks on the side table

and then heads to the shoe cabinet to look for his shoes

Amazing!

The Playground (aka by LMM as "Park!")

2009-02-19T23:34:00.003+08:00

Every weekend morning, we'll take the LMM to the park to give him a good workout. He climbs the steps, sits the slide, chases the birds, picks up the leaves and talks to the other children at the playground.

This is the only way to tire him out without tiring ourselves out for now.

Mami bel

2008 Day out with Grandpa and Grandma

2009-02-19T22:57:00.010+08:00

We started the afternoon with porridge at Maxwell Market.

Then we went to Vivo City. Travis pictured here with Mami and Grandpa. In case you are wondering where in Vivo is this.. its Toys'R'us... where else????

Tired of pulling toys out of the LMM's hands, we went for a coffee break.

Then the LMM feel into a deep slumber...

Like this......snore.....

And we cheered....!

Grandpa posing with a Zara scarf with Grandma ;) How sweet....

Reported by Mami Bel

This post was meant to be published in Nov last year (pardon the huge lag in updating this blog!!!)

Grandma's Birthday

2009-02-19T22:50:00.004+08:00

We celebrated Grandma's 55th Birthday at Crystal Jade Suntec on 15th Feb 09 (Sunday). The LMM called everyone by their "hokkien ranks" :

Edmund - "GuGu"

Chris - "YeeYee"

Grandma - "MaMa"

We feasted on pig's liver & kidney, the 3-egg spinach, wanton shrimp noodles, roast pork and soya chicken, siew mai, har gao, etc.

LMM's Trip to Hort Park

2009-01-28T09:53:00.003+08:00

Pictured here with Mami Bel

One advise: Bring lots of water and go at 5 pm when the sun is setting. It can get pretty hot.

The Hort Park offers children numerous pockets of play areas and playgrounds with different themes. We spent most of our time at this windmill garden because the LMM was mesmerized by the spinning flowers. The playground opposite this garden also proved to be a lot of fun. The LMM showed us that he can play on the slide all by himself this time!

The LMM on the slide

IMM Water Park

2009-01-28T09:47:00.005+08:00

Auntie Vernice and Uncle Eujon highly recommended this water park but warned that we will all get SOAKING WET. Undeterred, we brought the LMM to IMM armed with an extra sets of clothes for all of us and a large towel. And the verdict? HOURS and HOURS of GOOD, WILD, WET FUN!!!!!!!

Meal Options at 15 months

2008-12-30T08:17:00.008+08:00

For a 15 month, 6 teeth baby like the LMM, meal options have expanded a lot more compared with say 4 months ago.

Breakfast
Milk 180ml and either of the following:
Oats and banana
Wholemeal Bread and butter
Hawker fare (once in a while) : Chui Cheong Fan without sauces, Beancurd without sugar
Pancakes with/without butter
White noodle pancake without the coconut and orange sugar

Lunch and Dinner
Either of the following, fruits and then milk 180ml:
Porridge with meat and vege/roots
Pasta with meat, vege/roots and cheese
Kuay teow with meat and vege/roots
Rice with meat and vege

Meat options: minced or finely chopped chicken, pork, beef, lamb
Vege options: Spinach, broccoli, taiwan chye, cauliflower, french beans
Roots (or non-greens) options: Potato, Sweet potato, Carrots , pumpkin
Pasta options: ABCs, shells, twisties, etc.
Cheese: I use the laughing cow cream cheese. It's most yummy!
Fruit options: Grapes, apples, pear, banana, kiwi, oranges, dragon fruit

Snacks
Mini Animal biscuits at Marks and Spencers
Japanese children biscuits

15 months and on...

2008-12-28T23:39:00.002+08:00

The LMM is reaching the 15 month milestone tomorrow. It's been an incredible journey thus far. Today, he showed us that he could dunk a ball into his basketball rim. He did it with such smugness, it was so funny. Its the same yesterday when he was playing Adelle's (a good friend's daughter) toy piano. He played a couple of notes, then paused for applause before he played more. I think he is really enjoying the attention he is getting from performing these tasks. More than before, he is really saying,"Hey Mum, Hey Dad, watch me!!! I can do this! And this!"

We hope to be able to teach him to say "Thank You" and "Please" next. He's been asking for things by putting his thumb and second finger together, pointing to the object of desire and then whining.

We notice that the LMM whines (and cries) a lot. He whines when he does not get what he wants. He whines when no one's paying attention to him. Hopefully, when he is able to communicate a bit more, the whining will go away.

I can see his seventh tooth coming out (bottom left). Think the itch's getting to him. He'll grab my finger at any opportunity and stuff it into his mouth and YES, he bites it really hard.

14 Months

2008-12-11T23:19:00.002+08:00

Time really whizzes by when you have a little one like my LMM. Its been 14 joyful months.

The LMM can say quite a few words:

Mama

Papa

Ye Ye (grandpa)

My My (our housekeeper Marilou)

Car car

Ball

Gai Gai (Go out)

Ply ("APPLY" he will say it when he sees that I am taking out his rash balm)

He can also understand words such as:

Light (looks up at the ceiling)

Fan (looks up at the ceiling and swirls his finger)

Hair (Starts pulling his hair out)

Nose (touches)

Eye (touches)

Mouth (touches)

Umbrella (he needs this when he is going gai gai. Refusal by the adult to bring it along is dangerous... he DEMANDS it and it doesn't need to be a rainy day)

He can also follow instructions:

Sit down

Go Em Em or She She (toilet)

Eat

Clap hand

Bye Bye (the waves and blows kisses)

Give to Mama/Papa

He can also :

Dance (esp to Ellen Degeneres' morning show and his fav children songs)

Bounce the ball

Kick the ball around

Demand to be fed whatever we are eating (putting his thumb and fingers together, he points to the food we are holding on to)

Drink from a straw

He loves to:

Hug other children and cries when he gets rejected

Suck his fist and fingers

Stuff his little fingers up our unsuspecting noses

I wonder what he'll do next..its like a little adventure unfolding once again.

Perth Road Trip

2008-12-08T21:51:00.022+08:00

Chocolate Overload at the Margaret River Chocolate Factory

Sunflower Farm, Margaret River (A$8 per adult, A$3 per bucket of feed). The LMM and Mami sayang-ed a baby lamb and a baby goat in the farm enclosure. The baby goat was eyeing the food bucket Mami was carrying and got pretty aggressive trying to get the vege in the bucket. Dad had to come into the enclosure to help separate the baby goat from Mami. Other animals we tried to feed include ducks, kangaroos, lambs, rabbits a rather fierce emu and a silly looking llama. The llama was a really fussy eater. Didn't like anything we gave him so we fed the leftovers to who else, but the black PIGS!! We didn't feed the large horsey. We were convinced that our fingers wouldn't survive a snap of its jaw.

Voyager Estate, Margaret River. This is the best lunch we had in our entire trip. A$100 bought us a lamb and beef (see below) main and absolutely great wine! We bought a bottle back to Sg.

The Voyager Estate has wonderfully manicured lawns. After lunch, we let the LMM run loose on the grounds. We sat there, enjoying the sun, and the super cool weather.

The Jewel Cave (A$19 per adult). Loads of stairs to climb, narrow walk ways.. but we made it!!! We took turns to carry the 9.5kg Travis. There was a part where the guide turned off all the lights in the cave to let us experience complete darkness and silence. Travis cooperated and didn't make a single sound!

Back at Isaac's Ridge. It's dinner time again. The corn we bought at the supermarket was extremely sweet. This picture's taken on our last night in Margaret River before we made our way up north to Perth. We knew that we'll miss this place. Lead We cooked all these food for Mami.

The Aquarium of Western Australia, Perth City. This is Australia's largest aquarium and underwater tunnel. We saw lots of giant sharks, rays and really huge turtles.
Travis learns to feed himself during this trip. Maybe its because we aren't as fussy about keeping the floor CLEAN at all times. So he gets a lot of practice.

