Pre-Dinner Walk

It's very rare for Elyssa to sleep without kicking a fuss. Or as my mum puts it - she wants to "announce" to the world before she sleeps.

So during the recent holiday at Clearwater Sanctuary, when hubby and I walked from the chalet to the dining area, we were surprised to see this :
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

Fast asleep without any crying beforehand, and in such an uncomfortable position!

I quickly snapped a photo then tried to put her in a more comfortable sleeping position. When I did that, she woke up and protested by crying loudly. So I let her be (she opened her eyes and started to look around) and asked hubby to continue pushing the stroller.

After a few minutes, I looked at the stroller again and saw this -
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

ZZZZZzzzzzzzz again

So I adjusted her position, and again she woke up and protested. And AGAIN she fell asleep soon after in a similar position. I adjusted her (3rd time!) and this time I was successful. Phew! She had a good nap and only woke up when were almost done with our dinner.

Sleep Training (Part 2)

Quite a few people have asked me how Elyssa's sleep training is coming along. Well, the progress has been disappointing.

I wanted to write a day-by-day account like my previous post, but I delayed this post so much that I've forgotten the details. So I'll just write on the overall progress.

We had 2 objectives which were:
(a) to train her to sleep on her own at night (without requiring to suckle to sleep)
(b) to train her not to wake up for night feeds.

For Obj (a), she still goes through the crying process before she finally sleeps, despite all the consistent routine of patting/singing/ switch-off lights/ soft baby music. Sometimes it's just a couple of minutes but on bad days it can be up to 15-20 minutes. No specific pattern there.

Much worse outcome for Obj (b). Most of the time she's been waking up crying anytime from 2am to 5am. It takes quite some time to soothe her back to sleep and sometimes the moment she's placed back on the bed she starts crying again. Sometimes it's after we get back to bed and juuust got to slumber land. Aaarghhh!!! And she gets very cranky when she wakes up for the second time. It takes awfully long to get her to sleep again. A few nights ago, a very exhausted hubby and I decided to just let her cry-it-out. My goodness.... she just screamed and yelled at the top of her lungs and kicked around for an hour. A very angry baby indeed! Same thing for the second night. A real drama queen. Adoi, she's got a stubborn character.

*Sigh*, why can't she be more like her mummy? According to my mum, I slept through the night when I was about 3 months old. And that I used to sleep a lot. Apparently, I once slept throughout when I was given a bath!

Will be continuing with this sleep training. Hopefully there will be good progress soon.

Baby Mobile

It's finally time for me to pack up Elyssa's baby mobile. Too dangerous as she now likes to reach out and pull down one of the soft toys. This baby mobile used to be such an important item and I used to call it my life-saver.

As always, I'm a little sad when I pack up things that she has outgrown. My little princess is growing up so fast!

"Hello doggie"
"Yummy"

Weekend Get-Away

For the Deepavali weekend, hubby, Elyssa and I stayed a night at Clearwater Sanctuary Resort in Batu Gajah. It was our first time there, and I just luuurve the place. Very relaxing and peaceful place indeed. I was a bit worried when I saw the slightly run-down reception, but the chalets were nicely maintained. Spacious, clean, airy and the best part was the amazing view.

View from the balcony

The Balcony

The resort stay also comes with various free activities:
1. 2 hours of kayakking
2. 2 hours of fishing
3. 50 balls at the aquating driving range
4. 2 hours archery
5. 2 hours bicyle rental

In the "pre-baby" days, hubby and I would have happily participated in those activities, but this time we didn't even do a single one but instead spent quite some time in the well equiped childrens room!!

Some photos of Elyssa taken there-

"Shall I pick a yellow ball or green ball??"

"Hmm.... mebbe a blue one instead"
"Mummy, why am I in a basket??"

"My daddy built this house just for me"

While Elyssa was playing with the balls, I saw hubby building a house with the giant colourful building blocks. He kept saying that it was for Elyssa but I could see that he was really enjoying himself. Ha hahh..I think the big kid was the one "playing" with the building blocks. Elyssa only sat in the house for 2 minutes for us to take some photos.

We originally wanted to drive out to Batu Gajah but ended up having both afternoon tea and dinner at the resort. We had slow leisurely walks around the resort with Elyssa on her stroller. Also went for a nice body massage at the spa after dinner. Aaah.... bliss.

