First THX laugh

IT happened for the first time yesterday.

We were in the car heading home and she was fussing a little so I made some funny noises and she laughed out LOUD.

My baby finally thought her Mommy was funny enough to make a noise about it!

I said to Dan: "Did you hear that?"
And he was like: "What?"

Unfortunately I couldn't get her to do it again.

But it was so cool to hear her laugh for the first time.

For a long time, she's been doing silent laughs. She opens her mouth, her eyes squish up and her belly moves to a hahaha rhythm, but you just can't hear anything.

Well, she did it again when was I was playing with her today.

I made some funny noises which she just thought was hilarious.

It started off as a Ha!-I'm-a-little-amused kind of laugh. Then she warmed up and it quickly became a real belly laugh with snorts and all.

A little bit nerdy but oh so very, very cute!

Listen:

Pancaked

DID you know Baby Zoe is a character on Sesame Street?


When I saw this T-shirt, I just had to get it.

So cute!

They have the same wild, mad hair.

I wonder if everyone who saw Mopes today thought of this.






By the time we got it together this morning, it was already 11am.

So we headed out for brunch to Paddington's House of Pancakes - KL's answer to IHOP.

On the menu: Sunnysideup eggs, chipolatas, ham, rosemary tomatoes, hash browns and PANCAKES with maple syrup.

Yumz!

As ickle said, "It certainly is the best way to start the day".

But poor Mopes felt a little left out being unable to enjoy the tasty morsels. So she decided to participate in the fun by making her own pancakes while we were having our meal.

Rather than running out to a Mother's Room, I changed her in our booth. No one could see, and the smell of frying sunnysideups masked any wafting wafts.

Heh, bad Mommy.

On safari to Strudels

IT was real hot today so Zoe donned her safari outfit to keep cool.

We headed to Plaza Dumas for lunch. Zoe promptly fell asleep when we got there. D had to have lunch with her strapped to him.

Come to think of it, Zoe has been falling asleep whenever we go out recently. I wonder if she is too stimulated... and then shuts down. Do all the noise, sights and people overwhelm her? I wonder.

After lunch, we headed to Mt Kiara to some fancy dress place to try to find D a 70's outfit for a work-do. Bumped into some folks at Strudels and Zoe got lots of cuddles.

Soon enough, it was time to head home coz Zoe was sleepy.


* * *

My boob problem got better and then it got worse.

I nursed the right one and forgot about the left one. So while the right one is ok, the left one has gone wonk. This morning, I had a temperature of 38.2.

But I've figured out a new way to treat mastitis.

Rather than pop antibiotics, just go for a massage!

The spa I go to has heated tables. One hour lying on my front with the heat turned up helps to unclog the pipes.

Zoe's first exercise class

THREE months is a good time to start on an exercise programme with Zoe.

Or so I thought.

We went to Mummy and Baby Pilates today. However, ten minutes into the class, Zoe decided that exercising was not for her.

The pilates breathing technique brought on an urgent need for a nap.

So I took her outside, passed her to Liz and continued without her.

I must say it's really nice to be working out again so I made a resolution to go to Mummy and Baby exercise classes twice a week. There's also aerobics, fitball, yoga to choose from. Maybe I can make it three times a week.

Hmmm. Baby steps.

* * *

I finally got round to getting batteries for the Fisher Price Aquarium Swing that C lent us.

It's a pretty cool contraption with different swinging speeds:
.
There's also a choice of sounds to swing to (music, ocean waves, raindrops) and a fish mobile with flashing lights.

Zoe really loved it. But after fifteen minutes, I think she was quite dizzy!

Here's a before and after.

And a (really badly edited *blush*) clip of her in it:

It sucks

ZOE put herself to sleep on Tuesday night!

Normally, I have to pat pat pat her bum or give her the pacifier before she nods off.

But on Tuesday, she was put in her cot still awake but groggy. She started sucking on her hand and within minutes was out for the night.

This is BIG news.

Significant, because now if she wakes up in the midle of the night, she doesn't need me to rock, pat or nurse her back to slumber.

I was set!

Or so I thought.