Travis at the Fremantle Markets. Pictured here touching a sheep skin carpet. The market reminded us of the night markets in Bangkok. The fruits and vegetables looked extremely fresh. I would even say beautiful.

This picture's one of the last few we took in Australia, at the pier in Fremantle, after a hearty meal of Fish and Chips at the famous Cicerello's.

Preparing for Perth

2008-10-23T05:14:00.002+08:00

Oh no.. we have only couple more days before we fly off at 1 am next Wed. Looking at the growing list of things to bring, it seems like we have an awful lot to carry to Perth - stroller (thank God we decided not to bring our own car seat), tin of LMM milk, Papa's camera things including a tripod, then there's the LMM's potty, a whole stack of diapers (he uses 5 a day so we need at least 60 pieces), numerous milk bottles, a baby carrier and everyone's clothes...

Speaking of clothes, not sure if you belong to the "buy new clothes before a trip" category. I am damn sure Lead We doesn't belong there but his mum and my mum and I do. And so while I'm planning what to bring and yes...what to wear, I also jotted down a short list (hopefully it stays vertically challenged) of new must-haves ;)

This will be the very first trip with the LMM. We are a little apprehensive about how the trip will turn out with the LMM around but guess its always harder the first time round.. then you get seasoned. He just turned one and eats easy (bread, fruits, rice, vege, meat). There should be alot of babyfood available in Perth but even if I don't manage to get any on the first day, the LMM should be able to survive on some of our adult meals. We'll keep feeding him bread and fruits hahaha..

And so the accommodations have been booked. We stay a night at Denmark in a Ocean front chalet called Surf's Up (along Ocean Beach Rd), we stay 2 nights in a Pemberton farm parked in the middle of the Karri forests, we stay 3 nights in Magaret River and finally, we stay 4 nights in Perth City in Aaron All Suites... all the selected accommodations come with full kitchens for preparing the LMM's meals.

I also managed to buy the Aussie dollar we required for the trip at just 95.6 Singapore Cents to a Aussie Dollar. So everything there is at a discount to our currency. There seemed to be a shortage of Aussie notes in Singapore. I later found out that all the money changers bought their notes at a high of 1.2 - 1.3 and were reluctant to change them out at the current parity rates. So they kept all the notes, telling customers that they don't have Aussie. Thank God my bank has some stock and the relationship manager reserved some for us.

The next thing I need to do is to research on all the highly recommended restaurants in all the places we'll be visiting since food is a priority in any of our overseas trips. Hope to do some trout fishing (and have that fish cooked for lunch or dinner or heck, a snack), try that marron thing which seems to be the local flavour seafood, eat plenty of Albany Rock Oysters and all its cousins/relatives, drink plenty of wine (who's taking care of Travis??) and beer, Ostrich steaks. This trip I hope to be brave enough touch a goat, or a pig at the farm, touch that live fish and feed a lamb.. yieks, maybe I should pack my golf gloves along.

12 months onwards...

2008-09-30T23:23:00.003+08:00

From what I read, there are a couple of things to note when the LMM turns 12 months:
1. We should encourage him to drink his milk from the beaker - I did that for a while but found feeding him milk via the bottle most convenient. Ok, noted.. I will try to introduce the beaker at breakfast time tomorrow.
2. He can finally eat egg whites, peanuts, fish - He is already ok with fish. I am abit apprehensive about egg whites and I am super apprehensive about getting him to eat peanuts. Think we will hold this back til he is 1.5years old at least.
3. He can drink Enfalac's stage 3 milk (which costs just S$28 per tin!! Yeah!!!!)
4. He should be able to go to bed by himself -I imagined this to be a challenge but I tried that today. All the while, I have been putting him on our queen size bed during bed time, surrounding him with the pillows, letting him roll around, whine, etc until he falls asleep. During the whole time, I will be lying down on the bed, keeping real quiet. After he falls asleep, I transfer him to the cot which is positioned next to my bed. I have been doing that for at least a couple of months now... today, i tried to do the same with the only big difference: I put the LMM in his cot with one of my pillows to simulate a familiar environment while I lie on my bed (next to the cot). I still keep real quiet. He protests and stands up with the help of the cot railings. I told him to go to bed and I pat the pillow. I told him once. After that, I kept quiet. He mulled and rolled around in the cot, just like he would do on the queen size bed. Then, I noticed that he got sleepier and sleepier.. and i left the room. He never made a fuss . Guess he fell asleep shortly after. ;) Nice.

Little Milk Monster turns ONE!

2008-09-30T23:03:00.003+08:00

As the LMM's actual birthday 29th Sept 2008 falls on a Monday, we had 2 mini celebrations for the LMM on Sat and Sun. One at my mami's home and the other one at Fisherman Village with Leadwe's family.

27 Sept 2008 : Sat Celebration at MaMa House:
Mama and Grand-dad made popiah for lunch. It was super spicy and delicious (ha.. anything that is spicy is good for LMM's Mami). MaMa bought so many presents for the LMM. A pair of sandals, a pair of shoes, a huge blue pony (which the LMM was terrified of for a couple of days), beach toys, Ang Pow. She also bought him a HUGE durian cake which we all enjoyed eating. Yes, LMM ate some as well. Its his birthday lah... Gina (Ford), give him a break! Thanks MaMa, Thanks Grand-dad!

28 Sept 2008 : Sun Celebration at Fisherman:
NaiNai and YeYe, Shen Shen (Lee Lee) and Shu Shu (Lixuan) were all there to celebrate his birthday! The owner of the restaurant is NaiNai's BFF (Best Friend Forever in case you don't know, its a hip term I learnt on radio what Paris Hilton uses for her BFFs) and she gave the LMM an Ang Pow as well. Shen Shen and Shu Shu bot the LMM a basketball rim and a basket ball. Yes, he loves BALLS and he has LOADS of balls. You name it, he has it.. basketball, soccer ball, rubgy ball, blue ball, pink ball, big ball, small ball etc etc..... Ye Ye and Nai Nai bot him a nice baby bicycle. He always looks so smug when he rides that bicycle. ;) Mami and Dadi bot a nice black forest cake for the celebration. The LMM was so intrigued by the little flame on the single candle...that helped when we were taking photos. Although he didn't know how to blow out the candles, he managed to hold the knife (with Mami of coz) to cut his own birthday cake.

Thanks Nai Nai, Ye Ye, Shen Shen & Shu Shu!

Mami and Daddy Presents:
Frankly, we ran out of ideas of what to get him. We bot him another soccer ball because we figured that he loves balls anyway. Then Mami saw a lego school bus and she bot that too. And then she saw a nice pair of Crocs sandals and she bot that too... ;)

Other lovely presents:
Auntie Felicia bot the LMM the famous fabric book - Counting Numbers.Its the very book I have deliberated whether to buy for so long coz its so damn expensive - $74.... Thanks Auntie Fel!!!

Auntie Shervone bot the LMM a cute squashy red van - he loves anything with wheels so its now his HFT (Hot Favorite Toy) during breakfast time. Thanks Auntie Shervone!

Papa's Birthday

2008-09-26T00:37:00.004+08:00

Papa turned 32 on 22nd Sept 2008. We celebrated his birthday at Nai Nai's house with a yummy chocolate banana cake from Awfully Chocolate!

The LMM goes to SENTOSA!

2008-09-25T23:26:00.009+08:00

We brought the little milk monster to the butterfly park and Underwater world today. We didn't expect a visit to Sentosa would be this fun! Gong Gong met us at the entrance of the butterfly park at 10.30am this morning. The LMM was captivated by the water fountain outside the park. Inside the butterfly park ($10 per adult), we saw many different types of butterflies. Travis touched a crumpled one resting on a flower. I figured that this butterfly just came out of its cocoon. Hence the crumpled wings.

