makeover

ZQ's innovative

I've got a pump to pump balloon and few days ago, ZQ brought it out to play. During bath time today, I saw him taking a pail of water and he took a few pumps of the shower bath (maid was in the kitchen) and then he mixed it with the water. Next, he use the pump and pump into the water to make bubbles. It's so creative of him, haha. I wouldn't think of doing that. When i was monitoring him, i thought he wanted to use it as a water gun but instead he made bubbles with it.

Maid said that yesterday he already started doing that. Sometimes before he goes into the bath, he will say "Oh, i forget" ... then goes to look for some toys he wans to bring into the bathroom to play.

He's also vv loving towards his little brother. He will always kiss the baby from head to toe. Earlier, he kissed Didi's hands, tummy, legs and at one point, he kissed the diaper and he said "Mama, diaper is full" ... so funny.

ZQ knows how to get what he wants diplomatically

Today ZQ wanted to drink the YEO's packet chrysanthynam drink and the following conversation happened.

ZQ : Mama, can i drink this?
Me : No, darling, you are having a cough
ZQ : Me not coughing
Me : But doctor said u are coughing
ZQ : Mama, u drink this *He offered it to me instead ... so sweet rite?
Me : *reluctnatly --- Ok ....
ZQ : *Seeing me opening the packet drink, he said Mama, share with you
Me : Mama can share but are coughing?
ZQ : No
Me : So can you drink?
Me : No
ZQ : Mama, better to share
Me : Quan quan, u are coughing
ZQ : Mama, Little bit
*Pour little bit into the cup
ZQ : Mama, don't drink everything, save some for me.

This kid really finds ways to get his drink and he knows how to get what he wants. Eventually, he go a little bit of the drink.

ZQ "bullies" me

After ZQ's return from the hospital .... he seems to be more sticky to me. I guess he learnt that i'd give him the attention and want to continue having that attention even after he had come home.

While in hospital, since it was just him and me most of the time, i can entertain him all day long. He also watched alot of TV there as there's nothing much to do. Doc advised not to let him loiter around as he might catch other viruses since his immune system is weak at that point.

I never realise that Cartoon Network is such crappy channel. It has cartoons like Tom and Jerry, Pink panter which has scenes of them hitting each other and not getting hurt but for a 2.5 yr old, they'd prob learnt that it is ok to poke fun and "hurt" each other. Had to explain while in hospital to ZQ that this is bad behaviour. *sigh.

ZQ just woke up and first words he says "I wan to watch TV" - faintz. I said no, and he said "Little bit". Now he even knows how to negotiate.

My maid was telling me that whenever I am at home, ZQ would ask me to read him stories, play toys with him, watch TV with him, everything. But when i am not around, he behaves much better and is quite understanding when she has to look after the baby. He even eats his own meals at times without much problem.

ZK had grown to be so big and he laughs at his own fart

Met a friend at Giant the day before and he has 2 lovely daughters. They saw ZK and commented that he looks big and when he found out that he is already 7kg @ almost 3rd month only, he turned to tell his daughter, why u so small and light? U're only 8kg+ at 1 yr old. Hhahaa .... i din realised that ZK is that BIG.

He's a lovely boy - just like his brother ZQ. He's smile with his eyes closed when he hears me, prob smell me. I am glad that he is quite a managable baby, just like ZQ.

He's so funny too. Once, he farted and he was alarmed, frightened by his fart that he started crying. We all had a good laugh cos it was so funny. Then when i told him not to be frightened by his own "PI" .... he smiled. Another time, he also farted and he gave a loud laugh ... sounds quite adult ... it was vv funny too.

So my little King of PI smiles and laughs at his own fart.

Fever

Took ZQ out of CC last Fri as they were having a Halloween party in CC. I dun quite like the idea of him learning to "Trick or Treat" as I do not agree to the origin of Halloween either. Despite doing that, he had already learnt the word "Trick or Treat" ... cos he said that once when he was home over the weekend.

During the weekend, he caught fever up to 41 degress. Sent him to see a GP, KKH emergency outpatiend and finally on Tue, he was admitted to TMC for 2 days. It's a good thing I had bought insurance on hospitalisation for him and I can claim. Cost me a bomb for that 2 nites stay plus the few outpatient and followup.

