Out of town

We won't be in town this weekend. We certainly shouldn't miss our good friend's wedding! And no, we won't be dragging Leia into it this time. "Takut" (Malay word for scared) already. The last time we brought her along for a week long holiday, she fell sick - for the whole duration! She had cold. Probably due to improper sleeping time and hours, thus lacked of rest. Furthermore, the unpredictable weather - the scorching sun during the day and the freezing cold during the night made it even more uncomfortable for her.

So, Leia will stay with aunty this weekend. Sad.... gonna miss her a lot. It's the same feeling I had when I had to travel outstation for work for a few days duration...

Not too sure how I'll be coping - spending the weekend without her around. In fact, I'm already feeling a sense of emptiness.... Haiyah, what an emotional woman I am..

Sleeping time

Who usually put your baby to sleep? You or your partner? Or maid? If it's you, how do you feel about this given "honour"?

Well, in my case, most of the time it will be me. There may be 1 or 2 occasions my hubby would have to do it but I personally rather handle it myself. Why? Coz I can easily put her to sleep without having to tear the whole house down!

You see, Leia has 3 types of sleeping signs that we can identify easily -

1. The blank stares. No matter how much we want to entertain her through stimulations like play, making funny faces, sing songs, etc, she will not react as we expected her to be. She will just give you the blank stare. For this case, putting her to sleep is easy-peasy. Just put her down in her cot and plug in her "chut chut" (pacifier) and within seconds, she'll be in dreamland...

2. The screamings and strugglings (must be due to over-stimulation earlier). Hooyoh... hubby certainly wouldn't want to offer help in such situations. And I certainly wouldn't make to make a fuss out of it. Coz, if he couldn't settle her down within 15 minutes, I would have to come to rescue. So, I'd rather handle her from the beginning to avoid unnecessary, prolonged stress for all - Leia, hubby and I!

3. The "play-by-myself" act. Easy. Put her down in her cot and give her a book or her favourite toy, Sponge Bob, she will happily play on her own for a while before slowly lying on her side/back and zzzzzz......

So, guess which sign she showed tonight?

Oh, she loves interacting through the cot net. Stick my face there and she will do the same...Mom and daughter bonding

She loves lying down at the corners too

Aik! Get up again?

Playing with her hanky

Lying down at opposite corner. Meddling with her book

Yeh....sleep d...

No leh...

Finally....

So, what's your guess?

Let me know your answer in the Comments and I will let you know whether you are right or wrong..k? ;)

How is she today?

2nd day of her stay at my aunty's place...

And I have called up my aunty for the 4th time this evening to check on her. Twice a day. 1 in the late morning and 1 in the late afternoon before fetching her home with me. And each call was always greeted by an excited aunty telling me everything about Leia - her antics, activities, food intake, sleep duration, "poo poo", etc, etc... I'm extremely glad that Leia still remember her and love to be taken care by her.

On my way to my aunty's house this evening, I can't help but to feel grateful. Oh, how blessed are we to have a loving aunty who's willing to care for Leia unconditionally...


Climbing everywhere on her "chor chor"'s (Hokkien word for great-grandmother) lazy chair

Watch out, supermarts...

Tomorrow after work, I'll have to rush to meet a buyer of a supermarket chain. He would like to see the food product that I can offer!! Wow, that's a good start!!

I'm still very green in this food retail business or should I say that I have no idea at all! But that will not deter me from not finding out. For the last few weeks, I have been so busy finding out from many resources to learn the trick of the trade. Yup... I've been burning midnight oil. And I can tell you, it's not easy at all. I've faced roadblocks many times and I'm sure I will face more... but I have that little hope in me that keeps me going.

I'm not too sure if I'm ready for supermarts yet but I will take the opportunity given tomorrow to find out more and make it happen!

One step at a time...

1001 things to do for Leia

As I continue to surf the net for more infos on parenting, the more overwhelmed I feel...!

It seems to me that I have not done enough for my girl! There are more than 1001 things that I can do for her now and later. Geez...so many wide aspects to look into urgently - her food intake (need to consider the type, texture, cooking methods, equipments used, which part of the day, etc), her play/ learning items (type of toys - development toys, bath toys, arts and supplies, puzzles, outdoor toys and the list goes on....), her sleeping routine, babyproofing.... and what else???

And all these require immediate attention, it seems! She's growing up fast and this mommy needs to catch up fast too!!

Adoi...I need system!

Relocation

Today is the "first" day of Leia staying with her "koh poh" (maternal aunty) once again during the daytime while I'm at work.

