Today with Eliza

Highlights of the day:

Sick but cheerful Eliza
Eliza's fever subsided but it came on and off. Fever meds helped keep it at bay and sleep, i think helped. It's not really high but she felt warmer than normal. I gave her her flu meds again cos her breathing is still so noisy with all the phlegm..no runny nose though, but i think it's making her uncomfortable. Still, she's as playful and smiley.

New toys!
Bumbo is returned after 2 mths and new toys came in! woohoo...Eliza was looking at it so curiously when we received it. but i wouldn't let her sit in it cos she was going to have her nap, and she has been fussing for abt half hour le. At least this allows me to put her in and do my other stuff and still not need to watch her toooo closely like for the Bumbo seat. plus it entertains her quite enough. if i weren't working, i might buy toys and rent it out too. gosh it's so much better than buying them! i was getting bored of the toys Eliza has...though i don't think she is bored of it.

Mini-outing
I decided not to bring her to my office to show her off (hehe..and say hi too lah) cos it's so far away and she's somewhat sick. ok...but i still brought her out. whoops. I didn't want to run into having a cranky baby far away from home. yesterday, we scraped our evening outing to Borders and almost went to the PD cos of her feverish-ness + crankiness. just that when we got out of the house, she was happier and we decided to go have dinner at TM instead. but it wasn't too good initially cos she wailed in the lift and when we changed her diapers (cos she pooped), some kid was screaming and scared her so badly that she cried furiously. that was halfway thru the diaper change, gosh! i didn't even have time to put the cream & quickly wore her diapers on. anyway, thank God after that it was better. :)
chewing my toy away while daddy chooses books to buy at Times, he was so happy that business & mgmt books were 20% off...better than going Borders. but i can't be bothered, why not books for me???


oh monday we went out tooo....went to Raffles City SC Coffee Club for lunch with Y

Eliza's in tip top mood, and happy to play with Y. it was also her debut ride on the mrt, everything went well, just super curious with her surroundings. anyway lunch with Y was good, Eliza slept thru out dessert and we went to buy J.Co later. thot i could pop by my office but then my dad had something to pass to me frm his tokyo trip, so Eliza & I went to Naumi hotel to meet him. pretty place, checked out the beautiful rooms and infinity pool. small though but that's what you call a boutique hotel. went home in a cab with Eliza falling asleep the moment we got on the cab.

opps back to today. had to return my super over-due library books, buy lunch and food for dinner and bfast.(suddenly i thought...gosh i'll have to worry abt all 3 meals everyday if i stay home all the time!) anyway....
i bought liao4 to make yongtauhu ($3.30 for 15 pieces at NTUC, boil chicken stock with Ikan bilis, put all in + veg...tastes wonderful!!).
bought bread & tuna for bfast tmr.
paid my $10 library book fines & renewal fees.
borrowed a new book (Sears & sears "Fussy baby book")
it rained when i got in the bus home.
Eliza slept. (i realized she always sleeps on the way home)

*con't on May3, saturday...was so busy on thurs & fri that i didn't have time to use the comp much. so much for the title "highlights of the day" now i need to remember what i wanted to write...

Co-sleeping
Honestly, i never thought about co-sleeping much until recently when i borrowed this book

borrowed it at the library and it was once of the books i wanted to check out. I've read BabyWise & Gina Ford, now it's this..the other book i would like to check out is The Baby Whisperer. anyway back to the book...reading this book made me a much more open to co-sleeping. initially i though that i didn't really want baby in bed with us, because i knew i had to wean her from our bed eventually and stories of babies suffocated when sleeping in the bed with their parents. actually though in the early weeks i'd bring her to our bed to sleep cos i had to nurse her and we were so sleepy we kind of fell asleep together.

recently, because i've been really sleepy in the early mornings when she wakes up to fuss (i wonder where did my morning energy go now?), i would bring her to my bed so that i can hug her to sleep. mainly because she kicks, scratches her ear & head. unless i hold her hands down, pat her or rub her forehead, she will wake herself up with all that movement. sometimes it's 1/2 to 1 hr of fussing and me plopping in and out of bed that frustrates me. by then i myself have fully awakened. yawns!! so bringing her to my bed helps us sleep better. Eliza gets mummy hugs and warmth, mummy is nearby to attend to her and thus fall asleep in less than a min from the time i rouse. wonderful! actually i love it.

