Big Mistake

After feeding Jolie a big bowl of porridge for lunch, I gave her her teething ring to chew on. Big mistake... Suddenly, with no warning, she just "BLEEAAAAAAAH..." and vomited everything out onto the floor!

*SLAP FOREHEAD*

So I had to...

...wipe vomit off the floor
...mop the floor (baby starts crying - covered in vomit)
...bring all the bowls and stuff to sink
...wanted to bathe baby when realised that she also pooped
...wipe baby's butt 1st
...give baby a wipe down and change her clothes
...put baby on walker while I wash everything in the kitchen
...baby continue to scream even louder
...baby puke again on the walker from screaming too much
...*SLAP FOREHEAD* carry baby
...wipe baby AGAIN plus wipe walker
...living room floor still sticky! ARGH! Mop floor with one hand
...change clothes
...make rice cereal for baby lunch AGAIN
...feed baby AGAIN

By then baby had grown tired and sleepy and drifted to sleep shortly after her meal. Sigh, I was so frustrated at baby earlier and had yelled at her. But thinking back, she actually had a breakthrough! While on the walker, crying and screaming, she actually walked forward toward me, holding out her arms, wanted me to carry her. (She always walked backwards on the walker) In her desperation, she actually figured out how to move forward!

Thinking about it and watching at her fall asleep in my arms made my heart melt. Sigh... I feel bad, I should have controlled my temper! It's not her fault that she puked... So I made up to her with extra hugs and kisses for the rest of the day. I'll try to be more patient and be a better Mommy!

It's A Date!

What a treat! Mom offered to take care of Jolie on Saturday so that Cobby and I could have some alone time. So on Saturday morning, we dropped Jolie off at Mom's place and had a relaxing lunch at the food court at Great World City, followed by a nice cup of tea and cheese cake at Spinelli's.

We caught the movie, "The Proposal", which was very funny and nice and I highly recommend everybody to go watch it. Sandra Bullock didn't disappoint! After the movie, we dropped by IKEA to pick up some stuff before heading to SAFRA at Mount Faber for a game of bowling! It was so much fun! Haven't been bowling since... I can't remember when! Haha... So we bowled just 2 games only before complaining of aching wrists and arms. Haha... It's been too long since we've bowled.

Cobby suggested going for a nice dinner at some restaurant, but it was already 6pm then, so I want to eat near Mom's place instead. So we just had dinner at the coffee shop near my Mom's block.

Well, I wished that we could have a nice and relaxing meal and not worry about the time, but times are different now. Anyway, I had a really enjoyable day. It's really nice to have some alone time with my husband again. Having a baby, no matter how wonderful, can sometimes be straining on the relationship between a couple.

I hope that we could do this more often. :)

Family Values

Everybody knows what does unconditional love is. But not until I became a mother did I truly understand the meaning of it. No matter how angry, frustrated or bitter you are at the little monster in your arms as you change her smelly diapers, clean up her vomit or wipe her snot. You will ALWAYS love her.

The love and devotion a Mother has for her child is the most powerful thing in the world. Even stronger than the love the child has for the mother or the love between spouses.

With this understanding, if one day I need to change my parents diapers (hope not), I would not hesitate. But I wonder if my children would do the same for me?

Then & Now

More than 20 years between these two photos. A baby has grown up and have a baby of her own. How surreal!

Torn

I longed to have my life back, but when Mum offered to take care of baby during the day, I can't bear the thought of leaving Jolie.

I wanted to wean baby off breast milk so that I can have more freedom. But sometimes, when she refuses to take my milk or when she is willing to drink formula milk, I secretly get upset.

Sometimes I don't know what I want. Really.

Baby Jumper Gym Day

Jolie seems to be feeling better, so we gave her a quick bath and went to McDonald's for breakfast!



Well, it's her first class, so I wanted her to look her best! So I dug up an outfit a friend bought from Australia. She gave me a hairband too, but we didn't really let her wear it before. So I let her wear it for pictures! SO CUTE!!! She look so girlie!





The baby jumper gym was quite fun really. We hung around at the gym area before class starts. Jolie was thrilled to hang around babies around her age, she was smiling like mad! We can't take pictures during class, so I just took one before class starts.



There were 4 or 5 other babies in the class, all one or 2 month older than Jolie, except for one girl, who is the same month as her. But she looked so little! I thought she was younger than Jolie. :) The class was very educational, well, it was a little 'cheem' for me really. But she seems to enjoy it! There were flash cards, singing, dancing and listening to music. The second part was the gym part where they play on the mat and swing on monkey bar. Before we know it, more than an hour had passed and class was over!

