Night Shift

All moms should be familiar with the night shift duties, changing of diapers and feeding of the babies. Little Joy has this idea to wake up and play in the middle of the night too although I pretty much leave her to herself. I believe that most moms look forward to the growing up of their babies and the outgrowing of their needs to feed in the middle of the night.

I was the fortunate one previously, when I bottle fed Little Joy during the initial months, she can sleep through the night for at least 6-8 hours. Around March when she is about 4 months old, both of us have been co-operating so well with direct latching that it is easier to feed her directly exclusively. I do not need to bond with my pump, sterliser and bottle warmer for the eight times half hourly everyday. Well.. as all things goes, there are pros and cons to all side of the stories.

Little Joy started to enjoy suckling and she started to take in small feeds, changing her 4 hourly feed to 2 hourly feed in the day and the 6 hourly feed at nite to 3 hourly feed. I am still fine with the arrangement until my REAL night shift starts again.

I stay at home but I need to work at home too. Little Joy is quite a handful when she is awake, hence the best time for me to work and concentrate is during the night. (Yup.. I am supposed to be working instead of blogging now.)

Well.. so in order to have a longer stretch of undisturbed night shift, I am back to my milk expressing business.. Today is Day 2 of night bottle feeding.. I hope she do as well as yesterday but arghh.. it's already 1.30am and I am still so unproductive.

A small voice is asking.. "how about formula feed?" The stubborn me still believes that I should breastfeed as long as I have milk or when Little Joy decided not to latch on.

A snapshot of the fruit of my labour.. wahahaha.. familar to moms?

Random day ramblings

Looking after a baby at home is sometimes boring but busy.. hmmm.. so let me record an uneventful random day.

Woke up and realised my little Joy is able to scale over the pillow barrier that I have placed to contain her inside her sleeping compound. Bracing myself for the days when she will crawl onto my bed to wake me up.

Gong gong & por por is here today but without lunch. Gong gong planned for an early lunch at one of his favourite hawker centre and the four of us happily trooped into the car. Two mins on the road, my mom asked if I have brought extra diapers which i usually do not for short trips. Yes, my girl decided to poop n stink the 3 adults in the car. So we changed our eating trip to a packing trip instead.

Back home, we eat, changed little Joy's diaper, bathed and fed her. After that I managed to sneak a couple hours of work before gong gong and por por say goodbye with lots of hugs for little Joy but none for me. *sign* It seems like only cute stuff gets hugs now.

With just the 2 of us at home, we do our usual floor time and I chase after my girl to keep her hands off undesired stuff. While I do mental notes on the things I need to follow up to childproof my living room more. Then I change another poop diaper and send my fussy girl to sleep.

Had some time to blog and take a short break before she wakes up again because today will be a long day as daddy will be going for his driving lesson tonight and my babysitting shift will be longer than usual.

 

I have to change Little Joy's poop diaper again before bedtime. After preparing her for bed, we lay on the bed and wait for daddy to be home. It took her close to 3 hours and 2 feed before she dozes off to lala land.

 

Daddy and Mummy ended the nite with serious adult conversations, diaper washing, tummy filling and daddy gamed while mummy continued to work..

 

So that's how 13 June 2013 goes by.

 

 

Daily cooking

After close to 6 months of exclusive breastfeeding except for the occasional bottles of milk during the first few days of little Joy's life, I was excited about the weaning stage. Looking forward to meals to replace the breast suckling sessions.

Similar to the breastfeeding journey, i am ignorant of what lies before me. Being so used to latching my girl fully, all those 'planning ahead' system, bottles sterlisation activities and time watching habits have been thrown out of my brain. Yes, i am a very lazy mom, taking full advantage of nature's convenience. Baby hungry = feed. No time watch, no time table and no plans at all, I just monitor my Joy's reactions.

This is all bad for weaning because I soon realise that I have to plan at least a week ahead to get the fresh ingredients from the market. I have to strategically time the meal times so that Joy is not too full nor hungry to avoid an uninterested or fussy baby. Of course, I did the 4 day allergy test for each food. 

All these means, I have to kick myself to cook everyday. So we are having sweet potato with spinach today. 

P/s: Of course, I find a way for my laziness to find good food for my baby. Share with you next time :)

Simple baby headband tutorial

Here is a simple tutorial of baby headbands which you can do it on your own.

 

Materials required

 

1. Elastic lace

2. Scissors

3. Flowers and other accessories

4. Needles

5. Thread

6. Ruler

 

 



 

Steps



1. Cut the elastic lace, total length = Circumference of baby's head + half inch allowance

 

2. Fold the lace into half with the wrong side facing together, i.e, the right side of the lace will be on the outside.

 

3. Sew at the opening together. (I have used the sewing machine to speed things up)

You will end up having a nice seam at the inside of the headband as shown in the pic below

 

4. Sew on the flower or accessory on the seam of the headband.

I personally do not like to use hot glue for this project as it not as secure as sewing and it is not comfortable for the baby's head.

 

5. Place your lovely headband on your baby's head  and of course you can make a matching one for yourself.

Caution: Please use baby's headband under adult supervision at all time as it can be a hazard.

 

 The lovely handmade Headband

 

The beginning..

Like the way all stories begin...

Long long ago (actually just 7 months ago) a new chapter of my life begins. I have been dreaming to be a mom since young. I am not the most motherly kind of person that you will expect but having a family with kids of my own has always been one of my life goals.

Lo and behold, Our Lord has given us one of the most wonderful presents, our first bundle of joy. Life turned upside down, emotions turned inside out. Not only for me but also for my hubby. During the first six months after the arrival of my little girl, we were contemplating on a One Child Policy. Things do get settled down and we started to adjust to our new roles and new member of the family.

I can even start a blog on our journey together as a family, to record the small celebrations we experience everyday before my unreliable memory starts to fade.