nowadays, most of the nights she'll be in her cot and early mornings (ie. 4-5am) i'll bring her to bed with us to sleep.

i realized that this started when she was sick and needed to be comforted and carried most of the time. bringing her to bed with me helps me have enough rest and thus be able to care for her better. gosh...if anyone realizes, co-sleeping must be something mums & babes have been doing since ancient past.

whell i better enjoy these moments before she outgrows all of it. :)

Narrating the world

I love to bring Eliza out as much as she loves to go out. ok...so we love to go out. it's like she's exploring her exciting new world and soaking in all the sights and sounds. unless i'm busy shopping...i'll narrate the world to her. occasionally pointing out things, the sky, the car that whizzed past etc etc etc. else it gets a little boring.

i'm also lagging on my so called learn to read materials with Eliza. mainly cos each day is so busy, and sometimes i forgot all about it. but i try to read as much as i can to her, at least a book a day (except when i'm working). yesterday while we were at PageOne browsing books, i popped over to the children's section to check out the Spot books. showed one book to her and she was all so excited (the past few weeks she wasn't too excited about books), i guess it was because she was bored of the toys at her pram. oh she was so cute trying to flip the pages and eat them and listening to me read it to her. (argh..photos were accidentally deleted). i love Spot books too :) maybe i'll buy that whole set of the Spot board flip-up books. :P

frm babycenter..
"the most stimulating and beneficial interactions your baby can have are the simple things you do together. Babies learn best from their parents. I like to tell my patients to "narrate the world" for their baby: Name the colors and objects your baby is seeing. Describe the clouds, the sky, birds, and trees. Count everyday items as they pass by. Dance with your baby in your arms — emphasizing the beat of the music will give your baby her first sense of rhythm. Give her a chance to explore her sense of touch by feeling new textures, and then describe what they are. Electronic accessories and other "educational toys" are never going to offer as much stimulation to your baby's developing mind as you can provide."

playing with photobooth on my mac

Photos accidently deleted

bleah.

accidently deleted quite a bulk of photos that i wanted to transfer to my computer. so devastated. (ok a lil exaggerated but it was bad enough). they were nice photos!! :( i'm wondering how to recover them now..just that the card is some memory pro whatever memory card that no other devices i have can read from it. help!

went to Vivo today on our lil family outing. checked out books, tried out babylegs cos it was so cold in PageOne, window shopped, bought groceries.

so no cute photos today.

2nd half of the day was a trying day for us. because we were out till 430pm, Eliza had a total of less than 2 hours of sleep before her bedtime. she was sleepy early but we had dinner at home with my mum & sis. and she obviously wasn't too keen on entertaining them when she's tired and grouchy. she managed to hold it out, and occasionally crying when my mum tried to play or carry her. so i set to put her to bed earlier at 8pm. she was dozing off but by 845pm she fussed and fussed and fussed till 930pm. and i went to wash clothes. but she woke up crying loudly (unusually different cry i feel) for at least 6 times which sent me going in and out of the kitchen bathroom to pacify her. gosh by the time i managed to plop the clothes in the washing machine it was 1040pm. she was peaceful till 11pm which was when i fed her and even so it took her till 1130pm before she could soundly fall asleep. a really trying night for me.
i concluded to Ww that it is either
1) the overtired day and thus the lack of sleep
2) ear infection cos of her runny nose
gosh my poor Eliza i wish i know what she's really crying for instead of having to guess all the time. so that is why we should never ignore babies cry...cos it's their only way to communicate to us. ok even the 'fake' cry..which i know what it is like and it's a tearless cry

even so this wasn't as frustrating as me accidentally deleting the photos :S
sigh sigh sigh

it's gonna be a long and interesting week. really need God more. more strength, more wakefulness, more sleep, more patience, more time.

