Seasonal fashions

Zoe had a couple of visitors today.

We were in a quandary over what to wear for the occasion.

Am I a...

Spring: The Flower Girl

Summer: The Karate Kid

Winter: The Snow Bunny


Oops! We forgot about autumn!

Popiah party

There were boys coming to play today so Zoe got all dolled up in a pretty Ralph Lauren outfit.

It's not often that my little ruggamuffin gets put in a dress. But today, she was all sweet and pretty to welcome her little friends.

She even spent the morning practicing her most alluring smiles...

...while I spent the morning shopping, arranging flowers and getting the table ready.

My brilliant nanny made popiah, which is one of my most favouritest foods. Forget haute cuisine or exotic foods - just give me a plain old-fashioned hearty spring roll.

By 4pm, all of us were well-stuffed and talked out.

Kids - the must-have fashion accessory this fall

Day 57: Wriggle it just a little bit

A FEW days ago, I set up a play gym for Zoe.

It is made up of a blow up playpen, a teddy bear play mat, soft toys, a Fisher Price hanging thing and other VERY colourful bits and pieces.

As you can see, it's pretty LOUD.

But fun, don't you think?

According to Nurse J, playtime should be about developing her motor skills. So twice a day when she is in her wakeful alert state, we blast the music and we have our "jiggle in the gym" time.

At eight weeks, Zoe is pretty much on target with her development. She can turn her head left and right to check out her surrounds, follow objects with her eyes, and swipe at stuff with her hands.

Help! A Crayola box threw up in my room!

* * *

I HAVE had my first play with my new camera. And gimmicky as it might seem, I just lurve the colour accent function.

If babies can see black, white, shades of grey and red... this is what Zoe's play gym looks like to her!


And just how cute is this?

It's bubz and a ladybugz!

You, the pram... you, the shopping... and you, park the car...

I ALWAYS thought that I'd be one of those cool independant moms who would not let a kid spoil her fun.

I'd be organised, confident, self-sufficient.

I would still be able to do whatever I did before having the kid - with her in tow.

And why not?

There were various senarios I'd imagine:

1] Sitting in a cafe, pram by my side, yakking away with friends while sipping a double-decaf-low-fat-wet latte, with a slice of pecan pie on the side (I dont know why but I keep thinking of that time we were at Bluebird cafe, Mel!).

[2] Shopping at huge department stores (always the cosmetic section I don't know why) pushing a peacefully sound asleep bubz around.

[3] Sitting in a park reading a book or having a picnic with a cheery self-entertaining baby on my lap.

[4] Heading to gym class, all trim and toned in lycra, and being able to leave the baby worry-free to socialize at the creche.

[5] Knocking back a few bevvies at an outdoor pub (no smoke for the kiddo to choke on) and having uninterrupted alcohol-induced debates.

*BANG*

That's the daydream bubble popping, going the way the Japanese economy did.

I now travel with an entourage.

Day 53: Things get better...

THE raging Mastitis has been subdued to an angry gnarl.

The fever is gone. The pain is tolerable - without drugs. The lump has become a little smaller, and hopefully will continue to do so over the weekend.

Nurse J was in again today to check on things, having already come on Tuesday in response to my SOS.

If the lump doesn't shrink drastically by Monday, she's sending me off to see an acupuncturist. Ow. Needles in the boobies ain't the most alluring of thoughts.

*Praysssssssssss*

Anyway, Mopi is now 5.5kg. Oof! She's put on 900g in less than three weeks.

No wonder the knockers are knocked out! K.O.ed! Kapow!

* * *

AS you can see from this post, my internet problems are solved.

And...

*trumpets sound*

...my camera woes are now SO over.

Not only has the Sony been fixed, a new Canon Ixus 800 is on its way to me!

Dr Dad, my super kind father-in-law, bought it for me today and is passing it to my cousin-in-law to transport it to my greedy hands on Sunday.

