Vietnamese food

Arranged for dinner with the in-laws because Hubs wanted to introduce a Vietnamese restaurant to them. Hubs got to know this restaurant because we had the food for dinner when I was at working at my last job at FX. There are 2 outlets, in Holland Village and Suntec City, and seeing that it would be easier for us to get parking at Suntec City on a Sunday evening plus we can bring chubs for a little bit of shopping. Didn't manage to get too many photos probably because (1) I was a little tired, (2) too distracted taking care of an excited chubs, (3) too many people taking turns to bring chubs around, etc...



Nom-ing Nai nai's wristlet - yes, she's still nom-ing alot at this moment

gave in and popped the pacifier into her mouth when she couldn't stop nom-ing everything in sight

Where did all the chuckles go?

Lately, I have noticed that chubs is laughing a lot lesser than she used to though she still smiles a fair bit (in addition to her constant frowning). We used to say she's a happy baby because she laughed / chuckled heartily at almost anything we did up until she's about 6 months old. Will upload a couple of videos / photos of her chuckling then once I dig them out from her archives to show how much she loves chuckling. 

Nowadays, chubs have mastered the act of a patronising chuckle and gives us that more than a hearty chuckle. She will sometimes chuckle to herself out of the blue and at her Dolly but it's becoming increasingly challenging to make her chuckle like before. Is she growing up too fast (therefore not finding everything as funny or new as before)? Are our antics too childish and nonsensical for her now? Is she becoming more of a thinker? Is this just a phase? I missed her being my little chubby, chuckling baby and really hope to bring back the frequent chuckling.

Laugh, baby, laugh!

Overnight at Gong gong's

Edit: More photos added

Saturday saw us spending the night at Gong gong's in chubs' soon-to-arrive cousin's cot. Chubs has a bit of a runny nose (due to teething I think?) and as Hubs was on overnight shift, I would be alone at home taking care of her. So I thought, why not stay at my parents' since there's an available cot and there are people around to help if I do need help in the middle of the night.

Everyone had a good time playing with chubs in the afternoon and chubs had a rather good time too, given she's didn't appeared too fussy :)

playing peek-a-boo with herself!

contented in the cot - she loves walking / cruising / rolling around in the cot

Good news! Gladys had given birth on Friday afternoon to a pretty princess, Kysha! Was supposed to visit her on Friday evening but had to take care of chubs so could only make it on Saturday. Left chubs at my parents' place and popped by Gleneagles for a short visit with XY before coming home to chubs. Kysha's really cute and tiny! I cannot remember chubs being so tiny (and Kysha is slightly heavier than chubs)! Captured a really cute photo of her smiling and winking while in XY's arms. Will upload the photo soon.

Back at my parents' place, we pushed the cot to my parents' room for the night as it's too hot for chubs to be outside in the living room in her well-covered PJs. One good thing about my chubs is, she's rather adaptable and can sleep wherever we put her. Thank God for that because I've heard stories (including myself as a toddler) about babies / toddlers not being able to sleep well in new environment. My sweet little baby slept through the night from 10pm to 6.45am without making any noise in between! Even when she woke up, she was sitting in a little corner of the cot talking to herself and fiddling with the cot and did not even disturb us. It was only when I got up to go to the toilet then she tried to get my attention. So considerate right! Haha ...

Went for breakkie with my parents for breakfast in the morning before coming back to their place for more playtime. Arranged for dinner with my in-laws later in the evening and will update on that later.

Happy 10 months old!

My chubs is 10 months old today! Neglected to address this earlier because I got distracted by her being a little sick.

At 10 months old, my chubs:

• can say "mum mum, mamee, hiiii" although we are rather sure she only understands the meaning of "mum mum"
• loves to go out. she expresses desire and interest in following whoever is leaving the house and will let them carry her no matter how afraid she are of them (namely, my brothers)
• has 4 teeth out and 2 more budding
• has so far eaten apples, pears, guavas, broccoli, chinese spinach, pork, carrots, potatoes, pumpkins, grapes, strawberries, fish
• sleeps through the night at my place (average from 9ish in the evening to 6ish in the morning) but wakes up 1-2 times at Nai nai's place
• is drinking 200ml of milk per feed and has 1 semi-solid feed (milk + cereal) in the morning and 2 solid feeds (for lunch and dinner)
• knows how to patronise people with "fake" chuckles / laughs
• knows how to point her hand in whichever direction she wants to go

Happy 10 months old, my little precious!

