First Parents

Genieve has grown teeth!

2009-04-18T08:30:00.001-07:00

My baby girl is turning 8-month old in a few days and she has grown two small teeth... hee... I shall take a close up photo soon just for momento sake.

We were so excited when we saw the first 'crowning glory' bursting out of her lower gum. She seemed pretty excited herself, chewing on every thing that she got hold of. When the seond crown burst through, it was really cute. Now she has one big tooth and one small tooth... ;)

Genieve has been learning to stand without support, of course not too successful so had a number of 'accidents'. She knocked her head against a sharp edge of my bedside table just about 3 days ago. What a heartache, there was slight bruise and bump with a bit of abrasion. Well, I was quite upset with my hubby as he was supposed to look after her while I went to the washroom. See what hapened...

Today, my hubby knocked Genieve's head against the side of the car door when he put her in the car seat... looks like we have to be extra careful now that she is more active. Better start child proofing the home....

ok, enough griping. Time to have rest. Will blog soon.

Check Out This Site for Parents!

2009-04-16T06:56:00.000-07:00

Chanced upon this parenting site. Seems interesting though i think it is quite new given that there aren't too many posts yet.
However its giveaways are really pretty and their maternity clothes are quite trendy - suitable for young pregnant ladies who are not keen to wear the usual type of maternity clothes.
Be sure to check out this website!

Genieve standing...

2009-03-23T07:45:00.000-07:00

It's been almost more than a month since I last blog. I've been so busy with work...

During this one month, Genieve has grown much. She can now stand while holding onto the side of her playpen and play yard's gates. It's amazing to see her doing all these little things.

She is much more responsive and 'playful' nowadays. Her favourite game now is 'tear the tissue paper'. She will launch forward whenever she sees a piece of tissue paper. Then she will take her time to inspect the tissue paper before tearing it up into small pieces! Her little fingers will proceed to press and feel the small pieces, it's real interesting watching her learn new motor skills.

Genieve is showing preference over things and people lately too. It's superb to see her so excitedly scream for our attention the moment we return home from work. Really nice and uplifting to see her so enjoying our company... :)

Baby Genieve refused to eat her cereal...

2009-02-19T06:38:00.000-08:00

I started feeding Genieve a few weeks back. It started off quite well, she was quite interested in eating cereal. However last few days, she became very picky and refused to eat cereal and just wanted to drink milk.

It is really strange as she was quite happy eating cereal initially. Not sure what happened. Maybe she is still not ready. I think I'll go slower in introducing new food.

Share with me if you have an opinion on why babies suddenly get turned off by solid.

Another Milestone for Genieve

2009-02-05T18:24:00.000-08:00

Possible for a 5-month old to drink using a straw? Of Course!

So happy that Genieve is now drinking water using a straw!! Hee... yesterday, she finally was able to suck some water up the straw.

I started letting her drink water through a straw last Saturday. Naturally, she wasn't able to do so at the start. In fact, she was really awkward!!! Haha... she was 'chewing' the straw rather than sucking. I kept encouraging and showing her how to do it by making those 'sucking' sound... Her facial expression was hilarious!

She was learning bit by bit every day. 'Chewing' became ' Blowing air through the straw'.... After repeated demonstration, she was able to suck some water up the straw yesterday!!! Hooray!! When the water gushed into her mouth, she was shocked! haha. Really funny...

When she tasted the goodness of water, she began to drink when the water flowed into her mouth. By dinner time, she was quite happy sucking water through the straw. Wonderful!
Will try to take a photo of her drinking later today. :)

p.s: I learnt from a mother of seven that baby being able to drink through a straw will be very convenient in the future.

Exersaucer for your Baby??

2009-02-05T17:43:00.000-08:00

EXERSAUCER for your baby?

I've been letting Genieve use my newphew's exersaucer whenenver we go over to my sister's place for dinner. She seems to enjoy it very much. Very intrigued with all the 'toys toys' surrounding her.

The most wonderful thing is that I can leave her in the exersaucer for a long time while the family carries on with dinner and other activites. It keeps her occupied!! Hooray! I'm sure most parents will find it useful... I'm also thinking of getting one myself as not sure how to keep Genieve meaningfully occupied during her wake time.