Last evening, it was my turn. ZQ had since recovered after he got admitted but had phelgm due to his cough. As I am returning to work on Wed, I decided to go for a nite's out with hubby.
Sad thing is while waiting for hubby, my breast got engorged and it was painful despite me having pumped at 6pm and again at around 7pm. After i pumped at 7pm, i started feeling cold and trembled, shaking quite badly. In the end, we ended up at TMC again.

They administered panadol and I oso rented a pump to empty the milk - took 2 hours there pumping but it seemed stuck. Fever eventually went down and I was given antibiotics to continue at home.

Fever still persisted until this morning. Now i wonder if I can go out after work if I dun fullly empty the milk .... will this episode happen again? it was quite a scary experience.

Family pics in Sept

Comparison between #1-ZQ Vs #2-ZK

ZQ - deeper dimples though both have and bigger eyes

ZK - more hair and curly and more chubby!

Makeover on my birthday

Went for a makeover recently - my first makeover in fact ..... so sua ku rite?
I guess when one gets older, you want to look younger and nicer? to keep the good memories of how u used to look like. Well, I am on maternity leave and since I have the time, I have a free makeover voucher and I am meeting hubby for my birthday dinner that day, why not? It turned out pretty good :)

These are all the shots I chose .... they are good at getting you to buy the pics. Heng i only like not too many of them ;)

ZK's DPT jab

Brought ZK for the Hep B + DPT first jab yesterday. He was happily sleeping and only woke up when it was his turn, literally. So we had to give him milk, thank goodness he was on bottle feeding, else how to bf and have the PD check him rite?

The PD is vv gentle and rather through, spoke quite a bit with her. She even gave him the jab while he was drinking his milk. The brave baby only gave a loud wail and stopped once it's done. He also did not develop any fever. Thank God.

This morning i developed a slight flu n was sneezing away. Din end up going for Karen son's birthday ..... rather disappointed cos was looking forward to bring zQ there. Slept most part of the day except waking to pump - din even take my lunch.
Ate biscuits (Hup SEng) - hope they are not affected by the melamine milk scare ..... to date, Julie biscuits which i was eating prior to this is now in the list.

ZQ also drank Dutch lady packet milk and vomitted yesterday ..... not sure if it's related but the milk is surely not good anymore though it's way ahead of the expiry date. We ordered them through the CC, gotta feedback to them as i remmeber he also vomitted recently when he drank another packet - though not serious but it caused him to vomit, bad enough.

ZK at 2 months old

Don't you think he looks handsome? *ahem, all babies looks most adorable to their parents. He surely looks skinnier than lying down. He's now at 6kg @ 8-9 weeks. Pretty long by now, my own measurement was about 60cm ... dunno accurate not. Be bringing him for the Hep B + DPT jab at the PD.

PDs are so exp but then polyclinics had increased their price and it's not really that much difference, prob another $100+ for the 3 jabs. Furthermore, the queue is really long, the doc seeing him will be an MO (pretty inexperience ones sometimes).... might as well let him see a more professional one for now till he is at least 6 months' old, after his 3rd DPT jab.

Spending more $$ on ZK than ZQ ..... why? cos i have a more stable job this time. Feels bad that he has to inherit big brother's clothes, things so I buy more of other luxurious items which are not necessity - eg toys, music CDs ...

ZK's SMILE

ZK is now 8 weeks and he is now 6kg. Heavy and chubby. See his double chin?

Swimming pool @ Seng Kang Sports Complex

Brought ZQ to the new swimming pool on my own. Since ZQ's birth, I had not brought him out on my own too many times since we have a helper and often, she would come along. SOmewhat I found it tiring to bring him out myself cos he is so energetic! Can't catch up with him sometimes.

Hubby had gone earlier to swim first and then would join us after he is done with his own swimming. It was a good strategy to go later to meet him. Hence, i brought ZQ there to find hubby. THe place was buzzing with laughters from children, talking from adults ... and it looks like a mini Wild Wild Wet .... furthermore the entry is only $2. It's wonderful for a public pool - first of its kind in Singapore. ZQ had so much fun there and yes, we'd bring him there again next week.