Information overload

There're gazillions of websites for mums online that are so interesting that i keep bookmarking them since Eliza was born. now that set of bookmarks have ballooned till i have to scroll down to view it. and some i have yet to check it out the second time. really, where do you have time when almost 80% of your waking hours is taking care of baby...ok and housework and sleep. i feel i want to read them alllllll!! but i have no time, keeping track of the nov07mums forum is already quite a feat at times, esp since i have not read any since monday.

i was so busy at work last week i just have no time to go online much. it's also cos i leave work early (745am), home late (830pm) or later (11pm). I really don't like to go home late.
1. my mil has to work overtime which is quite tiring for her.
2. i miss out on time with Eliza
3. there's lots to do when i come home (express milk, wash bottles, feed Eliza her dream feed, get Eliza to sleep)
4. too rushed too rushed

so i'm gonna be a 12day SAHM. i wonder how i'll be able to 'survive' all that with housework & attempt to cook dinners, and have fun with Eliza (who seems to be sleeping less nowadays).

meanwhile, 2 new items came thru my mailbox already!

Beco Carrier
I just tried it today! Works like a dream...and i don't feel the weight of Eliza at all! (almost). The weight distribution is at the hips (just like my huge deuter bags i used for trekking last time). And it's easy to wear her in. Baby has to face in though but they say it's better for their backs. It's also a lil warm too esp where her tummy touches my fat tummy. and i tend to perspire there too. then again if you're in shopping centres it's still ok. ahh..finally a carrier that doesn't stress your shoulders. very happy with this purchase! more photos in future!



The other item that came in was BabyLegs!
I love the pattern of this Babylegs! suits her clothes so well. hoho..(ok all..almost all her clothes are pink) it's to keep her warm on cold days when we go out and she wears rompers. how to wear pants with rompers?? but it looks really pretty too.



you know i'm sooo tempted to have a family photoshoot...like those pro photoshoots. i think Eliza's so photogenic (ok all mums think their child is anyway).

Updates on Eliza:
SHE FLIPS!
which is the beginning of extra supervision on Eliza when she's on her back on the sofa. she can do a flip is 5 seconds....tho with one of her hands stuck under her belly. should video her soon :P

SHE LAUGHS!
babies laughter is so contagious. and these days she has been so vocal and cheerful. makes me so happy too.

SHE WHINES!
ehh...yah because she wants to be carried and doesn't want to lie on her bed/playpen/sofa anymore. it's a very characteristic whine so we all know it. still how can you ignore her anyway? and most of the time she 'gets her way' and she laughs again

Recovering baby over the weekend

Eliza's recovering. We all can tell.

She's drinking as much as she used to, previously when she was sick she would drink 80-110ml compared to her 130-150ml of milk now. She's also pooing more. For a few days she didn't poo in the morning which was quite odd as it's usually the time with the most poop.

Eliza's also extra playful and squeal-y happy these days but i think that's more of a developmental thing as she's starting to discover more of her world and the world outside as her vision improves. There's so much to see and discover for her. She's also teething slightly; and learning how to flip (most of the time it's a half-flip and we'd help her on, and when she turns over she'd be super excited).

She makes me happy, esp after rushing home from work, she would see me and beam. plus it's been a tiring two weeks of rushing for a deadline (that's tmr!), if i don't have a kid i would be home late everyday! i'm going back to work tmr and it's thursday...it was worse last week when Eliza was sick and i couldn't be at home to take care of her.

On mum's sleeping.
I was telling my colleague on my night episode with Eliza and she was saying that it's so tiring. hm...i think so too. I used to be elated with a 5hr or more stretch of undisturbed sleep. I still am, just that i've somewhat accepted that it's babies will more or less have night wakings and do not expect that she must sleep thru the night all the time. God just made mothers more wide awake, stronger, more sacrificial. I guess it's something that changes in us when we have our babies. God changed our hormones and the way our body works so that we can attend to our lil one. I would wonder how Ww can sleep thru Eliza's fussing and not realize it at all. Once she cried quite loudly (it was more than enough to wake me up anyway), and Ww didn't budge one bit. Is it some father's symptom...not being able to hear baby cry at night?
Anyway, I am not so sleep deprived either, i try to take at least 2 naps during my long weekends. and i could sleep earlier but i still stay up till 11pm or 12mn almost everyday, waking up at 630am on days when i work, and 7+am on days when i don't work. It's a luxury to sleep till 8am.

