Wake Up and Smell the Cake

Day 4 of 29. I hope I can complete all 29! Shouldn't have procrastinated. Urgh. I have to fast like every weekday hopefully I can make it. And I hope it won't affect my supply too much. I think this fasting thing is making me more of a baking monster. Not being able to eat amplifies my need to look at these yummy cakes and frosting. Speaking of which, I wonder how my extra cream cheese frosting is doing in my freezer. Maybe I should have a look later. I feel like doing the red velvet cupcakes again! I love cream cheese frosting! I have been thinking of what cake I should make for my birthday. FFL says I shouldn't be making my own cake, but I like it and I can have whatever flavour and sinful goodies all packed into the cake, so why not! Right now I'm thinking chocolate. Lotsa lotsa chocolate. Haha. And a few days before that I think I will be making carrot cake with cream cheese frosting for Junior's birthday. His first birthday! Time flies. As I was bre

Lots of things happened with Junior last weekend! Saturday we spent almost the whole day at home. Glad we did, cos we witnessed Junior's first crawl! Yay! He was reaching out to get my handphone hahaha. It's the cutest thing ever :) And he didn't want to just crawl, he wanted to stand too. So the entire morning we played in his room, he used the shelves to help him stand, and we did some reading and learning of alphabets too! He now knows not to bite the books and cards when I tell him not to. Yay! Achievement for me! Yesterday Junior and I sent off Other Half to Jakarta for a work trip. I wanted to try and get him used to the car seat, but guess what. The whole journey home he was crying and crying! Only stopping for a while to catch his breath. I was speeding all the way and singing and trying my best to entertain him with weird noises but nothing worked! Poor boy :( Then we went to my mum's and he was much happier then. What's not to like, everyone

I have always loved babies. I wanted one since I was in university. Back then I didn't even have a potential husband but I still wanted a baby don't ask me how I'll get one. Hahaha. Now I have Junior. I love my Junior. There's always something about him that makes us smile. Honestly speaking he's not what I expected, he's much much more active than I thought babies could be, and a clever cheeky boy too. Having said that, there are things we all go through as parents, the downside of parenting that we all aren't told of in baby bonus campaigns. Let's list down what they are: Babies cost a lot. And I do mean A LOT. Diapers, wipes, milk, education, childcare just to name a few. Tax benefits and cash baby bonus are great, but it can't cover the whole expenses of course. Babies make you lose sleep. Lots of interrupted sleep. Three hours is luxury, and rest is not in your dictionary.  Babies are time consuming. Having a relaxing bath is almost impo

Yes it is! Husband tasted it after coming home from a prior engagement late last night. And yes he likes it! He loves plain simple cakes like this. He approves of the lemon flavour too! I guess it kills the eggy taste and makes the cake less muak or jelak. Which is a bad thing though cos that would mean I can't stop eating it hahaha. Junior has been extra clingy and needy. Like yesterday he lovingly rested his head on Husband's chest and just stayed there. And last night! Omg Juniorrrrr why must you be so fussy! Mama doesn't know what you want! He woke us up at 1+ and I finally got him to sleep 2 painful hours later. And then he did it again at 5! But that lasted 1 hour. Not too bad. For a moment he didn't want direct feeding! I panicked okay! I didn't want that incident at Langkawi to happen again! But thankfully that's over. Phew. Family day today! That is, after Husband finishes his work. Make it family half-a-day today. I have work to do too but a little

So today was supposed to be day 3 or 29 but I overslept. Bummer. Junior has been disturbing my sleep a lot lately. He doesn't really sleep in the day, and at night, he can wake up every hour, sometimes a few times in an hour. Long gone are the days I had uninterrupted sleep. Yesterday Other Half wanted to eat lemak cili padi again after my successful lemak cili padi tenggiri attempt . Haha. But he wanted to cook it this time round, so I can attend to our little mister cranky and feed him dinner. I prepared all the ingredients, cut them nicely and put into bowls for him to cook. This time round I added more red chili cos I wanted to finish them and they weren't hot anyway so might as well. And more cili padi too!! Other Half prefers to blend everything, easy peasy. I on the other hand, prefer to tumbuk the chili using batu lesung just like my mum does it. To me the flavours kinda disappear when you blend. Hence more chili? Hahaha. So I let Other Half cook, and he wanted t

