Not sleepy yet

Mummy... I'm not sleepy yet. See, I can still do funny things

See?  Can do funny face

Oh fine, I'll just stand up and nibble away at this bar

It isn't an easy task getting Jo Ern to sleep.  She will pick play over sleep almost any time.  Luckily my maid Lina has the patience to pat and pat her until she falls asleep.  That can sometimes takes 20mins or so.  If it were me, I start getting leg cramp or back itch after 5 mins hehe.  I do succeed sometimes... then I pray she sleeps longer than the time I took to pat her!

Speaking of sleep, she wasn't sleeping well when she had a blocked nose and I had to nurse her to sleep.  Unfortunately that pattern seems to be staying.  Last night she woke at 12, 2 and 5am.  I had tried to just pat her but she wasn't having any of that.  Couple of nights ago, she screamed blue murder for an hour until she got her milk!  For now I'm taking the easy way out and just giving her milk when she wakes.  No energy to fight with this little one in the middle of the night...

Eating out

 

Hey what's this food on our table?

I want some, I want some

Jo Ern used to have to just wait when we ate out.  Lately she's been getting some food as well, which definitely suits her better.  That does mean I have to order something suitable - soupy noodles instead of those tossed in salty sauce, Big Breakfast at McD so she can have the scrambled eggs , pau at dim sum so she can have the skin.  I try not to give her highly-seasoned food lest she expects 'tasty' food for her meals.

The first time we went for buffet and she could actually have something from, I was just snickering away at the additional value for money we were getting.  And that time she could only have watermelon and boiled egg yolks from the nasi lemak.  I guess it would be worth taking Jo Ern to buffets for quite a few more years!  Heheh.

Antibiotics 3

While chalking up Genting trips is fine, chalking up doses of antibiotics is not. :(  This time it was Cefdiel as paed said better avoid too much Augmentin.  Jo Ern tends to have high fevers when she is sick.  For a breastfed baby, isn't she supposed to be tougher??

 Oh yeah, I was sick last week

But I'm ok already now. SEE?

It was nights of limited sleep for me while I kept checking her temperature.  Then it was off to the paed.  At least I could rest easier once she was on antibiotics.  BUT... after that she developed a blocked nose, couldn't sleep at night and screamed a lot.  And I thought I was already sleep-deprived!  Please don't get sick too often, ok Jo Ern?  Mummy needs her sleep.

Good thing she's recovered now.  It was exhausting at the time, but recalling now the image of her sitting up in the dark screaming at the top of her little lungs... I actually think that was cute and feel a rush of affection for my baby.  Hehe I must still not be thinking too clearly!

Genting trip 7

A rare family photo!

So off we went to Genting AGAIN for hubby's birthday.  We stayed the first night by ourselves.  Hubby's guests arrived the second afternoon for whisky, snacks and chat in our suite and balcony.  Dinner was at Ming Ren, then back to the suite for more drinks and the badminton finals.  The ladies went off for some shopping and returned with 'yau char kwai' for supper.  Overall, a nice program indeed. 

Well I didn't go shopping since I was trying to feed Jo Ern who was having a screaming fit for some reason.  This one can be pretty fierce!  She also 'insisted' on having some of the tapioca chips we were munching on.  Actually she had quite a few new foods this trip.  I figured the 1-year salt/sugar ban is almost over.  She tried cheese, yogurt, noodles, raw capsicum, grapes, aforementioned tapioca chips, vinegared potato strips.  Oh, and some 'soon hock' at dinner - not bad eh, having this expensive fish when she's not even one? :)

Grapes taste better if you pick your own

We managed to get some rides at the theme park.  But gave up shortly since it was the school holidays and queues were long.  It was nice just walking around in the cool weather.

This bear is a few times bigger than me!

We didn't walk around all that long.  But when I had a peek at the stroller, Jo Ern was completely KO already.  Haha the poor baby!

K.O. baby

With babies, it's such a short period before the next meal or nap time. We always plan to do this and that after a leisurely breakfast and have to re-plan when we find Jo Ern looking real sleepy.

Genting trip 6

I'd better just post this entry before our NEXT trip.  Jo Ern is actually sick right now but hopefully the antibiotics will work soon.

An apple? I only have two teeth but I will try my best to eat it

So off we went to Genting again last weekend.  A quick overnight trip this time. There wasn't much time to do anything so as usual we ate a lot and went to the theme park.  Confirmed Jo Ern is afraid of clowns.

We aren't the best hotel guests with Jo Ern around.  I normally feed her her solids on the bed.  She will crawl around halfway through so the bedsheets end up with mashed peas and whatnot all over.  Then I use the towels to wipe her so towels also end up with mashed peas and whatnot all over. Then we leave the mess for housekeeping.  :)

Papa made this fortress just for me!

Oh wait, is he trapping me so I cannot climb everywhere?

Got milk?

Got my spoon ready. Wonder what I will get to eat?

So let me jot down how the sizeable stash of breastmilk in my freezer came about. Might come in handy to jog my memory should I have another baby heh. The main secret is... plenty of hard work and determination! My natural supply isn't bountiful by any means and I would regularly panic about not having enough.  :)  Upon returning to work, I had stock of 20 portions of frozen milk.  This dropped to a low of 11 before rising again to a more comfortable level.

On to the to-dos:

1. Time control. Yield is disproportionate to time - if 3 hours yield 3oz, 5 hours may only yield 4oz. So no dilly-dallying when it's time to pump! I would pump at 11.30am and 3pm in the office. Then I rush back home to pump at 6.30pm.  The other feeds are direct.

2. Extension of point 1... waking up in the middle of the night to pump.  Jo Ern was sleeping 5-6 hours at a stretch so I figured I could squeeze one portion out in the middle of that period.  Only worry was that she would wake unusually early wanting milk!  It did happen a couple of times.

3. Pump after baby has finished direct feed. This tells the body that more milk is needed, produce more next time please.  Each pumping only produced 5-10ml, but it adds up when supply is at critical level. 

4. No 'supplementing' with formula allowed.  That tells the body that less milk is needed and it will produce less accordingly.

5. Milkmaid tea, warm drinks and fenugreek didn't seem to make any difference. 

6. After baby has graduated to solids, pump when baby is eating solids.

That breastpump was practically my bosom buddy at one stage!  I would remove the motor and store the rest in the fridge so it'd be available all the time.  Luckily Jo Ern appreciated my efforts, right?  Err, right?

Actually... I don't like milk THAT much. Like this corn, it's nicer than milk.

Sighhhh..  :)  Jo Ern does prefer food to milk.  Especially food that is NOT baby food!

Jo Ern and the Watermelon

Nowadays I cry when put down, so Mummy gave me this watermelon to play with

But I still want to be carried.... (This watermelon is nice and big)

Somebody carry me please... (this watermelon is quite fun to hold)

Carry me carry meeeee..... (I do like this watermelon)

While she didn't let go of that watermelon, it didn't distract her at all!  This Jo Ern now cries the moment she is put down by herself.  I think she is afraid of being abandoned.   The other day she was sitting at the front door watching Ah Kong and Justin koko get into the car to go out.  She was happily watching until the car backed away.  Then she started crying away.  Aiyo.