I'm looking forward to the coming 10+days i get to stay home with Eliza, juggle housework & some cooking, and outings with Eliza. :) (oh..it's cos my mil's going to Turkey)

Photos while Eliza was sick....or is she? doesn't look sick at all anyway, as long as she isn't having fever, she's quite fine & happy :)


I'm trying to get her to take her morning nap, but she has other plans....
her cot is her playground...


and if you realized....the cool pack is gone...she has swept it away..somewhere on the cot

Eliza trying to turn...or do a flip...still learning!


Me trying out which headbands will look good on her...to wear to J's party that night. which do you like?



On sunday, while Augustine was talking with us, we decided to take photos...i like this one best of the many we took.

Diaper reviews

Ok after 4 months of trying out most diapers. I have concluded that Pampers is the best so far. It's Pampers BabyDry. Why this of all the other brands?
- It's not too expensive (neither it's v.cheap, else i'll surely get it all the time)
- It's soft and comfy
- The tab is reusable and doesn't come off (read abt my experience with the NTUC brand one later)
- The back of the diaper is high

I can't understand how other brands like huggies & mamypoko is more expensive than Pampers
and there're ppl who say that Pampers is expensive. Ok...the other series of the Pampers ones are expensive...not the BabyDry series. Moreover, we have managed to buy them when it's on sale. It averages a $0.23 per piece compared to $0.30 per piece for other brands.

My experience with other diapers...

Drypers
- SH passed me a pack of size S Drypers cos her baby can't use them anymore (too small), and i tried it but it was kinda a lil tight for Eliza, plus the back of the diapers is not as high so sometimes her poo leaks from behind. i also don't like the tab that's of sticker type, not the grip tape kind. Eliza also has her thunder thighs and the elastic of the diapers leaves red marks at her thighs. it's one of the cheapest brands though but after I discovered Pampers i never bat an eye at Drypers. maybe one day i will. btw, i used at least 3-4 packs of the NB ones.

Huggies & MamyPoko
- i can barely remember using them. used one pack of each. i think it's so-so. i think i remember my mil saying that it isn't really soft.

NTUC
i tried the size S once cos it was on sale. then, it was quite ok, just that it's a lil rough too. i recently bought another pack to replenish stock but the tabs keep coming off, especially when i try wearing it on struggling Eliza (that's usually after bath, i dunno why she's so edgy then). for 3 nights it had come off and i had to use masking tape to stick it on as i didn't want to wake Eliza up just to change a perfectly fine diaper. today morning i woke up to find her in a half opened diaper. argh. so i thought i could just use it for day time. but but but the diaper failed me again. it's probably the 5th diaper that 'went wrong'. i was so frustrated i had to waste it and use the other brand instead. i'm contemplating sending the whole pack back to change.

PetPet
heard that it's the same manufacturer as the NTUC brand tho it's slightly more expensive..i think by $0.05cents. other than it's rough and the sticker like tab, it's so far ok. not the best but ok. it leaked poo the first time Eliza used it & poo-ed but then again i'll give it a benefit of doubt, after all her Pampers diapers leaked quite a few times b4 too.

Goo.n
I've tried out the sample pack. so far it's really soft, and snug for Eliza. i actually like it a lot but i can only order it online. and it's not cheap..abt $0.336 per piece, not including delivery. it has the wetness indicator which really, i feel is not needed. maybe it's because i only change Eliza's diapers when she poops. otherwise i couldn't be bothered.

Pampers
my all time favourite. it was good that there were discounts at NTUC & Shop&Save and now at Giant. so we've bought like 3 + 2 + 1 pack so far. my mil said why not buy more? gosh...now i worry Eliza will outgrow the M size! it averages $0.23 per piece...so it's still ok. the "grip tape" is great and reusable, which is very needed when i need to adjust her diapers.

diaper status now:
NTUC brand - use if i dare to
PetPet - for day & night use
Pampers - for outings

average diaper usage per day:
4-5 pieces. actually it's equivalent to how many times Eliza poops a day. and also bathtime milktime schedules. most evenings we bathe Eliza b4 her milktime, and Eliza tends to poop after her milk feed...so sometimes that after bath diaper is wasted. sigh...

gosh it's another 1 1/2 to 2 years more before we can wean off diapers. poor environment. would love to go for nappies but then for the sake of our sanity, save water and save our hands from all the detergent (my fingers have been really dry lately due to all the detergent from washing the bottles & in particular the Tollijoy wet wipes, don't ask me why). anyway $20+ a month for diapers is still manageable, it seems like costs we barely notice.