He's kinda scared of water, swimming now. i find him not too adventurous in terms of exploring the water sports and also in his experimenting of food. He's better with learning languages, remembering stories, etc.

At his stage now, he's really fun. Every other day, there'll be something new and interesting about him - no wonder, hubby is "favouring" him more than the new born ZK. As he said in his own words that ZQ is exciting as he is different every stage and it's refreshing. As for ZK, it's something that he had seen before, hence not as interesting. Furthermore, now ZK is not exactly responding much as yet, so it takes patience to wait and see him smiling. Hubby talks to him but before he starts to smile, hubby walks away to do something else - no wonder he has not gotten much chance to see his #2 smiling. I hope he does not develop obvious favourtism for his ZQ but I can see that he loves ZQ very much and I am glad that he is appreciating and enjoying his son so much.

ZQ will say things like
1. "I can manage" when we try to help him on certain things.
2. When asked about something he does not want, he'll say "No, thank you" and he'll politely say "Thank you mama".
3. Sometimes when he sees me in pain, whether caused by him or not, he'll say "Sorry .... mama .... " and comes over to sayang me.
4. When baby cries, he'll get excited and shout "Baby crying .... mama, baby crying .... ".
5. When he returns from school, he'll asks "Where's my baby?" and he always wan to "See my baby". when we carry baby up, he will say " I wan my baby" ....
6. He loves to sayang DiDi. He'll hug him, kiss him on his lips! *i faintz cos he has cough sometimes.
7. When he is gonna cough, he'll turn away and walk to a corner and then cough before he comes back near the baby.

On the -ve side, he had learnt the word "Stupid" .... asked him who taught tat, he said "One grandma" .... so funny.

At this stage, he loves to listen to "Clifford" stories. He can even memorise the story. SOmetimes i wonder if he can read but i think it's becos he memorised the story. When mymaid tries to take short cut and skip a page, he'll know and tell her "No, it's wrong ....."

He's really an adorable and understanding kid .... love him lots! especially he is such a darling and takes care of his little brother, not demanding too much of my attention and this makes it easier.

Baby favours

Went back to office to distribute baby favours on Monday. Decided to give something different from the normal cakes, Ang Gu Kue and eggs. Some of my colleagues simply loves it! It is vv nice as it comes with a bear, an one serving hot chocolate and a mini pretzel together with a personalised card .... i had done my own design and then got them to use my design instead of theirs and it turned out really nice. Had ordered another package of it, mainly foodstuff but did not keep one for myself.



Spent the entire day (almost) in office, going around to catch up with colleagues and sending out the baby favours. ZK enjoyed himself so much when 3 lady collegues from the Admin dept carried him and played with him. He laughed so heartily that I was surprised. He kept smiling and giving mega big smiles to them when they spoke to him, play with him. Made me realised that I haven't been doing that much myself and he's grown to actually respond. I only know that he smiles when I speak to him or talk about him with my helper. Now he is more alert and can see you eye to eye and moves along when u move away.

They kept praising him that he is vv clever and that he is able to respond so well, despite being only a 7 weeks old. My roommate also commented the same thing. Dunch know if it's becos he is drinking breastmilk? better development. hehee. So far, I am proud to say that he is still on total breast milk. So different from ZQ who only had so little of it. Now I am trying to make up for it by giving him some of it if he wants to drink cos ZQ recognises the different taste - sometimes he protests against it.

ZQ knows which floor we stay in

ZQ has a good memory.

He can remember stories I read to him before he sleeps and when he was younger, he can remember songs very well too. Had even taught him Faye Wong's "MING YUE JI SHI YOU, BA JIU WEN QING TIAN .... " one of the famous poems.

Once, i wanted to test if kids at their age has good memory and I taught him to count from 1-10 in Malay ... "Satu, Dua, Tiga .." and after only a couple of times within a span of 2 days, he remembers it. It's quite amazing but yes, they do learn and absorb vv fast at this age.

Yesterday, i was out and I told the van driver to call my house phone when they reached so my helper can go down to pick him up. The home phone did not work as it was not placed properly. Then she brought my son to the lift and asked which floor he lives in. ZQ managed to tell her which floor and she brought him up ..... now we are also trying to teach him our hp nos so that he can get someone to call us when he gets lost. Of course i am not teaching him to use the phone to dial as yet. hahhaa.

