Sleep & Sarong

Fast asleep!

I really envy babies who are in dreamland most of the time. It has always been difficult to get Elyssa to sleep but my mum wasn't keen on relying on the "sarong" to rock her. She said my siblings and I could just easily nap in the crib last time. But after a whole afternoon of wailing from Elyssa (when I had to run errands on the Friday before I had to start work) and a bad headache for my mum, out came the trusty "sarong"!

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At least she sleeps more nowadays and for a longer period of time. She'll still wail before she sleeps though. It's kinda funny - she'll wail and wail, and then fall fast asleep the next second. I've tried not overstimulating her and my mum has established a sleep routine for her, but still no change to this. The only way for her not to wail is to allow her to suckle to sleep.

Guess this is just her style..

Dinner at Alexis

My main course - Chicken Escalope

Took one piece of this yummy pizza

Went for a departmental farewell dinner for 2 of my colleagues last night. Location - Alexis @ The Gardens, MidValley.

I had Pumpkin soup, Chicken Escalope and Carrot/apple juice. Verdict ? Soup and juice ok, but I was really dissappointed with my chicken. Quite dry and tasteless. I asked the waiter whether I could have some sauce and he suggested black pepper sauce. That saved the day a bit, but when I checked the bill that night, realised that they charged RM5 for the sauce!! Quite a rip-off.... Anyway nice ambiance, and it was a fun dinner with the team. Guess I'll just stick to my usual pizza and pasta when I dine there next time.

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Throughout dinner, I kept checking my phone to see if there were calls from hubby who was home alone with Elyssa. Was quite relieved that there was none, but when I was about to go home around 10.30pm, I got a call from a very flustered hubby and could hear Elyssa wailing away in the background! Rushed home to find a smiling baby though, as she just finished a bottle of milk. Turned out that hubby fed her at 6.30pm (at my parent's place), 8.30pm (when she won't stop crying) and at 10.15pm (again, when she won't stop crying). That's 5oz of milk every 2 hours! Looks like little one just won't say no to food...

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Really missed her yesterday cos I have not been apart from her for so long before. She gave me the sweetest smile when I was home and I went to sleep really grateful of my little miracle :)

Shopping

Our weekends now will definitely include trips to shopping centres - sometimes up to 3 times. Yup, Friday, Saturday AND Sunday. Elyssa's "Ah Mah" always says that the little one goes out shopping more than her!

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Have brought her out since she was about 6 weeks old. Guess there are 2 schools of thought here:

Type 1 - There are germs outside, thus better not to expose babies to germs

Type 2 - Yes, there are germs outside, thus all the more reason to expose babies early so that they can build up their immune system.

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Hubby and I are more of the "Type 2". She was a breast-fed baby at the beginning, so I figured out that she should be strong enough. So far so good! (touch-wood). Elyssa enjoys it, and she likes looking around when she's out. And the best part is that we're not restricted to stay at home all the time. If not, I'll just go nuts. Phew!

Squishy Squashy Stomach

Here's a photo of Elyssa on her daddy's lap, happily leaning against his Squishy Squashy Stomach.
Guess it's like sitting on a giant teddy bear. Hah hahhhh !!!!

Baby Mobile

This baby mobile is an absolute life-saver!

Elyssa loves looking at it and I'll wind it up when she's cranky, during a diaper change, when I need a quick shower etc. Only problem is that the mobile will turn for max 5 minutes so I have to keep winding it at regular intervals. I actually went to Toys 'r Us hoping to find a battery operated one that can go on and on, but couldn't find any.

But already grateful for this manual baby mobile :)

Chubby Cheeks

Just look at Elyssa's chubby cheeks!

She's been drinking formula milk during daytime since I went back to work last week. And my, my, within one and a half weeks, there's so much difference. She's developed a double (and sometimes triple) chin, and her arms and legs are now so chubby. At the rate she's going, she's gonna be a real fatty fatty bom bom!

I bought Wyeth's S26 for her, and according to the instructions, she should be drinking 3 scoops of milk 5 times a day. So I thought that each bottle would be able to last her about 4 hours. But my parents (her "Ah Kong" and "Ah Mah") says that if she doesn't sleep, she'll cry for milk at a 3 hour interval, and when given the bottle, she'll drink really noisily as if's she's very hungry! She'll finish the entire bottle very fast, but then will spit out quite a lot after that, especially right after being burped. So, now their new plan is to give her 2.5 scoops but with the same amount of water for now. Hopefully, that will solve both the weight and spit-out problem, without her crying for milk before 3 hours.

Elyssa's Baby Cot

Here's a photo of Elyssa's practically brand new baby cot. Spent almost RM1,000 for the whole set - wooden cot, latex mattress, mattress protector, crib bumper, mosquito netting, pillow & bolster set etc. And she's spent probably less than 40 hours in it so far!

