Goodbye 2011, Hello 2012!

It's now time to bid farewell to 2011. My, my, what a year it has been!!! It definitely wasn't "just another year" for me.

Let's see:

First half of the year:
1. Was pregnant!
2. Took a career break for the very first time since I started working. Had really mixed feelings about leaving my old job.
3. For the first time, I stayed at home with Elyssa almost 24x7. I loved spending quality time with her but at the same time, she drove me half nuts! I ended up being really impatient with the poor girl. Blame it on the pregnancy hormones too.
4. Strangely enough, towards the end of my break, I realised I missed the rat race.
5. Had a down syndrome scare with baby Erin. That gave me the fright of my life.
6. Accepted a new job offer.


Second half of the year:
7. Welcomed baby Erin into the family.
8. Struggled with breastfeeding and milk pumping. Not 100% successful but I'm still producing (and pumping 3-4x a day) and yes, I think I deserve to give myself a pat on the back!
9. Had a maid for the very first time. Took some time to adjust to a stranger in the house + getting her used to the routine.
10. Started new job. So far so good.
11. Bought a new family house. Sold the house we stayed in since we got married.
This originally wasn't in our 2011 plan at all. Saw the house we liked and within 1.5 weeks - arranged for feng shui consultation, got the termites people to check, called up banks etc etc for the prospective new house, got 7 viewings on a Saturday for our current house and a firm offer the very next day. Everything happened so fast!
12. Adopted a new toy poodle.

Phew, what a year !!!! Personally, I feel that I have learnt and grown a lot during this year. And I feel really blessed for what I have in my life.



Photos my 2 little princesses taken on the last day of 2011 -


I'm happy to welcome in the new year as well. Plenty of exciting challenges ahead - moving to the new house, Elyssa starting school, travelling in my new job (my "immunity" had ended. I requested for no travel at all in the first 3 months of the job), seeing the kids grow etc etc..

Bring it on 2012 !!!

Big Secret

Yesterday, Elyssa pulled my mum aside and told her softly : " I have something to tell you".

My mum got a little bit worried when she heard that. Was something wrong?

Then Elyssa whispered into her ear :

"My mummy is fat".

Oh dear......... don't know whether to laugh or cry when I heard that !!!!

Must have been from last weekend. I was trying on my pre-baby Erin clothes and told her : " I'm so sad because I'm so fat already. I cannot wear my old clothes".

I said that each time I tried on something (can't fit! *sob* *sob*) and after each time, she came and hugged me saying "Mummy, you're so sad so I hug you. Then you are no more sad already right?". Awww, my little monkey can be so sweet sometimes!!

This and That

Phew....... finally have the time to sit down, relax and blog a bit.

For the past two weeks or so, I've been busy organizing our company's first ever regional conference. What an absolutely EX-HAUS-TING affair. Plenty of little things to oversee -t-shirt ordering, flight details, hotel confirmation, shuttle van to the hotel, confirmation of agenda, meals bla bla bla plus having to think of my own 3 hour presentation session, opening welcome session and closing recap session. That all happened BEFORE the event. Despite all the planning, there were still lots of unforseen things that happened DURING the event - delayed flights, traffic jams, last minute changes etc etc that needed attention.

Overall, the 3D2N event went well and boy am I glad that it's over :)


Here's a photo taken during the team building event. I was the "blind person" that had to be taken through the obstacle course :)


On the home front, we went for a family trip back to our own hometown in Ipoh 2 weekends ago. The whole "jing bang gang" of us 8 adults, 2 kids, 2 toddlers, 1 baby, 1 baby in tummy(not mine!) and 2 maids (minus my maid cos that one gets car sick even for a 30 minute journey).

Stayed 2 nights at a 5 bedroom apartment in Ritz Garden @ RM630 per night. Not much choice cos we wanted at least 4 bedrooms. He he..... one big happy family but we can't stay together for the night - I'm still breastfeeding, I can't stand my mother's loud snoring, the toddlers need to sleep with the parents etc etc.