The following day, we went to Ipoh after checking out from the resort. Same old routine everytime we go there - food at Kong Heng, coffee at Nam Heong, drive-by my old house (my parents stayed there for >30 years before moving to KL about 2 yrs back), visit hubby's grandma etc etc.

We headed back to KL around 6pm. It was just a short holiday, but a nice one. :)

Happy Photos

We're about to go for a short weekend holiday in Ipoh/Batu Gajah. Since I'm not keen to leave my blog with 2 not-so-happy posts (*sigh* Of melted bottles and falling down...) I thought what better way than to put up some happy photos. :)

So here are some photos taken last night when hubby and I were shopping at Tesco. It was the first time we let Elyssa sit on the shopping trolley and she absolutely enjoyed it.

"Yay, I like my new car-car"

" Must smile more to show how happy I am"

"Bring me here more often, okay?"

She Fell Down :(

My poor, poor princess fell down from the bed early this morning. :(

For the past few nights, I've been sleeping in the guest room while hubby has been sleeping in our king sized bed with Elyssa. Have been doing that so that I can get a few hours of decent sleep during her sleep training period.

But anyway early this morning, I woke up when I heard a loud shout from hubby. Not the fierce type of shout for robbers but a very panicky and scared kind of shout. I could also hear Elyssa crying. As I dashed from the guest room to the master room, I had a sick feeling in my heart that she fell down. My worst suspicion was confirmed when I saw hubby carrying her and rubbing the back of her head. He told me that he woke up and found her wailing on the floor. He said he placed a pillow on the side of the bed but she must have rolled over it or around it. My poor Elyssa.... We checked but did not see any bump on her head. After a while, she stopped crying and I could see that her eyelids were already drooping. I nursed her and she fell asleep within minutes.

This morning, she looked perfectly alright. No bumps and she was smiling as usual. I've asked my parents to observe her today, and if there's nothing unusual then we won't be bring her to a doctor.

*Sigh*, my poor little baby. I wish that I was the one sleeping with her cos I normally wake up the moment she moves. But poor hubby too. He looked so traumatised and guilty that I ended up reassuring him that it's ok. We both decided that it's time Elyssa sleeps in her baby cot from now on though.

My Avent Bottles

This mangled mess is what's left of two of my Avent bottles. Looks scary huh?

I was changing Elyssa's diaper one morning when I heard hubby walk out to the wet kitchen. Moments later, I heard him shouting "sei lor, sei lor" (die la, die la..) I rushed out and saw that the whole wet kitchen was covered with smoke and there was a strong plastic-ky smell.

The pot of water that he used to boil the bottles had completely dried up, and both the plastic bottles and the plastic handle of the pot melted!!! Bleah.... absent-minded hubby left the fire on for more than an hour. Expensive mistake cos the bottles were about RM40+ and the pot another RM50+. (could have gotten a nice toy for the little princess with that money)

But I guess I should be grateful that there was no explosion or fire. Needless to say, hubby got a lot of nagging from me!

Mother's Birthday

We celebrated my mum's birthday last Saturday at a Korean BBQ restaurant in Taipan. I can't remember the name, but it's the shop above Noodle House. Food was so-so only and it was quite pricey. (RM 5 for a bowl of normal rice ???)

But ok la....it was still a nice experience as it was the first time to a Korean BBQ restaurant for most of us. Looks like we'll stick to chinese food next time for family occasions.

" Happy Birthday Mama/Ah Mah, from all of us!!!"

I know it's blur, but that's the only decent photo I have for the night. During dinner my sis complained that the photos of my blog were not clear. Hmm... just that morning, hubby and I were looking at DSLR cameras. I'm so tempted now...

Sleep Training (Part 1)

--------Long post - but I want to record this so that I don't forget ------------

Since birth, I've been nursing Elyssa to sleep at night. Even after giving her formula milk as the last feed (from 4 months+ onwards), I'll still let her suckle until she falls fast asleep. This can take up to an hour plus cos she sometimes suckles then pulls away, then suckles again . I tried giving her the pacifier and patting her after she's a little drowsy, but then she'll just start to cry and I end up giving in.

But after she passed her six month mark, hubby and I decided to start the "sleep training".
2 objectives here -
(a) to train her to sleep on her own
(b) to train her not to wake up for night feeds.