Day two, insyaAllah. This time I planned my sahur earlier and with more food and water! Muahaha. On the day I decide to fast, there's free good food. Like epok-epok my colleague brought. And new tidbits from another colleague. And sandwich and suji from the wife of yet another colleague! Drools. But I get to eat the suji at least! She brought these cookies for me yay! Hmm does that mean I have to bring something in return? Such a nice lady, I have yet to meet her! :) My eyes are dry, from the lack of sleep. Woke up at 5am and didn't sleep back. And at night Junior didn't really want to sleep. He kept waking up after like 10 minutes of sleep between midnight and 1+am, finally slept after singing to him. He's getting VERY active too! Cannot sit still! So adorable, such a handful! Husband says he's not a handful, he's two hands full. Hahahaha ♥

So the four day weekend has come and gone. Way to fast! Sadness. Day one was quite fruitful yet packed. Morning I did laundry (I think? I've done laundry waayyyy to many times over the weekend I forgot!) and entertained my chubbycheeks. Afternoon we went to fetch in-laws and had lunch at Sabar Menanti which somehow wasn't that good on that day for some reason, and then sent them somewhere. Then we went Mustafa's which was kinda crowded and then to my mum's house to rot and celebrate Brother's twenty-fifth birthday. Sister made hazelnut cake and yes! She bakes! Hahaha. Hazelnut cake with Smuckers chocolate syrup and crushed roasted hazelnuts. Yumyum. Day two was spent at FFL (YK)'s home, made opera cake and had Indian food for dinner. Husband had a meeting most of the afternoon, bummer. I didn't really take part in the baking cos I was babysitting, how to babysit and make a cake?! Actually I can, I've been doing it all along but that's at home,

Weewoo we're going Langkawi this March!! :))) It'll be our second family holiday, and the first airplane ride for Junior. He'll be eight months by then, should be okay for him. I have to think of activities for him on the plane, and on the trip too! Unless he sleeps through the flight. Hahaha. Today is the first of twenty-nine days I have to pay back for fasting. And at 9am I was so freaking hungry my stomach keeps growling very very loudly. Oh God twenty-nine!!! *faints* The last time I fasted was like a year and a half ago? Hahaha. That is looonnggg . I hope my milk supply won't dwindle. InsyaAllah.

Hello everyone I am feeling very lazy to work and so many people are on leave already! My fingers on my left hand smells of baby barf! As weird as it may sound, I shall not wash it with soap just as yet cos I will smell my fingers if I miss my boy. And I miss my boy so so much! I miss my other boy too. He was busy with sooo many things over the weekend that I only managed to enjoy his company only minutes before dozing off. And I don't want movie dates! No fun just watching the screen -_-" But then again I always talk a lot in movies. I love to spoil the show and give my own commentary. Hahahha. Husband gets irritated by it but I do it anyway teeheehee! Today is the last day for the 1-for-1 Filet-O-Fish deal. Maybe I shall have two Filet-O-Fish burgers for lunch! :D Tampines Mall is overcrowded. 9kg baby on a ring sling for TWO hours is sooo not advisable for your shoulder. Pain will last two days. Minimum. Okay I just smelt my fingers. Baby barf isn't ni

Okay I think I'll blog today. I bought a new pump last Friday! I've been using the Medela Mini-Electric since I got back to work, and of late I realised the other breast leaks when there's a letdown on one breast. Wasted precious milk! So double pump it is! After days of deliberation, I've settled for the tried-and-tested Ameda Lactaline instead of the relatively new Ardo Calypso because I am not a risk taker. I found good reviews for both but I decided to go with the one with a longer track record. So I searched for online shops and retailers selling the pump, contacted departmental stores to ask if they're going to have a baby fair soon, and finally bought one from Baby Kingdom at Kaki Bukit. I actually wanted to go to the main distributor at Tagore Lane, but they didn't pick up my call when I wanted to come so I went to Baby Kingdom instead. For $399, I got the pump with free milk bags (I can't remember how many) and a nursing pillow which we now use