No more blurrrrry photos!

* * *

SPEAKING of things photographic, here's a picture that arrived in my inbox today.

On Monday, D's parents a.k.a. YeyYey and NaiNai were in town for a flash visit.

Boy did a lot of flashes did go off in the eighteen hours or so that they were here.

There was much catching up for the grandfoggies who've only spent a handful of days with little Zoe.

*Click*

Just when everything is going so well...

...the camera breaks down

...the wireless router goes kaput coz the firmware ain't up to date

...AND a bout of Mastitis hits HARD.

On Tuesday, I had a fever around 39 degrees that would not break.

The next day, my temperature went as high as 39.8.

This was caused by a clogged milk duct which became infected. There's now a huge hard lump in my right boob. Every few hours it has to be massaged to break up the lump. Ow.

So I'm on the meds and on the mend.

D: You better have a cold shower to bring own your temperature or you might get more brain damage.
S: More brain damage?
D: Ya. Ha ha.

Nice.

A very merry father's day

The two Dads with their bubz

There's nothing that says "celebration" more than a bottle or two of the sparkling stuff.

And so, on this their very first Fathers' Day, we headed to Prego for brunch.

By 3pm, everyone needed a nap.

Hic!

Happy Birthday Becky!

ZOE went to her first children's party today.

Becky turns one this month.

How time flies.

C brought Benj, BL brought Yen Sze, and D and I brought Zoe. There was another kid there too, as well as the pretty birthday girl Becky. (Unfortunately no photos!) Zoe was by far the youngest.

All the mums tried to catch up. The Dads talked football. But most of the time, we were all occupied entertaining and feeding our own kid!

So much for socialising at a party...

Here I am trying to burp Zoe after a feed.

Day 47: Splish splash I was taking a bath

ZOE had her first swim today... in the bathtub.

She has been enjoying her baths so much that I thought it'd be fun for her to have a bigger pool to kick about in.

So this morning, D got into his trunks and the nanny and I followed them into the bathroom to watch.

Zoe had fun splashing around for about ten minutes then she decided she had enough. I think the nanny made the water too hot for her to be comfy, but we're learning!

All clean, it was time for a nap. As you can see, she wasn't too impressed having to pose for photos...

Zoe hugs her wabbit ready for beddy

Milk: stirred, not shaken or on the rocks?

WE are celebrating D's first Fathers' Day with a champagne brunch on Sunday.

Party on, I say!

For the first time since I got preggo (that's August last year!), I am going to drink! Not a sip or two, wet my lips, half a glass kind of drinking but D.R.I.N.K.I.N.G!

Ahhhhhhhhhhh...

Because I'm breastfeeding, sMell said: "Poor cow, even after popping you still can't drink".

But I've just talked to a lactation specialist and... no longer am I a "poor cow"!

If I have one or two drinks, I have to wait about three hours till I can feed Mopi.

If I have more than that (and I plan to), she told me that I should pump and dump the following feed. And if I want to be super safe, I can dump two.

Supposedly, alcohol enters - and leaves - the milk just as it does the bloodstream.

After a few hours, as your body processes the alcohol, it is out of the milk and out of your blood.

So really, I don't even have to dump the milk if I can wait till I'm sober. But it's just that the poor udders will hurt coz in the time it takes the alcohol to leave the system, they get very, very, very full!

Just Dump It!

Gesundheit!

Another hour, another outfit

SOMEHOW our little Zoe has become the p.i.n.k baby.

Everyone has been lavishing pinky outfits on her.

Were people afraid that her pink-averse parents would be dressing her in shades of blue? Obviously.

Anyhow, here's a gorgoeus outfit from Petit Bateau that Aunty Martine gave her. Check out the pretty details on the soles of her feet!

Zoe and the Bunnyman
Zoe got dressed up coz Uncle Sonny was meeting her for the first time. He came armed with lots of cake and a lovely outfit with matching shoes and socks for Zoe - in PINK of course!