I've sourced out some pretty good exersaucer, take a look and let me know what you think. Maybe we can all buy in bulk??? I'm thinking the tea set could be a really nice present for Genieve but then if my second kid is a boy, I won't be able to reuse... mayb the farmyard will be good since Genieve seems to be quite taken with her animal book!! :)

Amazon.com Widgets

Conflicts with Grandparents

2009-01-31T06:47:00.000-08:00

For the past few days, we have been visting relatives and friends, and feasting as well!

Everyone seemed very excited to have Genieve around especially the grandparents. Grandparents naturally dote on their grandchildren.

However I find that this can be very frustrating at times when you are 'training' your child to sleep. Grandparents will find it very hard to 'listen' to the baby cry and will try to 'advise' you to carry or soothe the baby. Thank God, my parents-in-law are now accustomed to this type of training.

At least now, they do not enter Genieve's room to pick her up when she's 'crying' to sleep after I kicked up a fuss the first time they did it... hee... :)

How Genieve has changed...

2009-01-21T01:14:00.000-08:00

It has been a while since I wrote.

That day, mu husband and I were just playing with Genieve. All of a sudden, we realised she has changed so much when we saw the photo taken when she was one-month old.

It is truly amazing how babies can look so different as they grow older. I must show you the 'before' and 'after' photos, Genieve looks like two different persons. Really unbelieveable... hee hee.

Does anyone have any scientific explanation for this? If yes, pls share! :)

Buy Pre-loved Medela Pump In Style

2009-01-09T18:35:00.000-08:00

Buy Pre-loved Medela Pump In Style

Interested in buying a pre-loved Medela Pump In Style (Shoulders Bag)?

It is used for only 6 months. It is still in very good condition.

Retail Price is S$699. I'm selling for S$300.

If interested, pls contact me at glow0109@gmail.com.

Is your child ready for Potty?

2008-12-21T07:28:00.001-08:00

I've extracted this simple survey to determine if your child is ready for potty from the Motherhood magazine. The number of 'yes' ascertain the readiness of your child.
Hope it is useful for the parents out there.

1. Does your child stay dry for at least 2 hours, or is usually dry after naptime?

2. Is your child walking well, and is able to walk to the bathroom?

3. Can your child undress himself?

4. Does your toddler show that he needs to urinate or have a bowel moverment, either through his facila expressions, posture, by escaping to a private place, or using words/grunting?

5. Are your child's bowel movements regular and predictable?

6. Is your child bothered or uncomfortable if he sits around in a wet or dirty diaper?

7. Can your child understand simple concepts like clean/dirty and wet/clean?

8. Is your child familiar with toileting words (e.g. pee, poop, urinate, wipe), as well as parts of the body associated with potty use?

9. Can your child follow simple instructions?

10. Is your child able to sit down quietly for 4 to 5 minues at a time?

11. Does your child follow you or your spouse into the bathroom?

12. Does your child try to imitate other children or family members using the toilet?

13. Does your child show interest in wearing big-kid underwear, and is asking not to use diapers?

14. Is your child generally cooperative and happy to please his parents?

15. Is your child experiencing any major event (e.g. m0oved into a new home) or change of routine (e.g. just started day care)?

========================================
Results
11-15 'Yes' : Your child seems ready! Go buy a potty if you haven't done so. Decide on which toilet training approach you prefer. Do read up on problems you may encounter. Remember to give your child plenty of encouragement and praise!

6-10 'Yes' : Your child is getting there soon. Keep his curiosity going. Talk about the process, read children's books or watch DVDs on toileting together, and expose him to potty vocabulary. Keep pressure off though.

1-5 'Yes' : Your child probably needs a little more time. Keep looing out for signs of readiness and ignore comparison with other kids. Take cue from yoru child and stay cool.

Another Milestone in Potty Training

2008-12-21T07:22:00.000-08:00

Something to celebrate!

My baby is able to poo and pee when we put her over the potty without us having to make all the 'poo poo' and 'wee wee' sound effect. She seems to know when we put her over the potty, it is time to do business... whether big or small!

She is only 3 months plus old... reaching 4 month in 2 days' time. :) :)

Our perseverance in carrying her over the potty is paying off...