However last night, she just couldn't get it right!

The poor bubz had a super-restless night, waking up almost every hour from midnight.

She tried very hard to soothe herself back to sleep. She'd slurp and suck at her hand, waking us in the process coz she was dem noisy.

Zoe still can't quite find her thumb. So she tries to make do by sucking on her knuckle. Most unsatisfying!

She got more and more frustrated - and noisy - so in the end, I had to get up and lull her back to sleep... every hour.

Zzzzzzzzzombie.

* * *



On another note, I am trying to get Zoe used to sleeping on this mat.

Sleep Cue: Bear mat = Nap time.

This will help when we go to Singgers coz she will have something familiar with her to nap on.

Which theoretically will make everyone's life easier.

* * *

Cursed mastitis!

My right boob flared up again at lunchtime yesterday. A fever of 38.2 which broke pretty easily (ie after five panadols). I massaged and applied hot compress all day to unclog it.

It seems to have worked. I feel much better today. No more hot angry red spots, though there are still some painful lumps.

Zoe has been feeding rather irregularly through the day. Day-time feeds are every three hours but at night, she can sleep up to seven hours.

Needless to say, the milk production factory is more than a little confused.

Hippy chic

BABY Z donned her flares and a beanie to match the very happening 70's top that Aunty FunkyM and Uncle Dave had couriered over. Peace!


On another note, I am postponing our trip back to Singapore yet again.

We were supposed to head back last weekend after the nanny left, but I needed Zoe to re-learn drinking from the bottle and to get more used to Liz. Otherwise, there would be no point going anywhere coz I'd be stuck with her 24/7.

Then, we were supposed to head back this weekend. But Zoe is just getting used to a routine. I don't want to uproot her for ten days and have to start all over again when we get back.

We were mainly going back so the family could see Zoe (and I could "party"-ish!) but my parents are ok with coming up to see Zoe soon and the in-laws have just been to visit.

So I figure we'll head to Singgers in about two weeks... or so.

Unless the haze forces us back earlier.

Yo ho ho

THE sales are on and we pirates be hunting for booty this morning.

The wee lass got dressed for the occasion.

"Arr, me hearty!"

The bandana courtesy of NaiNai, who couldn't resist when she saw Zoe in it. Thanks!

Sitting up on her own

NO, we're not potty training Zoe just yet!

Becky lent Zoe her Bumbo which lets babies sit up even though they can't really sit up.

Carry carry... carrying onnnn

SHE was carried quite a bit by her nannies during her first ten weeks.

I think they believed their job was to keep her happy, ie not crying, and the fail-safe way was to just carry her.

Big mistake.

Coz Zoe is now used to be carried all day long.

So since the nanny left, I have been trying to wean her off being carried. Of course, the baby's been pissed off but I mean it just isn't practical to hold her all the time during the day, right? There are things to be done!

However, my mother-in-law who came down to help out while D went away feels sorry for the little one during her crying spells.

"Ah yah, she's so little. Never mind la, just carry carry a while. It's ok."

But I've been trying to explain to her that it just will make things even more difficult for Zoe when she leaves.

The longer this carry carry thing goes on, the harder it will be for Zoe to learn to entertain herself in her bouncer/cot/playgym/floormat/pram/carseat.

Not to mention difficult for me too! Zoe now weighs 6.2kg and the scales keep on climbing up.

Zoe - and NaiNai - are slowly learning to see things my way. In just a few days, she's become a far more independent, active baby.

I just hope that when we go to Singapore next weekend, she won't get used to being entertained that way again when everyone will want to pick her up all the time!

One exception to the rule is when we go out... having her in the Baby Bjorn is often the most hassle-free way of getting around. And boy, does she lurve it!

Don't bother me! I'm very comfy!

Fingers and toes

HAVE I mentioned that I really love the smell of her breath?

It's all warm and sweet and milky-ish...

And I also love the feel of her hands and feet. Her skin is so soft and smooth and squishy...

Like my dimples?

I wonder if she will have flat feet like me.

