Milk intake

MIL said RaeAnne drank 140ml of EBM at one shot today. Yeah, way to go girl. Although she's still drinking lesser than the other Jan babies I know (150-210ml of EBM/FM), hope she'll close up on the gap soon and sleep throught the night. :)

Lantern Festival

Today is zhong qiu jie ba yue shi wu, which means little RaeAnne is 8 months old today according to lunar calendar. Bought her a plastic lantern for her first lantern festival celebration but it was too heavy and she keeps dropping it. Can't buy the paper type cos she'll eat or crush it with her hands. Not able to take a photo of her holding the lantern, my aunt had to help her. Maybe next year she can hold her own lantern. :P

Poor RaeAnne fell from the bed this afternoon. First time this happened. I had was latching her on in the bedroom. And she fell asleep, can't transfer to cot or she'll be sure to wake up so I put her on our bed. Wanted to sleep with her but remembered I need to wash the new baby bjorn carrier I bought. Couldn't shout for hubby from bedroom so I put bolster and pillow on the side she's sleeping but forgot to block the side with the small cot and went to look for hubby who was doing some work in the living room. Told him she's sleeping on our bed but he no action so I went to take the baby bjorn carrier into the washing machine so that can use it next weekend. Half way through, heard her crying. Hubby went to attend to her, continue to do my laundry then I heard hubby shouting. Rushed to the room, hubby told me that she fell and he found her in crawling position on the floor. Quickly hug her and sayang her until she stop crying. Sorry darling, both daddy and mummy were tired out from looking after you and got complacent. We should never have left you alone. Bolsters and pillows are moveable objects, you can stlll plow through them since you can already crawl quite well.

Hubby was very heart pained n wanted to rush her to KKH A&E straight away. But I decided to call KKH ask a nurse hotline first cos I dun think the dr will do much except ask us to monitor. Nurse asked me to check her head and limbs for injuries, all seems ok. Luckily, she's back to usual self after crying for a while. Happy, active, crawling and playing like normal. Need to observe 72 hours for any abnormalities in behaviour eg. vomitting. Anyway, lesson learnt for me, hope hubby did too. Don't take things for granted. Housework and school work can always wait. Baby can't. :(

Car seat & baby bjorn carrier

Finally gave up and put back the old car seat. RaeAnne was happy in it for almost 10 minutes then she started fussing again. She'll cry and whine and want me to carry. I blamed it on the fact that I started to rescue her when she was unhappy in the new car seat and this gal learns fast. However, I refused to relent, never give chance cos this is the old car seat and she was able to sit in it for long time previously. Had to ignore her cries when I went to visit my friend Debbie who just gave birth to baby Emma.

Baby Emma is so sweet, small face but really big eyes. Been so long since I carried a newborn that I carried her in upright position same like my daughter then realised it should be cradle position for newborns then quickly changed. Sorry, Emma. She fell asleep when I carried her though. :)

Received our BB Bjorn carrier which I bought from ebay auctions. Brand new and only $88. Think it's a good deal, got to wash it then let RaeAnne try. Hope she likes it. :)

BF Career

Read a very cute mummy's BF resignation letter to her baby gal http://ncyunited.multiply.com/journal/item/64. Made me think of my own BF career especially since I kenna blocked ducts again on Monday. Tahan on my own, took leave on Tues to try and clear, keep applying hot towel and massaging. Did not get worse but not any better too. Gave up and went to see KK LC Yen Peng today. She helped me to clear the remaining lump, ouch ouch! Said I got infection (cos my gal twist and injured the nipple) when the flow was not good due to blockage. Had to start on antibiotics.

Was thinking of quitting my BF career too cos push factor was busy workload and kenna blocked duct (I counted, total of 7th times including this time!?!) but after seeing LC today at KKH, she reminded me the pull factors to keep my BF job (she said the nutrients and antibodies which will not be destroyed even if most times she only gets heated EBM). Also, if BB drink BM, she will take in say vit B, C, D & F which she needs and it's in BM. But if BB take FM which has vitamins A-Z, she will end up with extra stuff that she doesn't need and this gets stored as fat around her vital organs. That's why FM fed babies are so big but it may not be healthy, that's why childhood diabetes and hypertension is so common nowadays.

She even psycho my hubby and ask hubby to talk to ILs which have not been very encouraging since RaeAnne turned 6 months and hubby did talk to them. Told his parents BM is better, other people can BF until 2 years old, not true that BM is not nutritious after 6 mths. So my replacement (FM) has been laid off for now though position is still open should I retire. And, Baby RaeAnne is safe from my resignation. Hee.

RaeAnne's Car Seat

Have been getting frustrated cos RaeAnne doesn't like to be strapped in her new car seat and that makes bringing her out on long car rides difficult. Gave her a lot of toys within reach but don't know why she just doesn't like this car seat.

Anyway, after reading the "What to expect in the First Year" and they recommend taking the car seat home to let baby sit in it and getting her conditioned. So ask hubby to take out and bring to ILs place. True enough, she started whining and stretching her hands out for 'bao bao' once we strapped her in. Bo bian had to take her out.