That was a trial class, but we enjoyed it so much that we decided to just sign up for the 10 classes course after the class. The new class starts in October, so we'll just have to wait for a month till Jolie make new friends again!

On the way home I was playing with Jolie in the car, she was in her 'chewing' mood. So I took a funny video of her 'attacking' me.



(No Mummy was harmed in the making of this video)

Home Made

Mom's friend was admitted to hospital for an operation, so I suggested that she bring her some tonic when she goes to visit her. Then I had an idea.

1 basket from a hamper that I got after my delivery
1 plastic flower that comes with the hamper
Some spare gold sash from my ROM decorations
Some ribbons
Some tonics friends and family gave me after my delivery
Bought some fruits
Bought a clear plastic sheet

Here is my creation. Not very professional looking, but it only cost less than $10 and it's full of sincerity! :)



Yeah~ I guess it pays it keep all these stuff around the house.

Jolie Got Sick

Jolie had been sneezing and having a running nose since Tuesday. On Wednesday night, she was so uncomfortable she can't sleep the whole night. Torture! Mum was a little concern, so she suggested that we bring her to the doctor. On the way there it got worse. She's still smiling, but the cold was so bad, little drops of tears rolled down her cheeks. Poor baby!



So after the medication, she's feeling much better! Well, there was a few episodes of messy vomiting, but at least the medication made her drowsy enough to have a good night sleep.

I had sign her up for the baby class trial this Saturday, but her illness made me wonder if she's recovered well enough to attend. See how lah!

A new friend

The universe works in strange ways sometimes. Like today. It was an absolutely horrible day for me. Jolie was in one of her moods where she gets real cranky the whole day, doesn't eat properly and wouldn't take her nap. So it's like a vicious cycle where she gets even more cranky because she's so tired. She'll fall asleep in my arms but the moment I put her down onto her bed she wakes up and starts screaming again.

So I was exhausted, physically, mentally and emotionally. I was crying to myself and I felt so alone in this world, I wanted to call someone to talk. But who? My Cobby, Sister and my friends were all working, I didn't want to disturb my friends who have kids, and I didn't want to worry my Mother. I even dialed my Mom's home number, but I just didn't call her. So I just hung on to my sanity and continued dealing with my cranky baby.

As usual, I brought Jolie to the playground in the late afternoon. The crowd was the usual bunch and amongst them was this mother and her little baby. I have seen her a few times before, but I was always a little shy to introduce myself and somehow I think she felt the same too. Today she made the 1st move and asked politely how old is Jolie after I gave her a "hi" smile.

And so began our conversation. We talked and talked like old friends. Turns out that the both of us have many many things in common! We are both:
- new mothers (her boy is 5 months)
- Cesarean birth
- stay home mom who takes care of baby alone at home
- wakes up infinite times at night to feed baby (she jokes that she can tell that we are comrades from our similar panda eyes haha..)
- share a room with our baby while our husbands sleep in another room
- breastfeeding
- TRYING to wean baby off breast milk to formula but failing miserably
- introducing solids to baby (she's just started with some difficulty)

So I gave her some advise on how to prepare solids for baby, she shared her baby problems with me. We talked and nodded in agreement and for once in a very long time, I felt that I found someone who REALLY understands what I'm going through. We chatted on and said our good byes only when the sky was turning dark and both our babies were getting hungry.

When I left I felt so much lighter. It feels much better knowing that it's not only me that suffering. A few hours ago I was sitting home alone, crying my eyes out, feeling so much alone. Then suddenly, I found a new friend who understands my pain. Coincidence? Hmm.. :)

Jolie at the Playground

Every evening at around 5pm, I would bring Jolie to the playground nearby. Obviously she can't play, but she absolutely enjoys watching other children running, screaming and playing there. Besides a little fresh air is good for her! :)

Always happy to go to the playground.





Intrigued by the little holes...



Distracted by the kids running around...



"I love coming to the playground!"



I know that she can't wait for the day where she can play with the rest of the kids!

Misc Stuff Again

Bought a packet of frozen mini lotus paste paos the other day. I was surprised at how MINI they are! They were only 3cm in diameter! These must be the smallest paos I have ever seen.



Mother and daughter cuddling on the sofa.



I HAD to take this picture. This is Jolie when she's pooping, in other words, Gek Sai. Her nostrils would flare up and sometimes, when the poop is a little more dry, she even would "gek" until her eyes tear up!