While Gong Gong continued to take more pictures of butterflies, Travis savoured his lamb porridge in air-conditioned comfort of the insect exhibition area.

After a meal at one of the eateries, Gong Gong decided to head back home. We wanted to go home as well (it was so so hot!!!), but we decided to head to the beach, hopefully the LMM would take a nap and we could catch up with some newspapers, cold drinks, maybe a nap as well.. and we did just that. After a cool coconut, I fell asleep on the chair with the wonderful sea breeze softly blowing towards me. Leadwe read the news. Travis slept on. It was simply a perfect way to spend a lazy afternoon.

Then...the LMM woke up, drank milk and we decided that we would finish our trip to Sentosa with the Dolphin lagoon and the Underwater World ($19.90 per adult). After we bot tickets to the Underwater World, we realised that the Dolphin show, which starts in 5 mins, is actually back at the beach vicinity. We hopped on a bus, reached the lagoon, and enjoyed the last 5 mins of the show. Travis had his eyes glued on the cute pink dolphins as they did the hula-hoop, waved goodbye, kissed the trainers, leaped in the air. Looking at how intensely he looked on at the dolphins, I felt that it was worth it. Worth it even if its just 5 mins.

After the show, we took the bus back to the Underwater World. I realised that I have never been there before. There was an area for visitors to touch and feed sting rays, fishes, star fish, etc. Papa touched a sting ray...soft and smooth he said. Mami cannot imagine doing the same.. yieks!!I would give the Underwater World a rating of 9/10 for entertainment value. We saw fish bigger than papa, sharks, rays, wierd fishes, jelly fish...

We stank at the end of the trip... all three of us really needed a shower.

We will return. We will return...

He Knows...

2008-09-17T22:54:00.002+08:00

And we always think,"What do they know?? They are babies!!" and that's also why there's that phrase,"you want me to treat you like a baby?"

And today, I realised that babies like the LMM can actually know what he needs to do. This morning, he woke up at 7am (as usual) and I made his milk at 7.15am (as usual) and he drinks it up by 7.30am (as usual). What's unusual today was... after he completed his milk, he struggled to get away from my embrace and tried to walk. I held one of his little hands and let him lead the way. He walked straight to the end of the kitchen, where the potty was. He smirked when he saw the potty and started to sit down on the floor, mimicking the action of pooing. And so I put him on the potty and he did what he have to do. And all of this without me telling him (as usual)," Travis, go emn emn..." . A new adventure begins..

First Family Photoshoot

2008-09-16T23:28:00.009+08:00

The photos were taken when Travis was about 10 months old. He didn't really like the photo taking session and much effort was spent trying to get him to stop crying and to start smiling. Still, I am so glad we managed to get a good collection of photos from the shoot. And my favorite ones are:

Mr. T turns Eleven!

2008-09-01T22:17:00.003+08:00

29 Aug 2008 - He turned Eleven with a third tooth emerging on the front left upper gum. Travis is really growing up really fast. He has spent 11 months on earth with us so far. I really wish that he can slow down on growing up.... I know that I really will miss his reliance on papa and mama for basic things like walking, bathing, feeding... I love doing all these things for him and I know that soon, he will be walking by himself, feeding himself and bathing himself...

Travis never fails to surprise me occasionally. Yesterday, he picked up my mobile phone and guess what? He held it close to his ear, just like the way I always answered a call. Then lately, he moved his right hand in a circular motion each time we asked him where the fan was. He can also wave goodbye and blow a flying kiss.. I feel like crying each morning when I go to work and he does that.

Travis loves going to the park in the evening. That's where he gets to see his friends in the neighbourhood. Leadwe and I were on leave today so we played with him in the park opposite Grandma's house. We played soccer together with a basket ball and Mr T really knows how to chase and kick the ball.

At this stage, there are a couple of things I would like to do with him more often:
swimming
playing games he enjoy (soccer, hitting a ball or object to the ground, putting things in a box)
reading books
let him play with other babies his age

Its a pity I only have that 7am-9am in the weekday mornings (feeding takes up 7-8am so we're left with just an hour or less of playtime in the morning) and whole weekends. I know that I'll have to make full use of these hours I have with him.

Leadwe and I are planning for a 10day trip with Mr T. We are still undecided on the location although we would love to go back to Hokkaido. Many frens have suggested Perth though because of the shorter journey and the child friendly infrastructure. We'll see...

Its back to work for mami and papa tomorrow after this long weekend (we took Mon off to relax). 4 more days to the weekend again. Hope that the rain stops soon so that we can take Mr T swimming.

mami bel

The Third Tooth ("TTT")

2008-08-27T23:54:00.003+08:00

TTT is finally coming out... it's location? Well, its one of the two upper front teeth. I guess his gums are itching quite badly but unfortunately, the little milk monster's not interested in all the teething toys we bought for him. He prefers to grab our fingers (or whatever he can grab! Shoulder...legs..neck..nose) into his mouth, leaving visible teeth marks on our skin.

With his new eating tools, we now chop up his food instead of putting his grub into the blender. He manages to gum the food into a smooth paste before swallowing (pardon the excessive details..only mothers will understand here..)

It's fun with the LMM around. He now loves to walk around the house, mostly searching for his papa. His favourite game is peek-a-boo for now.

Papa bought the LMM several paste-on-the-wall type colourful posters in consultation with papa's colleague who incidentally is also a papa.. The first poster contained all the alphabets and the other contained shapes. Hope that these will keep the LMM occupied as he loves to walk up to the cabinets (to try open them up).. we'll be pasting these posters on the cabinets this time.

The weekend beckons again. I wonder if the skies will clear so that we can all go swimming. Its been raining for too long.

mami bel

Zoo Zoo

2008-08-19T07:03:00.003+08:00

We spoke about bringing the LMM to the zoo several times until last weekend when Dann & Gina invited us to their new condo's house warming bbq in Woodlands. And then it was clear that it was time to head up to the zoo.

The LMM is now able to walk holding on to both our hands. Because he is able to do that, he now refuses to be carried for long periods of time. Hence, I had to buy him his first pair of shoes. Got him a cute red one as red seems to be his favourite colour.

I salute all parents with babies whom I met at the zoo that morning (we reached the zoo at about 9.45am) because I now understand what they probably went through that crazy morning. Here's a glimpse:

7am feed the baby his milk and breakfast
8am start cooking the baby's lunch. cut the veges, steam everything, mash everything, store
9am bathe the baby, dress him up
9.10am pack up all the necessary things like diapers, milk powder, spare bottles, the hot food, toys, changing mat, spare towels, spare clothing, wet wipes..
9.15am (yes, those things have to be done in 5 mins.) parents quickly dress up (ya we now take super fast to get ready) and set off!

At the zoo, we showed him the parrots, lions, giraffes, orang utan (chomel - ah meng's daughter) snakes, huge fishes, and he saw the polar bear show, the penguins show and he fell..asleep. And so Leadwe and I enjoyed the rest of the animals. Think my favourite section is the baboons. They are really a wonderful community.. functioning a little like humans. I saw a mami pulling a hyper active baby baboon's tail to make sure he does not go anywhere far away from her. I saw a baby baboon trying to get a ride on a papa baboon. I saw several teenager baboons fooling around, trying to kick each other down a rock. I also saw an old baboon getting groomed by his relative (and my! they are thorough with that fur checking..). Its a pity LMM was sleeping when we went to this section. Guess he'll see it the next time we head to the zoo again.

Ten Months of Bliss...

2008-08-03T23:22:00.004+08:00

******** The Milk Monster turns Ten *********Another month passed by so quickly, and yes, that coffeetable book I've been working on has kept me busy in the nights. And yes, that is the reason for this terribly late blogdate.