After her 2nd nite home, I decided to put her into our king-sized bed as I found it so tiring to wake up and breast feed her when she fussed during the nite. Also, she's suchhhhhh a light sleeper that everytime she finally falls asleep in my arms, she'll just wake up when I put her back into the cot. Really frustrating to see her eyes wide open after I slowwwly go through the motions of getting up from my bed, walking to the cot, putting her down, and then gently extract my hands from her.

Hubby's so scared that he'll crush the little princess in his sleep that he's been sleeping on the thin travel mattress on the floor. Poor daddy!

So, my goal for this weekend is to let Elyssa sleep in her own cot. I've just started giving her formula milk before bedtime, so hopefully she can sleep through the night. She still wakes up at night but I think it's more for comfort suckling than actual hunger. Going to try the "give water/pacifier" method for the next few nights. Hope it's going to work !

New Pyjamas

I dressed Elyssa up in a one-pc suit for the first time last nite. No choice cos all her normal long sleeve t-shirts were in the laundry basket. (yeah, got to buy more clothes for her since I can't do any more mid-week washing) I never used to like the one-pc stuff cos it'll be troublesome if she needs a diaper change.

But after I put it on, she looked so comfortable and happy! She kept on smiling and kicking about. I took out the camera to get some shots. When hubby saw me with the camera, he went on his "photographer mood" - prop her up on pillow, put soft toys next to her, put on spot light !! ha hah... unfortunately, managed to only take a few shots before my camera ran out memory. When I was busy deleting photos, the battery ran out. Aiya.... must remember to keep camera ready for shots next time. Missed out on a number of potentially nice shots last night.

Our first holiday

Wanted to go for our first holiday as a daddy-mummy-baby family unit before I start work. Hubby took leave on Friday, so we planned for a nice 3D,2N holiday in Cherating. Started calling for hotels only on Thursday night, and was quite surprised that most hotels were either fully booked or were too expensive. (we had a RM250 ceiling). After some time, we managed to book a room at De Rhu Hotel located half an hour from Cherating for 2 nights at RM190.

So, off we went on Friday morning! Took longer than expected to get ready, with all the baby stuff to pack - bath tub, sterilizer, baby clothes, hankies etc etc. Left the house around 10am and the journey took about 4 hours. Luckily baby Elyssa slept in the car seat most of the time, and was only cranky at the end.

Hotel was pretty dissapointing. Quite run-down and there was a musty smell in the room. But was tired after the journey, so went straight to zzzz followed by a quick dip in the pool. For dinner, we took a drive down to Cherating. Had a nice n cheap makan at a Malay shop. Ikan bakar with special sauce, Sotong Goreng, Tom Yum soup and Kang Kong Belacan. Yummy, yummy !!!

Quite late by the time we got back to the hotel. Watched a bit of tv and then tried to get Elyssa to sleep. Took soooo long. She kept fussing and fussing. 2 things came to my mind - either she was not feeling well or that the room was haunted !! Had to resort to carrying her round the room and when that didn't work, we carried her and walk round and round the lobby. Was so relieved when she finally fell asleep. Hubby said he hardly slept the whole night cos of the musty smell. As for me, I was in dreamland after I saw that Elyssa was asleep.

Next day breakfast so-so only. Decided to check out other hotels in the area. Again, not an easy task. Almost gave up and wanted to head back home. But then decided not to spoil our first holiday and ended up checking into Hyatt Hotel, Kuantan. Only deluxe rooms left, and it was RM350, with no breakfast, and that's already corporate rate. Really nice hotel though. After we checked it, we felt like the holiday really started and we got that happy-holiday mood!! Room was very spacious and comfy, with a nice bathroom. and of course with no musty smell..... It was nice to just soak in the bathtub and relax in the room. That night (after a rather forgettable dinner at a Japanese restaurant), Elyssa fell asleep right after her milkie-milk session. It's now our standard joke that our little princess can only accept no less than Hyatt standard.... oh dear, oh dear !





Baby Elyssa chillin' by the pool @ Hyatt Hotel





















Saw her support her head for the first time at the the hotel








Anyway, all-in-all despite the little problems along the way, it was a nice holiday, and hopefully Elyssa enjoyed it as much as mummy and daddy :)

Head's Up !

Yay, head is finally up !

July 14 i.e. 3 months old. Photo taken at Hyatt Hotel, Kuantan. Baby's first holiday :)

Misc Photos

Baby Elyssa with Mrs Rabbit and Emily. Age: 2 months +

Smiling just before bed time ! Age : 5 weeks

April 12, 2008 - The day I'm changed forever.

Elyssa @ approx 4 hours old.

A big baby at 4.1 kg! Natural birth but assisted with vacumn.

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posted on 16 July. Test test.