Finally collected photos

RaeAnne woke up every 2 hours last night, I want to peng san. Today brought her to ILs so that we can rest a bit. She didn't sleep much in the day so ILs let her sleep from 5pm to 630pm even though I protested that it's already evening, should not let her sleep anymore. Sleep until 630pm, at night how to sleep. FIL so 'stylo' told me, never mind, it's ok, let her sleep here lor. So, I thought ok, if they are going to let her sleep here tonight then I hands off lor.

Who knows later when I told hubby, he went to tell his mum that leaving baby here tonight and she didn't say anything, act blur. Then hubby said we bring her back cos MIL like not keen to keep her. He saw my 'buay song' face and he said he will stay up and look after her. It's already 11pm, she still so energetic, I'm going to bo chap liao. Told him since you cannot control your parents then you got to suffer the consequences lor. Actually hubby still suffering from his cough, quite poor thing also. :P

RaeAnne is screaming and crying now, don't know if it's because she wants to sleep or not. We tried to leave the airconditioning in her room just now and I bf her there but she didn't fall asleep either. Hubby's carrying her now, looks like he can't manage. Got to carry her....

RaeAnne finally fell asleep at 1120pm after I nursed her to sleep. Sigh, what a long day.

RaeAnne is 9 months today! :)

It's 22nd Oct and RaeAnne is officially 9 months old. I've been BF her for 9 months so far, exceeded target by 50% since I planned to BF her until 6 months. Quite proud of myself actually. Think I can slowly start introducing more FM and freeze the EBM I have so that can last her longer. Hee. :)

Dressed her up in the 3 piece Carters Apple pyjamas set which I bought from Babycentre.com. They are meant for 12 months but she can wear them already though the long pants are still a bit long. Bought some new hair clips for her from a forum mummy but MIL cut her fringe and hair these 2 days so she looks a bit tomboy with the hair clip. We tried the different hair clips on her but had a hard time making her smile cos she doesn't like us to pin things on her hair. Hee.

Think she's losing her baby looks and looking more like a toddler nowadays. Can even see her big feet from one of the photos. Sigh, my little gal is growing up so fast. A bit 'bu she de' but yet can't wait for her to sleep through the night. Dilemma :P

Bo Gey no more

Feeding FM as last feed didn't work. Made 120ml but she only drank about 100ml. Finished feeding her at midnight but she woke up at 2:50am. Same duration as BM. :P

Yesterday FIL told us RaeAnne has two bottom teeth cutting out too. True enough, I feel it when I put a finger in cos she'll bite me. Yeah! :) Hope that doesn't mean she'll bit me when I BF her though. :P

I tried giving RaeAnne baby carrot sticks too. She enjoys holding it but doesn't really want to eat. Made porridge for RaeAnne again today with pork, sweet potato and carrot. Use the tiger food jar but the porridge was not mushy enough, looked like teochew 'muay' instead of cantonese 'chok' so in the end put it back to the stove to boil a bit longer. Still save some gas compared to if I didn't use the food jar at all I guess. Put everything into the new allerhand food bag I bought. Just nice to fit in the Thermos food container, lock & lock container of cereal, her biscuits and the pigeon food container. RaeAnne ddidn't eat much of the porridge in the day when I made it. But when my small auntie fed her at my mum's place, she ate quite a bit. She still didn't like the taste of sweet pototo though cos she tried to gag when we fed her.

So far, RaeAnne has tried the following foods. :)

Puree
1. Avocado
2. Sweet potato
3. Carrot
4. Broccoli
5. Heng Cai (local spinach)
6. Corn
7. Peas

On its own
1. Cooked rice (1 grain which FIL fed)
2. Apple (mashed)
3. Kiwi (asked MIL to put on food previously cos recommended after 8mths cos too acidic)
4. Banana (asked MIL to monitor cos heard it causes gas)
5. Heinz teething biscuits
6. Heinz baby rice/multigrain cereals

In porridge
1. Pork (for broth only)
2. Baby Corn
3. Gor Ghee (threadfin)
4. Sweet Potato
5. Spinach
6. Local Spinach
7. Pumpkin

Feeding RaeAnne with FM

Tonight is the first night I fed FM to RaeAnne. Not that she had not taken FM before but it's the first time I personally fed her. Actually, hubby was supposed to feed her but she cried and cried when hubby tried to feed her. When I took over and gave her the bottle of FM, then she happily drink. Feels bittersweet though, it's as if she already associate mummy with milk cos I BF her so she trusts me but feels as if today I 'pian' her to drink FM cos I want to see if it'll help her sleep through or at least wake up less often. Guilty guilty. :P