Well, the LMM has finally hit the ten month milestone. He poos-on-schedule in the potty, crawls super fast, throw things on the floor and laughs when the silly adults pick them up (again), takes a long time to drink his milk / refuses to drink until you can find something to distract him effectively (the remote control does the job so far), boo-s his food right out after each spoonful is fed to him, and lately, loves to walk while someone holds him up via his little fingers...

I realised that he has grown up. He's definitely got a temper, he's got feelings, he's always thinking "Hey Daddy! See! See! I can do this!! Watch me!!" (this is evident when he does something clever, and his daddy is around.. he always looks up to see if his daddy is happy with what he did, and if Daddy approves, he beams!!!), he wants to be loved... and love is what this lucky LMM gets..from grandparents, uncles and aunties, and us, his daddy and mami...
He now plods around the house...from the living room, to the bedroom, to the toilet, out from the kitchen, back into the living room...searching for daddy, and then wanting to go yet another round. He does the same in grandma's house, inflicting most of the adults in the family with some degree of backache at this point.

He opens the drawers, the doors,watches the washing machine go around and round. He can play with a string for a long time, sucking at it, lining it up... Little pleasures like these really cheer him up.

He can stand unassisted for 1-2 seconds and I am definitely waiting for him to take his first solo step but first........ i need to get him some shoes!

ps: our photoshoot is coming up.. I need to slim down MORE, daddy needs a tan..and LMM needs a facial... will post photos when those are ready.

For now... daddy is sneaking up in the kitchen cooking some maggi noodles which he is NOT supposed to be eating at this hour if he wants to lose weight....and mami...she's just tempted.

The LMM Turns Nine!!

2008-06-29T21:14:00.006+08:00

Its official! He turns nine months old today.
Travis attended his first birthday party today - Keira's 1-year old celebration. He even brought her a present. Hubby and I were also excited to see how he interacts with other babies because he hardly gets the opportunity. When he first arrived at the party, I guess he was a little overwhelmed by the number of little ones in the living room so he cried when I sat him down on the floor. When he started to warm up, he begin to play with the toys in isolation until another baby decides that he or she wants that toy too.. then the LMM would crawl on to the next toy playing with it in isolation again...this is of course until the LMM got his hands on the lawn mower-like toy (in picture). He wouldn't let this go even if 2 other babies were grabbing it at the same time. So daddy says that this is one toy we would like to scout around for. =) Also, we learnt about his obsession with balloons (and more importantly, The String Attached to the Balloon). Thankfully, we could bring this purple balloon home. (see top picture)

Here's a picture at the party with all the Daddies and all the beautiful babies...

Here's a picture of Travis' new girlfriend.
And there... I always knew my Travis would some day be the Jay Chou of his time...Happy Nine Months SON!!!!

love,
mami & dadi

Go! Fetch.

2008-06-17T00:22:00.003+08:00

Just a quick update: He officially crawls.
Age: 8.5 months
Where: First noticed in Nai Nai's house, crawling frantically towards a colourful towel

Inflationary Woes

2008-06-16T23:21:00.006+08:00

LMM Milk Fund
Principal Protected if held to maturity
(fine print: 2100 assuming the LMM lives til 97 years old)
Guard against Inflation
High Future Returns
(fine print again:may not be monetary returns) Lagi more fine print: Sales Charge: 5 tins of Enfalac A+ , Management Fee: 10 tins of Enfapro or Enfakid
terms and conditions apply

2008 - the year where the price of everything goes up..Up...UP! Oil prices at US$139, essential items such as rice and flour shooting sky high and yes...MILK.. the very thing the LMM needs...that too, has several price revisions since Oct 2007.

Enfalac A+ went from $32.80 to $33.80 to $35.80 and now.. the latest price...$39.80, all within 8 months. That's nearly a 30% increase in price. I found a little shop still retailing the milk powder at the old prices $35..so I bought as much as I could carry (yes, I was also carrying a 8.42kg LMM with me in my babypouch) and that was... only 4 tins. I feel like hunting around for other small shops like this but...I know that I will hardly have the time. ;( And all i know is, when Travis' sista or bro comes along, their milk will definitely cost over $40 a tin..And that's scary. Unfortunately, we can't really stock up excessively as there's an expiry date as well.

Also, nowadays, on my marketing trips during the weekend mornings, I would frequently hear phrases like "Wah! So expensive", "price went up again ah?", "yah, new price".

On TV, I would see protests all over the world against the high prices of fuel, grains, rice etc...
Inflation is currently about 5-8%.

It really makes me wonder, how much will we really really need in order to provide for a decent education for our kids + retire comfortably???

Going for a retirement planning talk tomorrow - a lunch time talk organised by Citi. Let's see what this insurance sales guy has to say.. probably sell us plenty of investment-cum-insurance products... we'll see.

mami bel

The LMM goes Swimming

2008-06-16T23:03:00.004+08:00

Changi Beach Club
5.30pm
14 June 2008
Saturday

first splash in pool

More pictures with Daddy...

We brought the LMM to the Changi Beach Club last Saturday evening. It was to be his first swim in a pool. I brought him his wakeboarding shorts, hooded towel, float, milk feed, etc etc. The LMM went into the pool with his inflatable float and he... cried!!!! I found out only later that he preferred to splash around in the pool without the float. It wasn't the fear of water or drowning which made him cry. The sit-down float meant that he couldn't splash about the water with his hands.. this means that mami must sell this float online.

I think he loves the water. We managed to splash about for about half an hour before the sun set and it got too cold. As we left the club for some heartwarming Nepalise food in Serangoon, the LMM settled into a deep slumber... but not for long.

A LMM Crying Photo (finally!)

2008-06-10T23:32:00.003+08:00

Most of the pictures in this blog seem to be of a smiling LMM. Here's crying one to spice things up!

The Recovery & Unrelated Lash Extensions

2008-06-10T23:12:00.004+08:00

The Recovery
Update: Travis has since recovered from his bout of false measles. The fever subsided after 4 days but he had red rashes all over his body, behind his ears, etc. We brought him back to Dr YY Yip at Gleneagles who confirmed that it was indeed false measles. No medicine required. Just let him heal.. he ate and drank a lot less those few days..but his appetite is gradually returning. Some pictures taken at the clinic:

The Lashes
This is meant to be the main story anyway. When the LMM was born, he had literally no eyebrows or eyelashes to speak of. I was worried about the eyebrow part coz a boy with no eyebrows will look rather odd.

Eight months later, he still didnt have any lashes so I decided to send him to my friend Anita who does lash extensions. Think she did a great job!

(Joking lah mother...in case you really think i send your precious grandson to do lash extensions hahah...)

mami bel

Teething Problems

2008-06-03T23:48:00.005+08:00

And I never wondered why we use the phrase "teething problems" to "justify" or describe cock-ups at work. Travis has about 4 teeth coming up all at the same time. 2 faster than the other 2...think the discomfort is getting to him. He has had fever since Sunday.. today is the 3rd day. The highest it went was about 38.5 degrees (if that thermometer is accurate).

Hopefully, he'll feel better tomorrow or we'll have to whisk him off to the pedi again.

Poor LMM...

LMM turns the Big 8!

2008-05-29T23:28:00.004+08:00

Today the LMM turns 8! (months lah...). Cannot imagine that exactly 8 months ago, at this time (11:37pm) I would have had one of the most exciting days of my life.. barely 18hours after c-sect delivery of Travis. Think the nurses brought him to me at about this time for breast feeding. He was so tiny then. Just 2.88Kg. I could hold him up with one hand (not bragging!!). And now, if wanted to do the same, I think I will end up at the tui nah for therapy.

Travis, its been so fun having you around the house. Daddy and Mami cannot imagine life without you anymore. We really want you to grow up to be healthy and happy, that's all we ask.

Think its time to take you out more often. I vote for the Zoo, the club's swimmng pool and for a haircut this weekend. Lets see how it goes...