And before I turn in for the night, here's a funny MSN conversation -
Ern: wah u are HOW havoc! 10.16pm still awake!
Me: friday night mah
Ern: then does zoe know tomorrow saturday can sleep in?

Rebel without a cause

IN light of Zoe's refusal of the bottle...

Dressed in a T and cargos, with a punky hair-do... she's one cool baby!

She looked so cool that my mother-in-law inisted on taking a photo with Zoe. But Zoe wasn't co-operating. There were snarls and frowns... or really funny faces like this one:

HAHAHAHHHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAA

Nipple confusion

AT eleven weeks, you would think Zoe would be able to handle the difference between the boob and the bottle.

But no.

When the nanny was around, Zoe had one or two feeds a days via the bottle whenever I went out. After the nanny left, there was no need to bottle feed her coz I was always around. However, on Tuesday I needed to pop out for a little while so I got Liz to give her the bottle and she TOTALLY rejected it!

We tried several times on Tuesday and Wednesday but each time Zoe would FREAK OUT. She would gag when the nipple was put into her mouth. She would struggle and fight to get away from the bottle. And as we continued to force her to take the bottle, she would just get so worked up.

Finally, I called in Nurse J to help solve this HUGE problem. You see, unless Zoe can take the bottle I would never be able to go out - or if I did she'd have to come!

Nurse J came today and again Zoe rejected a bottle feed. Nurse J ended up teaching Liz how to feed the baby with a spoon and a syringe - a VERY tiresome and time-consuming task.

Zoe got checked out and all is well with her. She now weighs 6.2kg so feeding off the boob obviously works well for her!

Just before Nurse J left, she tried the bottle again and Zoe managed a few sucks...

There is hope!

A tough night

LAST night, Zoe was up at 12-1, 3-5, 6 and then finally woke up at 8.30!

S: I'm dem tired! Zzzzzz...
M: You should have been going through this weeks ago!

Reinforcements arrive

NAINAI arrived today to be an extra pair of eyes - and hands - while D is in Jakarta for a three-day business trip.

Zoe and D took her for a little evening stroll around the pool before dinner... in matching Birkenstocks!

Camouflaged

SATURDAY evening's outing was a car ride to Benj's place.

Zoe made herself at home and ended up hogging his rather "colourful" playmat.

"This ain't big enough of the both of us!"

The morning after

WE'RE all pretty beat taking care of the little one without the Nanny.

But the nights have been pretty okay.

Zoe goes to bed around 8pm.

Then she wakes up between 12mn-1am for a feed.

I am usually up for more than an hour changing her nappy, nursing, burping, settling her back to sleep and then pumping out what's left in the udders (so I don't get mastitis again!).

Around 4-5am, she's up again for another feed. Another blurry hour plus tending to her needs.

Zoe behaves wonderfully at night and sleeps well.

However, she thinks the day begins at 6am!

She wants to play, be read to and do her gym workouts then.

Given the little sleep I have through the night, there's no way I could possibly be all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at 6am, so Liz comes up around 6.30am to take over.

By 8.15 Zoe is all tired out and needs a nap - and so does Liz!

The scene int he nursery at 9am today.

Bastille Day and...

BON fete a toi!

A day after the D(readed)-day

I HAD a major boobooohoo when Aihua was leaving.

Both of us did.

I was fine until I saw her cry as she said goodbye to Mopes. Then... it was all over. I was crying at her crying and then she cried even more coz I was crying... then Maritess cried... The only person who wasn't crying was Mopes.

After a while, it got a bit ridiculous with the three of us sobbing on the street, so I gave her a quick hug and scurried off.

Back upstairs, the house was so much emptier. Mopes room was so quiet. Even being in the pantry area where we keep all of Mopes feeding stuff made me miss the nanny!

Hormones? Or just overwhelmed?

While I have enjoyed and appreciated having help for these ten weeks, I wouldn't recommend it for so long.

Have a nanny for the first month, then DIY!

A nanny really is supposed to help you take care of the baby and to teach you how. She isn't supposed to take over taking care of the baby.

I made the mistake of letting her.

So while she was here I had a good easy easier time.