Realisation

Because of some reasons lately, I've been surfing around and reading random mummies' blogs and looking at what content their blog contain. Little did I know (well, maybe I know but am in denial, haha) that I have been living in my own cocoon. I thought I am a slightly hardworking and well-informed mummy who's doing enough just doing random surfing of the internet and throwing sharing of information I'd found on the internet with chubs' primary caregiver, my MIL, and keeping her updated with the latest techniques or new foods that are beneficial to babies. Well, WHAT DO I KNOW?? There's a wealth of mummies' knowledge out there with a pool of knowledgeable mummies / mummy-to-bes who know wayyyyy more than I know! A little spoonful of their knowledge can so drown me. And I am a mummy of a 10-month-old daughter.

I realised that I have been really complacent and making way too many excuses for not being a well-informed mummy. From chubs' birth, we have the luxury of hiring a confinement nanny to help look after both chubs and I and after that one month, even though I take care of chubs in my own house by myself, my MIL popped by everyday to get me lunch and helped me with chubs for 3-4 hours a day. By nature, I am a lazy procrastinator so even though that 2+ months (till end of my maternity leave) was supposed to be the best time for me to source for baby-related information (what with baby sleeping for long hours and waking up only at 2-3 hourly intervals for feeds and falling asleep immediately after), I did none of that. I don't know what kept me so busy and distracted that I couldn't even sit down proper and surf the internet. Looking back, I don't think I even switched on my lappie more than 10 times! I only engaged myself with Facebook updates and postings through my BlackBerry then. I faintly remembered telling myself during pregnancy that my maternity leave would be the best period for me to suss out baby information and learn more about motherhood but apparently I did not listen to myself enough.

Now, looking at other mummies' blogs, I realised I am falling so far behind I would need a super power Segway to just catch up with all the mummies who have been consistently jogging.

a Segway

To be honest, I haven't been reading enough on the kinds of solid foods I should let chubs experience and the places I should bring her to. I haven't been doing as much as I want to - during pregnancy, I kept telling myself I would do this, I would do that ... but it's rather safe to say I haven't been achieving as much as I set out to. My poor little baby of 10 months has only eaten / done the following:

- 2 meals of porridge a day with carrots / pumpkin / potato / broccoli / chinese spinach / pork ribs / fish
- been to Botanic Gardens only once
- no bedtime stories yet, just the occassional one-worded " Baby, Touch!"  books
- the occassional shopping trips

I know, I know, it really sounds rather pathetic for a 10-month-old child right? I have been feeding myself excuses like:

• My MIL is a little resistant to change and instructions
  - she's a very good homemaker and therefore does not see much value in my input because I'm still like a little kid who wants but do not know what's best for her baby
  - she has a wealth of experience with babysitting and has successfully raised more than 3 children (including her sister's and brother's) while I have obviously zero experience
  - to her credit, she is very keen and does bring chubs out whenever an opportunity arises

Solution: Have to work hard and tactfully when tackling the above matter. Haven't found an appropriate method. Gotta work on this.

• I have a job

Solution: Which mummy doesn't have nowadays? Obviously there are many SAHMs around but those who does work juggle their worklife balance very well AND also finds time to read up on information and taking their children out for new experiences. But the ultimate solution presents itself when my temporary position as a marketing assistant ends in Dec. I will then have no more excuse for not researching on ways to educate my child, what new foods to try, etc.

• Time is too little - I need time to do all the household chores, need time to rest, need time to watch TV, need time to spend time with my family on weekends in addition to Alvin's family.

Solution: Time management and some sacrifices to be made on my end.

All in all, I need to buck up on my mothering skills! Time to start scouring the WorldWide Web for useful information and start interacting more with the mothers in forums (shopping-related interaction are not counted!) and also to read up more.

Ok, let's just stay tuned ...

Again :(

Lousy news. Chubs has fallen sick again. How my heart aches.

Heard from my MIL that chubs started having a bit of runny nose yesterday evening and she promptly proceeded to give her medicine we got from the PD the last time round (which was very recent). This morning, however, chubs has woken up with a cough in addition to her runny nose. Apparently her nose is like a leaking tap and her mucus keep dripping and she slurps it up! YES, my chubs actually clears her own mucus by licking and slurping it up when it reaches her lips. Therefore, my poor MIL has to be very vigilant and be always ready with a wet hanky to wipe away chubs' mucus before it reaches her mouth. Don't think the cough is very bad but MIL has decided to start with the cough mixture this morning to prevent it from getting worse and prevent the onset of a fever that often accompanies a cough.

Yesterday night and this morning saw me cleaning the house and preparing for chubs' return to our house tonight. I was so looking forward to having her home but it seems like it's not meant to be. Just had a conversation with my MIL and she suggested leaving chubs there for another night because she's worried I might not be handle a sick chubs on my own (Hubs is on overnight shift tonight) and I gotta admit it's true. The tricky part about taking care of a sick chubs is having to feed her medicine during her feed and nowadays she tends to struggle and resist medication and we need at least 2 people for this task to ensure she finishes her medication. Without Hubs at home tonight with us, I do not have the confidence to take good care of my little precious. I just have to contend with visiting her tonight and hopes she gets well enough to go back home with me tomorrow.

