Shopping with Bb Rae

To bring some sanity back, instead of being home whole day, I'll bring bb out for about 3 times during weekdays.

Usually I'll take her out in the afternoon about 2pm and come home before 6pm.
I ll bring her to nearby shopping mall for a walk to do some grocery shopping or go Orchard to feel the busy crowd.

See my naughty girl playing with her shoe while mummy bz shopping for grocery.

Getting Baby Ready for School

In view of the plan to send baby Rae to school at 18 months, we gotta prepare her to be able to be independent in some ways, like self feeding and toilet train.

I think self feeding is more important than toilet train since she can still wear diaper to school. So we started her on self feeing exercise first.

I've been letting baby self feed herself the simple finger food like tiny baby biscuit, yogurt melt and Graduate Puff and she is able to handle those small bite size snack with no issue.

Yesterday was the first time I let her handle bigger piece of biscuit and banana, so she gotta hold on to them to slowly self feed and munch, unlike those smaller bite size ones she used to eat.
Being a baby, she enjoys playing with her food and is curious to see what will happen if she were to crash it or throw it on the table and floor.

To get myself ready for the mess, I had laid a newly bought plastic shower curtain to be used as floor mat for her and placed her baby high chair on it.
I had also removed the high chair fabric cushion cover to enable easy cleaning of the food stain.

It was really messy!
I think > 50% of the biscuit and banana went to waste, they re all over the floor mat, high chair, sticked onto her clothes and hair ......
So I spent another 15 mins to clear her mess on the floor and chair before cleaning her.

I think it ll be worst when we let her self feed porridge or noodles ....... But this is part of the growing up phase and we gotta take it as a pinch of salt!
I hope she can master the self feeding skill well ASAP ..........

Weaning BB Rae

After breast feeding for > 12 months, I think it's about time I wean her off.
3 months ago, I ve replaced her first morning feed with EBM, few weeks ago, I managed to wean her off the night feeding, so am gradually weaning her off totally from BF.......
I am introducing formula gradually .......

I do feel kinda sad that she latch on lesser but I know it needs to come to an end.
If I don't stop BF sooner, it may be tougher to wean her as she gets older........

School Hunting for Bb Rae

I've been researching on schools for baby to attend when she turns 18 months this June

I ve visited one centre yesterday near my house.
This school caters for toddlers range from 18 months to 6 years old for play group till Kindergarden 2.
Being a private run center, the school fees is at $1k per month for half day service and about $1.5k for full day one.
This school is new and really near to my place as its just 5 mins walk and has big clen class room and big green area and plenty of space for play!

I'm really tempted to enroll baby in this school but is deterred by the high fees!
With just single income earner, it may not be wise to put her there in the long run as I still have no plan of returning to workforce yet ........

I'm also also considering the public run centre and hopefully I can find a place for baby.
Pls wish me good luck!

Baby Rae Development Updates

At 1 year and 13 days old on 3 Jan 2013, bb was 8.1kg, 75.5cm tall and head circumference of 44cm.
Her weight and head circumference is 25 percentile while her height belongs to 75th.

Let me try to recall her different milestone during her first year ........
When she was newly born on 21 Dec 2011, she can latch on to suckle well .....
She was able to smile and laugh when she was 2 months old ........
At 2 months +, she can lift her head straight up with no support.......
At less than 4 months old, she can sit up ....... And flip at 4 months +........
At 5 months +, she was crawling ..........
At 7 months old she was standing up and walking with support
At 10 months + she was standing up and walking with no support
At 1 year old, she is moving so swiftly that it can be challenging to catch up with her ........
At 13 months old, my bb can pronounce some words pretty clearly, like Papa, Yeh Yeh, mom mom, up, ball, star and can count 1 to 3.
Last week during CNY in Ipoh, she can pronounce "Hello, Hi"!
Just 3 days ago on 16 Feb, she called me "Mummy"!
At 15 months old, she can count 1 to 10 and she can copy us saying a whole sentence like "what is it?/ where is bb/ good morning/ how r u etc"
She can also open the bb gate we place to guard the kitchen effortlessly.

At 16 months old, my bb can count 1 to 13 and she can hold a pen to scribble on paper.

She can say simple Chinese words like 洗手洗脚，妈妈，爸爸，在一起

I ll update more about her as she grows .......

Update on 5 Feb 2013
We brought bb to have her 3rd dose of pneumo jab yesterday.
She is 8.625kg, 76cm tall and has a head circumference of 45cm.
Still belongs to 25th percentile for weight and height is 75th percentile.