Ye Shanghai Ye Shanghai

We are thinking of bringing little RaeAnne to Shanghai since I won a lucky draw prize from Century Square Mid Autumn Festival lucky draw. Will probably go from 28 Dec when my cousin is at Shanghai. Hubby received another call from Century Square today, so qiao, we won $100 voucher, a consolation prize. Century square is going to be our favourite mall from now on. ;) Nai Nai asked us to buy some towels for RaeAnne cos she's getting too big for them. Hee. :)

Today Daddy brought RaeAnne to NTUC when she cried and didn't sleep after latching on. When he brought her back at 9pm, she was already sound asleep. Good job Daddy! :) But she woke up 1 hour later at 10pm, Mummy latched her on to put her back to la la land. :) Mummy suffered a very stiff neck and back cos she woke up so many times last night. My colleague, a physiotherapist, saw me in such a bad state with my numerous 'salonpas' plasters that she offered to massage for me. Wa, heaven. :)

Sensitive Little RaeAnne

This evening, when hubby was modelling RaeAnne on the babybjorn carrier in front of the mirror at ILs place, RaeAnne tilted her head to one side. Daddy and Nai Nai were amused by her cos she looked very cute with her 'tou wai wai'. Machiam like trying to pose. Daddy mimicked her pose and Nai Nai laughed even more. Then my darling princess 'bian zui' and started crying. Aiyoh, I think she thought Daddy and Nai Nai were laughing at her. Had to get her out of the BabyBjorn carrier and sayang her, kept on praising her to soothe her. Hubby tried to lighten the mood by playing her favourite 'peek a boo' game but she ignored him. Poor daddy, next time he'll be outnumbered by a sensitive wife and sensitive daughter, hee hee. ;)

Forgot to note down RaeAnne's milestones. She can raise her hand and do bye bye gesture spontaneously 50% of the time. She's also babbling more, always ma ma mah, meh meh or ba ba ba. At first thought she was calling mama but realised that she calls everything/anyone that she wants ma ma or ba ba. :P

For the past few nights, RaeAnne has been quite 'guai', she slept at 9+pm after I latched her on. But she usually wake up less than half an hour when she falls asleep so got to latch again before she'll sleep longer. I'm not complaining but at least it's an improvement. But she changes all the time, hope it keeps up. Had to work today cos there's medical coverage. Made use of the opportunity to use up my remaining JL vouchers before they expire. Don't know what to buy so RaeAnne got a new Leapfrog learning drum and a Hello Kitty dollhouse which we will keep until she can play with it. :)

Fun Fun Aquaduck!!!

Today RaeAnne went swimming, first time at the big pool!!! She was at Aquaducks trial with other Jan08 babies at The Pines Club. Daddy and mummy were rushing and late by half an hour cos we were not familiar with the location. The coach was very professional. She had so much fun although she didn't look like it. Wanted to upload videos but there's an error. :P

Woke up again

RaeAnne woke up again around 10.45pm. Latched her on while hubby went to buy supper. Just managed to put her back to sleep. Hope she sleeps longer this time. :)

Cry it out

Very very busy at work. No time to blog these few days. My boss's last day is next Wed so she started to do handover liao. Found out yesterday at dinner that ILs fried the organic broccoli and baby corn that I bought for RaeAnne. Asked MIL and she not very happy. Sigh. Organic food so exp, I bought so that they can cook for bb without boiling to get rid of pesticide and instead, they cook it for our dinner because FIL said don't cook will spoil while MIL said bb don't like to eat broccoli and can't take corn. Don't like to eat also must keep letting her try right? If not will grow up to be picky eater.

Anyway, came back and made broccoli and green pea puree for RaeAnne yesterday. She took only a bit, as usual, she dirtied her shirt so don't dare to give her too much also. Hubby tried Cry It Out method to make RaeAnne sleep in the cot yesterday. Poor gal cried for more than 20 mins, from the time I was finishing up the puree, washing up the container, until I showered and finish shower. She was still crying even though I asked hubby to feed some water. She stopped crying only to drink water. :P Heart pain to hear her cry like that. End up I latched her to comfort her then she fell asleep.

Went to see LC today cos still can't clear a small lump. Shun bian asked her about CIO method and she said it can take up to 1 week to work and have to gradually increase the duration. Cannnot suddenly let her cry for so long. Anyway, she also said have to be consistent. I really don't think ILs will have the heart to do it so told hubby not to waste his time if he's not going to follow through with ILs.

