New foods for RaeAnne

MIL introduced porridge (cooked in pork broth with added fish) last Fri and kiwi fruit to RaeAnne on Thurs without my knowledge. At first, wasn't very happy, I'm the MOTHER after all. I didn't get to witness and was the last to know!?! But then, after I think again, they are probably as excited as me about introducing foods first time to RaeAnne, it's been so long since they look after a baby after all, so I decided not to be so selfish to demand that all her first times are only witnessed by me lor.

RaeAnne knows how to flex her hand to 'say bye bye', thanks to MIL who has been teaching her. She actually waved bye bye to me on Wed and Thurs morning when ILs came to pick her up. :) Asked hubby to try and get her to repeat her stunt on Fri pm but she didn't do it. :P

I've been having a cough since Tues morning, still not recovered cos never see dr. Still taking the cough syrup from last visit to GP. Cough syrup makes me drowsy so can't take at work. Take at home also problematic, cos can't wake up to feed RaeAnne. Still coughing away but at least it's the weekend so can take my cough syrup regularly.

Last night, RaeAnne sleep from around 10pm to 3am before she needed another feed. I think it's because she didn't take her day naps plus because have asked ILs to feed her more milk each time. MIL asked me again "ni hai bu yao gei ta he nai fen ah?" Wasn't very happy with her pressurising me but think I should start at least 1 feed of FM soon because after all, if she drinks FM esp for the last feed, maybe she can start sleeping through? Don't know, hope so lar. :P

Petition

The government has just shifted the start date from 1 Jan 09 to 17 Aug 08. But a lot of mummies with babies born from 1 Jan to 16 Aug 2008 are very concerned because $6000 CDA pays for a lot of childcare fees and primary school enrichment classes. And our babies won't get it compared to their classmates born after 17 Aug 08. Mummy sent an email to MCYS and joined an online petition to appeal to the government to grant CDA benefits to babies born from 1 Jan 08 to 16 Aug 08. http://www.petitiononline.com/NDR2008/petition.html But unfortunately, because they have already backdated once, they are not willing to change again, see http://938live.sg/portal/site/938Live/menuitem.43735da1634c4377d21b2910618000a0/?vgnextoid=82dc586d6beeb110VgnVCM1000001f0aa8c0RCRD&mcParam=18d2638896593110VgnVCM100000e101000aRCRD

Poor RaeAnne, is $6000 poorer cos no CDA account, looks like Mummy and Daddy got to work harder to save up for your school fees and enrichment classes in future. At least Mummy tried.

Something interesting happened tonight. Hubby was playing the FP Baby Grand Piano with RaeAnne but the TV was on and our gal was distracted. When hubby realised that she was happily watching TV instead of banging the keys, he said in a tone harsher than normal that "cannot watch tv lar". RaeAnne turned around and made a 'bian zui' face to hubby then started crying. All of us were so shocked because Hubby was just 'saying' her, not even scolding but she cried so pitifully. MIL and I took turns to carry and sayang her, FIL also sayang her, brought her some water to drink to 'ya jing'. Then when she calmed down, we put her back to the piano to play with hubby, for less than a minute, she was ok, then it was as if she remembered the incident, she started to bian zui and cry again but this time, she calmed down much faster. Was telling hubby I think she can 'ji chou'. But luckily after hubby continue to play with her, swing her to make her laugh, she forgot and started to want Daddy again. Actually I also use harsh tone on her too especially when she pulls my hair or bites on my nipple but she never cried before, her expression is usually quizzical, like why is Mummy using this tone on me. Maybe, she's really a Daddy's girl after all, know how to 'deh' her Daddy. Haha.

Collected my Babycenter and Kidsurplus loot from Artemis, a Feb MTB at her Punggol home today. Loved the Carters stuff I bought cos all of them were on offer and most not available in Singapore, definitely not at the same price. Haha. :)

Here are some of the stuff I got for her Hong Kong trip in Dec. :D One mummy at FebMTB forum asked to see all the clothes I got from www.babycenter.com overseas spree so here's the pic too.

RaeAnne is 7 months old!!!

Had a work function today, a staff celebration party. Decided to go though it's RaeAnne's 7 months 'birthday' today as I have missed bonding with my colleagues after office hours since RaeAnne was born. Rushed to ILs place at 820pm from Clarke Quay, taxi fare costs me $20 bucks because of the city surcharge cos I didn't manage to catch the office transport. Reached Ils place only at 9pm. But even $50 is nothing if I get to see my darling. Hee. ;)

She looks a bit blur blur when she saw me. But she soon warmed up and wanted me to carry. After dressing her up a bit to take a nice 7 mth photo. I weighed her for the record and she was only 7.2kg today. MIL didn't believe it and weighed her personally but it was accurate. RaeAnne was 7.3 kg when I weighed her on Wednesday, hmm... where did the 100g go? Did my darling lose weight again?

I quickly nursed her around 9.15pm as she was hungry. After she drank her fill, I carried her for a bit before passing her to ILs as I needed to pump. Hubby is coming home very late today so got to leave RaeAnne at MIL house. Felt quite guilty to leave her at ILs place on a special day but bo bian. Sigh, I came home on my own at 11pm as hubby was not going back with me.