Updates on 19 Apr 2013
Last month on 6 Mar, bb was 8.9kg and 78cm tall
Last week 8 Apr, we brought her to ve her booster jab or MMR, she was 9.5kg, 79cm tall and her head circumference 45cm.

Update on 11 May 2013

Last Monday 6 May, we brought bb for flu jab and she is currently 10kg heavy and 81.9cm tall.

Baby Rae is a Toddler!

Random thought: Our bb is now a "toddler"!
But in my eyes, she is always a baby .......

The American Heritage Dictionary defines a Toddler as:
One who toddles, especially a young child learning to walk.
A size of clothing for children between the ages of about one and three years.

MMR Jab

Baby was supposed to ve her 1st dose of MMR jab on 27 Dec 2012 but due to the KL trip, we postpone it to 3 Jan 2013.

We were told that between day 5 to day 10 post MMR, bb usually get fever.

Bb Rae had fever on Day 2 post MMR and it lasted for 2 days.
She is well since yesterday and I hope there'll be no recurring fever.

Happy New Year 2013!

It's 5 min to 1 Jan 2013 and I'm sitting in the living room typing this post while waiting fr the laundry to be ready.
I got a lot of clothes to wash as we just came back from a 4 days trip to KL to meet up with PIL and SIL.

I'd like to wish everybody a Happy New Year!
May your wishes and bb dream come true in 2013!

Merry Xmas 2012!

This year our Xmas is different from previous years as we ve a little bb to play with! It was a quiet Christmas with just RY, bb Rae and myself in our new house. We went to Cold Storage to buy a roasted chic and some raw veg to for a "semi-home cooked" meal RY did the cooking while I bathed and fed bb. It was simple and yet meaningful as this is the perfect Xmas that I've been longing to have .......

Happy birthday my precious bb!

What does 21/12/2012 means to u?
Is it fear of the Mayans prediction of dooms day?

To me, it's a day to celebrate Motherhood and many many more years ahead of being a good Mother to my darling girl ......

I can still remember vividly last year 21/12/2011, what we went thru to welcome u; the anxiety, excitement, joy and labour pain etc

Mummy simple wish is for u to grow up a happy and healthy girl!
Mummy love u always .......

Baby Rae 1st Birthday Party 15 Dec 2012

Yesterday, 15 Dec, we celebrated BB Rae 1st birthday party at my new residence BBQ pool deck.

My mun came at about 12 noon to help me pray to 床头婆婆 while I went to the pool deck to decorate the party venue using the helium balloon and the party banners I bought online for BB Rae Minnie Mouse party theme.

RY went to collect the preordered birthday cakes from Pine Garden and the mini Mickey Minnie cupcakes from Cake Story.

It was pretty challenging to decorate 5 walls and a small pillar column by myself, fortunately my 9 year old nephew came with my mum to help out.

The buffet caterer was punctual and I was still doing the wall decor while he waited patiently before he set the table up to line the buffet spread.
I was racing with time to complete the wall decor by 2.30pm and quickly went back to change and was in time to receive the 1st guest of the party.

We had also hired entertainer to perform magic show, game captain and balloon sculpture to entertain the guests, especially the kids.

In total, I had about 30 adults and 25 kids at BB Rae party.

The kids had enjoyed the magic show, games, piñata and balloon sculpture at the party.

I had dressed my baby up as a Minnie Mouse to be in line with the party theme.

Each kids also got a Mickey Minnie party pack to bring home with them as a gift favor.

We hope that everybody who attended BB Rae party would have an enjoyable day with us then it'd be effort and money well spent!

The party kicked off at 3.30pm and ended at about 5pm!

I am exhausted after weeks of working non-stop on house moving and baby party organizing.
I just want to laze around and do nothing.......

This maybe my first and last party I organized for my baby as its really a lot of work.

Let me recuperate from the exhaustion and the next project will be school hunting for baby to attend when she turn 18 months.

Happy birthday 2012

Last Tuesday 11 Dec was my birthday and I didn't care much about it as I was and am still busy with the planning and organizing of my BB Rae's birthday party.

RY wished me Happy Birthday in the morning and asked if I preferred to have lunch or dinner outside at Dempsey Japanese restaurant, I chose lunch since afraid of possible dinner crowd.

We had a really sumptuous Jap set lunches and I did some grocery shopping while RY headed back to work.

Dinner was just simple home cooked meal.

It was a pleasant surprised that RY came home in the evening with a bouquet of red roses and a box of yummy chocolate cake.