Zoe with Uncle Sonny, Aunty Leng and Becs

Day 43: First visit to KLCC

IT'S great having cousins!

Becky has lent Zoe a whole load of her clothes and she is certainly taking advantage of it.

This pink ensemble is accented with colourful butterflies. Matched with powder pink socks, it's a great outfit to go shopping in...

...and it matches most soft toy accessories! How darrrh-ling!

Since Zoe was all dressed up, we decided to head o KLCC for our morning stroll. There were little friends to be made!

Get your people to call my people and we'll do lunch, ok?

Week 6: A wink and a smile...but not for long

WE were all up early for a Monday morning outing.

Zoe wore a cool little outfit that Aunty Amy gave her. All preened and alert, she was a happy little vegemite as she waited for us to get our stuff together before leaving.

Another reason she was so bright and cheery was that she had an uninterrupted sleep of five and a half hours last night!

Amazing!

I am just so happy and RELIEVED that she is started to put in some serious Zzz times.

She is also feeding less often now, a comfortable (for me) eight times yesterday. I thought this day would never come!

As her digestive system matures, she is able to drink more each feed. She now can slurp up to four ounces each time, which fills her belly allowing her to snooze for longer.

The little one is growing up fast.

And growing big!

Our morning appointment was with Dr C. Her first medical since she was born.

Zoe weighed in at a very healthy 4.85kg. And she is now 57cm long.

There were no more winks and smiles at the doc's coz she got a big painful HepB jab. D and I couldn't bear to watch. Poor little thing. Ow.

Breakfast at Strudels

WE'RE not too sure if Mopi likes to go gai-gai.

This morning, we took her with us to GE Mall for breakfast. Mopes got dressed in a pretty outfit and she seemed quite excited about the day's outing.

But it didn't turn out to be the leisurely read-the-papers brekkie we expected.

About ten minutes after we sat down, Zoe was bored so I had to push her around a bit.

Then she decided she wanted to eat as well, despite having been fed before we left the house.

After her tum was full, instead of settling down, she gave us a taste of what goes in must come out... so D had to go clean her up.

Who could eat anymore after that?

So we walked around, hoping to do some chores. But Zoe decided she wanted to be carried and not be pushed around in her pram... so after a bout of red-in-the-face crying, we gave in...

And then we gave up.

Of course on the way home, she decided to calm down and clam up. A little too late!

Water baby

ZOE now loves bathtime.

She kicks and coos and splashes...

And she gets really grumps when she's pulled out of the water.

Day 37: Let sleeping babies lie

I HAD a weird feeling when I woke up this morning. It took me a while to realise that it was the sensation of having woken up naturally.

Normally, Zoe wakes me every two hours through the night to feed.

But all was still and calm and quiet in the house - very unusual.

So I went in search for the baby. And this is what I found.

Little bundle of cuteness!

Zoe (and therefore I, by default) had an unbelieveable night.

For the first time, she actually made it past three hours without needing a feed. In fact, there were three three-hour breaks between feeding sessions!

You have no idea what a big deal this is. It really makes such a big difference not having to feed every two hours.

*Pops open the champagne* (I wish!)

I could actually reach a REM sleep zone, the udders had a little R&R... and Zoe got to spend more time lost in dreamland!

Yes, it's pink!

PS: Before anyone freaks, I do know babies aren't suppossed to tummy sleep but this was just in the morning and the nanny was keeping close watch over her.

Day 36: From 000 to 0-3

The new nanny dressed Zoe in one of her sleepsuits tonight and it didn't fit!

Another outfit was pulled out and that didn't fit either!

Hence the big news for today: Zoe has moved on from new-born to the 0-3months size bracket.
All dressed and ready to be rocked to sleep

Thanks Nanny!

Oh here's an exchange D and I had the other day -
Me: I hope Zoe will like the new pui yit.
D: Oh, you mean the pui er.

