Visit from Aunty Wendy

My friend Wendy who is based in Beijing finally came by to visit, she didn't managed to visit last year when she was here cos Rosabelle (Rosie) was down with fever then. And being her usual considerate self, she didn't want to visit to avoid 'infecting' me as I was still pregnant then.

This time, she also brought the loot which she helped me order from taobao, China and refused to accept any payment. So, the gals got Carters/Gap rompers, shoes, an inflatable bathtub, even mummy got present (washable breast pads) from generous Aunty Wendy. :)

Got the maid to cook a kids friendly dinner: steamed tofu with meat patty (chopped carrots and mushrooms), steamed cod fish (marinated with teriyaki sauce), tofu seafood soup (prawns, pork slices, fishball, crabstick, egg tofu, sio bai chye cooked in chicken stock) and stir fry sweet potato leaves (with hay bee hiam for the adults).

Rosie was very 赏脸 and patiently ate almost half of her food and even drank a small bowl of soup. RaeAnne on the other hand refused to eat fishball, cod, crabstick, tofu, meat nor rice. Arghh!!! So frustrating. Hubby had to resort to feeding her bread after that. But I found out today that she's definitely teething. A wee bit of her bottom right molar (one of the last 4 molars to erupt) has cut through the gum. Which explains why she has been so fussy with food recently.

The gals need some warming up at first especially RaeAnne who is too possesive and refuses to share with Rosie. From the high chair (which she refuses to sit on for goodness sake) to my iphone (hubby was trying to show both she and Rosie the apps games). She even cried when Rosie hugged and kissed her. Duh... So unfriendly and so embarrassing for Mummy. :P

Luckily she did warm up towards the end and was happy to share the blueberries with Rosie. When we saw Wendy and Rosie off in the cab at 830pm, she said, "Rosie 妹妹回家了，milk milk, orh orh." She thinks that Rosie has gone home to drink milk and sleep. Maybe she's right cos Rosie didn't nap today. While my naughty gal only napped 1 hr from 130 - 230pm today so she KO while I was taking my shower at 10pm.

Just realised that I've known Wendy for almost 10 years since our days at Mileage Communications in 2000. Haha, how time flies.My 9 months stint there sucked but my reward was making a great friend. How our lives have changed since we worked and bitched about work during the mrt ride from Tanjong Pager to Paya Lebar/Eunos. Thanks for the ten years of friendship, Ah Niah and for always making efforts to catch up when you are back. :)

Raelynn is 2 months old!

Our second princess is 2 months old. When we checked last week, she is 51.5cm long and 5.64kg. Weighed her just now at ils place, she is 5.8kg now. Gained about 2.5kg since she was born. :) Here's a photo of Cheh Cheh at 2 months old too. Can you guess who is who? ;)

FM and diapers - penny pinching

Hubby and I went out to stock up on Friso3 n diapers even pigeon wet wipes yesterday. Thanks to Jan and Feb forum mummies, I checked out both medical halls at west plaza pasir ris n got the best deals from each shop.

We dropped by Ikea to get the pot coasters but they are OOS. But at least we managed to eat chicken wings and have a drink at the Ikea cafe. :)

Jin tai tong
Friso3 900g - $21.90 ( malaysia packaging)
Huggies pull up pants - $13.90 (bought 3 packs)
Mamy poko s 48pcs (small pack)- $14.20 (only bought 1 pack cos worried that Raelynn will outgrow the S and move to M size soon)

Chinese medical hall nearer to kopitiam
Friso3 1.8kg (sg packaging) - $45 (bought 2 tins)
Friso 3 900g (sg packaging) - $22.50 (i did not buy since Friso packed in malaysia anyway, got it at Jin Tai Tong instead)
1 big bundle of pigeon wet wipes 6 packs - $18.40

But I just found out that Sheng shiong is even cheaper for Friso 3. Buy 1 big tin and get 1 small tin (900g) for $51.50. :P

Recurring blocked duct

Don't know why but right side became blocked yesterday instead. :( It is so frustrating and heartache trying to BF bearing the pain and I feel even worse hearing the baby cry helplessly cos there is no letdown and she is still hungry. I can't even rely on EBM cos she will continue to cry and at most take 5-10ml from the bottle when the maid feeds her.

Would have appreciated more encouragement/reassurance from hubby. I need someone to help me carry and comfort the baby in between latches but he went to shower. Even a shoulder massage from him would be good instead of busying himself with his laptop cos I had a super stiff neck and my fingers and shoulders hurt from bending over trying to press the lumps and massage for over 1hr.

I try to massage myself even though it's so painful and I'm so tired cos I wanted to save money for him leh cos seeing LC is more expensive than buying 1 tin of FM lor. Ask him to help massage also no use cos he also don't know how to press and pressed until so painful. He just said I think you need to go see LC tomorrow so matter of factly. He will help to massage when I ask him and drive me to TMC LC if I have appt and he can knock off work earlier lar. But a kind word or a reassuring hug would have gone a long way. :(

Anyway after a traumatic night, went to see TMC LC at 4pm today. Luckily the LC said the right side is not blocked anymore, guess the painful massage worked after all. It is still painful/swollen because of my overzealous 1 hr of pressing last night. That's also the reason why I pumped and hardly anything came out from the right side cos the milk ducts are occluded due to the swelling. But luckily baby suckling still works, that's why Raelynn is less fussy at the breast today. Best thing is they did not charge me. :) Hope it stays this way cos they r not open over the weekend. :P I'm starting to take lecithin cos some literature said it can help to prevent blocked ducts. But must take 1 capsule after each meal so I tend to forget. Hope it works.

