Weekend Smiles

I think Julianne has pretty much resigned to the fact that she has a camera faced Papa.  She has learnt to give really big sweet smiles for the camera - such a poser! 

Now that she has taken to the bottle again, feed time has become much less stressful.  She's not taking in huge volumes but I've came to terms with that too.  If 50ml is all my daughter is going to take, then let it be.  She makes it up at the next feed or at night when I nurse her.  She's a happy happy baby and that's all that matters! 

It also means we can now take her out more often and not have to work around her feed times.  She use to have to be rocked to sleep before I could nurse her which made going out rather inconvenient.  But she's happy to take the bottle awake and that eases up things alot.  This weekend alone, we brought her out more times than she ever did in the past one month. She got to see my colleagues at a house warming we attended.  She met Uncle Jude (sadly without Yiyi Rene and Che Che Sophie) again after 3 months and joined us at one of our favourite weekend lunch of hokkien noodles!

She's such a happy baby, it's almost contagious! She definitely recognises everyone at home now and never fails to smile when she sees us.  Gong gong is still her best friend and ALWAYS gets the biggest grin from her.  

Here's our happy bunny baby in photos!

Happy Baby!!, a photo by pz.sher on Flickr.

Thankful ....

Today, I give thanks . . . 

• that Julianne has finally taken to the bottle drinking as much as 80ml each time.  Its still not the ideal amount of milk for her age (she should be doing about 120ml at this age) but its a huge improvement from the 30ml and complete bottle strike we went through since January.

• for the husband's promotion that took as by surprise since we heard management was clamping down on staff promotion to senior management level. It could only be possible by God's grace.

• for my mum who has decided to retire early to help us take care of Julianne so that I can go to work with a peace of mind knowing that Julianne will be well taken care of.  And my Dad can be assured the house will still be well kept with nice home-cook dinners waiting for the family every evening. 

Today I give thanks.  Only by the grace of God. 

" Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus"                                                             

  1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Letters to Julianne #6

Dearest Julianne, 

As Mama is typing this, you are asleep soundly in your crib having just had a nice 30 minute nursing session with me.

In a few hours, Mama will be leaving behind in the good hands of Por Por for a good 10-11 hours, the longest ever since you came into our lives 4 months ago.  I don't know how I'm going to go through it but I think there'll be some tears involved. 

On Mama's last day of my leave, you showed me (1) how sensible a baby you are and (2) how great our God is.  After going on a bottle strike for the past 2 months, you choose of all days today - the day before I return to work - to show me that you haven't forgotten how to suckle from the bottle and drink your usual 80-100ml of milk once again! For the past 2 months, Mama has been praying that you will learn to love your bottle once more but when you time and again rejected the bottle, I began to question why God won't answer my prayers. Today, it all made sense to me.  That God was letting you nurse exclusively these past months so that we could enjoy the bonding while Mama was home and only on the very last day of my leave, did He let me see that you were a big girl now and all ready to take on the bottle!  You have no idea how relieve Mama is to see you finish your milk from the bottle.  I was convince you were going to starve once I go back to work but you proved me wrong today.  You showed me that at 4 months, you knew in that little brillant mind of yours just when to end your bottle strike.  I'm so proud of you! 

I am going to miss you so much and am already feeling the pain at the thought of being away from you for such long hours.  The days we spend with you in my arms as I rock and sing you to sleep were precious.  I must have sang "Jesus Loves Me" a gazillion times now but this song will forever be a part of you and I.  It never fails to put you to sleep. And those afternoons fooling around on Por Por's bed with your rattles and Sophie the giraffe.   What about our diaper changing moments when you always look at me, blink your eyes (thinking I'm going to clean your face with the wet cotton wool) and then give me your widest smile.  So so precious. 

We went through a rough patch with your reflux and that caused some distressed but I'll like to think things are improving.  Its like your know Mama's going back to work and you want to tell me that "Its OK Mama, I'm in good hands, I'll be fine with Por Por.  Look, I can drink my milk from the bottle and I'l grow up strong!"

Seeing you smile at Mama every time we have our chit chats or when your eyes meet mine after you wake up groggy from your naps are moments I will surely be missing.  You are going to see less of me now but we'll make up for it over the weekends I promise.  You be a very good girl while Mama is at work and don't give Por Por and Aunty Joy too much trouble alright? 

I'm so glad I got to spend the last 4 months with you almost 24/7.  We've clearly grown very attached to each other and now its time to let you do some growing up on your own.  You are going to do mighty fine without Mama around in the day with you.  You are a child of God, and He is going to watch over you and bless you so richly, Mama has nothing to worry about. 

I love you so much Julianne.  So much, so much.

Much love, 

Mama

I Got Yummy Pumpkin in My Tummy!

Because of her reflux that is giving her a poor milk intake, we've been told by our paed that we can start Julianne on solids ahead of the usual 6 months.  We started about a week back with some porridge water which she absolutely LOVES then progressed on to whole grain rice cereal.  I give her the Best Earth's brand which is very fragrant and though she doesn't devour it like her porridge water, she hasn't rejected it either.  We've also fed her avocado which was more of a miss than a hit.  Think she didn't quite fancy the blandness of the fruit.  Either that, she's got my taste buds - I don't fancy avocados either except in california rolls and guacamole. 

