2 Little Teeth

Phoebe had her 2 little bottom front teeth 3 weeks ago. They are very sharp. She can bite apple wedges and last night she tore the rambutan flesh from it's core. Dangerous 2 little teeth.

She bites during nursing sessions too. :(

Weekend Attire

If some of you meet me over the weekends, you would be wondering why I kept wearing a few dress tops over and over again.

So, the reason is, they are nursing tops that I am wearing. It is so much more convenient to breastfeed Phoebe when I am with her. I will feed her whenever she wants it, wherever we are. Nursing rooms/Breastfeeding rooms are not easily available in Penang. Since I had nursing tops, I never bother to research where are the nursing rooms in every mall I go to.

Thanks to a good friend who introduced me to these when Phoebe was born. I can't live without these anymore.

6 & 7 Months Update

I am sorry I am not posting very frequently these days. I am giving myself several excuses. I am out of Blackberry for the last 2 months. I usually will type whatever I want to post in my Blackberry and then upload it to this blog when I have my computer. I can do that while feeding Phoebe or during any little free time I have. Another reason was -- I was holding 2 jobs at work for the last 3 months. I had a new role but still held on to my old role. Everyday was just madness at work and still need to fit in my pump schedule twice a day at work. I have so many things in mind but just need to find time to get it up here.

Phoebe had turned 7 months yesterday. So, I will just post a combination of 2 months.

She could..

• Sit without support
• Responds to her name
• Picks up every toy
• Drops her toys involuntarily
• Started on solids (Rice Cereal, Barley Cereal, Banana, Potatoe, Apple, Pear, Papaya, Avocado)
• Loves to take bath
• Reaching out to grab a toy
• Still wakes up once ot twice during the night
• Fell asleep in a sling
• Starts to inch backwards while on her belly
  
• Puts everything in her mouth

(Puts everything... I mean everything, in her mouth. Including seat belts, stickers, remote controls, paper etc etc etc.

Happy Father's Day

Dearest Daddy,

I'm thankful that you are my Daddy. And I thank God for that.

You fed me, you changed my diapers (including my smelly poo-poo), you carried me, you laughed with me, you talked with me, you made my bed, etc etc etc.. You had done so many things for me.

Happy Father's Day. I Love you Daddy.

With love from,
Phoebe

Yeh-Yeh and Me

1st time having dinner with Yeh-Yeh.. Since I can't eat those kind of food yet, so you don't see anything on the table.

My Yeh-Yeh is 81 years older than me.

At Saik Ag Kuku's (Uncle's) Wedding

We were at my cousin's wedding last weekend. Again Phoebe was the center of attraction there. Some of my aunts (her grandaunts - Ee Por) hadn't see her since Chinese New Year. They were excited to see her.

I decked her up in a new dress, nice bip and shoes. I specially bought hairbands for her since most of the time people will ask me if she is a boy or a girl. I need to make sure she looks like a girl. So, the end result was -- there was only 1 person who still ask me if she's a girl or a boy. I guess if not because of the hairband, I would have to answer to over 10 people. :)

(Big Family Photo)

(Phoebe with the Bride & Groom)

(Family Photo)

(With Gnik Ee-por - Phoebe's babysitter)

(with Suan Ee-Por)

(With 2 Ee-Por)

(With Lek Ee-Por)

(Finally, one with Mommy)

Photo Credits : Courtesy of Saik Ag & Yii Yii

While Mama having meeting at home

Phoebe had been waiting to latch on me no matter how late my meeting ends. If it is 10.30PM, she will wait till then. If it is 11.00PM, she will wait. She's not a "sleep-early" girl.

For tonight, my meeting starts at 9.30PM and will last until 11.00PM. I really wanted to put her to bed prior to that so she doesn't have to wait for me till 11.00PM. I was really happy when I saw her rubbing her eyes at 9PM. I latched her on, and indeed she fell asleep after 20 minutes. She continued sleeping after I put her down on the bed. I was telling my girlfriend on IM that I succeeded.

