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. :)

Busy weekend

Brought RaeAnne to collect her first passport at ICA on Sat morning. Tried out the Baby Bjorn carrier on Friday night and she's quite happy to be in it so we used it at ICA. Should have bought it and used it earlier because the weight limit is 10kg and RaeAnne is already 8 kg, hope we can still use it for her HK trip.

Received a piece of good news on Friday. Century Square office called me and told me that I've won their grand prize of 4d3n free & easy trip to Shanghai. Was quite skeptical at first but remembered that I did fill up a lucky draw coupon for their recent Mooncake festival promotion. Checked the letterbox and there is an official letter from Asiamalls. YEAH!!! Hope there are no travel restrictions though cos can only travel during school holidays and we are already going to HK in early Dec.

Brought RaeAnne to a colleague's daughter's one year old birthday party on Sunday. She cried twice when someone wanted to carry her. Sigh, our gal still very shy. She was also a bit cranky cos she slept at nai nai house on Sat night and slept only at 1140pm. Heard from MIL that she rejected FM and porridge and ate very little. End up I have to BF her in the car and we missed the cut cake ceremony. :P

RaeAnne loves Yeye & Nai Nai

Started having a blocked duct since yesterday night. Tried to apply the KK LC instructions to clear it myself. Very tired about recurring blocked ducts, I have been massaging these 2 weeks since coming back from KKH. Don't know why after I recovered, the other side is now blocked. Think it's an indication that it's time for me to stop BF. It's difficult to continue when I keep having such episodes.

Was not feeling good so went to rest right after dinner at ILs. When I woke up, we wanted to bring RaeAnne home as usual but at the door, she actually cried and wanted ILs to carry and didn't want to leave with us. MIL had to carry her for a while and FIL switched off the music he was using to amuse her. Had to distract her before she agreed to be carried by me to go home. Sigh, told hubby before that the day when our baby prefers other caregiver (be it ILs, Maid, nanny etc) to me, should be the day that I quit.

Maybe my thinking is a bit extreme, maybe she was just having fun playing with ILs (must admit, they have more patience playing with her esp FIL always coming up with innovative games and actions to amuse her). But it still feels sad that my baby whom I spent 9 mths carrying her in my womb, another 8 months breastfeeding her including 5 mths looking after her at night on our own prefers someone else other than Daddy and Mummy. :( But, I'm sure RaeAnne made Yeye and Nai Nai very happy today with her gesture. They must have felt very 'wo xin' that the love and concern they showered on her is reciprocated. I should feel happy that she enjoys their company but at the same time, I feel sad for myself. Sigh, the dilemma and heartache of a full time working mum.

RaeAnne is 8 mths old

RaeAnne is 8 mths old today! :) Mummy knocked off late so Daddy helped to weigh her, she is 8kg. Just nice. :)

Milestones
Can crawl very well
Can pull herself up from sitting position and stand with support
Not cruising yet but starting to shuffle her feet sometimes
Still babbling, can't call mama or papa yet.
Taking 2 feeds of solids a day - porridge and cereal
Knows how to high five and wave bye but not consistent.
Separation anxiety especially among strangers