This year I'm a mum to my precious bb girl and it's kinda nice to ve my bb and loving husband by my side. I feel complete and ve no regrets of giving up my career........

After the cake cutting and sampling of the yummy delish cake, I thought all was done and RY surprised me by giving me a birthday gift!

This year he got me another gold bar!
Looking at the rising trend of gold prices, it should be a very good investment.

Tomorrow, 15 Dec, we're celebrating BB Rae birthday. I hope all will turn out well!

Planning for Baby Rae 1st Bitthday

Time flies, soon my precious bb will turn 1 yr old in 3 weeks time!
As her actual birthday, 21 Dec, falls on a Friday, we've decided to held her birthday party on 15 Dec, which is a Saturday.

I've not done any planning yet except for the invitations via FB sent to friends 2 weeks ago as I was too occupied with house moving and unpacking.

I must work really hard to finalize details on theme setting, cake ordering, food catering, venue decor and entertainment hiring etc.

Hopefully I'm not too late ........

Unpacking Done

I'm kind of relieved that the cartons are gone, I.e finished unpacking!
But most of the stuff are being kept away in the store room as I need to tidy up the place to get ready for baby Rae 1 yr old birthday party, which is in 2 weeks time!
Frankly speaking, I've not done any planning for her party yet, except for the invitations.
I need to work on her party planning now to be in time for the ordering and catering.

House moving

We've shifted to our new house since last Tuesday but still ve some stuff need to bring in from the old place.
Trust me, house moving with a small bb is no mean feat!
We need to pack and at the same time care for a hyperactive bb is really stressful.
We must vacate the old house soon as it will be rented out next week.
Now the new house is full of cantons and boxes which gotta be unpack and organize and it's going to take some time.

October Updates!

Wow, it has been a month since I updated my blog! What ve I been doing in Oct? We are bz with the new house renov and soon will be moving in Nov, shopping for the furniture $ home appliances for the new place; managed to rent out the existing apartment; just return from the long weekend (Hari Raya Haji holiday) from Ipoh. November will be a bz month due to the house moving and I hope all will go smooth ........

Baby is sick!

Baby is down with Roseola Infantum. She develops fever since Thursday and her temp goes up and down like a yoyo.
Yesterday we brought her to TMC and Dr Janice Wong told us that if she has rashes by Sun then her fever will be gone but if my Monday she still running at a fever then we need bring her back to clinic as bb may develop other symptoms.
Last night, her temperature peak at 39.3'c and I quickly sponge her and fed her Brufen to bring her temperature down to below 38'c.
Seems like this fever may go on for a few days, I just hope that she will recover soon.
Despite the high temperature, she is still as playful but she tends to latch on more often for milk.
I just wish my bb will be well ASAP, this is a simple wish of a Mother........

Update on 30 Sept 2012:
Her fever subsided as rashes break out. Now we will just need to wait for the rashes to clear.
I am glad that the high fever phase is over.

iPhone 5

My love came home on Monday with a surprised gift for me, a iPhone 5!
After using the stone age Motorola, I finally got a smart phone!
I find this new iPhone very sleek and fun and have been playing with it since yesterday

Baby Rae at 8 months old

I ve received request from some readers to post baby Rae photo. Finally able to do it using Ipad after spending sometime figuring out how to do it.
Sharing a picture of my precious darling - Baby Rae!
This pic was taken last week in Universal Studio LA.

Back from USA trip with Baby Rae

We are back from our 1st family vacation with our precious baby! My baby is having a jet lag.
She is sleeping on my lap while I type out this post.
It was really a challenge to travel with a young baby but am glad that we made it!
The day that we departed SG, we had 2 pieces of large checked in luggages which weighed 42kg and we returned with 3 checked in luggages of 72kg!
We also had 2 back pack and a hand carry for handy baby stuff, as well as a stroller cum car seat.
I did a lot of shopping in the Premium Outlets but mostly for baby. I only got a dress for myself!

Bringing baby on a holiday requires careful planning, execution of plans and setting reasonable expectations.

We had covered San Francisco, Los Angeles & Las Vegas within the 2 weeks trip.

Actually I think holiday with baby is ok and the toughest part was the luggage packing since we changed 4 hotels.

When we told friends and relatives about our USA holiday plan with our 8 months old baby, some gave us negative input and dissuaded us from going as they said it would be very tough and impossible to travel. We ve proved them wrong that it's doable!

Having a baby should not stop us from going anywhere as long as we are well prepared!