Serious silliness...for all ages

One of Ww's student's parent bought these books for Eliza.


It was sooo cute that i kept reading (ok trying to read) them to her...and i'm contemplating buying more of them. why? cos...
- it's easy to read cos it's a board book.
- the illustrations are so hilarious
- i love the way the author makes the story rhyme
- and it's silly anyway

so i recommend mummies out there to check out this book, so far i've found them in Borders (none at Times)...and of course more at Amazon.com. if one day i go to US i'll buy them ALL...(i think). check out her website here

anyway we have been really blessed by Ww's students' parents who shower Eliza with really sweet gifts. and going to one of his students, J's birthday party was really fun (happy birthday to J again!! :) ). plus this is 2nd time Eliza's been there (oh the first time was when i was still so pregnant with her, at Ww's class party). i really enjoyed talking to the mums there too, and the things they share about parenthood is really quite helpful and so true...so imagine me 12 yrs from now...

We are all sick

First it went with mummy sneezing on thursday morning. by afternoon it was over, next day it was a slight sore throat. now i'm almost perfectly fine.

then on saturday Eliza started having runny nose. but she was fine, and at her usual squealing happy self. sunday, it got a lil worse...with Ww starting to have the symptoms of sore throat (so i realized that the flu vaccine doesn't work on the common flu)..and it got worse so he went to see a doctor on monday. Eliza was still not that bad, no fever just runny nose. but it took a turn for worse on monday night, with her waking up twice crying.

it wasn't a normal cry, but more like a cry to be comforted. she so i tried giving her milk at 2am, and i thought it was it, she was hungry, but she still needed to be carried and hugged to sleep. at 4am she woke again with the same cry, this time feeling really hotter. measured her to be 38.1. eventually we brought her to the clinic near my place as bringing her to the PD will take half a day. (the whole process is really tedious...930am take number, 1030am PD comes, then you wait...) so that was it, i thought she'll get better, but it got worse in the afternoon and then she got better & was her usual perky self.

thusday. went back to work. wanted to go full day, but she was feverish in the morning again. so decided to work halfday instead and come home to finally take care of Eliza (my mil has been bearing her crankiness all this while) noon time my mil called & told me that she was refusing milk, only drinking half of her normal intake. so we decided we had to take her to the PD. thank God it was open in the afternoon...only it was still such a loooooooooong wait! there wasn't a lot of ppl anyway! ok, at least the meds seem to be more specific and a lot! poor gal.
so many meds to eat! one of them is antibiotics for her ear infection, one nose drop, one for fever, one for sinus, one to clear her blocked nose

she also had slight ear infection due to all the phlegm, and that affected her milk drinking. and when we weighed her, she lost abt 150g since last week.

taking meds for babies is quite difficult. which baby happily drink down all that meds without much struggle? (though she did make it quite easy to put the nose drop when she's in a good mood this morning) last night i had to put the nose drop for her but she struggled so much i just couldn't get it in. Ww can't help much cos he's sick and couldn't get too near to her. poor dad.

all in all, it really is difficult when bb is sick. plus she needed to be carried to sleep most of the time. it took me about almost 2 hrs to get her to soundly sleep before i could get to do my nighttime chores (wash bottles, sterilize bottles, express milk, and my own bedtime stuffs like brush teeth, take out contacts, put moisturizers etc). that was abt 1am le.

Co-sleeping.
i was reading Dr.Sears baby sleep book where they encourage co-sleeping. i did do that with Eliza in her 1st month when she couldn't sleep well in the early morning, or when she needed to nurse. i'll bring her to our bed and we'll sleep thru after that till morning abt 8am. these few days, cos she's sick i brought her to our bed to sleep, also so i dun need to crawl up and down my bed when she rouses, and also so that i can easily coax her to sleep. amazingly i feel i had better sleep than when she sleeps in her cot, cos when she rouses too much i juz hug her and pat her back to sleep, easy as that. something i couldn't really do when she's in her cot, although i will hold her tight and fall asleep sitting at her cot. sometimes, it gives me a backache. :(
but these few days while she's sleeping on our bed, Ww had to sleep in the living room cos he's still sick. poor dad...ok and mummy & baby has to whole bed to ourselves. heehehe.
although co-sleeping is really easier on the mum, i think i'll still let her sleep in the cot when she's better. now i'm wondering how & and when to ease her into her room next time, esp when the next baby comes (no it's not coming yet...).