I showed Jolie a video clip of herself when she was just a few months old. I think she recognise herself? Cause she was totally engrossed and would smile at the monitor.

Jolie Goes Visiting!

I promised Zinc that I'll visit the office with Jolie in the afternoon. But in the morning, Mom came over to see Jolie, so we had a little fun with the camera.





Jolie didn't nap much in the morning, so on the way to the office, she managed to nap a while in the taxi. I wished the ride was longer, cause she was sleeping SO soundly when we arrived! I feel bad disrupting her beauty sleep.

I think only Zinc and some other friends knew that I was coming, so most people were very surprised to see me with my baby! Jolie was still quite groggy from her nap and feels a little insecure to be in an unfamiliar place with so many unfamiliar faces, so she practically stuck to me like glue, not willing to let other people carry her. Haha... Sorry lah, she's usually not like that.

A moody Jolie...


It's quite fun to be back there with baby. Everybody was cooing and making funny faces and noises at baby. A few ladies who had children commented that looking at Jolie make them want to have another one! Haha... Good to play my part in encouraging people to have children. Haha.

Naturally, Zinc was happy to carry Jolie and play with her. She's a natural! But I guess as Jolie grows bigger, it gets more difficult to carry her. She would flap her arms like a bird when she's excited. Her favourite pastime now is to make the "Pppuuuuu" noise, so carrying her would also mean having to enjoy her endless flow of saliva. Hahaha...









Fanning off Jolie's toxic fart... -_-


In the evening Cobby came to fetch me and baby to dinner. Sigh it's been so long since he fetch me from office! We went to Holland Village and had Thai food for dinner.

A happy Jolie after having her dinner.

Another Day

Another end of the day. Baby was super clingy and cranky today. She wouldn't let me put her down! Feeding was quite disastrous too. In the morning, her flinging hands swiped the bowl of rice cereal of my hands and onto the floor. So about half a bowl of sticky banana and rice cereal ended on the floor. AT lunch, she was so cranky and kept on crying that she refuses to eat her cereal! I have no choice but to feed her some breast milk and put her to nap.

Thankfully she napped quite well today, at least I get to do some house work and prepare the ingredients for dinner. Don't know why she's so tired today, she's asleep by 7.30pm, which is slightly earlier than usual. I'm not complaining! I was thankful to have a peaceful dinner with Cobby, a fantastic shower to scrub off all the sticky sweat from the stupid humid weather, and finally to retreat to the dry and cool comfort of the air-conditioned study room. Sigh~ I survived another day.

I Love HBO Pak

Do you have cable TV? Do you like movies? If you do you should seriously consider taking up the HBO Pak. It consist of HBO, HBO Signature, HBO Hits and HBO Family, all for only about $16.00 plus a month!

The movies are so new, like recently they showed Transformers, Vantage Point, Wanted, Hairspray, Stardust, Journey to the Centre of the Earth and next month, Iron Man! They also got many good classic movies! Being a temporary stay home Mom and a movie buff, I'm so happy that I sign up these channels!

Happy 2nd Wedding Dinner Anniversary!

Frankly speaking, I actually forgot about the anniversary completely. Hahaha... Cobby was so excited when he announced to me that he had taken the 11 August off. I was like, "why take that day off?" He was quite upset until I remembered. Haha...

He wanted to place baby with my Mum and both of us to go out for dinner, but baby gets super needy in the evening. So I suggested that we have lunch instead. Later we found out that Mum and Dad were actually super sick. They were both down with the flu and it's possibly H1N1. They have gotten better, but they wanted to self-quarantine themselves until they are completely well. Just in case. So, we now we don't have a baby sitter. So, no choice! Have to bring baby out with us.



Cobby had to attend an emergency meeting in the morning, so I had to take care of baby myself in the morning until he came home. We went to our favourite shabu shabu restaurant at ViVo City. It was past lunch time by then, so it was nice and quiet.




After lunch Cobby wanted to have a cup of coffee, so we went to the cafe next door for some coffee, tea and dessert!







In the evening we ate our dinner at home. A simple celebration, with an additional person with us this year. Wonder how or who would be celebrating with us next year?

A Visit to the Science Centre

I read that there was an exhibition on the works of Da Vinci, so on Monday, which was a public holiday, we headed to the Singapore Science Centre to take a look at the exhibition.







It was a really informative event. Unfortunately it was so PACKED with people! It would have been better if the place was more spacious! We had to put the baby pram in the car and chose to carry baby instead as it was so crowded. We even had to queue to look at the works and pictures hanging on the wall. It's ridiculous. I think it would have been a more enjoyable visit if it weren't so crowded. But it was quite interesting and informative anyways.