ROFL

Day 35: Bye bye Nanny

Our nanny left us yesterday.

I really don't know who was saddest - Ah Ying, Zoe or me.

Ah Ying was overly chirpy in the morning, unsuccessfully trying to cover up how upset she really was at leaving.

She's come to really love little Zoe. I guess after 30 days of sleeping with her and caring for her round the clock, she was bound to get attached.

All morning, Ah Ying kept giving Zoe little pep talks: Zoe hen gwai. Zoe yao ting hwa. (Zoe is a good girl. Zoe must be good.) ...and a whole load of other stuff in Mandarin I didn't understand.

But Zoe understood, she listened intently as Ah Ying lectured her on proper baby behaviour and cooed and oooed in response.

Then just before she left, Ah Ying gave her a super generous ang pow for luck. Somehow Zoe knew Ah Ying was saying goodbye and she suddenly bawled.

Ah Ying's been so great to have. She's really been such a help. And she's just so sweet and nice. So her leaving is such a loss. I tried to get her to stay on (forever!) but her Dad is celebrating his 85th birthday in a week and she has loads of family stuff to organise.

Anyway, I was so sad to see her go and I actually teared. If it hadn't been for her false bravado, I would have wailed along with Zoe. (Hormones la!)

After she left, Zoe and I tried to comfort each other and an hour later, Ah Ying was calling to find out how Zoe was! She missed us too!

D came home early to help out with things. We took Zoe for a walk in the hopes of tiring her out a bit for the night ahead. Unfortunately, it didn't quite work coz Zoe had tummy rumbles and was very restless. Cry rrrryyy ccrrrrryyyyyyyy

Maybe she missed Ah Ying... but let me tell you, we missed her even more!

Ah Ying just rang again! She wanted to find out how the night went with the baby. I filled her in and actually teared when she said: Wo hen xiang Zoe (I really miss Zoe)!

Sigh. I need to get a grip.

Maybe it's the lack of sleep playing havoc with my emotions. Everyone else is getting some Z's. D went back to bed at 10.45am. It's now past noon. (He took today off work to help with the transition.) And Zoe finally decided to snooze.

I, on the other hand, am waiting for the new nanny to arrive before I PASS OUT!

I hope she will be as great as Ah Ying...

What will the one be like?

Emotional blackmail

So I figured a way to get D home from work!

How can he resist the outfit and the face?

*Evil cackle*

Update:
It worked! D is coming back after his 4.30pm conference call. Whoohooo!

Practice makes perfect outings

Boy did we have a busy weekend!


Early Saturday morning, D took Zoe out in her pram to the corner shop to buy the papers. She enjoyed her outing so much that he decided to try out the Baby Bjorn carrier.

Since all was going well with the "outings", we decided to strike while the iron was hot.

The plan was to take Zoe with us to lunch (ie to satisfy my Chilli's Cajun Chicken Sandwich craving) and to grab some groceries. We decided to head to BSC in Bangsar, a relatively quiet shopping centre.

I had calculated her feeding times and figured that by the time she needed to chow-down, we'd be tucked in a relatively private booth at Chilies and I would be able to b-feed her.

But when we got there about 1.30pm, the place was packed. Seems everyone with a kid had the same idea as us.

We got put on the waitlist, giving us about half an hour to kill, so we went walkabout.

Bad idea.

We made it to Royal Sporting House when Zoe decided she was STARVING. Let me tell you she's pretty loud and her wails had everyone staring at me like I was some kind of kid abuser.

This brought to mind wise words: Laugh and the world laughs with you, cry and you cry alone.

D had zipped off to buy some stuff for tennis and I was left holding the baby. It was quite traumatic coz I knew the only thing that would settle her was food and there wasn't a Mother's Room to be found!

Between wails, I desperately waved at D who dumped his stuff and came running out of the shop. We scuttled to the food court on the top floor where I found a secluded corner and 'silenced' her.