Her "ah ma" (grandma) was released from this task officially yesterday evening. Great relief as it was really taxing on my mom who has been caring for her for the last 3 months when aunty was in Australia. You see , my mom is not a full-time home-maker. She runs her own business at night with my father. So you can imagine how many hours of sleep my mom had each day... With her hypertension soaring high, thank God that aunty is back!

So yesterday evening, we moved Leia's "second home" - again.

All readily packed by "ah ma"


"Leia, let's go now"

"Papa, can I help?"

The cot is set up!

A close-up shot taken by my 11-year old cousin - his first-time

The distance between my aunty's house and our house and working places are quite far. During peak hours, ie: before and after office hours, it could take me an average of minimum 1 hour to get to her place from my office. Oh, I certainly don't enjoy getting caught in bumper-to-bumper jam everyday. Unnecessary stress...! The good news is... it will be over soon! To be exact, 27th November will be the last day! Phew....!

Evening walk at Air Itam Dam

It was 5 in the evening on last Saturday. The weather was good. So, hubby agreed to take us to Penang Air Itam Dam (water reservoir) for a walk. It's a popular place for jogging or even just sight-seeing. We personally prefer this place than Botanical Garden or Youth Park for our light exercise as it has cleaner air and it is so much less crowded. So...we get to enjoy the beautiful scenery without having to worry about avoiding the heavy human traffic.

Leia seemed to know that we're going out for some adventure. She was feeling so excited, rocking herself in her car seat, singing, dancing and talking all the way there! I was amused. hehehe...

Sticking out her tongue while waving to papa happily. On our way to pick up my little cousin brother...

Nice, breezy ride...

"We have reached!"

Get ready for the adventure?

Greens everywhere. Papa taking the lead

Look at the tortoises...

Breathtaking view...

"Careful, Leia. Sit still"

"Wheeeee...!"

Leia and papa taking a break

Overlooking the city

Very nice place. I felt a great sense of peace - taking in the clean, fresh air... and enjoying the beautiful, green scenery.

It never fails to bring back good old memories of my younger days adventures here - picnic and hiking trips with my schoolmates, exercising-cum-dating experiences, exercising-cum-listening to good advises from my aunties....

Will certainly go back again. Another added page of memory down the lane...

No "moi" but what about cereal?

Haiyah... she didn't want cereal too! Look at how little portion I made for her this afternoon...


And instead, she went for this non-edible item! Her teether

"Mommy, do you want to bite this too?"

Hmmm.... it's been several days now that she didn't want her "moi". Probably she's bored d. So, we thought we will make different food for her. Yesterday, I made her steamed sweet potatoes. She didn't want it either though I personally think that it was very tasty. Yup, I ate it in the end... And today, cereal "pun tak mau" (don't want too)...

Let's try "moi" again tomorrow. Will make it a smaller portion so that it didn't go to waste if she again doesn't want to eat it... *so pessimistic*

Hai... challenge................

First Deepavali celebration for Leia

We all had so much fun! It was a full day celebration!

We had a real early start...

Dressed!

"Leia, comb hair now..."

"Mommy, are you done?"

Our first program of the day was to visit Leia's "ammama" (Tamil word for great-grandmother). "Kong kong" (grandfather) joined us too. No early notification given to her "ammama" as we wanted to surprise her!

"Ammama" stays in a chinese pre-war house in town. Spacious and airy...It has never ceased to bring back great old memories to both my hubby and pa-in-law. So, it was pa-in-law who did most of the talking, reminiscing the good old times...

Sight-seeing...

"Ammama" has a big mango tree in front of her house. With her very ripe age - 90 years old, she could no longer pluck the fruits on her own. So, a brilliant idea came up. Pa-in-law suggested that we'll help!

2 men busy at work with "ammama" providing "the back-up" support - making sure the right equipments are provided


While Leia and mommy enjoying the swing...

Wow...! Nice, plump mangoes...!


Very good harvest!


Pa-in-law ended up helping "awa" (Tamil word for grandmother) to prune the tree...

While her "kong kong" pruned the tree out there, Leia had a jolly time playing with "ammama"'s rattan chairs... At this stage, you just can't stop them from being inquisitive and wanting to explore everything. They get extremely curious to explore especially those things that you say "no". Hmmm...guess, forbidden fruit always seem to taste better.

"I want to sit on this chair..."


Leia was "singing"!

We didn't leave Leia's "ammama"'s place empty-handed. The smaller bag of mangoes that you saw earlier was given to us! Thoughts of dipping these mangoes with my dad's home-made, tasty rojak sauce can make us all salivate...yum, yum....