Halloween came early for her this year as we gave her a little pumpkin treat yesterday.  I ordered some organic produce online, steam up a small portion, pureed it and added some breastmilk to thin it out.  You should see the expression on her face when she had the first taste of the sweet orange vegetable.  It was like - "Mama, why have you hidden this food from me all this past 4 months!!!"  If she had her way, I think she would have finished the entire bowl! It was really funny seeing her opening her mouth so excitedly each time I brought the spoon near her and how she insisted on wanting to hold the spoon by herself! 

Por Por says this girl has the Koh genes - gourmet foodie - not contented with just plain breastmilk.  We are convinced that one reason her Yiyi Sam loves her uni and foie gras today has to do with all the liver porridge we blended for her when she was a baby.  I think Julianne is on her way to the same route as her Yiyi Sam! 

Yummy Pumpkin, a photo by pz.sher on Flickr.

Julianne in action!

And here is Baby J showing us what she can do! 

Juju flips for the first time a video by pz.sher on Flickr.

Flip Flop . . .

At 4 months and 5 days old, Julianne decided that today, she'll do the flip! And of all days, she choice an afternoon that her Papa was home to show us just what she could do!! And she did it not just once but three times just to proof to us that it was no fluke! 

Video of her in action to come! Stay tune!!

Letters to Julianne #5

Dearest Julianne, 

Just look at how time has flown us by! You are 4 months old today! How awesome is that!! I wish I could report that your drinking habits have improved but unfortunately, we are still working on getting you back on track with your drinking.  After almost 2 months of second guessing what was causing all the fussiness at meal times, we have finally pinned it down to the doings of silent reflux.  Mama is just glad we found Dr Vas through the recommendation of good ole Dr Liang.  I know how you hate it but we hope the medicines that you're on will help you through.  I can't tell you when this is going to end, we can only hope and pray that things will get better once you start on some solids.  We even brought you to a chiropractor where we were told your first bone was misaligned, something that happens very often to babies born via assisted birth.  I'm not sure if the one session really helps but at least we got your bones straightened out. 

Probably the only good thing that came out of your silent reflux is that Mama gets to spend two extra weeks with you at home.  I didn't feel good about going back to work knowing that you won't take the bottle well so Papa and Mama decided the best thing was to stay home a little longer.  But it ain't for long.  Mama goes back to work in 2 weeks, no more buying time so be good my child and start liking your bottle alrighty?  Mama promise that I'll still nurse you at night and we can still bond over our night-feeds! Deal?! 

Mama jumps through hoops everyday, just trying to get as much milk into you as possible.  When your weight dipped for the first time 2 weeks ago, my heart too sank and I told myself I won't let that happen to you again.  For now, you will only nurse when sleepy/sleeping but Mama and Aunty Joy have pretty much settled down to a routine on how best to do this.  I hope it won't be long before I can nurse you on demand, anytime, anywhere again.  We keep praying Julianne, Mama keeps praying for God's grace and healing to be upon you.  He'll answer us soon.  Be patient. 

On all other fronts, you are doing well.  You love grabbing anything and everything that is within sight and instinctively put them in your mouth.  You started your last month with always raising your right arm.  Gong gong calls you champion! Then progressively, we went on to both hands.  Papa calls you superwomen.  Now, you have gone on to transfer things from one hand to another.  You've also got your head held high this month! So proud of you! 

You've also been talking a whole lot more!! You seem to know how to communicate to us that something's not right with you.  Like you have a poopy diaper or you want some attention.  Mama is glad you don't cry it out but have chosen to coo to us voicing your discomfort.  Everyone calls you zi-zar!  You're so talkative, Por Por thinks you'll start talking very soon! We still think you save the best of your baby talk for Gong Gong.  Every evening, without fail, you will have your conversation time with him and give him your biggest grins. I don't think even Papa gets that from you.  Thankfully you know who your Mama is and never fail to give me your widest smiles from time to time throughout the day.  I love you so much!

We've also been reading alot more this month.  Mama thinks your favourite color is purple - much like che che Sophie! You respond most to the purple noisy baby in the Babies book that Yiyi Rene got you.  You also get most excited when the purple turtle on your mobile comes into your sight!   

Because of your reflux, we are starting you on solids ahead of the usual 6 months.  We have since started you on porridge water and you seem to love it.  It's yummy isn't it!  Well afterall, you do have some teochew blood in you! In a few weeks, we'll introduce you to rice cereal and maybe some pumpkin and avocado!  Woo, exotic taste buds you're going to have! 

Two more weeks of having you around me 24-7.  I'm going to miss our special times together even though it sometimes gets so rough especially dealing with your feeds.  You're growing up so fast, your every smile, your every coo, they go past me so quickly, I wish I could capture them all in a jar and savour them slowly.  

Love you so much my sweet sweet Julianne.  May your 4th month be another exciting month of hitting milestones and exploring our big world! 

Love you much, 

Mama