Jolie Dine Out!

Since we're eating lunch outside, we tried bringing Jolie's food out and feed her outside. We ate our lunch at MOF Japanese restaurant at Parco Bugis Junction. When we're done, I started to feed her.

I was actually worried that she'll make a mess like she usually do at home, but it turned out to be ok. I guess it helped that she has alot of distractions around, so she didn't make any messy actions like chewing on her fingers, touching her hair with her food-coated fingers and making the "pppuuu" noises. It's also great that she can start to sit on baby chairs now. At least we don't have to carry her while we dine when she don't want to sit in her pram.



As always, she's a real charmer, smiling at all the ladies around our table and making everybody go, "Awww... the baby is SO CUTE!" She's so sociable! Maybe she'll become a politician in future.

In the late afternoon we went to my Sis's chalet at East Coast. I planned to let her go swimming but we arrived too late. I didn't want her to swim so late as I'm afraid that she might catch a cold. Hmm... next time bah. I wished that I could have a few hours alone with my Sis, just chatting and catch up. But I never have a chance with so many people around, and me having to take care of baby.

So we just ate, chatted and watch the kids play. Jolie can't play with the other children yet, but it was obvious that she wanted to join in the activities. So I just carried her facing forward and let her watch the bigger kids play. She was SO EXCITED, kicking and laughing along.

Well a few more months and she'll be able to run and play with the others. Then I'll be dead tired trying to catch up. Hahaha~!

Baby in Pyjamas

Jolie's legs were getting so long, we needed to get longer pyjamas for her. If not her tummy would be exposed! But these new pants were so long that we had to pull them all the way up to her chest! Haha, she looked so comical. Reminds me of a sitcom character, this nerd, Steve Urkel from Family Matters.



Of course, my baby Jolie is million times cuter than him!



When I took these pictures, she was actually quite cranky. But the moment I pull out my camera phone and say "Smile Jolie!", she immediately beamed at the camera!!



My goodness, my baby girl sure likes taking pictures!

Jolie on solids

The very first time we fed Jolie solid food, which was rice cereal, was 29 June 2009. She wasn't crazy about it, only ate a few mouthfuls.



Slowly she began to eat more and more and now, she's taking it 3 times a day, each time about a quarter bowl. I enjoy exploring new fruits and vegetables to feed Jolie, and this website is quite informative.



So far he has eaten: Potato, carrots, bananas, pears, yam, spinach(she dislikes), apples, papaya, sweet potaotes, broccoli, plum (she dislikes - too sour? I will try baking it to make it sweeter), pumkin and fish. I tried pork, but I think it's too early cause she don't like the bits of meat in her smooth cereal.



Of course it's never always smooth sailing when it comes to baby. Sometimes she'll have her moods and wouldn't want to eat. Once, after a meal, she choked on her own saliva and was coughing away. She coughed so hard that she vomited out almost the whole bowl of cereal. -_- I was so exhausted, I felt so defeated, that I had to sit down and stone for a few minutes before getting myself to prepare the food all over again, and feed her all over again.

It's a messy affair - feeding baby, she likes to make the "Ppppuuuuuu...." noise when she eats. Sometimes she gets lucky and managed to grab a handful of the slimy cereal from the bowl. But I enjoy watching her finish her food. Knowing that she is having all the nutrients to help her grow strong and healthy.

Happy 6th Month to me!

I'm 6 month old today! We went for my injection today. It wasn't a big deal really, I didn't even make a sound! But when we left the clinic, I was sooo tired. I need my nap! So I just dozed off on Daddy's shoulder. They tried to put me down into the pram to sleep, but I don't want! Heehee...



When we got home I feel energized from a good nap, so Mummy started taking pictures of me. I love to take photographs! Look at me! I can sit up by myself now, but I can only do so for a short while and I sway around alot. Mummy and Daddy keep laughing and saying at I looked like I was drunk. Hmph!



I think I'm more comfortable lying down on my tummy. I'm an expert at turning over now!



Hey check out my new toy! My very own aeroplane!



Here, let me show you around, you can fly around the house, but so far I've only mastered going backwards and sideways. Soon I'll be able to fly forward!



The controls are real fun too. You can turn this wheel...



And you can also chew on it!



Hahaha... Isn't it great? Dual purpose!



Ok that's all, thank you for flying Jolie Air!



Captain Jolie signing out! (That's my stewardess.. :))



P.S. Baby Jolie weights 7.54kg and was 71cm tall. :)