So, did we head home straight away? Absolutely not! Next was pa-in-law's friend's house. More Indian food savoured! And Another ang pow (red packet) collected for Leia! Or it is called cheh pow (green packet)? No? That's for Hari Raya? Then? Purple pow???

It's simply unbelievable that any pow-giving has been so commercialised nowadays that it has become a must-have for our major festivals - Chinese New Year, Hari Raya and now Deepavali. What's next? Pek pow (white packet) for Christmas? I really hope not...

Deepavali money collection. Think it's about time we open a savings account for this little girl...

Later that night, we introduced fireworks to Leia. Hehehe...

"No more..."

Truly a beautiful, memorable Festival of Light celebration for all of us... :)

Leia can hold her milk bottle steadily d!

I always wonder when will Leia be able to hold her giant milk bottle steadily. A friend of mine shared with me before that her daughter is capable of handling hers at the age of 6 months old? When I looked at the size of her palms... hmmm. Tough.

I'm glad I had a nice surprise few nights ago when the papa decided to let her try. Despite feeling drowsy and being half asleep, she managed to handle this act pretty well...

"Huh? Why am I holding the milk bottle by myself?"


Scratching her head. A sign that she's very tired and sleepy


One hand...

Is giving medication to our babies the answer...?

It's been a few days now that Leia rejects her "moi" (porridge). The best she could eat was just a few spoonfuls. But she's fine with drinking milk.

This is the usual symptom for babies when they are not well. Loss of appetite. Well, adults encounter the same too, no doubt.

Since my last post of her having fever, she has not fully recovered from cold till today. Fever went off 3 days later but cough and runny nose stay. Now, more than 1 week later, cough is gone but runny nose stays. No, she's not taking any medicine except Panadol syrup when she had high fever. Took her to a doctor earlier but her advise was that babies shouldn't be given any medicine to treat these common illnesses. Medicine only suppresses the symptoms but does not cure. We should allow our baby's own immune system to work and fight against those bacterias and germs. Babies will eventually get better with time. Which I agree.

It's very worrying to see the increasing trend of parents and doctors prescribing medicine and antibiotics to treat cough and cold. This quick-fix may cause more harm to our babies well-being.

Earlier this year, the US FDA warned parents that cold and cough medicines are too risky for babies and toddlers. Some of these cold medications can actually cause serious life-threatening side effects (difficulty breathing, unconsciousness) in children under age 2. As a matter of fact, the US FDA suggested that all cold and cough medications should be kept out of the mouths of any child under the age of two years. It went further to state that the medications don't help kids under 6 years old.

As a parent, I know how worried and heart-broken we may be - seeing our children not being their usual, bubbly selves - the unbearable pain and discomfort that our children have to go through... Like this afternoon when my mom told me that Leia is not interested in her "moi" again and the non-stop runny nose. But having learnt the great danger of medication intake for "immediate recovery" from these illnesses, I decided to be patient and consider other options to make her feel better while allowing her own body immune system taking care of it.

What we can do;
1. Let our children drink more water to flush out the toxins from their body & to reduce dehydration
2. Allow enough rest, which includes enough sleep
3. Try a tender touch - hold her hand and sing her a song
4. Lots more

Take note though. It is not advisable to rub our child's chest with a strong-smelling over-the-counter ointment containing menthol, oil of wintergreen or eucalyptus. These give parents something to do, but they really don't improve air flow. And in babies and very young children, these ingredients can be absorbed into the bloodstream, where they might have toxic effects.

Playhouse

Based on my observations, most playhouses (in Penang) available for public use are catered to older group of kids. I'm referring to the materials used, the size and height of the equipments, etc. I could hardly find any that are safe and user-friendly to babies.. until last Saturday...

"Hey....!" Showing off her signature pose again (finger-pointing)

We were doing our shopping in Island Plaza (the shopping complex in Tanjung Bungah) when we stumbled upon this big playhouse located on the 3rd floor (if I remember correctly) next to the escalator. In seconds, Leia was all ready to play on her own!

"Oh, I want to sit on the slide"

The playhouse is made of soft plastic and no metal pieces used. No sharp edges found too. The height is just right for learning-to-walk babies. Perfect!

"Uhhh..."


Coming for the wheel...


So engrossed...


"Hehehe..."


"Hi mommy...!"

"Oops!"

Oh how we wish we could get a similar one for her to play at home... Then, we can invite other babies and mommies to come and play with us too! Don't have to travel so far. Also, cleanliness of the playhouse can be maintained all the time by yours truly personally...