I would hand Mopes to her after feeding for burps and to be put down to sleep. She slept with Mopes and settled her through the night. She calmed Mopes whenever she was fussy. She bathed the baby, wiped her down, washed her bum and changed her diapers.

I really didn't do much except feed her, carry her now and then, and other stuff but only when I felt like it - or when she was in the loo.

Ahhhh the luxury of having a nanny! And someone whom you really like and trust, and who loves your baby...

WE MISS YOU AIHUA!

I had actually planned to ease myself into the main caregiver role over the next week but alas, she had to leave so suddenly.

Now, 24 hours later...

Mopes survived my first day at work!
It was tough going yesterday afternoon after the nanny left coz Mopes missed her and refused to sleep. So she was cranky and fussy but by 7pm, she was dem tired and she hit the sack like a ton of bricks.

Since then, it's been going ok...

Day 72: The day that I've been dreading has come

NANNY got the call this afternoon when we were at lunch.

Her next job delivered a week early. Why couldn't the stupid cow cross her legs!?!?!

So MY nanny leaves us TOMORROW!

C.R.A.P!

*Ugly sobs*

D: "Shall we get a pui san?"

Bless him for offering his floundering wife more help.

But really, I think it's time I got cracking.

It's been ten and a half weeks.

Time to bite the bullet and be a proper mom to Mopes.

But still, I'm so so so sad to see Ai Hua leave...

You can leave your hat on

WE'RE off to Y's for lunch.

The Nanny loves dressing Zoe up.

It's a fashion show everyday here.

And as we all know, different accessories can change the whole look of an outfit!

Heh!

On the balcony

LAST night, two friends - one, a very old one, and one, not such a young 'un anymore - came a-calling.

KC and I reminisced about our young partying days, the trip to Vegas, scandalous nights in Sydney... all while I was carrying Mopes.

KC: "...and now you're a mother".

*Clink of champagne glasses*

Then D came home from work and Ickle turned up. More clinking on the balcony. After two bottles of V, we were all a bit woozy at dinner.

Mopes joined us on the balcony for a while before she went beddy.

No flash photography please!

And here are some pictures from ick's camera:

Gucci gucci go go Go

SO I have a Baby Bjorn... but this is looking waaaaay more stylish!

This Gucci baby carrier is a mere USD$790.

Hmmm. For that amount I could hire my nanny to carry Mopes for another two months!

Which brings me to the sad sad saaaad announcement that the nanny will be leaving us in about 10 days!

*sob*

A walk in the park

THIS morning I needed a Starbucks so I popped Mopi in the Baby Bjorn and headed over to KLCC.

(For quite a while, Zoe didn't seem to like being carried in the Baby Bjorn but recently, she seems to have taken to it. It is really so much more convenient for short distances than lugging around a pram... also the baby likes being carried.)

Since it wasn't too hot and I was near the park, I thought I'd do a loop.

Very sweaty work but it was nice doing a bit of exercise.

And trust me, carrying Mopes around was exercise.

After all, she's nearly 6kg!

Day 68: Video goo goo

SHE has a voice!

For the last week, Zoe has been "talking" to her animal friends every morning in her play pen.

She coos and smiles and is able to entertain herself for quite a while.

Check out just how kerrrute she is here:

There's a baby in my bed

D WAS away yesterday in Singgers. Today, he's gone off treasure hunting with his team from work and he'll only be back tomorrow.

So in the meantime, I've found someone to keep his side warm!


I'm pretty happy she is sleeping well coz yesterday Zoe got her pneumococcal jab. I had to give her some fever medication half an hour before we went to the doc's in case she had a bit of a reaction to it.

Since I knew D was going to be away, I decided to get Nurse J to come in to check on her in the afternoon just in case.

All was well...

* Temperature: 36.4C
* Weight: 5.7kg (Her weight gain seems to be calming down now as she put on only 200g in two weeks.)
* Head Circum: 40.5cm
* Length: 56cm (She grew 2cm in two weeks.)

Nurse J also checked her developmental progress - social skills, communication, motor development, vision etc.

All ok except...