3-Day Stay At Home Mami

2008-05-28T22:16:00.018+08:00

Bel's finally a SAHM! (ya..ya..only 3 days lah...)
My parents in law are taking their well-deserved and long overdue holiday to Beijing. We had several options including packing up for a holiday too with Travis. But in the end, I decided to take leave to enjoy a short SAHM stint with Travis boy. And it was realli fun! hm.......

Here's the evidence:
The LMM did some Yoga in the morning. Here's a really nice downward facing dog. Good for stretching those tight hemstrings.

And a cobra pose...carefully executed. Soft elbows, relaxed shoulders, arched back...
More importantly, by now you must notice that the LMM's in his yoga gear. *smirk*

The LMM ate really yucky looking (disclaimer: but nutritious! (Ya..ya..) food)
Check this out!

Oops! Wrong photo. Rabbits are friends! Not Food! (Xcept for Mami Bel, who incidentally is craving for that grilled rabbit dish I kept ordering in Spain...rabbit!!!!! YUM!)

OK. Here's the food the LMM ate:

I know..its looks like.. but if you believe me, it really tastes very yummy. Its just an impossibility to try taking a tantalising shot of these meals.
Legend:
ORANGE: Carrots, pumpkin
WHITE: chicken
THAT BLACK THING ON THE SPOON:mashed mushrooms.

LMM also tried a new food ---- Teething Biscuits! I was so afraid that he'll choke when the biscuit breaks. But as it turns out, this damn biscuit will likely break your teeth before they give way.

And when it came to bathing, he sure took his time...he loves splashing about in the water and often can't wait to jump in before I can take all his clothes off..In the tub, he gathers all the toys into his arms. Trying hard to get that stray duck without giving up any of the loot he's gathered. It's a perennial quest for him every day.
You know I can't possibly Realli Stay Home for 3 days so we went out groceries shopping together at Parkway. Travis, for the very first time, sat on the push-cart!
And in the evenings when Daddy comes back home, its always a little more fun for the LMM...
Once Daddy is back, the LMM tracks Daddy in the house, never letting Daddy out of sight without a protesting scream.
I guess such is the life of a SAHM with a 7.9999 month old. Hey, he turns the BIG EIGHT tomorrow!

Dear Travis,
Mami's glad she's spent the last 3 days taking care of you full time. It's been tiring but very rewarding. I love it when you are so tired, you are fighting your lids to keep them open..your lips start to part and you drift off.. I will stroke your soft, fine hair because I know you love it when I do that... I wish I can do that for you forever.
with more love than you can ever imagine,
Mami Bel

Toothless

2008-05-18T21:45:00.004+08:00

He wouldn't that toothless grin for long. We spy 2 white pearlies growing from the lower gum. He looks quite charming with his toothless smile. Wonder how he'll look like with just 2 front teeth.

We'll see...

Not crawling at all...

2008-05-13T20:58:00.003+08:00

If he ever crawls, its backwards!

Sometimes I wonder if he'll ever master the art of crawling at all. His favourite past time seems to be holding on to the ottoman or whatever low lying furniture he can grab while standing up. And he refuses to sit when we try to get him into the tripod sit position. Screaming like a chicken when we insist.

I hope he crawls soon. Then again, from the countless warnings I have received about babies who have started crawling all over the house, maybe waiting for a month or two isn't such a bad idea...

We've not been doing the "Let's bring the Baby out" thingy for some time since the hand foot mouth problem started here in Singapore. Hopefully, this virus gets eliminated soon. I so badly want to take him out for a swim in his new wake-boarding pants. Let's see..

A day at Great Gran's place

2008-04-30T23:07:00.002+08:00

Starting Solids for the LMM

2008-04-30T22:20:00.005+08:00

You've probably heard of the various problems of weaning. Hard stools, no stools, fussy eaters, milk refusal, etc. Once again, I advise mothers to give Gina Ford's book of weaning a read. I've been a avid follower of the Gina Ford method and once again, the LMM and I have benefited from her advice.

Firstly, start solids only when baby is ready. The world health authorities apparently now promote the introduction of solids only from 6 months onwards. A few signs to look out for:
1. Baby waking up in the middle of the night (if he previously slept thru)
2. Baby asking for a milk feed sooner than the regular times
3. Baby is able to sit up without assistance

Once you decided to start solid foods, you have to be prepared to introduce very swiftly, a huge variety of fruits and vegetables. This method helps prevent constipation and trains the baby to experience a large variety of foods without getting used to a particular food.

I started weaning the LMM the moment he hit the 6 month mark. It was very tempting to start him off at 5months plus..especially when I already bot the cute spoons and plates, etc :) Anyway, this is a quick and easy guide to how we weaned him in the first 4 weeks. Its a modified Gina Ford schedule which worked for us:

Week 1 Day 1
Intro Heinz organic baby rice cereal at 11am feed. Milk feed of 180ml continues.
All other milk feeds continue (7am, 2pm, 6.30pm, 10.30pm)

Week 1 Day 2
Heinz organic baby rice cereal at 11am feed.Milk feed of 180ml continues.
Heinz organic baby rice cereal at 5.30pm feed.Milk feed of 180ml continues.
All other milk feeds continue (7am, 2pm, 6.30pm, 10.30pm)

Week 1 Day 3
Heinz organic baby rice cereal at 11am feed. Grate some apples and add it to the cereal.
Milk feed of 180ml continues.

Heinz organic baby rice cereal at 5.30pm feed.Milk feed of 180ml continues.
All other milk feeds continue (7am, 2pm, 6.30pm, 10.30pm)

Week 1 Day 4
Heinz organic baby rice cereal at 11am feed. Grate some bananas and add it to the cereal.
Milk feed of 180ml continues.

Heinz organic baby rice cereal at 5.30pm feed.Grate some apples and add it to the cereal.
Milk feed of 180ml continues.
All other milk feeds continue (7am, 2pm, 6.30pm, 10.30pm)

Think you get the idea. Introduce a new fruit at lunch time, if there are no reactions, let him have it at dinner time the following day. Continue this for the first week and my LMM started to drop the 10.30pm feed. i.e. he goes to sleep after dinner.

Week 2 Day 1
Heinz organic baby rice cereal at 11am feed. Add pureed carrots (yes! we move on to vegetables). Milk feed of 180ml continues.
Heinz organic baby rice cereal at 5.30pm feed.Add pureed/grated fruit. Milk feed of 180ml continues.
All other milk feeds continue (7am, 2pm, 6.30pm, 10.30pm)

Week 2 Day 2
Heinz organic baby rice cereal at 11am feed. Add pureed sweet potato. Milk feed of 180ml continues.
Heinz organic baby rice cereal at 5.30pm feed.Add pureed/grated fruit. Milk feed of 180ml continues.
All other milk feeds continue (7am, 2pm, 6.30pm, 10.30pm)

and so on for Week 2. Basically, the lunch feed is cereal with various vegetables such as carrots, sweet potato, spinach, pumpkin, broccoli, cauliflower, potato, etc and the dinner feed is cereal with various fruits including apples, pear, banana and papaya.

Week 3 Day 1
Heinz organic baby rice cereal at 7am feed (add pureed/grated fruits to make it interesting)
It's Vegetable Week for baby! (11am) Take out the good ole blender and blend steamed vegetables such as pumpkin with potato and broccoli. Its really up to you what combination. Just use lots of colored vegetables and have at least one root vegetable for carbo. Milk feed reduces to 90ml.
Heinz organic baby rice cereal at 5.30pm feed.Add pureed/grated fruit. Milk feed of 180ml continues at 6.30pm.
All other milk feeds continue (7am, 2pm, 6.30pm)

Week 3 Day 2
Heinz organic baby rice cereal at 7am feed (add pureed/grated fruits to make it interesting)
11am Puree steamed Sweet potato and spinach. Milk feed of 60-90ml continues.
Heinz organic baby rice cereal at 5.30pm feed.Add pureed/grated fruit. Milk feed of 180ml continues at 6.30pm.
All other milk feeds continue (7am, 2pm, 6.30pm)

And you get the idea..For breakfast, I interchange between the baby rice cereal and Heinz' multigrain.

