Our home reno: MBR progress!

Our MBR is more complete now! =D Our bed and ikea drawers were delivered yesterday. Everything's looking good and how I imagined it to be. 

Here's a pic of our bed!

My mum and I also did some housekeeping when we were waiting for the furniture to be delivered. We bought essentials like the broom, mop, washing detergent, toilet cleaner, hand soap etc. And we started cleaning the floors! It was soooo dusty and dirty -_- they felt so much better after we swept and mopped the them. Hopefully they stay clean!

(Healthy project) A non-sweet week.

Okay here's my next simple project to become healthier! 

I feel like I've been having alot of sweet drinks an desserts for the past month. It's definitely making me feel pudgy! So I've decided to abstain from sweet drinks, tidbits and desserts for the ENTIRE week. This is actually very tough for me given how I love my desserts recently. So I'm going to test the extent of my self discipline.

To help me towards this goal, I've already told Gerald not to buy back any sweet stuff after he knocks off from work! I hope he listens and doesn't tempt me with anything! 

In the meantime, I'm still trying to keep up with my oats and cereal. The problem is I may have to stay away from fresh milk because it may cause lil leia to be fast since I'm breastfeeding her. 

Will keep this project updated at the end of the week!

Baby Leia's milestone: Two months old!

My sweet baby turned 2 months yesterday! She's such a cutie I swear. And she's growing up so fast! Everytime I spend time with her, I tell myself to appreciate every moment with her because its just so precious. Next time, I want to be able to look back and know that I cherished her baby moments. 

Leia took her first round of vaccinations at Parkway east yesterday. A total of three including Hepatitis B. She had 1 oral one for Rotavirus and 2 jabs. She totally hated the oral one because she spat it out and our PD actually got a slight shock and had to scoop whatever she spat out into her mouth -.- He was saying that its a cold liquid so Leia didn't like that. Our darling cried when she got  jabs on her thighs =( but she stopped immediately when I picked her so that was comforting! 

Anyways during her check up, she also got we weight and height taken. Baby's now 4.8kg! Which is the average weight at 2 months so she definitely caught up! Height wise, she's a lil below average so doctor called her slightly overweight for her height lol. She's our lil pudgy one! 

I raised my concerns about her reflux and fussiness and our PD reassured us that it's nothing too serious. He prescribed some wind drops and advised to try mixing Friso comfort (for regurgitation babies) and her normal one to see if it helps. So let's see! 

Anyways, I wanted to share the after effects of the vaccinations. Our lil darling became soooo sleeeeepy she slept most of the afternoon and evening. Totally not her usual self. She was so quiet and non fussy (probably due to lack of energy). She developed a fever of about 38 degrees so we gave her 1.5ml of paracetamol and a cool patch. She became her usual self again after 11pm! That's when she became more awake and fussy lol. Her fever went away by then. Yay! Looks like she dealt with the 1st day of vaccinations pretty well. Now we just have to monitor her today. 

Here's her shot at 2 months! Because she was groggy for most part of the day, I couldn't take a cute one haha. 

Baby Leia's milestone: 6.5 hours of sleep!

Yes, I couldn't believe it when I checked my phone for the time. This morning, our lil one only woke up at 6.15am after sleeping through 6.5 hours! That's a record time for her. 

For the first time in 2 months, our darling gave daddy and mummy uninterrupted sleep for so many hours! *beams happily*  she's such a sweety pie =D I felt so rested this morning. 

And because she had such good sleep, she was in such a happy mood when I turned on her bed mobile and music later in the morning. She kept looking at the lil rotating animals and couldn't stop smiling and cooing. It's my first time hearing her cooing so loudly and expressively. Supeeeeeer cute. 

Baby Leia's milestone: Smiling darling!

This week, Leia has been smiling more at me when I talk to her! Which makes my heart melt! 

She does it when I pick her up in the morning to greet or comfort her. And in the afternoon during playtime when I prop her up against my pillow and sing to her. Her smiles are often one sided! I always want to smother her with kisses when it happens. 

Look how cute she is when she's sitting up! 

(Being Mummy) Learning motherhood!

Lil Leia's going to be 2 months or 9 weeks this Friday! So I've been a mummy for close to 2 months. Still feels so surreal.

I'm happy to share that I've learnt so much since becoming a mother. It has been a wonderful journey. There were definitely tough times but they were all worth it! Looking back, I really struggled  for the first few weeks since I was recovering from the delivery process and adjusting to the new demands of our newborn. I often went into my panic or depressed moments when I felt inadequate as a mummy. Now I'm glad that I'm much better at a lot of things and they include the following:

1. Night feeds

Omg night feeds were so tough for me! In the beginning, I struggled badly because I just couldn't wake up to feed her. Before I gave birth, I always slept early and through the night. So you can imagine how hard it was for me to wake up in the middle of the night to take care of a crying newborn. I had quite a few emotional breakdowns and thank goodness Gerald was there to help me through them. 