Baby thank you e-card

ZK first month celebration

Been busy celebrating ZK's first month and my birthday. Have not gotten time to post any pics as yet.

ZK's first month celebration was rather successful. I had invited 50 over guests to my place as half of my initial guests could not make it ... combined my 2 days celebration into one. Hubby was asking, "How do u squeeze 50 guests in this place of ours?". Well, we managed. As guests do not come all at one time, it was ok in the end. Hee, can do such gatherings in future ... then again, what other occassions do we invite so many people? Another baby? hahaa ... not for now.

Made an e-card invite for the celebration and I thought it's quite nice. Shall post it up ;)

I ordered from NEO Gardens and had good comments from the guests. The most memorable part of the celebration was before we cut the cake, hubby wanted to take a picture for baby with the cake. Guess what he did? He placed baby on the hard glass table top next to the cake and baby started crying! Terrible.

Ordered some favours for ZK's first month and will be distributing to frens and colleagues as a token of appreciation for their joining in our celebration of ZK's birth. It should be nicer than the traditional Ang Ku Kue, egg and cake. It has personalised announcement card (I sent in my own design and requested them to produce it accordingly) and has it printed on the bottle, etc. QUite cool isn't? Have not seen the real thing as it will be delivered tomorrow. Hope it's a nice little token.

More pics of ZK

Family pic time!

Joy of "breastfeeding"

Little did I know about the joy of breastfeeding, rather, sound of pumping.

The sound of the milk that drips into the bottle, as it increases, the sound of it spraying into the bottles ..... it gives such sense of achievement. As I watch the bottles gets filled up, it feels good that finally I am producing milk .... milk that gives antibodies and nutrients to my baby. For the excess milk, I can even give it to #1, ZQ who had missed out on it last round. ZQ was mainly on formula milk (FM) and I had produced so little breastmilk (BM) that every drop of milk was like a drop of blood .... so precious.

As I had failed in breastfeeding with my #1, I did not bear much hope of succeeding this round but I tried to find all other avenues to help improved my breastfeeding efforts. I bought a nursing pillow so that it helps in positioning the baby for breastfeeding (I feel that this is one of the greatest challenge) ... afterwhich is getting the baby to suckle (this will depend greatly on the baby). I had also invested in a good pump - Ameda, a dual electric pump, which is important because a dual pump will cut the time spent in emptying the excess milk by half!

Having done all that, I had also bought Milk producing herbs tea and a kind of herb called Fenugreek which helps lactating mothers to produce more milk - well, I am proud to say that to date, I had not open my bottle of fenugreek as yet.

Most importantly I had prepared myself mentally that I WANT TO PRODUCE MORE MILK! Hence, during my final stage of pregnancy, colostrum already started to produce. Even on the 2nd day at the hospital, I managed to squeeze out 50ml of milk which I even took a picture of - haha, so proud u know.

Til this morning, I had produced a record high of 260ml in a pumping session. What do I do with so much milk when ZK is only consuming 100ml per feed.

Sadly, I must say that I've enjoyed pumping more than direct latching the baby cos he still drinks 100ml regardless of how long I had latched him on! Latching on - he fusses, cries, struggles and now having gotten used to the bottle - he feels the slow flow on direct latching and becomes impatient. Hence, I had decided I'll do exclusive pumping and let someone else do the bottle feeding.

I hope that without the latching and with exclusive pumping, the milk supply will not dip. Now I must say that it is too late to get back to direct latching as ZK had already learnt that he can get milk without having to suckle too hard ... and compared to direct latching, he does not need to put in so much efforts.

It does not matter so long he gets the breastmilk and that I am comfortable in what I am doing - relax ... so I can produce suffient milk.

First outing with ZQ after my delivery

Went to Pasir Park with hubby and ZQ. ZQ really enjoyed himself alot and was laughing when I showed him the pictures and videos of him playing Pasir Ris Park. Now he knows how to request to go there again.