Not in the best of moods today. Except for the good news that Fang gave birth early this morning!! So excited for her! :) Expanding Appetite Right now I need chocolate. I'm craving it so bad it's like as if I'm pregnant. Which I'm not. I just had lunch too by the way. The past two days I've noticed I have a huge appetite. And even after I had a meal, I can still feel hungry or feel like a gastric's coming. That isn't good news for someone who still has lots of kilos to lose. Forgetting Things I wanted to bring my orange chocolate Marks & Spencer biscuits but I forgot. Just like how I forgot to throw out the rubbish bag from the toilet too. I wonder what's in my head. Yesterday I forgot to bring my pump's valve. Had to rush all the way home to get it. Urgh.  Anyway. I'm still finding it hard to balance these days. Motherhood isn't easy. Time for Learn and Play Yes I am still figuring out when to play and teach Junior. Weekdays s

I am missing my chubbycheeks. He turned four months yesterday! Time flies :) Today I'm back in office after one and a half weeks on leave. Very the lemak. Spent lots of time with family, and precious precious time with Junior! He's getting so adorable! Talks a lot these days, complete with tonation. Smiles and laughs, loves to cuddle and hold me tight when I'm carrying him. My sweet little angel :) His favourite activity now is to grab my tudung and put it in his mouth. Easiest to grab and he does it very fast now! Seems that he likes to put cloth in his mouth: his pillow ends, washcloth, my tudung. But when we gave him a proper teething toy, he didn't like it. Maybe it doesn't taste nice. But he did want to put his (very cheap, very effective. 3 for $3.50 from Mustafa) rattle in his mouth! In a way it's good cos we don't have to buy those specific and expensive toys! Normal daily items would do :) Yesterday we bought a very cheap walker from Mustafa,

This is the first week (or that I can remember) that we have the whole weekend to ourselves. No extended family, no errands to run, and best of all, The Husband didn't think about work. Absolute family time. And we totally enjoyed it! Saturday morning we went to the market, bought some groceries for cooking my favourite Sindhi Briyani (yumyum!) for the day, and bought Junior's home clothes. Then we lazed around at home till late afternoon and went out for a bit of shopping. Junior's first time in a pram in Orchard! But he didn't last long, about two hours only -_-" Sunday we went out too, had a simple dinner at Charco's and went to Ikea. We were supposed to go to the beach for a sunset walk but it was pretty hot even at 5 in the evening. Oh and did I mention the sun!! Omg the hot hot sun! PERFECT for drying clothes! So perfect, I washed clothes on both days! Totally love it hahahaha. Okay I know I sound so housewife-ish. Here's Junior in the car

I was browsing an online shop for books for Junior, and I decided, hey! Why not make my own board books! Toddlers' board books looks simple, anyway! Got searching for some inspiration, and these websites are good: Simple blank images that will strike well with babies! http://homemadebyjill.blogspot.com/2008/11/homemade-board-books.html Flip open to see what's behind! So cute! I'm definitely trying this! http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-a-Custom-Lift-the-Flap-Book-for-a-Toddler/?ALLSTEPS And this makes use of scrap papers which I have LOADS of. http://naptimecrafters.blogspot.com/2011/04/diy-board-book_11.html For a start I could try with shapes and colours! Oooh and material too! Paste felt material, feather, foil that sorta stuff. Then maybe one for the road for our little holiday next week, make it as we go along. Ah I'm so excited thinking about it! Haha! I do hope I'll do this and it's not just another project in my dreams. Like the other time I w