We set our expectations really low based on some internet reviews and its past history but were pleasantly surprised indeed. The apartment itself was clean and newly renovated with flat screen tvs in each of the rooms. Breakfast was pretty decent too.

Forgot to take photos of the apartment. Some photos from the Ipoh trip:

My girls on the Tram ride to the Sungkai Hot Springs

Sis's family at one of the pools. Water temp was nice and warm.

The cousins at the Coronation Park playground
We used to go this park (then called Seenivasagam park) as kids. I loved it!

Elyssa with Jo Ern

Elyssa and Justin at the tortoise pond @ Sam Poh Thong

Family Photo

Ok, this is a bit of a "all-in-one" post. Photos of my 2 princesses taken in the past 2 weeks.

Me with my Princess No. 2
Do we look the same?? ;)

Princess No. 1
Looking sweet here, and not her normal "monkey" self :)

AND...... introducing the latest addition of our family. Already crazy busy enough, but we couldn't resist this little puppy when we saw him at a pet shop last weekend!!!!! He's like a walking teddy bear!!!! Super adorable!

Our Toy Poodle

Name still not finalised yet. Either Elvis or LV :)

.

Busy, Busy

Been too busy to update this blog recently. My life now has been taken over by work and milk pumping!

So just a quickie post with photos of the two princesses :)




Yes, I'm still obsessed with milk pumping! I pump 4x a day. Almost 30 minutes each time which means 2 hours a day. And that's excluding direct feed at night. Plus trying to juggle a new full time job. Plus tending to a demand-a lot-of attention 3.5 year old. TI-RED !!!

5 months old

Another month has passed.... baby Erin is now 5 months old !


About her:

1. Weight - 6.5kg

2.She still smiles a lot, though slightly less than a month ago. She loves to "talk" i.e. shriek away in a high pitch voice when someone talks to her.

3. She knows how to grab things now.

4. Drinks a higher proportion of formula milk compared to breast milk these days. Starting from last week it's an average of 2 bottles of breast milk (5oz each) and 3 bottles of formula (5.5oz each) on weekdays. Some days, ratio is 3 bottles of breast milk to 2 bottles of formula. On weekends, it's either none or 1 bottle of formula.
*sigh* I seem to be a on a losing battle with breastfeeding :(

5. Had her first taste of medicine last month due to slight fever and flu. Luckily nothing serious.
(I was a bit surprised though. Thought breast milk should give her better immune system. Elyssa jie jie had much less breast milk but has a stronger immune system.
But one common thing with jie jie is that Erin seemed to enjoy the medicine. ha ha)

6. She loves it when I blow into her belly button. Normally chuckles in glee!

How much Breastmilk??

I'm confused...... how much milk should a 4 and half month baby take??

I've just upped my expressed breast milk from 4 to 4.5oz per bottle BUT Erin cries for more milk after approx 2 to 2.5 hours when she has been on a 3 hour cycle for quite a while now.

She takes about 5 and a half feeds a day (half for the midnight nursing) so that works out to approx 25oz per day.

My supply just can't keep up to her demand. I get only an average of 30z when I pump in the office so I need 3, sometimes 4 pumping sessions to get TWO bottles of milk.

I have been steadily draining my EBM stash of precious 21 bottles collected before I started work and supplementing with 1 bottle of formula a day during weekdays. (On weekends, she's fully on breastmilk, but I end up feeding her every 2 hours)

She just finished her box of formula, so I went hunting for another box just now. Got a big shock when I saw the required intake for her age. Enfalac - EIGHT ounces. S26 - SIX ounces.

So much? And I thought 4.5oz of breastmilk is a lot for her age. Have I been underfeeding her? Then again, my sis said her baby Jo Ern drank 3oz per bottle until almost 1 year old. Using that as a comparison, am I overfeeding Erin?

I ended up buying S26 just now. So does that mean she should take 4.5oz when it's EBM and 6oz when it's formula? Or should I increase my EBM to 6oz per bottle? (which means I need to pump twice to get one bottle. Aaaargh!)