Now I'm used to waking up! My body has gotten the hang of things. My ears have become so sensitive to her stirring sounds that I usually wake up even before she cries for milky. 

2. Breastfeeding

This has always been tough for me. Getting Leia to latch when she was a newborn was very challenging. She would cry and scream at my breast and it made my heartbreak every time. It felt so horrible to feel like I was the only one making her cry whilst she always seemed happy in other people's arms. We made the decision to bottle feed her with expressed milk and supplement with formula. I felt quite bad I had to do so because everyone talks about how direct latching and full breastfeeding is the way to go. Felt like a bad mummy =( but I guess bottle feeding her was better than starving our lil one.

Now that she's bigger, she actually latches fine now! Maybe because her mouth is bigger and she's smarter to latch? Haha. I was so so happy when I could latch her when I tried, especially for my right boob. The bonding experience whilst latching is amazing and simply quite indescribable. I kinda regret not doing it earlier though because my milk supply can no longer match her demand despite all the pumping. Latching frequently in the early weeks is still the most effective way to boost milk production. 

3. Carrying baby

Leia used to cry so often when I carried her initially. I'm not sure if it was the way I carried her or my milk smell. She seemed to prefer everyone else except me! It was really saddening. I would always feel like the most useless and unwanted mummy when that happened. 

Now it's much better! She still cries sometimes when I hold her but that's cause she's just being generally fussy. I've gained the ability to calm her down too so I feel like I finally can do something for her as her mummy! Hehe.

4. Burping baby 

Leia really really doesn't like to burp. She's one of those few babies who don't burp easily. Not only that, she screams and becomes really feisty when one tries to burp her. I used to have much difficulty burping her compared to G and his parents. His dad is actually really good at doing the over the shoulder burp. Not until recently, I would always feel bad and horrible for not being to burp her and making we cry. Now I've been practicing the over the shoulder burp and it's alot better. I can get her to burp more now =D Honestly, I never expected that getting my baby to burp would bring so much joy lol. 

5. Bath time

Previously during my confinement, my MIL would always be the one bathing Leia. I was still recovering so it was quite difficult for me to bend and bathe my lil girl. I was always envious of bath time with Leia cause she always enjoys it and its great bonding time. 

Now I make it a point to bathe her every alternate day and also sing to her 'Row row row your boat' during her bath time. I love bathing her! She's always a happy camper and loves the water. Super adorable. 

I'm really happy that I've learnt how to care for my little one. It feels awesome to be able to grow as a mummy and do things for her. I find myself a more patient and organized person. With a baby, you just gotta be patient if you don't want to end up angry at your baby or yourself. And I really cherish me time and time with Gerald now. =)

(Healthy project) Update on whole grains week!

I'm happy to share that I completed my Whole grains week project! 

I ate oatmeal and cereal for the entire week. I feel so accomplished! =D 

I tried one new oatmeal recipe, adding peanut butter to my oats. It made it more savory but wasn't that yummy. Maybe I don't add enough peanut butter hehe. 

I'm gonna try to continue to eat this brekkie more often. Next time, I will like to try new types of cereal! Been having Post's banana crunch alot so I wanna mix it up a lil. 

Baby Leia's milestone: Happy 8 weeks!

Leia's 8 weeks today! 

My cutie pie was such a sweetheart this morning. She woke up with a very good mood and kept smiling at me! She usually smiles in her sleep or at random stuff when she's awake. But today, she was really looking at me when she smiled. My heart totally sang when it happened. It was such a precious moment. 

And she didn't cry after bathtime too =D love my lil princess! 

Valentine's Day!

Valentine's day came early this year. To beat the crowds and avoid expensive dinners, G and I celebrated Valentine's yesterday =)

I made reservations at Pizzeria Mozza 2 weeks ago without telling him. It was a lil surprise and I wanted the element of mystery for our celebration! He couldn't guess where we were going until I had to tell him the venue was at MBS because he had to make his way there separately.

Before dinner at the pizzeria, we spent some time at Beanstro chilling by the pseudo venetian canal within MBS. It actually felt romantic! Lol. We loved how it wasn't crowded on a Wednesday and it felt so peaceful.

Now that we have Leia, I really cherish our dates together. Just to enjoy each other's company and talk about our days. 

Anyways, our Valentine's dinner was alrighty. I enjoyed the thrill of eating at a new place more than the food haha. We thought the food was so so only. Not really worth the price. I prefer Pepperoni Pizza better! I found the menu kinda confusing and difficult to understand. I know the place is helmed by a celebrity chef and all, but it helps to have a menu that's easy to decipher. We were kinda overwhelmed and didn't know what was what. I personally found it a challenge to order food and I rarely experience this. 

We still enjoyed our dinner though! It's all about spending time together anyway =) 

I gave G his love coupons (in an ang bao lol) for his pressie and treated him to the meal. We visited Motherswork and I saw the cutest lil dress for our baby girl! He was going to get me a present so I told him to get that for our lil girl here. It's really the sweetest thing.