Items for Your Baby Bag

2008-12-18T00:52:00.000-08:00

Items for Your Baby Bag

Would like to share the useful items I always keep in my Baby Bag.

Diapers
More is always better than less. I usually have at least 2 in my baby bag should I be out for about 3-4 hours.

Blankets or Swaddle Cloth
I find this useful as I always forget to bring socks or mittens for my baby. So while I shop in the malls, I can always cover her little feet and hands. I also use it to drape over the stroller while my baby is trying to sleep so as to limit disturbances.

Baby-Wipes
Also a must-have. I find Pigeon very useful.

Clothes
Also good to have an extra set of clothes as baby's clothes get soiled for many reasons.

Plastic bags
Another good item to have in the baby bag especially when you can find baby changing room with bins. You can change baby in the stroller and put soiled diaper in plastic bag for disposal. Or you can use it to store baby's soiled clothes.

Milk/Food
Always come in handy when baby gets hungry.

Toys
Something you can use to keep your baby occupied while you do your shopping.

Baby Show 2008 Part 2

2008-12-18T00:40:00.000-08:00

Promised to post some photos of Niffy's groggy face...

This is the doctor and nurse trying very hard to get Niffy (my daughter's pet name) to smile...

Niffy was feeling groggy while waiting for her turn to parade...

Right Brain Teaching

2008-12-14T22:56:00.000-08:00

I found some materials here on right brain teaching. Seems interesting and informative.
You can check out this site.
http://www.brillbaby.com/teach-baby/right-brain-genius.php

If you have useful information to share about right brain teaching, pls drop some comments.

Baby Show 2008

2008-12-08T20:54:00.001-08:00

Baby Show 2008

On Sunday, we took Genieve to the Baby Show 2008 at Teck Ghee CC. We almost forgot abt the show as I was busy attending some seminar over the weekend. And my hubby was also not feeling too well.

Anyway, we didn't think too much of it as we thought it would be fun for the family. It turned out to be quite badly organised. All the parents there were quite lost. In fact, the organiser didn't seem to expect the parents would be bring prams and strollers such that the whole entrance was blocked.

It didn't really get off to a good start especially when Genieve didn't even want to poo that morning when we put her over the potty. So she was properly feeling quite constipated and uncomfortable. Indeed she was quite 'bua song' (means unhappy) and refused to smile at anyone who tried to play with her. Usually she would smile back or talk quite loudly.

So despite the best effort from the judges and doctor, Genieve just simply ignore them... this explained why she didn't win any prizes. Haha. Will put up some photos soon as they are still somewhere in my digicam.

Next time, we must prepare her for such shows... we didn't even let her wear anything special!!! other parents really dressed their babies up! We felt so 'ashamed'... haha... well it was still a good experience cuz now we know what to do for the next Baby Show!

How you keep your baby occupied during the day time?

2008-12-04T16:40:00.000-08:00

To all parents out there,
pls share how you keep your baby (3-6months) meaningfully occupied during their wake time in the day?
I need some ideas... :)

Another Update on Baby Sleeping Thru the Night

2008-12-03T22:55:00.000-08:00

I think we are progressing well in training our baby to sleep through the night. So far, she has been quite consistent in waking up at around 6 - 7 am plus for the past few days.

I'm decreasing her milk intake at 9-10pm so as to drop this late night feed eventually while increasing her intake during the day. Now, she is able to take about 150ml per feed in the day and evening.

Hopefully soon, she will not need the 9-10pm. Think we are quite near success as she wasn't too interested when I tried to feed her last night at 10pm. In fact, she only took abt 90ml last night when usually I would feed her close to 180ml... soon soon... success is just a few more steps away... :) :) :)

Internet Marketing

2008-12-03T22:52:00.000-08:00

Internet Marketing Seminar by Fabian Lim

Will be going for a seminar on internet marketing tomorrow. According to some past participants it will be useful for those thinking of starting their own online business. Hope it will be interesting, engaging, and useful.

Look for to it! Any one out there have attended this seminar last year? Feel free to comment about it here.

First Two Weeks...

2008-11-29T07:19:00.000-08:00

Well… I’ve been a first time parent since 23 August 2008. This was the day my daughter was born. And from then, it has been one ‘crazy’ journey!