Here's a pix of RaeAnne at 7 months! Starting to look more like a girl as her hair gets longer? Forgot to add, her recent milestone 2 nights ago was pulling herself from sitting position to standing position with support. According to the "What to Expect in the First Year book", it was a feat that not all 7 month old babies can do. Jia you gal gal! :) Unfortunately, she still can't sleep through the night because she doesn't know how to self soothe. :P

Baby Bonus

Was listening to the National Day Rally while latching on RaeAnne, it was a long rally so I didn't bother to unlatch her, just let her drink all she wants. In the end, she drank so much that she belched, but she smiled so contentedly after that. Haha.

Let RaeAnne try mashed banana on Sun morning, she quite likes it, finished about 1/3 of the small banana (not the Delmonte type). MIL said her poo poo super smelly today, wonder if it's due to the banana. :P

Just found out from one of the forum mummies that the Want Want Baby Bites is high in sodium. Oops, got to chong gong from RaeAnne liao. It tastes really good, so hubby and I will eat it. haha. :)

RaeAnne still hates her new car seat, the crying starts once we strap on the seat belts, Sigh, now I know why there are so many expensive models for car seats, it's difficult to fiddle with seat belts when you have a crying baby. Wonder if it'll be to late for change for the more exp Tobi but if she still hates the Tobi, I'll be very 'dui'. Sigh. :(

P.S. Tonight's announcement, there'll be 16 weeks of paid maternity leave plus 6 days of childcare leave and 1 week of unpaid childcare leave. Got better baby bonus for first time parents, too bad RaeAnne is born 7 months too early. If not, can get more than $3k. Just kidding. Money is not everything, the extra 4 weeks leave is good though, can BF longer. Haha. :)

RaeAnne's new car seat

Bought a new car seat for RaeAnne at Baby Hyperstore, the Maxi Cosi Priori SPS which was $238 offer price no more so bought the Priori XP, newer model at $373 instead. Nearly wanted to go for the Tobi model cos the seat belt system is more user friendly. But it's $438, $65 more, seems too extravagant for something that can only use for a few years. Also, Tobi's seat height is higher, afraid RaeAnne will cry if she can't see me. Tried putting her in it but she cried both times cos we took a long time to figure out how to secure the seat belts. Really regretted not getting the Tobi model then. :P

Just saw a BP thread selling Priori XP pre orders for only $250, hope it's not true. :(

RaeAnne's starting to recognise faces

Brought RaeAnne to my second aunt's place for dinner, cos one of my cousins just came back from China for a short trip. Realise she's starting to recognise faces because she'll scream when someone she doesn't know carries her and will cry pitifully until hubby or me carries her. My second aunt tried to bathe her, she also cry. :P

She's sleeping late these two nights, last night also slept at 11+pm, but because she slept so late, she only woke up at close to 6am which was good for me cos I stayed up to watch the Beijing olympics opening ceremony highlights until 2am. :)

Since yesterday, we noticed that she mastered the art of booing with her tongue sticking out, so chor loh.

EYS brown rice

MIL let RaeAnne try Eu Yan Seng Brown Rice today, she said BB enjoys it more than Heinz rice cereal. May be heaty though so asked MIl to give her more water and scrapped apple. RaeAnne refused to sleep early today, only slept at 10+pm. Don't know when she's going to get up. Sigh.

First times

Was telling hubby that I missed so many RaeAnne's first times that his parents mentioned and he told me he'll only believe it when he sees it for himself because RaeAnne's proud grandparents tend to exaggerate on her accomplishments. Maybe true since I tried making RaeAnne pull on the cot sides to stand up and she can't. Feeling more comforted now. :)

Booing

Since last Friday, MIL has been telling us that RaeAnne has been booing and spraying her saliva all over, finally experienced for ourselves on Sat. Up till now, she's still booing away, sometimes even when I'm latching her on. Sounds rude but she looks so 'de yi' when she boo very loud so we'll leave it be. Anyway, other mummies said it's normal and their babies went through it too. :)

This morning, RaeAnne peeed on herself when I tried to change her diapers at 4+am, shouldn't have bothered, it was not as heavy as I thought. Ended up rinsing her shirt and my pyjamas after bf her. So tired that I didn't pump this morning before going to work.

ILs said she is able to pull herself to upright position so hubby and I lowered the cot side tonight. Tried to put her hands on the cot, she can hold and stand but did not pull herself upright leh. Ils also fed RaeAnne her first taste of scraped apple today but we were having dinner so didn't see it. MIL said her reaction was quite ok, better than avocado and sweet potato. So sad that I always miss her first times because I'm a FTWM. :(

Happy National Day!!!

Today is our first National Day with RaeAnne, after a leisurely morning, we went to nai nai house. Mummy went crazy with the camera today and took lots of photos. Too tired to describe everthing so we'll let the photos and captions tell the stories. Remember to mouse over the photos to see the captions. :)