Here are our photos of the day!

(Healthy project) Whole grains week!

As shared earlier, one of my new year's resolution is to eat healthy and be healthy. I know this is not an easy goal to accomplish. -.- Loads of people usually put this on their resolution list and kinda forget about it until the next new year arrives haha.

In order to prevent that from happening, I've decided to take a new approach on healthy eating. To help me accomplish my goal, I'm going to work on regular and specific mini projects that are easier to accomplish and track. Sounds kinda technical eh hehe. These small projects, when completed, will help me contribute to my overall goal =D I figured it's easier to set my mind on finishing these healthy eating projects than to generally tell myself to eat healthily. The latter is rather vague.

Soooo my first project for February is to: Eat whole grains for brekkie for the entire upcoming week! I will be having cereal and oatmeal baby! I'm gonna see if I can try out eating different variations of oatmeal to keep things interesting. Time to test my discipline! *fighting fighting*

Baby Leia's milestone: First dress!

I bought our lil girl her first dress! And of course, it has to be pink. How can it be of any colour?! =D

Here's a picture of her in it. I'm currently drunk on her cuteness.

P.S. We had a tough time putting it on her lol.

(Taking a short break)

Marriage: Words of wisdom.

At about 3am last night, I read this article that was shared on Facebook. Its title 'To wives: Before you were mummy' piqued my interest. I guess that's what happens when you become a new parent. Anyways, this article really resonated with me. 100%. I decided to blog about it so that I can always remember its content.

In the article, the writer talks about how married couples change when they have a baby. And more often than not, we are usually not mentally or emotionally prepared for this before the baby's arrival. It's not covered in any prenatal class and people don't advise you beforehand on how to handle this change. 

This is very true. I notice how my relationship with G has started to evolve with our lil girl's entrance into our lives. Our attention is no longer just on each other. Our topics have changed to baby ones. We spend lesser quality time on cuddling and talking to each other. We can't watch movies (our favorite activity together) as frequently anymore. We rush through meals or eat separately so that we can take care of Leia. On weekdays when he has to work, he sleeps in a separate room (this breaks my heart sometimes). Emotionally, I became a lil crazy in the first few weeks post delivery. It's better now but I'm still more needy compared to before pregnancy. And the list goes on. 

I can feel our romance slowly disappearing a little by little. And it really really scares me. Because he is the love of my life. My number one. And I want that to be my constant. 

I guess that's why my heart really felt the words in the article: 

'Ladies, before you were mummies, you were his. Men, before you were daddies, you were hers. Remember this. Hold on to this. Keep these words precious to you.' 

'Ladies, when Mummy becomes your name, remember this man. Remember he is your husband. Remember how much you love and appreciate him. Remember his love and devotion to you. And when the days are long and you need a break, fall into his arms.'

'Men, remember your bride. The care and love she has given you will spill to your children. Her love for you will not change. Give her the grace to be enough  even when she doesn't feel like it. When your days are long, hers are too. Remember her. Fall in love with her again.'

'Remember each other. There is no greater adventure for you to  experience and no greater gift than to walk through parenthood with your best friend. You are a team.'

Such words of wisdom fromscissor tail silk's blog. I will always keep these words close to my heart.  

Happy Chinese New Year!

As always, the Chinese New Year holidays passed super quickly. To be honest, I didn't really feel the festive mood this year. I guess with baby Leia, we have more to cope and consider so I couldn't really take the time to appreciate the atmosphere and enjoy CNY like in the past (I mostly relaxed hehe). Nonetheless, I still had my enjoyable moments!

On the first day, we went back to Nim's for lunch! This is like a yearly tradition. And the food, like all previous years, was sooooo sumptuous. This year G and I had to eat quickly because our lil one was gonna wake up for milk soon. My dad was such a sweetheart. He helped to 'jaga' baby whilst we rushed through lunch. Think he enjoyed looking after her! He told us later that she actually smiles on her sleep. We managed to eat most of our food when she started fussing. 

It was wonderful being with family again. I actually miss being with them all the time! We are such a greedy and noisy bunch together. We had our usual non stop eating (we call it the round two, three and so on) and chatting sessions! G looked after baby whilst I spent time with my family. Once again, so so so thankful for him *loves* 

Here are some of the highlights for the first day! 

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Baby Leia's milestone: 5 hours sleep straight!

Last night, my sweet Leia slept for 5 hours straight! Yay! *celebrates* I truly hope this means she's one step closer to sleeping through the night. But they always say that with newborns, it's always about taking two steps forward and one step back. So let's just cross fingers, wait and see.

She fed at 11pm and again half an hour later cause she was still hungry. Our lil milk monster drank a total of 150ml! Her usual's about 100-110 ml. Maybe that's why she could sleep so long. Her lil stomach was full of milky! I actually changed her diaper at 2.30am and she fell asleep on the table lol. It was quite funny. 

I just fed her about 90ml and she's off to lala land again! Wonder how long she'll sleep for this time!