Sweet Dreams are Made of These

Maybe dreaming of an endless supply of milk. Whatever it is, the sight of her smiling in her sleep makes me smile too.

Fifth Month

She turns 5 months today!


She has learnt to protest loudly. She thinks her toes are really yummy. She totally digs looking at herself in the mirror. She is able to sit on her own - even if it is just for a minute. :) She loves jumping in her Jumperoo! She likes it when you hold her to stand on her feet. She is too lazy to want to learn how to roll over yet. She holds things with both hands not just with one now. She extends her arms to you when she wants to be carried. She will grab anything that she sees that is within her reach now. She loves touching faces.


Time really flies. I can't believe that she is already 5 months old!

Almost four month old

Yes, The Little One is almost a third of a year old!

She is smiling a lot these days.

She is really vocal, the other day in the supermarket, she was "talking" so loud that people were looking at us.

She has started to reach and grasp things. And putting everything in her mouth. You should see her mauling her stuffed animal friends. I was worried about them.

She is very interactive. She likes us to talk, sing, read, play with her. It can get pretty exhausting.

She doesn't fall asleep so easily in her car seat anymore.

She loves suckling on her fingers.

She giggled for the first time!

She can sit upright quite well now, with our support of course.

Movies

We hadn't been watching a whole lot of movies lately, for the very obvious reason. ( A very loud live one at that) I do miss going to the movies. I miss so many that I want to watch. Why is it that there aren't a lot that I wanna watch when I was pregnant and the ones that I want to watch are showing after I give birth?

The very first movie that we watched after We had our baby is Alice in Wonderland. I kinda like it. Helena Bonham Carter is hilarious in it! I thought she was great! I have to thank my mum for watching her while we sneaked away for a few hours! Though it was quite a rushed outing, it was better than none at all. Of course we would like to take our time, have a nice dinner, coffee then movie, but we have a baby who wouldn't take to the bottle, plus, I really hate to impose on my mum. I suppose we can do that once she is older and a lot easier to manage.

I suppose we have to move movie night into our TV room for now. We just watched An Education. Funny that that was our first movie for our Movie Nights. I planned on watching it when I was still pregnant with The Little One and she chose pop out on that very day. Next DVD that I will get my hands on will be Avatar. It seems like the whole world had watched it except us. I can't believe I missed Moon either. So frustrating! Oh, then there is A Serious Man. A Single Man is still showing ( I think ), hoping to catch that on the big screen!

Sitting

This is Queen V

Standing

My mum is so going to kill me for making her stand like that. Check out her thunder thighs and that megawatt smile!

Breastfeeding

I have been exclusively breastfeeding The Little One since Day 1. It has been a decision made not when I found out that I was pregnant, but many years ago. Breastfeeding to me, is one of the most beautiful things on this planet. I get a little teary when I nursed her in the earlier days. These days, I still smile and it makes me feel happy and content.

I read all I could about it, trying to prepare myself. At the same time, I kept telling myself that it is alright if I, for any reasons wasn't able to nurse her. Of course I know that I will be hugely disappointed if I couldn't.

The first 2 weeks were really tough. The Little One latched on perfectly since the first time. We were the lucky ones, a lot of mums and their babies had to practise for a while. I had to cope with really sore and cracked nipples. Making nursing really painful, so painful in fact, I would rather get labour pains over having a hungry baby nursing on my sore and cracked nipples. She drank like she is constantly hungry in those 2 weeks. That was tough, waking up every one and a half hour just to nurse her. I was so tired and sleep deprived that I cried a few times. Right from the start, I told The Husband, no matter what happened, he would have to be supportive and encouraging, never ever tell me that we have to switch to formula. He was indeed very supportive and encouraging, but seeing me in such a bad shape, he did mention a few times that maybe we could feed her formula in the night. I stubbornly stuck to my guns, (stubborn-ness is a good trait!) and was I glad when the soreness went away and more glad when the growth spurt passed and she starts to sleep through the night! I never thought I would say this, but having 5 hours of uninterrupted sleep in a row is pure pure heaven!

So why am I so insistent? Because breast milk is the best milk for your baby! Let me try to list all the benefits...

Antibodies are passed from mother to her child, helping the child fight off infections. Also. breast milk changes to suit the needs of your baby. Pretty amazing ain't it?

It is easily digested, so it is gentle on your baby's gut and digestive system.

It is free!

I need not have to sterilise bottles, which I find troublesome. The few times that I had to, I cursed and was rather pissy while I was sterilising the bottles.

There isn't a need to "prepare". As much as I was really dead tired when I had to wake up to nurse her, I couldn't imagine waking up, walking to the kitchen, prepare the milk, make sure the milk is of right temperature before offering it to the baby. I just, er, whip it out! Hahahaha. Some more these days, I nurse her lying down and we both will drift to sleep!

I have to have a balanced diet. I can't skip my meals, so in a way, it is a good thing right. I have to cut down on caffeine though, so all my coffee is decaf, and I plan my tea consumption around her meal times. So, just after I nurse her will I have a cuppa. Ditto with alcohol, not having more than a glass at a time.

With a varied diet, baby gets different flavours, so hopefully - fingers crossed - she wouldn't be a picky eater next time.

Some studies have shown that breastfeeding lowers risk of breast cancer, high blood pressure, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases!

So how not to breastfeed if you are able to????????

First Hair Cut

The Little One had her first hair cut a couple of weeks ago. I was a little worried that she might fussed or get ready restless. So on the way to the kiddy salon, I gave her what The Husband and I call a "safety feed" Meaning, that I nursed her before her feeding time so that she doesn't get too grouchy or restless. A baby with a full tummy of milk and enough rest is a happy baby. It worked! She was sitting happily on The Father's lap throughout the hair cut. She started to get a little restless towards the end, but nothing dramatic.

I think I was more worried because my sister, when she was a child, cried everytime she had a hair cut. Not a little cry, but full blown, drama mama kinds. She made sure you know that she didn't like it. I hoped The Little One stayed as calm as happy as she did for all her future hair cuts. And if she does, I can bring her along when I cut my hair and she can get one as well! Speaking of which, it really is time for me to get one already!

Tomorrow...

I will charge all my camera batteries, get my camera and lenses cleaned. By the way, I can't find my kit lens. Time to get that dry cabinet already!

I will sort out the photos and get some developed.

I will find time to read Monocle. Not gone through the previous issue, already bought the latest one.

Decide on the highchair of choice.

Clean/wash all her toys and barang barang. Pray tomorrow plenty of sunshine and no rain.

Decide when to go for my next hair cut. These days I have become quite thrifty, cut hair once in 3 months. Not by choice though.

Call polyclinic to inform them that they have booked the wrong date for me.


Tidy the study. (It rhymes!)

Bake some scones and have tea.

Get some bills paid.

Get some ironing done.

Do some marketing for this week's dinner. Oh, and do double portions of some of them so that I can freeze them for days when I am too tired to cook.

WONDER WHERE TO FIND THE TIME TO DO ALL OF THE ABOVE.