Week 4 Day 1-7
Heinz organic baby rice cereal at 7am feed (add pureed/grated fruits to make it interesting)
Finally, some protein for lunch. I call this the Chicken Pie! Puree steamed Chicken Breast, Potato , Pumpkin and Broccoli. Its really yummy. Remember not to put in salt or sugar. Baby does not need these seasonings. Milk feed of 60-90ml continues. You find that baby needs lesser and lesser milk at this meal.

Puree steamed Sweet potato and spinach at 5.30pm. Milk feed of 180ml continues at 6.30pm.
All other milk feeds continue (7am, 2pm, 6.30pm, 10.30pm)

and this continues for the rest of the week. Substitute between chicken puree and vege puree to keep the meals interesting for baby. Make sure that the foods are well blended into a consistency similar to a smoothie.

Week 5
This week, baby can be introduced to white fish. Porridge and pasta can be used in place of the usual rice cereal. There is a difference though.. dont mix the foods from this week onwards. Keep the different food types separate so that Baby can taste the vegetables, the fish, the cereal. So we have by now established the LMM on breakfast, lunch and dinner. His last feed is at 6.30pm and as I am typing now, he is fast asleep. I know that he will wake at 7am tomorrow for his breakfast. A yummy baby yogurt is waiting for him in the refrigerator (available at Carrefour).

It has been really fun so far feeding the LMM. I love the way he looks when he waits eagerly for each spoonful. And to hear his whimper when he finished the chicken pie he really liked...music to my ears...

LMM goes to the Loo!

2008-04-27T21:00:00.003+08:00

It's quite amazing what you can teach a 6 month old.
After a few "lessons", Travis now knows how to go "Emm...."with his face turning pink to signal to the adults that they need to remove his pants & diapers and plop him on his potty!
For some reason, this often happens during breakfast. And if you'd just wait for a couple of minutes, he'll be done, I'll clean him up and we'll continue with his cereal.

Here's the little one in action...

Big Foot, Small Foot

2008-04-24T22:12:00.004+08:00

Seriously, they grow up too fast. From the time his toes were the size of mere toothpicks to what it is right now - toes like raisins, it took only 6 months.
The good thing about technology now is you can always take plenty of photos and store them. Hopefully, I find some time to do that coffee table book I always dream of completing..

Travis now feasts on the delicious chicken, carrot and potato dish grandma made for his lunch and dinner this week. He is eating well, drinking well and sleeping well. And yes, Leadwe and I are very happy.

The Hand Foot & Mouth problem has spread quite rapidly. On Monday alone, 500 cases were reported. Ever since Travis had that "non-specific rash" (which we tot was HFM), we pulled him out of the childcare centre. The good thing was his grandma offered to take care of him. We are in the process of getting a maid in to help grandma out with the housework so that she can take care of him without feeling burnt out from the excessive housework and cooking which she currently takes on. Marilou from the Philippines will be joining our family in 1-2 weeks' time. I am quite excited on the prospect of having someone to help us out here. Let's see how it goes!!

He Eats!

2008-04-16T07:01:00.001+08:00

Its been some time since mami last updated this blog. The LMM can now crawl (backwards only) and yes, he's starting on semi solids finally!!! Weighing 8.1 kilos at 6months, he weighs more than a bag of Umbrella rice. Lugging him around is really no joke. Without my trusty baby sling, I will not be able to carry him for more than 30 minutes.

We've been feeding him. Cereals, brocoli, carrots, apple, banana, pumpkin and pear. I will be adding in some chicken starting next week. He now takes his dinner at 6pm and sleeps from 8pm to the next morning. By his 7th month, he will be established on 3 meals a day and 3 milk feeds, just like what Gina Ford recommended! Nice.

Travis' First CNY

2008-02-08T21:45:00.000+08:00

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!!!!

Daddy, Mami and Travis

"Aiyooo! He is so keeee---yooo-tte!" exclaimed one of his fans.. a little girl who followed him where ever he was carried to.. and with another 2 little girls hot on his heels. Every little motion he makes will result in another outcry "LOOK! HE IS SOOOOOOO Keee--yooo-tte!!!!!".

It's a day (or two) of going googoogaga over the Little Milk Monster.. who has, incidentally, now turned into a little Saliva Making Machine. The LMM can drool all his likes but he does not get to eat the cookies but hey, he got his first red packets!

Here are some photos from the first 2 days of CNY:

With Grandpa, Grandma and Mamiwith Great Grandma & MamiAnd we were wondering where those oranges went!Travis, tired from the CNY visitations and his friend, Daisy the Cow looking on..

Playing with the Milk Monster

2008-01-21T22:31:00.000+08:00

We love to hear his giggles. With or without the gurgling of saliva in the background. We have since figured out a couple of things that will make the LMM laugh.. kissing his neck, making funny noises with our mouths, encouraging him to say Ah Gu..... or Ooo..., giving him a ten and several more (patting his palms with ours each time we say TEN!) and of course..tickling him.

The LMM has also started learning how to grab stuff.. like in here..We have to think of more ...MORE ...MORE!!! ways to play with him. Any ideas are welcome. Just drop them into the comments box if any.

The LMM is turning 4 months this coming 29th Jan 08. It has been a super fast 4 months. Real fast.

Mami Goes Back to Work

2008-01-07T23:18:00.000+08:00

And so I am back at work. I never imagined 3 months to pass by so quickly. It feels almost as if I just completed my confinement. Heck! It feels almost as if I gave birth to him barely 2 weeks ago. But looking at the massive stock of digital photos and videos we took of him reminded me that he really grew so much over the last 3 months. Allow me to present you a quick recap :

First Few Days:

The First Month

The Second Month

The Third Month

Recently

Physically stronger, he now has no problems keeping his neck straight or turning it at will, he loves to sit up with assistance and he is most delighted to be held standing up. He can now sit on the bumbo without additional support. When he gets impatient with sitting in the rocker, he now twists and turns and squirms his way down the sit..probably a sign that he will be able to flip very soon.

He response to my blabber and songs. He even has a favourite song - Twinkle Twinkle Little Stars..which I sing with actions whenever the car meets a red light in order to soothe him. (Like Daddy, the LMM hates it when the car has to stop moving). As I continue to talk, sing and dance to him, I know that I secretly long for him to say "ma-ma".. even if its accidentally.

I know I'll never be spending enough time with him ever because I'm no stay-at-home-mami. I can only make sure that whatever time I have to spend with him, I treasure it by the seconds.

I love you loads, Travis!

The Swimming Little Monster

2008-01-07T21:38:00.000+08:00

Saw a flier the other day slotted into one of the few parenting mags that I bot. It was an advertisement for a swimming centre solely for babies. And so I admit ..what a sucker I am for such things...I made the call and we went!

Rather expensive I realised. $25 for as long as the baby wants. The thing is we all know that a baby probably cannot swim for very long. Travis swam for 15min and lost his patience. It's great exercise coz all his limbs were in use and he was super tired after that but guess we'll just buy the float $28 and bring him to a children's pool our next visit to the club.

Putting on the float:
The "swimming pool":
Ok..the photo you are all waiting for is censured as Travis swam in the buff.. dont wana post it up here but can show you the video when you next visit our home. =)but here's a photo of him after the swim..back in the car. Super Tired. And so he slept all the way back home...

Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas...

2007-12-27T22:13:00.000+08:00

Merry Christmas!!!

Travis celebrated his first Christmas this year. The above photo was taken at my family's Christmas dinner party. So finally, the LMM will be turning 3 month old on 29 dec and I will be returning back to work very shortly.

I will definitely miss the wonderful times I had in the first 3 months and look forward to being a working mother.