Oh ya, weighed Raelynn today at TMC Parentcraft. I fed her 1 side at 330pm before leaving the house cos she was hungry. She was 5.64kg when the LC weighed her at 420pm. Then I latched her on the other side. She was 5.715kg so LC said she took 75ml from 1 side. Which means she takes about 175ml each time cos when I pump, 1 side is about 100ml. She's got a much bigger appetite than her sister. Faint! :P

Blocked ducts again...

Have not blogged in a while cos I was plagued by blocked ducts since Monday. I think it happened cos I was drinking papaya fish soup and nursing tea to build back the supply after seeing TMC LC last Tues (that was the 3rd time). Then Raelynn had a long stretch of not feeding on Sun night. Plus Sun we were at ILs place then my mum's place and I didn't bring pump along so only expressed to clear out the milk. Obviously, I didn't empty my breasts well enough.

Anyway, this current episode is already the 4th time since Raelynn is born liao, so I'm really feeling quite depressed the last 2 days. This time, I had body aches since Monday and I was not able to look after the 2 gals. Was popping 2panadols and 2danzen every 6 hrs to ease the pain so MIL has been looking after RaeAnne in the day from Mon to Wed.

Well, all the moping around and self doubt ("Why me?"), latching and hubby massage didn't clear the block ducts so today, I decided to try the hot stone massage by Mdm Rokiah recommended by some forum mummies. She is more exp than TMC LC cos each session costs $58. But then, at least I don't have to travel to TMC so it is more convenient.

Mdm Rokiah came at 10am, and boiled water to heat up the hot stone. Then she did her magic, ie. used the hot stone (wrapped with baby nappy cloth) to press against the painful lumpy left side and massage to clear the milk. Can't say it was painless but definitely less painful than KK LC. :P

Blocked side felt much better when she left but it took another few nursing sessions before the recurring pain eased n I finally experienced let down again when raelynn nursed at midnight. Pumpimg before sleeping but amount is pathetic, 50ml at most. I'm sure supply dipped again. Sigh.

RaeAnne is TWO!!!

RaeAnne is two years old today. But instead of having a big celebration party every year (cos hubby said it'll spoil the gals), we had a mini celebration at RaeAnne's playgroup. We had a Barney cake (chosen by RaeAnne and collected by Daddy), party packs (sourced and prepared by Mummy) and the balloons (pumped by our maid).

It was a rainy morning so we had difficulties sheltering everyone and everything to her classroom especially the 2trash bags worth of balloons and the party packs. Mummy secretly thinks that by buying her an umbrella for her birthday present, I probably jinxed the weather condition for today. Haha.

We had a cake cutting ceremony with her classmates who were all excited about the Barney cake. Two of them touched the cake even before the song was sung. Luckily Mummy had taken photo of the cake before the damage was done. Haha.

RaeAnne fed herself lots of cake. 1.5 slices in total. ;)

Even Mei Mei was not left out of the celebration. She was carried by Teacher Suriya here. ;)

After the PG celebration, we rushed to ICA to collect Mei Mei's passport and redo RaeAnne's birth certificate as we had decided to change her Chinese name some months back. Thought we can settle everything in 1 hr plus but turns out we need to come back in 2 hrs to collect the birth cert. So, we went over to Bugis Junction, the nearest shopping mall to ICA. :)

Showing me the 'Two' sign outside the Mongkok Cha Chan Teng cafe at Bugis Junction when I asked her how old she is. We had stopped by to have our lunch. :)

The two gals knocked out in the car on our way back. :P

HaPpY BiRtHdAy RaeAnne!!

Happy Birthday RaeAnne!!
You're 2 years old liao!!
Must be a good gal gal ya?!
:)

Happy Anniversary!!

Today, 21/1 is one of our many anniversaries! We had our customary Chinese dinner (or rather lunch)on this day!!

Happy Anniversary Dada!!!

Nai Nai house

MIL told hubby that she wants to bring RaeAnne back from PG to go to her house. Actually she hinted to me a few times last week but I didn't want to commit. Long afternoon naps and late nights is my main concern. But she sweetened the deal cos she said she wants to toilet train RaeAnne. She started last Sat when we are busy bringing Mei Mei to PD. Tonight, when we went to pick RaeAnne up, she said she wants to fetch her from PG again. Oh well, will try it out for 2 days. If bedtime is really bad then I'll start looking after her in the day again. I don't mind doing it as long as I get to rest and some me time over the weekend.

These few days, BF has been painful so I'm also a bit sian to look after two. It started when the air con men came to fix the air con so I did not nurse Raelynn the whole day. Plus with the air con men at every room, I couldn't find a convenient place to pump. End up dragging pumping frequency to 4-5 hrs. Now paying the price for it lor.

Just spent 1 over hour massaging and pressing on the lumps. Hubby couldn't help cos the lumps are a few days old and I pek chek liao. Very reluctant to see LC again due to cost. Already saw LC twice so far and Raelynn is only 6 weeks plus old. :P

Very painful but I think it's much better now. Waiting for Raelynn to wake up and help me suck out. Very very sleepy and tired now. Shoulders are aching from bending over. :P

RaeLynn's 6-in-1 jab

Brought RaeLynn for her 6-in-1 jab on Saturday afternoon at the PD. RaeLynn is now 5.2kg, 51.5cm, head circumference 37.8cm. Growing very well. :)
She behaved v well when she was jabbed, cried but stopped shortly.
:D