Phoebe and Me

My 2nd Aunt (Jee Ee) was compiling our old family photos for her e-Book project. She went to my mom and asked for some of our old photos

So, few days later I received an email from her attaching some of the photos she had scanned.

My 5th aunt - Phoebe's baby sitter, told me this conversation she had with her son, Kelvin when she showed him the photos.

Aunt: Who is this baby?
Kelvin: Phoebe lo..

I can't remember those photos since I hadn't flipped those albums for some years. After analyzing the photo, Phoebe really had some features that resembled me. :) You see it for yourself and tell me what you think.

Sleeping through the night?

I wish, not quite yet. Phoebe was sleeping a 7 hour stretch on Wednesday night and we thought she was starting to sleep longer hours and does not require additional feeds at night. She typically wakes up at least once and up to 3 times a night.

We were too happy too soon. Last night, she woke up 3 times for feeds. :(

I guess I still have to persevere a bit longer.

Happy Mother's Day

This year is my first year celebrating Mother's Day. As usual we have dinner with Henry's family last weekend. And this year Henry's godparents from UK joined us in the celebration.

We didn't get to enjoy dinner because Phoebe was fussing and refused to be on the Bumbo seat nor stroller. First, it was near her "wind down" time towards bedtime. Second, the restaurant was jammed packed and very noisy.

Despite that, she was still the center of attraction. Grandparents, uncles and aunties, all her cousins... Her face was touched or kissed no less than 50 times that night.

Today, a fellow pumping mom sent me this today for Mother's Day... I felt that most of it is so very true.. Those not true are - "I cleaned my house each day" and "I brushed my hair and my teeth everyday." I don't clean my house everyday even before the baby, and I still brush my hair & teeth today.. :)

After all of that said below, it is still worth every effort to be a mom. Happy Mothers' Day to all Moms and Moms-to-be out there.
__________________________________________________________

Before I was a Mom -

I slept as late as I wanted and never worried about how late I got into bed. I brushed my hair and my teeth everyday.
Before I was a Mom -
I cleaned my house each day. I never tripped over toys or forgot words to a lullaby. I didn't worry whether or not my plants were poisonous. I never thought about immunizations.
Before I was a Mom -
I had never been puked on - Pooped on - Spit on - Chewed on, or Peed on. I had complete control of my mind and my thoughts. I slept all night.
Before I was a Mom -
I never held down a screaming child so that doctors could do tests...or give shots. I never looked into teary eyes and cried. I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin. I never sat up late hours at night watching a baby sleep.
Before I was a Mom -
I never held a sleeping baby just because I didn't want to put it down. I never felt my heart break into a million pieces when I couldn't stop the hurt. I never knew that something so small could affect my life
so much. I never knew that I could love someone so much. I never knew I would love being a Mom.
Before I was a Mom -
I didn't know the feeling of having my heart outside my body. I didn't know how special it could feel to feed a hungry baby. I didn't know that bond between a mother and her child. I didn't know that something so small could make me feel so important.
Before I was a Mom -
I had never gotten up in the middle of the night every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay. I had never known The warmth, The joy, The love, The heartache, The wonderment or the satisfaction of being a Mom. I didn't know I was capable of feeling so much before I was a Mom.

5 Months

Phoebe turns 5 months today. Yes, time flies. We brought her for her 5th month injection last Thursday. Only Prevanar was given this time. Her paed said that 50% of babies will get fever with this jab. Let's see if Phoebe gets it. She didn't get any fever the last 4 times of injection. She would just fuss more, wanting to latch on more, and maybe sleep a bit more. Her paed was very happy with her progress and health condition. Although I had challenge in fully breastfeeding her, paed is still insisting that I feed her however little I have. She said that for a fully formula-fed baby, they would have had some sickness (flu or cough) by now. Phoebe had not had any of those sicknesses due to the little breastmilk she took.

Paed had been reminding us NOT to give solids until 6 months. She said during our 4th month visit and said it again at our 5th month visit. I guess she really wants to make sure Phoebe's digestive system is fully functional before introducing solids. Many doctors would advise mothers to give solids at 4 months. Some other mothers told me that they delay until 9 months before introducing solids. The later they start, the lesser chance of allergy it seems. I haven't really research on that enough to say who's right or wrong but I sure am a mom who is very eager to see my child eats. I am already thinking what I can feed her when she can eat solids.

One thing that is bothering us and her paed is Phoebe's head. Her head is not entirely straight when seated up. She has a symptom called Torticollis, also known as “wryneck". It is typically caused by either a tightening of the muscles of the neck, flattening of the back of the head or a combination of the two. The condition often refers to tightness of a specific muscle which pulls the head sideways toward the shoulder, turns the face toward the opposite shoulder and brings the head forward on the chest. Habitually spending time in this position frequently causes other neck muscles to tighten. We were advised to send her for physiotherapy. Last Thursday was her second session. This time we met a very experienced physiotherapist to treat Torticollis. She worked on Phoebe after she understood her sleeping posture and how we carried her. It was heart breaking seeing how she twist and bend her head in order to work that tendon. Phoebe was fighting back and I was holding Phoebe's shoulder and Henry held her legs. Of course my poor girl cried her lungs off. My heart broke. She did that for 20 minutes in total. She also taught what had to be done at home. I don't think I had the courage to do that twisting. I will just adjust her posture and use toys to distract her to the other side we want her to turn. We will send her for another session in 2 weeks' time. To comfort her after that, I let her latch on and she slept for 1.5 hrs while we were caught in traffic getting home.

Some updates of Phoebe

• smiles most of the time when her name is called or when talking to her.
• able to bring both her hands and play and look at them
• grasp on things with her hands
• puts everything in her mouth, including the table
  
• can roll from back to stomach without assistance
• has good head control except for the Torticollis
• moves arms and legs vigorously
  
• puts her weight on her forearms and lifts her head
• sit up with support of her hands as a base momentarily.

Photos of Phoebe recently....

(Happily posing for mommy to take photos of her)

(1st time sleeping in her stroller while Mommy shops at Queensbay)

(Phoebe with grandmother)

(with her favourite toy - "Cathy" the caterpillar)

(with UK Ah Mah and Ang Mo Kong)