Today, I spent some time teaching the LMM numbers ONE and TWO using flash cards and a magnetic board. Not sure what he absorbed from the session but I believe that babies are smarter than we think they are. I asked him to look at one of the numbers, checking that his eyes are laid on the correct flash card before rewarding him with a kiss. Otherwise, I ask him to try again. Maybe its my imagination but he seemed to understand the game.

The LMM and I went to the Isetan sale this morning. We left the house at 7.30am, took bus 36 to Orchard and saw the snaking queue outside Isetan scotts at 8am. I prepped myself to execute the extraction method of Shopping. aka. go in, whack all the items I need, run to cashier, pay and get out. So I was done by 9am. =) taking the bus again back home, in time for his 10.30am feed. I bought a baby carrier, a musical mobile, an extra headsupport for the car seat,

more photos taken recently:

Life as a Baby.. It's Tough..

2007-12-20T23:40:00.000+08:00

I pity Travis. It's really no fun being a baby.

Think about it.

You have to use whatever limited sounds you can muster in order to get your basic needs settled, when the stupid adults cannot get it right, you have to cry your lungs out while they fumble to try to guess what you need..and sigh, you wait til they get it right. Sometimes they never do.

You always get photographed naked even though the adults will gwak how R.A. it is.

The adults keep parroting whatever you say.

You always get pinched in the cheeks by relatives (and even your parents!?!) coo-ing,"so fat!So cute! Make me want to pinnnnch his cheeks!" You sometimes get poked, tickled and slapped as well.

While the adults have their delicious aromatic meals, you can only dream of eating those food.. you are only given milk and water 24-7 for now. sianz...

You have no say in what you wear.. if you are a boy, your mami will very likely dress you up as a girl like this ballerina photo..or if you are lucky as a rapper...or if you are unfortunate, you end up looking like a da chang jing knock-off..

Poor thing. Hang in there Travis!

Mami(s) takes a day off!

2007-12-14T08:47:00.000+08:00

Finally did something I wanted to do for a long long time. Take MY Mami out for a girls day out. So we started with a body scrub, jacuzzi, sauna at the Grand Hyatt, then went for lunch at this famouse chicken rice stall in Orchard (lucky plaza). Its really delicious so if you wana try it, its on the second floor tucked in a corner behind the lift. I really think it beats Purvis St chicky rice!

Next, we went shopping at Paragon and we ended the day with a warm chocolate cake with ice cream, latte and hot chocolate at Bakerzinn..... yummy!

Naturally, MY Mami didnt get enough dosage of shopping so she suggested bringing LMM out the next time so no need to rush back to feed him or take over from my mother in law =).

And so here's a couple photo of us at an art installation at scotts, looking happy and contented.

Travis Sleeps Thru at 8 weeks!

2007-12-09T07:41:00.000+08:00

All my efforts in scheduling LMM's feeds, sleep and playtime finally paid off! Although I was targeting for a 6 week old Travis to start sleeping through the night (Gina Ford managed to do that for most of her babies), he only started doing so at 8 weeks. But I'm happy. He takes his last feed at 10.30pm and wakes at 6.30pm for his breakfast. It was so important to me that he sleeps through as early as possible because I will be returning to work in the first week of Jan. I want to be able to get a good night's rest when I start running for my sales targets again.

Another development so far is that LMM can raise his head quite steadily by pushing his arms against the sofa/floor/bed. Maybe this is the starting point of a crawl. Here's a picture of him doing his thing...

Travis pictured here wearing the grey jersey knit pants mami made for him.

More pictures of Travis with his new clothes from the LMM handstitched collection...

This Khaki coloured one is made from an old dri-fit teeshirt which I cannot wear anymore.

Don't ask why.

The Emperor's New Clothes!

2007-12-02T08:48:00.001+08:00

The Making of...
Travis finally grew out of his first set of baby clothes. I saw a website which sells very simple children's clothing and was inspired to make some for him. Went to buy cheap cloth ($1 buck per piece), a pair of scissors and started sewing last afternoon! Made a casual top and a pair of black flare pants for him.

The casual top still needs some modification as it is definitely too "off shoulder" for a boy's shirt (I left a huge allowance coz its not a stretch fabric). Going to add buttons to close it off.

So here are some photos of Travis wearing the finished pants and semi-finished floral shirt:

Travis has a New Look!

2007-12-01T13:08:00.001+08:00

Before & After

Here's why:

Poor Travis seemed to have contracted male pattern hair loss in the last 2 weeks. Each time I comb his hair after his bath, the cradle cap comes off together with a whole clump of his fine hair. Hence, I finally decided yesterday that he needed to get rid of all his hair so that his hair will grow out all at the same time instead of in sections.

Here's a picture of Travis before his bath:-

Another picture of him sitting in his armchair:-

Hopefully, his hair will grow back quickly. In the meantime.. its caps, hats and more caps!

Home Alone

2007-11-24T20:17:00.000+08:00

This is probably the real test. Home alone with Travis from 7am-12midnight. My first time.
Liwei has a company offsite today so he's off at 7am. My mum was suppose to come over to cook but she's down with a bad throat so she's not coming.

Its funny how when you know you have huge responsibilities coming your way that day, you take that day more seriously.. even if its a Saturday. Got up at 6.30am to go marketing for my lunch and dinner. Bot 3 chicken thighs, 1 carrot, 1 broccoli, 1 ginger and 1 watermelon. Bot newspaper. Went back, prepared breakfast for Liwei, started marinating the chicken, washing and choppin'up the vege, slicing the watermelon, etc..

It's 8.22pm now. I would rate the day fantastic. Fixed the faulty cable tv box, Uncle KH who's helping us with some minor renovations came to take the bad folding door back to his workshop, took care of baby, cooked lunch & dinner, washed the toilet, cleaned the kitchen and the floors and now since Travis is sleeping, I can update the LMM blog.

Here's a my lunch cum dinner (microwaved the other half for dinner):
Stir-fry carrots, broccoli and ginger slices
Spicy black sauce chicken
Steamed rice

and here's my clean, fed, contented sleeping baby:Happiness!

The New Milestone - 2 Months!

2007-11-22T15:04:00.000+08:00

Finally! We'll be hitting the 2 month milestone this Sat. A good fren - Jen, sent me this photo recently. Its the one and only glam mummy photo I have to remember of my pregnancy which seemed to last 90 months. Looking at the photo, it seems surreal that Travis was in my tummy (yea..right there!) swimming about in limbo.. and here he is.. 8 weeks old.

The Greatest Parenting Fear

2007-11-21T10:59:00.000+08:00

"Ah Chew...! Ah Chew!" exclaimed the Little Milk Monster ("LMM") who has just had his feed of milk (again). "Orh lah.." says a concerned mami. The LMM was breathing rather heavily, a bit like the engine of a broken motorcycle. "Poor thing..."comforted the mami.

And so the family a.k.a. Liwei, Bel and Grandma, decided to put him on a diet of breastmilk (again) and water to hopefully drown the flu bug in the LMM. This was yesterday.

Today, the LMM seems to be breathing better as his obstructed nostril has since cleared up slightly.

The episode reminded me how fragile the LMM is and how his being unwell can affect the moods at home. Everyone offers a piece of advice. Everyone has an idea of what will work. As new parents, we get a little overwhelmed but I guess now all new parents learn from a multitude of sources including our parents, books, docs, nurses, friends, internet, trial and error, etc. Its always hard to say what will work and its easy for anyone to say that we should have done this or that earlier on. But I find most important is for everyone to have an optimistic and positive attitude for all suggestions. And as parents, we make a decision, we stick by it and will be responsible for the decision.

I am thinking of starting with my annual Christmas preps. Thinking of making a family Christmas postcard for my friends next week.. we'll see how it goes.