Photos...
she's sick but you can't tell...when she's not having the fever, she's still just as playful as ever!

my mil's bday dinner and i wonder why Eliza's looking at us...most of the time she was looking at the cake

this is how Eilza scratches her head. really funny..next time i should video it, can't tell from a photo.

ah...now she knows how to play with her pacifier, take out put in take out put in take out put in and throw it somewhere

i found this photo i took from my hp...daddy being in sync with Eliza's upset emotions.

Family outing

After a long long thought and discussion over a few days (of me asking Ww..where shall we go? where shall we go?), we eventually went to Changi beach on saturday late afternoon. I actually gave up the idea of going out also because i really got no idea where to go. For some strange reason, at the last minute, Ww suggested going out to parkway (i wasn't too agreeable on that because we were going there the next day), and then it's East Coast beach, and Ww's mum suggested changi beach (we guessed it was cos his parents used to to pak-tor there). so we did..off to changi beach & then to Bark Cafe for dinner...

it was a nice lil family outing, with thanks from Ww's sis who let us use her car-let (cos it's a small car). we almost went condo viewing (for the fun of it) but then it was getting late...dun really like going out too late with Eliza..disrupts her bedtime. interestingly, she fell asleep on the way there and on the way back...in the car. the magic of cars...really.

and if you realized...Eliza's not really her happy, curious self in the photos...she would have, if not for the aeroplane that just spoilt her day. you know how low some of the planes fly at changi beach, we saw one when we got off the car and had Eliza already seated in the pram. we were a lil wow-ed by the plane and wasn't in time to carry Eliza tight (even though Ww tried covering her ears). whell..the plane noise left her crying in distress...so mummy & daddy had to console her and carry her. so she wasn't quite in a good mood, as reflected in the photos. she wasn't really smiling much, just staring that curious stare still though, interested in the cars that drove by, the waves that came to the shore....

mummy & daddy found her expressions quite cute though.

i can literally trace out a :( on her face

a lil better...though after that she got interested in cars and was looking elsewhere.. still :(

look at the frown in her eyebrows...like telling us, i'm not happy!


at Bark Cafe at Changi chapel...much happier, playing with her toy...and her legs qiao4 up high.

the mystery of the walking pacifier

I can't help it. the pacifier is the best way to get Eliza to sleep at night, at home. (outside it's quite easy in the car..yesterday she knocked out the moment i got in the cab, no need to rock, give pacifier or whatever). so at night when she wakes, i'll be finding her pacifier around her cot..it's quite a feat at times, especially when she gets more fidgety (swiping her hands over her head & kicking, but eyes still closed). naturally i would expect the pacifier near her head where it has dropped out..but noooo.

so where can i find it?
- at the corners of her cot
- at her sides near her bum (that's when she sleeps on her back)
- under her arm (when she sleeps on her tummy)
- on her chest (when she sleeps on her back)

so it's a hide (the pacifier) and me seeking. i don't turn on the lights, else it will wake her up. so i'll be like sweeping my hands all around her cot in search for that walking pacifier. sometimes i wonder how it gets so far away. did she spit it out and it bounced away?

a minor difficulty without lights is finding her mouth after i've found the pacifier...in particular when she sleeps on her tummy, also cos she'll sometimes turn her head her and there such that i can't catch her in time to aim the pacifier into her mouth.

another weird thing about the pacifier is that we seem to always put it upside down. her pacifier has this cute bear picture and some how when we give it to her, the picture is always upside down. Ww mentioned it and realized that yah...it's true..how come ah?

i wonder when she'll start to sleep without it.

Weekend is here!

I'm mad....it's 12mn and i still don't wanna sleep. the night time is my only 'me' time to be on my own, and surfing the net without disruptions. Eliza has been sleeping since 830pm, (with her usual dreamfeed, at 11pm though).