I went ahead with my meeting and.... 1/2 hour later, I heard her voice coming from the room. SHE'S AWAKE!!

I am still praying that she will one day able to comfort herself and to go to bed without any assistance.

Here's some photos on what she's up to while I have my meeting on the phone.

(Playing with the pillow)

(Fighting to hold the phone while the meeting is going on)

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)

Hot Hot!!!

Phoebe had started to sweat the last 2 to 3 weeks. And her sweat glands on her head are the most "active". Her whole head could be wet at times.

We usually put her at the stroller at home if we are having our meals at the dining table. However, recently she had not been able to sit long in her stroller because the material of her stroller at home is not very ventilated, it was hot for her. She will start to grumble and we will have to pick her up and carry her or put her on our lap.

On Saturday, I took out the Bumbo seat I bought when she was 2 weeks old. This seat is supposed to be for babies to learn to sit upright at 12 weeks. I tried when she was 12 weeks but her body was really wobbly then. When I tried this last weekend, I can see that she's steadier. That’s when I decided to put her there.

She won't sit there for long though, now is for 5 minutes. I guess I'll have to slowly train her to sit longer like when we trained her to be on her stroller. Her initial stint on the stroller was also 5 minutes.

If she could sit in there longer, we will consider bringing the Bumbo to restaurants so that she could sit there and see us eat. :)

Bottle Challenge

Phoebe's daily feed is from bottle as well as direct from my breast. Feeds from the bottle can be formula or EBM.

In the recent weeks, its been increasingly challenging to feed Phoebe from the bottle while she's at home with me during week nights and weekends. She prefers to feed directly from my breast. It had become a fight between Phoebe and me when it comes to bottle. She still had to be fed from the bottle while she's with me is because I don't have enough breastmilk to satisfy her. That means she needs longer time on my breast in order to get enough milk.

This weekend just passed, she took half her normal amount of bottle feed as compared to what she would have at my aunt's (her babysitter). I think she is able to recognize or associate time with Mommy or at home means direct from the breast. At babysitter's then bottle feed.

I just pray that she would get enough milk and do not go to bed hungry.

(She does not want to have her afternoon nap but to play on the bed)

Baptism

We brought Phoebe for Baptism at Emmanuel Harvest Center on Easter Sunday (12 April 2009).

We were so honored to have most of Henry's family members' join this occasion. His godparents (Phoebe's UK Ah Mah & Ang Mo Kong) managed to arrive in time from London for this occasion.

The Baptism didn't happen until almost the end of the service and that apparently is Phoebe's nap time usually. She was really sleepy when we brought her to the front in preparation for the baptism. There wasn't any smile on her face at all. Then, when it was her turn to be baptized, Pastor Christopher sprinkled water on her hair and forehead, she started to smile widely. I think she thought that she's taking a bath, which she absolutely loves it. We thought it was funny.

May Yen and Quan Young is Phoebe's godparents. Coincidentally, baby Joel was also baptized that day at Trinity Methodist Church. They rushed to observe Phoebe's baptism but they missed it by 5 minutes. We want to thank both of them for being there, it meant a lot to us and for their thoughtful baptism gift as well.

I also baked cupcakes on Saturday and then decorated it on Sunday morning itself. This is the first cake I bake for Phoebe. :) When I was arranging the cupcakes on the board, I really can't keep all the Sunday School children's hand off it. I kept on finding I have missing cupcakes before I was complete. Luckily I decorated more cupcakes...







I bought her a white smocking white dress (smocking covered by her bib) for this occasion. I originally thought that the dress would be too big for her because it is supposed to be for 9-12 months babies. It turned out to fit her so well and she actually looked so adorable in dresses (1st time wearing a 'real' cotton dress). I should buy more of these dresses for her. :)

Welcome to the Lord's family, Phoebe. Daddy & Mummy prays that you will grow up according to God's way and become a woman of God.