I'm CONFUSED!!!????!!! Help!


ps: 1. She is gaining weight. Quite round these days.
2. She takes ALL of whatever offered to her.

Ipoh Trip

The main purpose of our Ipoh trip last weekend was to visit hubby's grandma who had a fall in the house (luckily she's ok already). Since we were back, we also combined it as a eating and "sightseeing" trip. He hee....sightseeing in inverted commas cos this is our own hometown!

1)1st stop - Taman Rekreasi Gunung Lang
Our first time there.

At the entrance

Nice and serene place

BUT boats were not working so couldn't go across the lake like we planned to.

Only other activity was to feed fish (*yawn*)
Luckily, Elyssa enjoyed it.
She spent almost 20 minutes throwing the fish biscuit ONE-by-ONE into the water.

Baby Erin with MIL
I think this is a lovely photo :)

2) Next stop was to Ling Seng Tong cave.
I've been there a couple of times before. Nicer than the more famous Sam Poh Tong.

Outside

Inside

More fish feeding
With Elyssa's ONE-by-ONE feeding, the RM1 packet of fish food (bought at our first stop) lasted very long!

Our "sightseeing" ended with late lunch at Nam Heong kopitiam for fried kway teow and white coffee. I wanted their famous egg tarts but there was a long queue so I didn't bother.

That night, Elyssa had a fun time jumping on the hotel bed like a little monkey. She happily sang the "5 little monkeys jumping on the bed" song :)

Yummy Food

We were in Ipoh over the Hari Raya Haji long weekend. I'm drooling just thinking of the yummy food we had :)

Springy beef balls

@row of hawker stalls near Sam Tet school

Fresh fruits and Ice cream over shaved ice
@ the same hawker area. RM4 only!

Assorted "liu" and fat crunchy bean sprouts
@ Kum Kee coffee shop in Pasir Pinji

Ipoh White Coffee
@ Nam Heong in Old Town

J&J Swissrolls
This is the 1st batch we got. Box #1 - coffee walnut & chocolate. Box #2 - assorted mini swissrolls. For the 2nd batch (no photos), we bought cempadak & durian plus another pack of assorted mini rolls.

So much good food, so little tummy space!!!

4 Months Old

Baby Erin is already 4 months old. How time flies!

About her -

Weight : 5.5kg

1. She smiles A LOT!!! I don't think I've seen such a smiley baby before. Just need to talk to her and she often smiles in return.

2. She's such a good natured baby. My parents often comment that she's relatively easy to look after. No need to carry her that much and she usually only cries when she's sleepy or hungry. Not too difficult to let her sleep (baby Elyssa used to scream the house down!) and once she's asleep the other 4 kids can practically bring the house down but she'll be blissfully in dreamland :)
She's the frequent holder of the "most well-behaved grandchild" award! He hee... a refreshing change from Elyssa who normally holds the award for the other end of the spectrum ;)

3. She drinks 4oz of milk every 3 hours. I'm not producing enough these days, so she gets 1 bottle of formula a day. No problems switching between breastmilk and formula.

4. Potentially another greedy girl! Once, my mum mistakenly told the maid to feed her one hour earlier than normal : Glug, glug, glug - she finished everything.

Another time, I pumped out 5oz and since I didn't have any extra sterilised bottles for storage, I gave the whole amount to her : Again, Glug, glug, glug, she finished everything.

5. She smiles when she wakes up in the morning. A wonderful start to our day!

(Baby Elyssa used to cry if we don't pick her up immediately. Till today, she cries if we don't give her attention the moment she wakes up)

6. Last weekend, our contractor took one look at her and said "Oh, her eyes are droopy. She just woke up issit?" Oh dear! Nope.....she was wide AWAKE at that time. Not the first time we received comments like that either. Erin's eyes are rather small, especially in comparison with Elyssa who has huge and beautiful eyes.