On most nights Ww & I will talk about Eliza, occasionally taking a peek at her sleeping, and having all the warm happy feelings abt how cute she is. We declare she's the cutest person in the world. (whell at least till no.2 comes and then we'll have 2 cutest persons in the world).

Work has been busy but no matter what i'll try to reach home by 8pm (which gives me a lil 1/2hr OT in the office), so that i can have at least some 1/2hr with her, to carry her and then put her to sleep.

going to sleep time is nice. i'll usually put her on my bed, and then talk to her or sing to her, then give her a massage (gotta moisturize her ankles..dunno why it's dry). i drag the talking to her and singing to her, till i think it's time to sleep...really enjoy this time with her. after that i'll wear her mittens (otherwise she'll scratch herself in her sleep), pray with her, and switch off the room light, leaving the bathroom light on. i guess she knows it's time to sleep. sometimes she manages to sleep in her cot on her own (with the pacifier of course), sometimes she needs me to carry her and pat her to sleep. both ways, i enjoy this special time.

It's Eliza's 3rd jab tmr...hope she takes it well..and don't get fever.

mummy is thinking where to bring Eliza on saturday le...i can't seem to stay at home...and i love bringing her out. :)

Of sleep and milk

Really....sleep and milk is one of the common worried over, and fret over topics for mums. I had my bout of it...and it's still quite experimental. and as they say all babies are different, or unique. While Eliza has been sleeping w/o milk from her last feed at 1030pm till the next morning (her bedtime being 830pm..and i give her her dream feed at 1030pm), these few days has been a lil haywire. why?
1. 2 days ago, she drank only 30ml of her dream feed and refused to drink anymore. didn't wake up for milk in the middle of the night though. but she did the next day. i wonder why
2. on sunday i stretched her milk time at 4hr interval. cos we arrived home late after church & aft that Eliza and me took a long nap that stretched 1hr past her normal milk time. yes she woke up that morning at 430am..refusing to be settled to sleep until i gave her milk.
3. she's not hungry in the mornings and so drinks lesser then

Anyway i'm halfway reading the Sears baby sleep book, they're somewhat a lil opposite to GF methods and advocate attachment parenting. I think Babywise is somewhere in between. I agree with them on their discouragement of the cry it out method, even though i've tried it before and just feel i can't do it eventually. One thing i learnt, as i've also read in many other places
to enjoy yr child while yr child is at that stage. she's only going to be 4months old once.

and i sure want to enjoy her and am enjoying her so much so much. so even though she didn't need to go to sleep with me carrying her and patting her previously...and for some reason only she knows, needed me to carry her to sleep now, i enjoy it thoroughly. watching her fall asleep, safe, secure, comfortable in my arms.....whell at least until i put her down. (though she does eventually settle to sleep)

What i so enjoy about Eliza.
1. I came home today, called her name. She turned around and gave me a big beaming smile. melts me completely
2. Her so inquisitive look. esp when she's watching us talk.
3. her morning babbles. she wakes up in the morning in a good mood almost half of the time. if i haven't picked her up from her cot yet, and she's in a gd mood, she'll be babbling, ah-ing, oo-ing to herself. quite cute actually.
4. her most unique facial expressions
5. her most characteristic frown
6. her grabbing her milk bottle when she's so eager to drink milk. and then swiping her bottle away when she doesn't want to.
7. watching her splash in the bathtub (we help her a bit and show her how to splash actually..and she totally enjoys it)
8. smiling at me, coo-ing, listening, laughing when i play with her
9. hugging her. she's soooo huggable!!!
10. kissing her everywhere

Eliza is 4ths old

I've been so busy lately..with work and just taking care of Eliza, and (eh..also reading so much of the forum posts) that i haven't had time to blog. but i've been taking photos like nobody's business. i think Ww thinks i'm mad. everytime i'm home with Eliza, there goes my hp camera of the digital camera. i think Eliza's getting used to being a model. only thing about taking photos is that i hardly take much of myself, and since Ww isn't a shutter happy person like me (and he was in photography society in sec sch!! ), i resort to taking it on my own...shoot-and-error. more on those photos later :P

Many things happened.....and i have many things i want to do!!
so i have only time to put up photos...i'll just let the photos do the talking....

Self-taken photos....
this was taken quite a while ago..that was march school holidays i think when i'm home alone with Eliza...what else to do anyway? take photos with her lo...