Today's the third day of work since I came back. It SUCKS. Day 1 was okay. My reactions are always slow. Like jetlag. And fasting. Second day onwards then I'll feel the strain. Day 1, we left him at my in-laws', he didn't cry when we went off cos he was still a bit groggy. My chubbycheeks isn't used to waking up so early in the morning hehe. I almost teared, but I tried to hold it back. Day 1 he behaved, he drank from his bottle, he didn't cry much, and he slept well. We were relieved. I missed him, but it was manageable. So I thought, okay this is not too bad! When we came to fetch Junior, he was all smiley and happy. My charming angel :) Day 2. Started out okay too. But I got really emotional and sad and all teary when we got back home. It finally kicked in that I wasn't going to spend as much time as I did during maternity leave. I hated the send baby-go work-fetch baby routine. When we reach home, I'll only have at most an hour before I have to

If Junior mistakes a sealion for a seal, it's my fault haha. Only realised I got the animals mixed up after I wrote the letters.

I am so thrilled to see poop! You see, Junior didn't have bowel movements for 5 days last week and we went to the doctor who gave him a solution via the anus to flush out the poop. And boy did he flush out everything. Two days after, he pooped but a bit less than usual. And today, another two days after, his farts have become so pungent like the smell of his poop. That could only mean there's lots of poop waiting to come out, hence the smell. His tummy wasn't feeling too good too. He cringed a lot just to let out gas. So I went to the trusty Babycenter forum for some tips, and found this massage technique recommended by the contributor's doctor. Gave it a try, and Junior felt happier! He didn't cry when I left him alone, and played actively too! And best of all, he pooped just like what I read! Amazing! Happiest moment in the day! Haha! I gleefully messaged my mum the good news and she replied, "The simple things in life that make u happy..seeing ur child b

Baby's over the one month mark! He's getting more interested in talking to people and wanting people to talk to him, and I've started reading his books to him. But I think he's more interested in the pictures than the content haha. The past two days or so his eating patterns have changed again, there was one period of time which was amazing for me, breastfeeding reduced to about 15 to 30 minutes per session instead of the initial one hour or so. And then it reverted back to the old pattern! Less sleep again :( But on the good side of things, I think my breast milk is stabilising. Though sometimes when Junior gets too impatient he doesn't want to latch on properly and that isn't good for either one of us. Have started using the ring sling! I decided to ask Sis Nurhidayati for recommendations since she has loads of advice on breastfeeding and all things baby. I got the gauze double layer ring sling after much consideration (mostly of the colours haha). Black +

Am at my mum's house now, have been staying here while Husband is in NY for a work trip. Yes! A work trip when baby is only over two weeks?! Sadness. Even the mother of the baby is extra sad :( Can I blame it on post-natal hormones? Haha. He flew last Sunday night, and for the whole day, Junior refused to sleep, only wanting to be cuddled and given attention especially by daddy dearest. It's like he knows daddy dearest is flying off. Heart wrenching. But since Sunday, Junior's been a good boy behaving himself. But sometimes he still wants attention and to be cradled. I guess that's normal for newborns. Five more days till Other Half is home! :) I miss him. Somehow I'm reminded of days of London, cos he's very very far away. If he were to go, say, Brunei, it won't be as bad. New York is just so, scary. Watching too much crime dramas like CSI New York and my favourite Bones makes US sound dangerous with their small, dark alleys and guns!! Guns! Is it real

I am zombified. Sleep deprived. Headache from sleep deprevation. Yesterday we set a new record: baby was awake for four hours and like three and a half of it was spent on breastfeeding. I could feel my breasts empty and much lighter! Plus, before that he was already waking up for feeds like every hour. I do hope it's because of a growth spurt! Have tried my best to avoid formula milk, but when he refuses to sleep after almost an hour and a half of breastfeeding at night and I doze off while breastfeeding at the edge of the bed, formula milk is sooo tempting to quench his never-ending thirst. Puts him to sleep quickly and lasts a little bit longer. Plus it's dangerous too what if I accidentally lost grip of Junior. Today Junior is 15 days old. I can't really believe it, two weeks and eleven hours ago, I was pushing with all my might to get this darling out. Felt like its been ages though! And I kinda miss the feeling of being pregnant. I was heavily pregnant yet energ