7. She sleeps around 10+pm until around 7am. Wakes up once (occasionally twice) for milk. She doesn't take much though - just suckles for a little while then falls back asleep.

Yay! I normally get a good nights rest!

Wadya looking at?

With Elyssa jie jie

Selective Reporting

When I picked the girls up from my parent's place last week -

Elyssa : Mummy, Mummy! Koko pushed me today!
Me : Oh, koko pushed you?

Elyssa : Yes! Koko pushed me until I fall down on the grass. Then I cry.
My mum passed by at that time and asked her with a smile: "Why did koko push you? "

Elyssa : (in a softer voice) Because I pushed koko!!



Ahem..... that's what I call "selective reporting"!! She only reported the 2nd part of the story!

_________
Btw, when I asked her why she pushed koko -

Elyssa : Because he was playing and playing with the ball until he was soooo tired. I asked him to rest but he don't want. Just play, play, play. So I pushed him".

Me: ?????????????????????

MV Logos Hope, Port Klang

2 weekends ago, we made a visit to the floating book fair @ MV Logos Hope in Port Klang.

The main intention was for Elyssa to enjoy the experience on board a ship rather than the book fair itself. We already bought more than enough books at the Big Bad Wolf sale! (he he.....for that sale, hubby and I went together once, then after that he went twice by himself and I went once with my colleagues).

Some photos taken that day -

Elyssa with Logos Hope in the background

Queuing up to get onto the ship
Baby Erin must be thinking - "This is boring. Yawn!!" ;)

Shopping Time
The books were surprisingly cheaper than normal bookstores. But of course not as cheap as the Big Bad Wolf sale. We didn't want any books but wanted to buy SOMETHING (after the effort to drive there and queue up!) so we ended up with an inflatable Dora beach ball for Elyssa.

Little Miss Captain

At the small play area

After browsing at the book fair area, we went to the cafe for light refreshments. Elyssa played with some toys at the play area.
There was a lady doing face painting but Elyssa wasn't interested.

With one of the volunteers
She told hubby she was on a 2 year volunteer program with the ship. What a lovely concept! I will love to do something like that (err...ok, ideally one year) if I'm young and single.

Erin and I at the cafe

Bye Bye Ship!!
We didn't stay long cos it was a little warm inside the ship

Photos

Took some photos of my 2 girls before going out last weekend.
Coincidentally, both were wearing pink and white striped outfits :)

Just Elyssa

She looks so prim and proper here!

Elyssa and Erin
Really "tai kar jie" pose with one hand on the armrest and the other holding her baby sis

Hugging mei mei

I love Erin's smile in this photo!

Oooops......photo session took too long!!

Mid Autumn Celebration 2011

Here's another "better late than never" post :)

About a month ago, we attended the annual neighbourhood mid autumn party. Last year's party was a great success and we were really looking forward to it.

Last year, hubby's homemade lantern won the "Most Beautiful Lantern" prize. This year, he hoped to win again (or more like he said I WILL win!) and already had an idea about the material and pattern for the lantern. Unfortunately, poor fella fell sick few days before the event. Thus, no homemade lantern for Elyssa. We didn't even have time to buy a new lantern for her, so she made do with last year's lantern. No complaints from the princess though!

Some photos taken that night -

Elyssa and cousin Justin with their lanterns

They joined the procession round the block

Justin met one of his classmates during the walk

Another shot

Forgot to take photos of the food. This year's celebration was a bit more chaotic due to the light rain almost throughout the event. Also, crowd turnout was much larger than expected.

Ah Kong took part in the Tai Chi presentation -

Tai-Chi presentation. Can spot Ah Kong?

"Ah Mah" took part in the fan and line dancing presentation. We missed it cos hubby was feeling feverish and wanted to leave.
Elyssa cried and cried when we left cos she was looking forward to see Ah Mah dance! :(

Well, that's always next year!
And Erin mei-mei will be able to join in the fun. (this round, she was asleep in my sling most of the time)