This is my fav..cos she looks so "oooo"

and this is today!! sometimes taking photos is a way of finding out what Eliza's up to...


This is the march school holidays..and it was raining almost everyday! so it's one of the rare times you see Eliza in her long sleeve tops (i thought they were be..this is Eliza touching daddy's chin :P so sweet. she's wearing her mittens cos it's time to sleep...i have to mitten-ize her...otherwise she'll scratch herself at night..i really dun know why she is always suddenly 'itchy' during her nighttime sleep.


Eliza on Bumbo....it was a toy i rented which i think i'm finding it quite a useful thing...i'm wondering if i should really buy one. i have already extended the rental to another month, after which i'm gonna rent some bigger toy for her. :)
you have seen her unhappy in it..now see her looking busy in it...
this was during cell, she looks like she's listening intently to our conversations (and she still does nowadays)

else...she can play with her elephant...the one that makes lingling sounds

i've been trying hard to catch a happy laughing Eliza on Bumbo...not that she isn't happy on it, it's just that she's so active that most of my photos end up blurred. but this was a gd one :)


Crawling...we've started putting Eliza on her tummy on places other than her bed, and she has discovered the joy of crawling! or attempting to crawl...yup..lil soldier. now she's just kicking her legs and not knowing how to use her knees but she still successfully moves...(today she moved 360degrees at the same spot! just turn round and round and round. funny gal.
this was on lazy afternoon letting her try out her new found game, moving while on her tummy.

she's relatively happy on her tummy...and this is her..giving her *evil* eye...according to her dad.

new toy we opened cos it's abt time she can play with it. something she can crawl towards? heh...

hmmm??

muscle gal? don't mess with me!

ok...if you have realized and i realized, i've put her crawling at many places...with a toy to entice her


daddy talks with Eliza...and Eliza not being really happy...it's not cos she's not happy with daddy, she just doesn't want to be lying down..
Eliza complains...carry me up!!

The official 4mth old activity...eat chucken drumstick. yeap...she puts anything in her mouth...so although she has tasted her toys, my shirt, my arm, this is quite a new taste!! it's what the elders belief that it'll help baby not to be such a fussy eater. she sure isn't for now!


her fav finger stuffing activity...now she has found her thumb though. quite fun watching her enjoy sucking her fingers..but trying not to let her do it too often.


my swwwwwwweeeeeeeeettttttt lil Eliza.
*on a side note..she almost flipped today..frm her tummy to her back. but daddy assisted her too fast..i thought i could see if she could do it on her own.

A moment of peace

Ok...i've been wanting to try this look alike meter for a long while...
and while everyone i know including me, feels she looks like her daddy, the lookalike meter doesn't. i've tried it 4 times! ok...either something wrong with us or something wrong with that meter.

Eliza slept. :)
hee..good girl. i put her to bed the moment i saw her yawn..even tho it was earlier than usual..1145am. and it's 45mins..she's still sleeping. i think she's really tired.

more photos...one day...esp the one when she eats the chicken drumstick on her 4th month bday!!

Tans Look-alike Meter

MyHeritage: Look-alike Meter - Free genealogy - Geneology

sleepless days and nights

I'm tired out. phews!
first it's late night working...then it's Eliza. I had a post i haven't finished since sunday and i haven't had time time to update and post it yet.

We don't know why...Eliza has not been wanting to sleep in the day since tuesday, and then today she only eventually slept at 940pm. i'm tired cos i've been going in and out of the room, and then carrying her (which i didn't usually do last time..it was easier, bedtime routine, pop the pacifier and within 15mins she'll be asleep). today, even though she knocked out after her evening milk, she was awake in 1/2hr and i couldn't finish my dinner. :( at first it was a burp, then she was blinking wide awake...happily playing. we are suspecting that she's teething...could she? she's only 4mths old. yawns..i wish for some good sleep...nights aren't better cos she'll fuss for 1/2 hr and then i realize that she doesn't want to be sleeping, so it's abt 1hr of carrying her and trying to get her to zz again.

so now i'm a cranky, lack of sleep mum...but still i'm so happy to see her, and happy to play with her and have her squeal in delight. yawns..but i'm tired.