Let's hope this little cold episode is just a part of her teething process and nothing too serious. Baby, get well soon!

Haircut!

My little precious finally had her fringe trimmed this morning. MIL has been talking about wanting to bring her for a trim for the past week and after seeing how chubs' fringe is irritating her eyes, I agreed to let MIL bring her to her usual hair stylist. Chubs looked fresher and better in her new haircut. Makes me wanna have the same hairstyle!

Goodnight, folks!

New hangout

chubs' out-of-bed hair

all dressed and ready to go out - refusing to stand up for a photo

her obvious asymmerical eyes

cosy newly set up cot at Popo's - it's a hand-me-down cot from my aunty for my brother's daughter who's coming into the world anytime now

no, we did not install the hanging mobile wrongly. my bro hung it outself so chubs couldn't reach it - she kept trying to tug at it!

finally napping in her new hangout after a long while

looking lovingly at Popo

don't know why the surprised look

Bye bye Sunday and Hello Monday!

It's Saturday again!

It's the weekend again! Brought chubs home together with hubs who finished his overnight shift at 9.30 am. Brought chubs home only this morning because I spent last night and early this morning cleaning the house. We came back to a dusty house after our trip and I had to clean it many times before the floor feels squeaky clean again and I wanted chubs to come back to a clean house. Motherhood has indeed changed me quite a bit. If you had asked me to wake up at 6.30 am to clean the house on a Saturday in the past, I would have asked "Are you crazy?!" Hubs and I used to sleep in on weekends and even though we had already woken up, we would nua in bed till noon sometimes. I know, such lazy bums right?

But now? I'd gladly jump out of bed to clean the house just so chubs can wake up/come back to a clean house where she can freely crawl and walk around in her walker. Even Hubs saw that change in me and commented on it couple of days ago. Ever since having chubs, I would either MagicKleen and mop the floor at weeknights or early Saturday morning (before 7 am) just for her.

Anyways, this morning, chubs and I relaxed in the living room while hubs slept the day away in the bedroom.  No TV, no baby songs playing in the playground, just chubs and I. I wanted to try out not having the TV on on weekends when she's home and see if we can play with just her toys and with each other. I'm trying to limit her contact with the TV whenever possible so she can appreciate the environment around her more.

budding pianist. haha!

this outfit actually comes with a bandanna!

she did a couple of cutecute faces today again but I didn't wanna bore you with all the pics (though she looked so cute in all of them!)

trying to reach the coasters on the coffee table

found Hubs' wireless mouse instead (yes we have random stuffs all over the house!)

one of her sexy poses



cheeky baby trying to reach for my lens



In the evening, I brought chubs to dinner at Waterfront Copthorne Cafe Brio's for buffet to celebrate Mad's birthday which falls on 27th Oct. Everyone loved her (or least pretended to lah) so much they kept playing with her and helped to take care of her just so I could have my meal in peace. Thank you guys so much for helping!

Claryce trying (but failing) to get chubs to look at the camera

she seriously looked so grown-up here

was super tired towards the end of the night and drifting off to dreamland in Claryce's arms

this is erm ... one of her usual sleeping postures *embarassed*

birthday kiss!



Group photo



and another ... and my chubs looked like she's dead drunk -_-

was so knocked out by the end of the night she was sleeping all the way home, and didn't even wake up when I changed her into her PJs

Look of the day

dinner at Dian Xiao Er

We're back!

We're back from Japan! Touched down at 1am and by the time I'm done with some minor chores at home and got ready for bed, it was already 5 am. YAWNS. Woke up at 10ish in the morning and got prepared to go out for lunch with chubs and my MIL. Bought so many stuffs for chubs but I forgot to take a collective photo of everything. Now the stuffs are all over the place (split between my in-laws' place and ours) and I will take pictures of the stuffs as we go long OK?



she showed interest in the ride while we were queuing at Swensen's



her "friend" relaxing while she took over the wheel

can't bear to leave the ride

got bored while waiting for our food and started noming her bottle cover

went home after lunch and put on some of the stuffs we bought for her - a sling bag for her (all girls need  bags!) and the pair of funky socks hubs picked for her

a Miffy backpack I couldn't resist getting on the last day

 Missed you so much, chubs!