Tonight, scared history repeat itself so latched her for very long once we came back from ILs place so that she can sleep early. Maybe we were lucky, she slept at 9pm but woke up again 15 mins later, then I latched her again, this time she slept around 930pm and until now. Keeping fingers crossed. Oh ya, we weighed her again today but she was still only 8kg. :P

Homemade porridge

Finally made porridge for RaeAnne today. Ils have been making it for her all this while. Soaked the rice overnight, then use the sliced pork ILs gave me yesterday to make pork broth to cook the rice. Boil the porridge for very long until soft and stir into the puree heng cai that she didn't finish yesterday to cook some more. She tasted the first mouthful, was going to make her 'wanna puke' face but hesitated and swallowed, didn't 'puke' after all. Finished about 2/3 of a small shark fin soup even though she had milk half an hour ago so I consider it a success. :)

More steamed purees

I got quite fed up cos I tried blending steamed carrot and steamed heng cai today and same problem with some pieces of veg still not blended smoothly. So, today, I got 'brainwashed' to buy a small blender at Isetan (the type with promoter with microphone) at $69.90. Saw the demo, even brown rice grains also can blend into powder. Hope it works better lor. RaeAnne's reaction was yucks to the carrot and heng cai though ILs already putting that into her porridge. :P Took some meat from MIL today, will try and make porridge for her tomorrow. Can add in those pureed veg that I made and she didn't finish. :)

Puree broccoli

Bought organic broccoli from NTUC at Eastpoint today, steamed the flower parts and tried to make puree broccoli for RaeAnne today but she hates it. Keeps making the want to puke face. :P Wonder if it's because it's not soft enough. Somehow, some parts of the broccoli can't be pureed until smooth. Only the broccoli stuck under the blade is softest. End up I can only scrap those part to feed. Never mind, veg is good for her, will keep trying. Ate most of the puree broccoli myself, added a bit of salt so it tastes not bad. :)

FIRST TIME RAEANNE CALLED MAMA?

RaeAnne attended Su-Anne cheh cheh's birthday party at Aranda Country Club yesterday. She was in a good mood before we went cos she slept for nearly 2 hours and I bf her after she woke up. We reached there at 3:15pm. But there were too many unfamiliar faces and she cried 4 times in total. The most serious one was when she was frightened by the party horn the other kids were blowing. Her whole face turned tomato red and she only stopped crying after 1 min, long by her standards. We let her try out the toys my cousin rented. She was apprehensive and her expression was guarded maybe because of the unfamiliar surroundings. Side note, RaeAnne is able to feed herself with the milk bottle, don't know exactly when but Nai Nai mentioned it on Tues and we witnessed it on Wed. She'll turn the bottle left and right as if it's her steering wheel though. Oh ya, RaeAnne was 72cm long when we measured her last week. :)

Had a very frustrating evening. Today, spoke to MIL and found out that FIL is against feeding RaeAnne pureed or mashed vegetables. He insists to add it to porridge. Doesn't accept that letting baby try the pure taste of vegetables is to get her used to the taste of veg alone without being masked by rice and other foods. Exposing her to new tastes is also recommended by baby books. Sigh, never expected to face resistance from him, especially since he is educated and an ex teacher. Expected him to be more open to new ideas instead of sticking to old ways.

Also found out that MIL boiled the vegetables before putting into the porridge (to get rid of pesticides as advised by her friends) but that means all the Vit C is lost. Tried to explain to her but she didn't seem very convinced cos she said that's how her friends taught her. The blind leading the blind. WORSE not only is hubby unwilling to talk to them, he somemore can tell me in front of MIl that it's ok to boil the veg first, grr... HELLO DADDY!?!, can you please read this http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/VegetableRecipes.htm before you side with your mum. Vit C is water soluble, that's why all baby recipes ask for the vegetables to be STEAMED not boiled. Sigh, I work in a hospital for so long, this kind of basic nutrition knowlege I also know, but no one believes me. :/ Too tired to argue and fight with the whole family.

But in the end, my baby's the one who suffers due to ignorance right? So someone's got to do it, and who else but Mummy, so off we went to buy vegetables from NTUC this evening after we picked up RaeAnne. Wanted to let her try it out tonight but she slept at 930pm, earlier for once but she woke up after I finished my shower. Had to latch her on again, keeping fingers crossed now. :P

FORGOT TO MENTION! THINK RAEANNE CALLED MAMA for the first time. When we were in the car driving back home. We were a bit late and she wanted her milk. Wanted to wait until we reach home before latching her on since it was such a short ride. But hearing her cry and call Ma... followed by Ma... 1 sec later. Not sure whether she's calling for milk or mama but it made my heart melt so latched her on anyway. Sure enough, when I had to unlatch her just a few mins later, she cried pitifully and had to be pacified by hubby. :)