I've been told to give her more tummy time. It seems playing on her tummy will force her to use - and strengthen - her neck muscles to lift her head. She will also learn to use her arms to push herself up, which works on her back muscles, helping her to sit up later on.

Also I've got to exercise her left eye more.

Now we're off to the play gym!

Well, after she wakes up...

Mopey Mopes

MOPES was up at 6am and wouldn't nap the entire morning.

She wanted to mumm-mumm every hour AND wouldn't get off for A.G.E.S.!

When I didn't comply, the little baby would boo-hoo so pitifully. No one could calm her.

She worked herself into quite a state.


So I had to nurse her. She'd keep drifting off to sleep. Then I'd put her down and within five minutes, she'd be BAWLING again. Even the nanny couldn't work her magic today.

Finally at 2pm, she fell asleep in my arms for an hour and a half.

*Spasms*

The afternoon was pretty much the same. She could only be calmed by me nursing and cuddling her.

At 8pm, she finally caved in and went to beddy.

Poor little dear was so miserable all day.

Maaaaaaannnnnnn. I am ExHaUSTed!

Thank goodness D is bringing me TWO apple pies from M's! I need ENERGY!

Shady lady

I QUITE like Mopes in hats...


Going fishing!

Day 63: Booby trapped

FUNNY story.

After Zoe's 4am feed, I returned to bed and D forced himself out of his comatose state and asked me if I were ok. "Errr, yah", I replied, thinking what a weird question.

Then came the 7.30am feed, when he asked again if all was right with me. "Yeah fine, why?", I asked now thinking this weirdness had gone on long enough.

Seems D had a dream: We were in Cameron Highlands for a work-do of his and I suddenly felt really poorly. Seems I had a really high fever and he had to make arrangements to take me back to KL and then return again to Cameron Highlands. He was joking in his dream that I was pretending to be ill coz I missed Zoe.

We had a bit of a chuckle over his dream.

Fast forward to five hours later and this is how I feel:

Another bout of Mastitis has hit.

A fever of 38.6 degrees and a very sore right boob.

The Doc wants to put me on another course of antibiotics for 7 days this time. But I just finished a five day course last week.

Nurse J doesn't think it's so good for Mopes to be drinking in all the drugs so she reckons I should just hold out tonight, try to massage out the clogs and hopefully the fever will break.

Argh!

Ow.

Happy 35th!

AN e-postcard To my foggies and Zoe's PohPoh and KongKong -


There's a 'surprise' party tonight but unfortunately we can't be there.

Playdate with Rhea

SUNDAYS are for going gai-gai with Daddy D.

In the morning, we went for a walk...

And in the afternoon, we went to little Rhea's home...

Here is Aunty Tasha carrying both babies. Mopes is the practically the same size and length as Rhea who is two months older!

Reflections at TWO months

"DOES your baby have a face yet?", asked Ernz the other day.

A funny question but I understood completely what she meant.

Dare I say it but... all babies look the same!

Even though to your Dad and me, you are the cutest, loveliest, most divine bubz, you still look like... a baby.

It's funny that whenever people meet you, they try to figure out which features you've inherited from me and from your dad.

Is your face really a composite of ours?

For the first month, everyone thought you looked like your dad. But these days, more people are starting to see some of me in you.


But when your dad and I look at you, we just see you - our sweet little baby gurrr.

You have changed so much in the last month.

You smile so much more. You've begun making talky-talk sounds. You listen intently when we sing and talk to you. And did I mention, you smile... incredible, heart warming smiles.

You spend a lot more time awake and alert now. You are interested in your surroundings. You love to lie in the play gym I made you and stare at the bright colours all around you. When you go for our daily walks downstairs, you love looking at the palm trees blowing in the wind.


Unfortunately, your attention span is still extremely short. Five or ten minutes is pretty much it for you, whether we're playing, going for a car ride, walking about...

And that is when you DEMAND to be picked up.

You love being carried. You coo and sigh with great contentment when you are cradled and cuddled.

We're trying not to spoil you - with limited success. It's just too hard to say "no" to your angry face.

So for now, you always get your way!