Then, I had an idea. I put her dolly inside the car seat and strapped dolly in. Then we told her we are bringing dolly to gai gai. MIL was carrying her then, when she saw dolly sitting in her car seat, she start to make noise and reach out in the direction of the car seat liao. So, we took out dolly and strapped her in, then give her dolly to play, this time, she sat in it for 10 mins before making noise again. WAH, told hubby our daughter possessive man, even though she doesn't like the car seat, seems like she wouldn't let dolly have it either. hehe. ;)

Added RaeAnne's Professional Shots :)

RaeAnne's first professional shots

Brought RaeAnne for her first professional photo shoot at ABC Photo Studio at Bishan in the afternoon. Didn't go so well cos as usual we were late and rushing. PIE jammed and hubby took wrong turn. RaeAnne was grouchy from long car ride cos she still doesn't like to be strapped to the car seat and I was coughing away so had to hold her in the car. Everytime she struggles and twists around got me started on another coughing attack so got quite impatient towards her. Sorry darling, Mummy didn't mean it. :P Just remembered that when hubby and I took our wedding photos at the studio, I was also sick. Hmm... looks like there's something about me and photo studios that just don't gel. ;P But luckily, we got some good shots despite the bad start. See the slide show for pics. :)

Oh ya, before I forget, something interesting happened yesterday. Yesterday when we finished the photo shoot, hubby and I needed to go get lunch, it was already 3pm by then. Hubby joked with the photograher and his assistant. Why don't both of you take care of her while we go downstairs and eat? My girl immediately 'bian zui' and want to cry. So kelian like that when daddy want to abandon her. Had to quickly comfort her no lar, daddy bear to, mummy also don't bear to leave her there. My baby gal so sensitive, like Mummy. :P

A Momentous Day!

Today is Teacher's Day. It's also my girl's Graduation Day because she graduated from BM cos I let her try Friso2 today. Have been meaning to let her try FM so that I can gradually cut down on my pumping interval. Have been feeding her BM only from 2months plus till now other than supplementing with solids. Hopefully once I give FM, she can drink her fill before sleeping then no need to wake up for night feeds. Today, FIL made it cos I don't have the heart to do it myself. RaeAnne finished nearly 90ml of it. FIL said, "she likes it, drink even faster than BM". Sigh, feel a bit sad hearing that actually, asked hubby repeatedly. "How, gal gal don't need me already". Sigh, mixed feelings but I guess I should be happy that she did not have any problems switching to FM bah but still feel a bit sad that I'm cutting our special link. :P

Baby Jumper Gym

Poor mummy still sick, finally surrendered after 5 days when my cough syrup finished, and went to see GP today who prescribed non drowsy cough syrup and strong antibiotics. If not really couldn't make the trip to bring RaeAnne to Baby Jumper Gym at Bukit Batok today. :P We went for the trial for Little crawlersw with the other Feb MTB mummies, Bx, goodbbb & Lezy. They don't let us take photos or video there but we sneaked in a photo or two. I was feeling stoned from my cough but they flashed similar cards for our baby to pick out (eye movement), then they flashed cards with text and pics (chinese & english) then we did some exercises and sing songs with the baby using musical instruments (rattler & hand bells), then we went to the gym area to let baby crawl and play with monkey bar. The flash card thing is a real eye opener. This blur mummy can't even spot the difference between the 2 cards but our babies can pick out the right card. I'm amazed. ;P RaeAnne enjoyed herself at least in the beginning part before she started crying. Don't know it was because she was overstimulated or because she follow the other babies who were crying. Fun, but I don't think i'll sign up cos too far from Tampines. They said they'll be opening a branch in the east next year so we'll see. http://www.bjg.com.sg/programs_crawlers.htm

Object permanence & high chair

RaeAnne started playing a game with FIL. She will drop her face towel and FIL will catch it on its way down. She laughed and chuckled so loudly. Hubby said she'll also start looking for the thing that she deliberately dropped. Looks like she has reached another milestone, object permanence. Where she knows that the thing that is dropped is still around somewhere. :)

My mum and aunt came to visit and they made baby porridge for RaeAnne with fish soup and carrot. But she didn't eat a lot probably cos the texture was too sticky. But nothing that a little bit of hot water can't do. Hubby brought her to ILs place in the late afternoon after my mum & aunt left cos he was visiting someone in hospital and I was too concussed to look after RaeAnne alone after taking my cough syrup. Asked hubby to bring the leftover porridge over and ask ILs to feed. I've been sleeping and sleeping since taking cough syrup but at least it's working. Coughed up some phelgm with blood just now. Yucks! show that this cough really affected my throat quite badly. But hopefully the worst is over and I'm on the road to recovery.

Bought a second hand Mama & Papas high chair for RaeAnne. Was selling at motherhood forum for $80, usual price: $240. Decided to get it cos she has a similar changing mat which my colleague lent me and she loves it so thought the padding for this high chair is the same so should be quite comfortable for her. :)Our little gal is growing up so fast. Still remember when I went to soup restaurant with my cousins, she can't sit on baby chair so we had to put her in a stroller but now, she has her very own high chair liao. :)