ZQ knows how to please

ZQ really knows how to please his daddy.
He drew some lines on the paper and ran over to tell daddy "I drew something special for you". Asked him what it is, he said it's the train .. it goes Choo choo choo ...
Daddy then asked him to add some more colors and he replie "No, thank you".
His other favourite phrase is "Stop it Papa" "Stop it Mama" "Stop it Auntie" .. he learnt that in his CC and now he uses it with us when we tried to stop him from misbehaving and he will say "So sad ..... " when we really discipline him. Next second, he'll be jumping with joy and I wonder if he is good at acting. *Sigh.

He's quite funny. The way he answers sounds vv much like an adult but then it could be all 2.5 yr olds are answering in this manner.

Sometimes he will say "I tell u something" .....
Other times he will pull your head near to him and say "Spell my name.."
Now he knows his daddy and mommy's name and i am teaching him to remember my mobile number. Hope it's a good thing .. not sure if it will backfire and he might end up calling me often next time. Let's see.

ZK one month old pictures

Make a Smilebox photobook

ZK is 1 month old

ZK is 1 month old today. Was planning for a dinner session with some relatives but becos my FIL cannot make it, we had to postpone it. Dunno when but hubby is arranging it.

From birth of 3.65kg, ZK had now grown to be about 5 kg. I was surprised cos i always thought he was only 4 kg. It was calculation mistake. Now he drinks 100-120ml every 2-2.5hours, that's alot for a baby only 4 weeks. Furthermore, it's vv SIONG to wake up every 2 hours to feed him. Each time it will take at least 1 hour and if my #1 is at home eg. Weekends, then we really don't have time. Though confinement is ending soon but i don't see myself going out alot .. i still need alot of rest.

ZQ is getting abit more unmanagable cos he sees me home alot and i give him more time since the maid has to take care of ZK at times, hence i have to come in to take over certain things. Maid finds that she cannot manage him. She will give in to him when he cries and makes a din ... so she will give him biscuits(chocolate kind), etc which I myself do not give to ZQ cos he develops cough easily. He had been coughing for a while and on and off, it comes back for few weeks. having gone through so long to have his cough recovered, of course i am upset that she gives him rubbish food and he might develop cough again.

Scrape Book Trial

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

My Baby ZK

Update on ZK - week 3

Just gotten this collage done up and I tot I'd post it here :)

He's so cute .. i was taking pictures for him and told him .... "Darling, smile ..." and he actually did .. a couple of times.

He's quite a "clean" boy .... always like his diaper dry and clean. Even when there's one pee, he feels it, he'd cry until we change him. Diaper ... a rather costly thing.

He's drinking 90ml for every 2-2.5 hourly .... it's quite a lot for his age but then he's born quite a big size boy ... so perhaps he needs more. Thank God that this time round my supply is able to meet his demand and even have excess that I can give to my #1, ZQ.

Initially, ZQ was enjoying it until he decided that he dun wan the "special" milk and want the normal milk (Formula) ... hence, now we can only give it to him in the wee hours when he is still sleepy. Well, firstly it can help me save $$ and hopefully if it's not the frozen breast milk, then it has the antibodies that comes with it. Hopefully it can also help to boost ZQ's immune system.

Don't you love his million dollar smile?

ZQ is the sweetest boy and a good brother

This morning, i was still half asleep when ZQ came into my room to tell me he is going to school. Next, he hugged me and gave me a goodbye kiss and seeing that I am still sleeping, he said "Mama, don't go down" to tell me that I do not need to accompany him down to the school bus. He's such a sweet boy.

Last nite when I put him to sleep, I told him firmly that once he finishes his milk, he MUST sleep and really, within 5 mins, he fell asleep. Quite glad that he din insist on more milk -which he usually do. He is drinking alot of milk esp at nite and esp for a toddler of his age. I thought they should be cutting down on milk feeds? But he is not eating properly for his dinner and still vv choosy .... don;'t want meat, vege, fish .. in fact , everything except white rice. Faintz.

ZQ is also coping well with his new didi, ZK. He will say softly "Baby ..... so cute .... " while touching baby's legs, toes. I feel he will be a very caring GorGor to his little brother.

For little ZK, he seems to like to be carried and cries when we put him down. So now, i told maid not to rock him if possible. However, ZK is still managable cos once he "falls asleep", we will put him down.