Mami & Dadi's 5th Anniversary And.. Gong Gong's Birthday

2007-11-16T20:28:00.000+08:00

Its our 5th Anniversary. Not the wedding one.. rather, the day that we got together. Amazing how a short 5 years can change the lives of 2 individuals who just met sharing a cab home. Got married, bot our own place and now we have our little son, Travis. I wonder what picture I'll be posting in my blog in another 5 years time though. Probably you'll see Liwei and myself looking slightly matured, with a 5 year old Travis smirking in the background trying to avoid being in the family photo.. and a 3 year old Megan sitting on papa's lap. Haha.. and maybe I'm pregnant with our third milk monster.. who knows!

Marriage life has been really wonderful and now with little milk monster, it has become fulfilling. It has become more complete.

Today's my dad's birthday as well. I brought mum, sis and of coz dad, the 58 year old Birthday Boy to Phins in Tampines Mall for lunch. We had fish & chips, beef steak, soup etc. It was satisfying. Bought dad 2 polo tee-shirts suitable for him to wear on his photography trips. After lunch, dad went off to shoot butterflies in sentosa while mum and sis went shopping. And me, I went back to my dear baby who was in the good care of my mother in law.

Here's a picture of Travis taken this week while he's 7 weeks old. His double chin starts to show and his arms and legs are starting to look like lotus roots or ginseng root.

He still has that signature smile of his...

Moving back home..

2007-11-12T12:03:00.000+08:00

Well, the good news is Travis is back on track with his schedule with the exception of a couple of nights (like last night!??) when he is wide awake again from 2.30am (feeding time) until 5am. And that's really my fault coz it's Sunday and I let him sleep through the afternoon from 2pm-5pm..guess it was really payback time. Not today though! Will play with him once he wakes at 2pm all the way til 4.15pm.

We moved back home last night. It's really nice to be back in your own home. Even making a Milo Dinosaur in my own kitchen for hubby was a simple pleasure I enjoyed last night.

Then in the morning, Liwei sends me to my in law's place where Travis gets to spend the day with his granny. And I get fantastic lunches and dinners cooked by my mother in law. We plan to still sleep over at his parents' place on some week nights just to get Travis comfortable with sleeping at both places.

ok.. since the milk monster is sound asleep now, I should really try to take a nap as well.
chao!

The Test...

2007-11-06T19:09:00.001+08:00

It's Show Hand
Okies.. I have done what I can today. Fed Travis all the milk he can drink, kept him awake from his 2pm feed til 6 plus... we'll see if he plays ball tonight and goes back to waking only once at 2-3am.fingers crossed.

Here's how I kept him awake
Flash home-made cards at him...

repeat my "Moo Moo the Cow" story to him..

Then I put him in a "chair" while I sing to him, poke him, massage him...and when all else fails...

I got Moo Moo the cow to wake him up.

Beware of the Night..(the story of the current problem)

2007-11-06T13:45:00.000+08:00

And so all went extremely well in the first month until lately (at 6 weeks). Travis suddenly becomes super active at night and sleepy in the day. I have spent 3 nights in a row waking up at 2.30am and trying to pacify him to sleep until 5.30am. He can drink 2 feeds of 120ml within 2 hours to settle himself. It's bad. And then at 7am, he refuses to wake for his feed.. and at 10am, he's also too sleepy to take his feed.

My hypothesis:
Reverse clock syndrome and its a vicious cycle.
Day time - too sleepy to take enough feed.
Night time - slept too much in the day, very alert and hungry coz didnt drink enuf during the day.

My (hopefully) solution:
Make sure he takes a full feed in the day by pumping for every day feed.
Makes sure he is awake for the recommended hours in the day.
Hopefully he takes in enuf feed in the day, stays awake longer so that my night duty will be a breeze again... let's see what happens.

Granny's visit over the weekend

2007-11-05T17:02:00.000+08:00

My mum and sister came over on Saturday to spend couple of hours with Travis.
She was amazed at how much he has grown since she last saw him at the first month party. Spotted mum's new spacious $10 tote and asked her to get me the same one too. Think I'll carry that as an alternative diaper bag.

Another photo here taken with my mother in law.

My modified Gina Ford schedule

2007-11-05T11:24:00.001+08:00

For those of you working, you have your Monday blues.. for me, its just rushing rushing rushing.. my typical weekday:
6.30am Pump and feed the little milk monster (LMM), settle him into his morning nap
8am Eat a hearty breakfast - usually 2 brands essence, 2 eggs, oats, milo, a banana, red date tea + 2 glasses of water. Wash bottles, pump equipment.
9am Prepare hot water for LMM's bath, get bathing props in place
9.15am On the lights, let LMM stretch himself and have a good kick
9.30am Start the bath
10.15am Feed LMM
11.00am Settle him into his midday nap
12.05pm Have lunch (small bowl of rice, meat, fish, vege, soup and fruit) and watch my favourite TVB serial
1pm Drink another glass of water and have a quick nap
2pm LMM wakes.. so feed him again, pump and store more milk
3.30pm-4.15pm Keep LMM awake by playing games with him
4.15pm put LMM in the stroller, take a walk in the estate, maybe go to the supermarket or have a hot chocolate at the new cafe in Siglap centre. LMM will usually doze off in stroller.
5pm Feed LMM and then have my dinner (small bowl of rice, meat, fish, vege, soup and fruit)
6.15pm Give LMM a good wipe, feed LMM
7pm Settle LMM in cot
10.30pm LMM wakes for another feeding. This one, we have to make him really really full.
2.30am LMM wakes for midnight feed (by bottle).
6.30am LMM wakes for morning feed (by bottle).

Travis the Hyena!

2007-11-04T09:22:00.000+08:00

Pardon the title but I caught Travis laughing like one yesterday when he was left alone in his cot. At first I thought he was going to cry but he ended up laughing quite loudly. I couldn't help laughing as well when I caught him in action. Wish I could video it for keeps.

With the confinement month finally over for me, I've been out and about quite a bit. I get Travis in the pram and wheel him to Siglap Centre for some shopping, shopped for slimming cream at Taka last wed, went out with my secondary school friends for dinner last Friday and yesterday, Liwei brought me to the Cheesecake Factory last evening.

Life's quite different now with Travis around. I don't laze in bed anymore, I have to plan the day well should we be bringing him out, I'm not afraid of baby poo and pee anymore and there's always a bottle to wash. The good thing is since Travis is put on a schedule, I know all with some level of accuracy what are my "free time" slots. This enables me to still do enjoyable stuff like online shopping (which I do alot more nowadays), get the waxing or massage lady over, read my book, catch my TVB dramas on channel 55, take a nap.

With a baby of my own now, I also tend to do a second take when I see a cute baby at the pedi or at the shopping centre. I never used to do that.

Phew! All is Well.

2007-11-02T13:35:00.000+08:00

Today's visit to the pedi was great. Travis at 34 days old weighs a whooping 4.43 kilos thanks to a mix of breast milk and Enfalac A+ forumla. Doc confirms that he is putting on weight appropriately and has caught up considering he weighed slightly on the light side at birth. He is now 55.5 cm tall, has relatively strong legs and a sturdy neck. Getting all these feedback from the pedi akins to our "parenting" exam results. And so we passed!

Doc also confirmed that he can take a max of 120ml for the moment. This is to be increased gradually by 1oz (30ml) when the period between feeds starts to get shorter and/or he cannot settle well after being given 120ml.

Travis had his second hep B jab today. The next time he needs a jab will be in Jan 08.
Cool.

Eating Way Too Much?

2007-11-01T11:00:00.000+08:00

Travis was born only 2.88kg in end Sept 2007. He is currently only 1 month old but seems to be drinking as much milk as my friend's 4 month old. I'm worried that he has an enlarged stomach due to overfeeding but am getting conflicting views on how much a baby can take in 1 month.. ranging from 60ml - 150ml. Since Travis is taking an average of 90ml-120ml, I guess I shouldn't be worrying so much! Will confirm with the pedi tomorrow when Travis goes for his 2nd Hep B jab.