The first two weeks were quite nightmarish. I had to endure the stitched wound left by episiotemy, engorgement of breast when the milk came, backaches, sore nipples, and sleepless nights (as you need to wake up to feed baby).

I would advise all mothers-to-be to engage a helper (be it your mother, mother-in-law, nanny, confinement lady, or maid) during the confinement period. You definitely need it. If you expect your husband to help, do adjust your expectation. No doubt, most husband will help (if they are considerate) but many of them are also adjusting to the new member of the family. In fact, since they do not have paternity leave, they probably can only help during the first few days. After that, they will expect you (the mother) to wake up in the nights to feed baby since you are not working.

It is during those times you need a helping hand. Good idea to express for those breast feeding and get your helper to feed at night so that you can have some rest. Also good to let your baby try feeding from bottle as I’ve seen many cases whereby babies on full direct breast feeding unable to feed from bottle until much older e.g. 1 year old. So for mothers who intend to go to work after maternity, good to express milk and let someone else feed your baby using a bottle. Of course, other times you can breast feed directly for the bonding…
Actually I don’t really buy this bonding thingy for direct breast feeding. Personally I find that feeding using bottle can be intimate too as I will have eye contact with my baby. When I breast feed directly, my baby is usually staring at my chest and not my face. Another friend of mine (who also just gave birth) concurred this as well.

Will share more on what to expect in details in the next post…

Baby resumed sleeping thru the night

2008-11-27T17:19:00.000-08:00

Thank God, my baby slept through the night yesterday. In fact, I had to wake her up at 7am to feed. Hopefully this will last... not sure what went wrong the last two nights that she woke up at 3 am plus...

Will continue to feed her well during day, I think this should do the trick in keeping her content throughout the night. :)

Baby Sleeping Thru the Night??

2008-11-27T05:12:00.000-08:00

I shared that my baby could sleep through the night (10pm - 7am) since a few days back. However the last two days, she suddenly woke up at 3am. I

nitially she seemed to want to play on the first day so I had to encourage her to return to sleep. But she was just kept 'talking' and cooing. Only at about 6 am, then she started crying for milk. So I fed her 1 hour earlier than her scheduled feed.

Last night, she again woke up at 3am. This time, her cry was more obvious that she wanted to drink milk. So I breast fed her and then put her down to sleep on her own. She could not fall asleep and fussed until 5am plus. My husband couldn't take it and gave her 90ml of formula which she took in. Now I suspect she's not getting enough milk during the day. I've increase her milk intake today. Let's see if she can sleep through the night tonight...

Will keep you updated!

Medela Breast Pump

2008-11-26T18:25:00.000-08:00

As promised in my previous blog, I'm going share my experience with the Medala breast pump.

I bought my breast pump from the Babycenter store from USA. It is much cheaper to ship it here (to Singapore) than to buy directly from the retailer here. However you need to have a US bank account before you can purchase anything from Babycenter. So ask around and see if you can have a friend with an US bank account to help you make the purchase.

Trust me, it is much cheaper to buy big items direct from the US. For instance, Pump In Style Advance - Shoulder Bag (which is what I bought) is selling at USD265.99 at Babycenter while it is retailing at S$699/799 depending if there's promotion at departmental stores here. You do the math and realise that you can save up to 40-50%. Of course, you need to add in shipping cost which is about S$60-70.

Anyway, I could be selling my pre-loved sometime next year after I wean my baby off breastfeeding. Keep a lookout at my blogsite for good deal on my pre-loved breast pump. Should be around Feb 2009.

The Medela Pump In Style Advance breast pump has served me well. It has the revolutionary technology that mimics your baby's nursing rhythm for faster let-down and milk flow. Since the price is on the high side, I would suggest that you obtain a pre-loved set if you are not able to purchase directly from the US.

Another good thing about Medela is that their bottles are BPA-free. BPA is found in plastic bottles which have harmful side effects on baby if consumed. I read in some articles that BPA may be released after several washing and sterilisation. Hence when you purchse plastic bottles, good to select those that are BPA-free.

Check out the below link for the breast pumps sold at Babycenter store if you are interested to purchase directly from US. They also have other good deals for breast feeding accessories.