We opted for the "Ferber" method which is to let the baby cry for a while, then pick her up and soothe her, then put her down again and repeat the process till she falls asleep. The book also recommended that the soothing be done by the daddy since baby will associate mummy's scent with mummy's milk.

Our first attempt was on Oct 11, and it was heartbreaking! I nursed her until she was a little drowsy then pulled away and let hubby take-over. He sang and soothed her but she just cried / wailed/ yelled on top of her lungs. *Sigh*, I had leave the room to prevent myself from giving in to her. After what seemed like an eternity of cries and short silence and cries again, hubby finally came down the stairs and said that she's finally asleep. Probably about an hour, but I'm not too sure.. But anyway, achieved objective (a) for the night.

Around 3am Elyssa cried for her usual night feed. Again, hubby did the "Ferber" method. This time was worse. Hubby said that when she cried, she looked straight into his eyes and kept scratching his arm and trying to climb on him. Though he persisted with the "training", he broke down and cried too... She did fall asleep in the end and woke up again around 6.30am. This time, I gave in and nursed her back to sleep.

Day 2 (Sun night) - Slight improvement compared to Day 1. Funny thing was that when hubby sang to her, she babbled away and "sang back" as well. Felt like a daddy-baby karaoke session! But then the crying started when she got sleepy. We decided to drop objective (b) after that night as we were both panda-eyed at work the next day.

Day 3, 4 - Objective (a) achieved quite well. Whole process was about 15 minutes.

Day 5 (Weds night) - Hubby was so pleased with training to date. Got ambitious and wanted to try objective (b) again. Bad idea cos it was again a difficult time. We were up at 2am, 4am & 6am, and were panda-eyed at work..

Day 6 (last night) - Quite good progress. Obj (a) achieved in less than 15 minutes but the best part was that she only woke up for night feed around 5.30am!

Will be continuing this training for next couple of days/weeks. I'm glad that it's progressing well. Luckily Elyssa seems to be doing fine. She still wakes up smiling in the morning, with seemingly no memory of her experience the night before!

6 Months Old

Elyssa is already 6 months old. Halfway to her first year birthday!

"Mummy says I look sweet here"

About Her:

1. Weight - 8.8 kg.

2. Eats blended porridge twice a day for lunch and dinner.

3. Still sleeps on the bed with me. Poor daddy still sleeps on the travelling mattress. (we have just started the "project" to let her sleep independantly. will write about that next time)

4. Likes to sit up.

5. Loves to grab anything within her reach.


More photos of her -

I should add one more thing-

6. She seems to like to pose for the camera :)

Her Shoes

Elyssa is not even 6 months and can't even walk yet, but she already has 3 pairs of adorable pink shoes!! The pair on the left was a gift posted to me by my ex-classmate from US, the middle pair was a gift from SIL's godsister and the pair on the right was bought by me.

The one I bought is actually meant for 18 months olds. Keh kehhh..... thought it's more worth it to buy a bigger a size so that she can wear it for a longer period of time.


She's at the stage where she's fascinated by her own feet so when I put on her shoes, she can play with it for quite some time. Good way to keep her occupied when she's in the car-seat or stroller!

Feeding Elyssa

Elyssa has been eating solids for a few weeks now. What she has tried so far:
1. Nestle Rice Cereal
2. Porridge with ikan bilis and carrot
3. Porridge with chicken, carrot and spinach
4. Porridge with fish, carrot and spinach

My greedy little baby seems to be happy with everything! She hasn't rejected any food yet. Each feeding session is quite fast as she opens her mouth wide when the spoonful of food goes near her. In fact,what we've learnt is to be quick and efficient - yup, no dilly dallying between spoonfuls or she'll complain. Another important step is to give her spoonfuls of water after the porridge has finished, to signal to her that there's no more. She won't be satisfied and start crying if her meal abruptly ends.

I'm just glad that feeding her is not a problem. The first time I made her porridge, I was so pleased that she gobbled everything. I told hubby that at least someone appreciates my cooking! Not like hubby who annoys me to no end cos he'll always add stuff to whatever I cook -tomato sauce, soya sauce, etc etc (he even added sardines to my garden salad last time !! ??)

Pregnant Again?

No, I'm not pregnant again, but that's what someone in the office asked me today. *sob* *sob*........wahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Looks like that's the ultimate incentive for me to hit the gym again! What a comment and on my birthday some more. wahhh!!!!!

Times like that, I rely on this to cheer me up :

Ok, I feel better now.