Before we leave for Japan

The day has finally arrived! Hubs and I had planned for a trip to Japan, Kansai region since May and now it's finally going to happen. Been busy doing up the itinerary and reading up on the places we are going to visit these few days as I'm the one in-charge of the whole itinerary this time round. I'll keep my fingers crossed for a nice trip :)

Of course before going for the trip I have to spend some bonding time with my chubs since we are not bringing her along. Bad parents! Well, we were thinking she's too young anyways and by bringing her along, it creates inconveniences for us as well as for her. There's always the risk of her not adapting well to the new environment and falling sick and we are also not sure if she will take well to being on an airplane yet so we decided against bringing her along. Will wait till she's much older, at least old enough to understand instructions and enjoy before we will bring her for a trip overseas (by overseas, I mean those places where we need to fly to so Malaysia is not included).

put on the helmet for her again since she's going to crawl freely

bought a pair of knee guards for her when my dad and I went to Kiddy Palace last Sat evening to prevent abrasions from crawling - she looked like a geared up skater!

enjoying BabyTV nearing bedtime

getting into a more comfortable position

taking a break from TV and tried striking up a conversation with me



got distracted by the TV again

Random thought: Till today, I am still struggling if I should let her watch TV at all. I'm not talking about doing it in moderation or not. I'm thinking if I should even let her do it at all. There are 2 schools of thought. 1 school of thought - watching TV at such a young age affects babies' attention span and makes them more easily distracted. Another school of thought - watching educational programs let them learn faster. For me, there's an additional concern, I'm rather afraid that she might have myopia at an early age.

I'm actually leaning more towards the 2nd school of thought where I think a moderate amount of TV is good for her as she can learn through some of the educational programs (you'll be amazed at the wide array of programs BabyTV has!). She has actually learnt to identify the different characters and will turn her attention to the TV whenever she hears a familiar tune of voice coming on the TV and I'm rather pleased with that as that means she's developing rather well, yes? I hardly think any one of us in the family can teach her as much as what the TV is teaching her because none of us are equipped enough to teach her. Those with knowledge to teach her might not have the time, those with the time might not be equipped with the knowledge, or we are not up-to-date with the latest information for teaching her so I think the TV actually adds value.

BUT, my main concern is her getting myopia. It seems that my MIL does not take note of lighting for chubs when she watches TV. I can understand her being energy-saving when she doesn't see the need to switch on the lights during the day but when the sky is gloomy during the day, she also doesn't switch on the lights when chubs is watching TV. Even though I switch on the lights in this kind of situation, I will see the lights switched off when I get back to the living room after making a trip to the bedroom or the kitchen. Not sure how to convey the message to her tactfully yet but I need to find a way. Actually even for me, I will also neglect to switch on the room lights sometimes when I switch on the TV for chubs in my bedroom. So I constantly have to make a mental note to myself to take note of that.



Another possible contributing factor is the size of TVs now. TVs are getting bigger and bigger but the distance between babies and TVs are not getting further and further from what I see around me. We always make a conscientious effort to get her to move further away from TV but I don't think it's still sufficient since the TVs are much bigger than before and kids being kids, they love to be as near as possible. We just have to keep being vigilant and do whatever we can to maximise the viewing distance.

Wow, I didn't intend to write such a long entry but look what one random thought brought me. No conclusion reached regarding the TV issue, only reached my goal of clearing the thoughts in my mind at this moment. Let's just keep our fingers crossed about my girl not getting myopia OK?

OK, I will be flying off to Japan from 12 Oct - 20 Oct so there will not be any chubs' updates during this period. For the few friends reading my blog, please advise me if I should blog about my Japan trip here or should I just upload the chunk of photos in FB. I cannot decide! Let me know! Thanks huh :)

Sunday Fun!

I mentioned on Friday that I went Vivocity for lunch and grabbed 2 toys for chubs at Toys 'R' Us but I forgot to mention that I also bought 3 pairs of cuteeee socks for chubs. Remember chubs' playdate with baby Anya? The pair of socks Anya wore that day was so cute that I couldn't wait to get the same ones for chubs! Heard from Joyce (Anya's mum) that she got it online and me being an un-savvy online shopper, procrastinated getting it. That is, until I saw it being sold at Vivocity. Since they were selling at 3 for $10, i thought it pretty reasonable and bought them there and then, without comparing the prices online. Chubs wore one of the pairs today and everyone who saw it commented that it looked really cute on her and it's very Japanese :)

After praying at the temple and having breakfast, we went to my grandma's place for a visit since we have not been there for a few weeks. To our surprise, chubs settled down rather well today and was not as fussy as the other times when she was here.

At my grandma's place, chubs did something to show me that her motor skills are improving by leaps and bounds. As we were given packets of drinks, chubs showed interest in it and we gave her one packet to play with. After toying with it, she somehow knew that the straw could be detached from the packet AND she knew how to get the straw out of the plastic! She showed much patience when she was doing it. She just sat there on the couch, quietly trying her best to detach the plastic from the packet and then the straw from the plastic. After tearing a little at the plastic, she even knew how to shake the plastic so the straw can drop out. We were all surprised at these actions as nobody has done that in front of her before (even if we had, it was unknown to us)! My smartie baby!

she will grow up to be angry at me for posting all these kinda uncouth photos up!