Babycenter Store

What will be a good breast pump to use?

2008-11-26T06:51:00.000-08:00

Still haven't decided on what brand of breast pump to use?
Will share my experiences with breast pump in the next blog. If you have certain experiences with breast pump you would like to share, pls feel free to leave a comment or two.

Potty Train Your Baby

2008-11-26T06:19:00.001-08:00

IT IS THAT SIMPLE TO POTTY TRAIN YOUR BABY

Can you believe that my baby who is just 3 month old is potty trained? Of course, she still can't sit on the potty herself... But at this very young age, she is aware that when Daddy puts her over the potty, it is POO POO time!

Check out her facial expression while pooing over the potty... minus the '#*#*'

I tell you it is possible to potty train your baby from the moment he/she is born. I can say this because we did. We did not plan to do this, we were forced to.

This is because our baby has the habit of pooing once a day or every two days since she is born.
So you can imagine the amount of poo n her diaper. In the past, when she pooed in her diaper, we would try to clean her buttocks thinking that she had finished.

Lo and Behold, another squirt of '#*#*' would catch you by surprise. And if you were lucky, the poo wouldn't land on your shirt or face!!! Mind you, it actually happened to a few family members - Mummy, Daddy, and Po Po (Grandmother).

Hence, her unique pooing habit left us with no choice but to potty train her when she was just 2 weeks old.

We had two methods of training her...

Method One:
From experience, we found that she had this 'pushing' expression on the face whenever she needed to poo. Therefore, when we spotted it, one of us would quickly put her over the potty. With this, she gets used to pooing in a potty and will have no 'phobia' of doing it when she is older. We know of friends' children who refused to poo over the potty even at 2-3 years old.

Method Two:
Make it a habit to put your baby over the potty at certain time of the day e.g. after first feed or after the evening feed. The timing is entirely up to you. After a while, your baby will get used to the timing and will only poo when he/she is put over the potty. Of course, there will be days when he/she still poo in the diaper. What is important is that she gets used to pooing when put over the potty.

The key to successfully potty train is to start young! And the added advantage of your baby pooing over the potty is that you get to minimise the number of soiled diapers which helps in this uncertain economic climate.

Hope this sharing is useful to parents and parents-to-be. Feel free to drop a comment or two if you want to find out more how we train our baby to poo over the potty.

Infant Sleeping Habits

2008-11-26T05:23:00.000-08:00

Ever wonder when your baby will sleep through the night?

I've been asking myself this question for the past three months. And praise God, baby Genieve is starting to sleep through the night. She can now sleep from 10am to 7pm though there are days when she still wakes up in the middle of the night - initally wanting to drink milk, now more like she wants to play...

Thanks to my sister too, who gave me a very helpful book - Babywise by Ezzo and Bucknam.

The book teaches you how to help your baby develop good sleeping and feeding habits and how to adopt a parent-directed approach in training your baby to sleep.

Although there are several schools of thought regarding training your baby to sleep, I find that Babywise does work wonders. It gives control back to the parents instead of the 'baby controlling the parents'.

I'm someone who likes to plan so I find it very difficult to feed on demand. So the Babywise method suits me fine.

If you are an experienced parent and your baby hasn't slept through the night or going to be first time parent, I suggest you pick up this book from your local bookstore and start your journey to 'saying goodbye to sleepless nights when baby arrives' kind of life.

Check out the peaceful look when Genieve's in slumberland...

First Time Parents

2008-11-26T04:24:00.000-08:00

WE BECAME FIRST TIME PARENTS on 23 august 2008

On 23 August 2008, my hubby and I went for my gynae appointment in the morning, praying that the time was finally here. Indeed, my gynae told me that I was ready if I wanted to deliver that day. Of course, without hesitation, my hubby and I unanimously said "Yes".

And so we went to the delivery ward. We spent close to 9 hrs there before our little angel, Genieve arrived! She was borned at about 9pm and to our delight, she weighed a healthy 3.66kg... :)

This day marked the end of our twosome journey. Now we are three... and I must say it has been truly a journey. As I penned this blog, our princess just turned 3 month. Although it has only been a couple of months, it seemed like ages.

Here's a picture of me in the delivery ward, getting ready to welcome little Genieve. :)