Update on ZQ - 2.5 years old

ZQ is now 2.5 years old and he is about 16kg @ 90+ cm .. din measure his height but alot of people commented that he looks like a 3 or 4 yr old kid. Well, his mature looks I must credit to his father ... haha.

He has made great improvements in terms of his speech and ability to communicate. Some of his favourite phrases are :-

"That's a good story" - whenever I finish reading a book, he used to say "The End" ... now he will say "That's a good story". It's interesting to hear cos I never teach him that and I gather it's prob the childcare.

"I'm so sad" - ZQ is a sensitive boy and when we scold him or punish him, he will run to me or to my domestic helper and say "I'm so sad .....". We'd then ask him what happened and he tries to articulate that papa or mama is not happy with him and angry with him.

"Angry" - He learnt that from CC and he will say "Angry" with his arms folded. So funny.

Since he returned from my mother in law's place (due to his chicken pox) , I felt that he had grown up suddenly. Not just in terms of his weight, size but his speech, mannerism and alot more. No wonder there's a song that say "One night grow up" (translated from the mandarin song from Fish Leong).

He's been quite understanding and will look at baby and say "Baby .. so cute" "Baby crying". Since he is having a cough now, I told him to stay away from baby and to turn away or walk away when he is going to cough and to cover his mouth. He understood and will walk away whenever he is going to cough. Such a dear and I must say that he is rather mature and understanding for his age. He has a vv good nature and I believe that they are born with it.

I hope to give him more time once baby's routines are more established.

ZK's jaundice is on the downward trend

Hurray! ZK's jaundice is on the downward trend. Yesterday's checkup, his level went down to 183 ... a drop of 20 points is quite good. Need to go back for another review and if it falls further, then ZK can be "discharged" from going back for blood test.

Now I have to start working on his first month celebration. I did not do it for #1 - ZQ cos i was not coping well with the first time round and hence, no time and energy to do it. This time, I am managing better and with help from my domestic helper, things are much better now.

Gotta start sourcing for caterer and decide on who to invite , etc. Alot of work to be done!

ZK's jaundice level had improved

Brought ZK for blood test today and his level is now 218. Converting to TMC's level, it is to divide by 17, hence it is a level of 12.8 Doc had verified that ZK's jaundice level is ok but still requires monitoring and have to go back in 2 days' time for another blood test and 4 days' time for another detailed blood test. Here's goes another confinement when i am never confined at home - always busy running around to bring the boy for blood test, review checkups.

For ZQ, when we discover his jaundice, it was at level 400 and shot up to 420 when he was admitted to KKH 2 years ago. That would mean TMC's level of 24-25! It was a terrible experience, hence, anytime I'd prefer ZK to admit hospital or do home theraphy than to leave it to chance for jaundice to drop naturally. When we discovered that, ZQ was already above the danger level and the doc told me to rush him to KKH and dun even think of going home to pack the bag .. he then quickly called KKH to prepare the maximum lights available to shine ZQ. I was there during the 3 days and I could not stay over, it was a toturous experience. ZQ had to be put on drip and totally naked (not even the diapers) ... it was a painful sight and rather traumatising for a first time mother.

This time round I am more prepared for it and can handle it better. When I heard that ZK has to be admitted, I was rather glad they discover it earlier .... but when i went to the PD, when he told me it shot up from 9.3 to 16.9, i fear that history repeats itself ... felt like fainting for a second and wasn;t thinking straight. Anwyay, i rented the machine home and did a 3 day photo therapy for him and though i did not have much rest, it did not matter.

I just pray that it continue to go down. Really, I am not sure if it's linked to ginger. Last round I did not eat much ginger and ZQ had it bad .... this time round, i did eat a little (perhaps some dishes unknown to me) cos hubby in his goodwill, told my maid to cook dishes with ginger to help me pass out the wind but he forgot that it might cause jaundice to go up. Though I kept telling him i cannot eat ginger but i still find them in the food cos he did not tell my maid to stop putting ginger. Anyway, gynae also does not believe that ginger plays a part in breastmilk jaundice.

So much for today .... already vv tired after coming home from the blood test. Think I'd better watch what i eat these few days/weeks.