*Stress*

Things calmed down after that... and the outing was deemed somewhat of a success.

Being gluttons for punishment, we decided to try another excursion today.

This time it was brunch at a suburban mall, about half an hour from the city centre where we live.

But in our excitement to get there, Zoe missed her naptime (it's a small window). So when we arrived, she started fussing and ended up rather cranky. It was also kinda noisy and busy there which frustrated her even more in her tired state.

*Stress*

To keep things calm (ie quiet), I ended up having to eat my food while holding her. I also had to give her two comfort nurses at the restaurant and a Mother's Room, despite me bringing a bottle along so I wouldn't have to b-feed!

Despite this, D and I refused to throw in the towel. Since we were there, we were going to jolly well walk around a little and have leisurely post-lunch coffee (YUM! Latte!) at the Starbucks in Borders (while flipping through gossip rags).

In the end, D ended up carrying Zoe for quite a while (the only way she'd be quiet) as we walked around the mall, flipped through magazines and sipped milky coffee. Then, he wound up with major cramps in his arm!

*Sigh* But let me tell you it's SO good to be out and about.

So rather than subscribing to the once bitten twice shy philosophy, we'll go with third time lucky!

Here's to next weekend!

PS: The little one is so exhausted that we're actually quite relaxed now...

All's well that ends well.

Vroom at hooome

Now that Zoe is a month old, the nanny has taken the Piss off! We're in confinement! sign off the door. The chains are unchained and the padlocks unlocked.

We are now officially allowed to go O.U.T. - but only in the day. Nights are still a no-no. Okaaaayyyy.

So in prep for our daily adventures, Zoe and I have been practicing using the pram around the house.

She is now taking her morning naps in it... and when she begins to stir, I push her to and fro, to and fro, to and fro...

She seems to like it.

Now to actually go somewhere... Do I dare?

Reflections at one month

Right now, you are asleep and I am stealing a moment to write this.

For the last month, life has been lived according to your rather exhausting schedule.

It has not been easy. In fact, it has been rough. At times, really tough. Even tear-inducing for both you and me (or was it hormonal?).

But somehow, we've survived.

Already you have showings of a little personality. You sure know what you want when you want it. If you aren't seen to immediately, you get furious. You wail so loudly and forcefully that your face turns purple.

We feel so scared sad sorry for you when we see your little body shaking with anger, your eyes squeezing out teeny hot tears, and your tiny fists clenching in frustration.

Most of the time what you demand is food. A simple request you may think, but really not, at least on my part in providing it. But I'm working on it, still ironing out the kinks in the system. Ow.

At the moment, you are eating up to twelve times a day when you should be satisfied with eight. This is something we are trying to sort out - you, I and the nurse (yes, I had to get in professional help!)

But it's not all bad coz you are healthy and pink and a robust 1.5kg heavier since your birth.

Your voracious appetite has us spending most of our time together attached, body to body. Sometimes, it's a real pain literally, but it has its moments. Especially just before dawn, when the house is all asleep and the lights outside are hazy and there's a beginning of an orange glow, you look up at me with your eyes wide open... and you smile.

Just you and me, kiddo.

Speaking of smiles. The books say that babies don't smile in a true social sense until they are four to six weeks old. Before that, it is just a reflex action (muscle stretch) or a disguised burp. But your grandparents, particularly your maternal granny, insist you have been smiling at them since you were at the hospital. Little do they all know, your real smiles are saved just for me and your dadz. Heh.

For a while, all you did was sleep, eat and poo. In the last few days, you've had little awake times when your eyes dart around, your ears prick up and your face squishes and pulls into the funniest expressions. You do that a lot when you're in your dad's arms. You also save him the sweetest, crookedest smiles, where your eyes all crinkle up.

You've been here for exactly a month but somehow it seems so much longer. Like you've always been around. Isn't that weird?

You are so much part of our lives already - our little baby girl.

Now for Month #2... ready or not!