Shauna the Super Pump

Lil Shauna was at popo's place last night cos her parents were too tired, collapsing from the lack of sleep.

We were with Lil Shauna until she fell asleep at about 9+pm. I expressed at 10pm before heading to bed. The alarm clock woke me up at 1am to express. After pumping for 20mins, I realised that the milk output for the right bre**t was miserable. I suspect that the ducts were blocked but I was too tired to care. At 6am this morning, the same thing happened. Usually, I will just latch on Lil Shauna to clear the blockage, but Lil Shauna wasnt around! The right side was heavy with milk and it was starting to hurt from engorgement. Suddenly, I found myself needing Lil Shauna very much. After much deliberation, I decided that I have to visit Lil Shauna before work or I might just explode during work!

Daddy Lim drove me to my mum's place before heading to work. Lil Shauna was barely awake when I reached. Luckily, she hasnt had her morning feed. I quickly latch her on and she was happily sucking away. Within 30mins, the heaviness disappeared... She was satisfied and I was happie. I felt so much lighter. ;p Then, I took a cab to work. Not only do I incurred expensive cab fare, I was late as well. Haiz, should have brought my super pump home last night. ;p I missed her. :)

Mummy Lim

Smiley Baby

Lil Shauna can now smile and babble! But that only happens when she's in good mood. She's usually in good mood in the morning and after her bath. :)











Lil Shauna looks more & more like her Daddy, especially after Daddy cut his hair. Oh, they love to wear matching colors too.
And sleeping together.




Mummy Lim

Started Work + Night Feeds

I have ended my maternity leave and started work. Truth be told, I quite enjoy working as compared to taking care of Lil Shauna 24/7. I already knew (shortly after Lil Shauna's homecoming) that I am not cut out to be a full-time home maker. I also realise that I enjoy dressing up. Maybe it is bcos I spent the past 10 weeks (while on maternity leave) feeling ugly and looking like an auntie. I want to be a yummy mummy. Hmm.. I must get rid of the last sticky 4.5kg. I must get back my pre-preggy weight. Now, I will decide on what to wear the night before, so that we can cut the mad rush the next morning. To be on time, we wake up at 5.45am and leave the house at 6.15am. I will be in the yard at about 6.45am, getting ready for my 1st express.

Expressing at work is super troublesome. I am trying to keep to my 3-hourly schedule. However, I dun see how I can sustain that when the workload picks up. On the other hand, Lil Shauna seems to be forever hungry. My mum will sometime call to report on the diminishing milk ss in the fridge, making me even more gan cheong. At this rate, Lil Shauna may be switching to FM soon. -.o" I am a cow, I am a cow...

Daddy Lim has been really helpful. He has since picked up the 1st night feed, while I take care of the 2nd one. We had initially wanted to bring Lil Shauna home everyday. However, the spirit is willing, but the body is weak. We left her with my mum on Monday night and likely to do so tomorrow. I still wake up to express my milk, while Daddy Lim gets to sleep thru' the night. It is much needed rest. The maid had been helpful. An extra pair of hands had lighten my mum's load. :)

Jia you, jia you! Here is my favourite photo for now. :)Mummy Lim

Taking Turns

I am starting work in another 7 hours' time. Pretty numb. The only tot that I have is that time really flies. It had been 10 weeks since Lil Shauna's arrival. There will be many trials and errors to make. Wat time to wake up, how to go about expressing milk, how many bottles of frozen EBM to bring to mum's place, night feeds, etc. We will be making adjustments till then.

I will still try to maintain my 3 hourly pump in the night. I will try to express as regularly as I can (hopefully 3-hourly as well). With effect from tonight, Daddy Lim will take the 1st night feed (which is sometime between 11pm to 2am) and I will handle the 2nd one (between 2am to 5am). Daddy Lim has just awaken to Lil Shauna's "eh, eh, eh"... I hope we will not be walking zombie tomorrow morning. Mum has been really kind. The maid is here. She has offered to help take care of Lil Shauna overnight when the going gets too tough for us. I do hope to bring her back if possible. Afterall, there is already so little time that we spent with her (after I return to work). However, will oso learn how to ask and accept help.

While feeding Lil Shauna tis evening, I was telling her that I am going back to work le. Not sure if she understands. I can feel that I am missing her already. Sob! I wonder if she will miss me too when she realises that I am not around in the day..

Ok, gg to peep on Daddy Lim and gg back to bed. Hehe.

Mummy Lim

Going back to work...

I am really looking back to the end of my maternity leave. I guessed I had enuff of full-time motherhood. Truth be told, I sensed a hint of escapism, wanting to go back to work to relinquish the full-time motherhood role. I do know that life will get even more hectic after I return to work. Other than work, I will have to handle night feeds, which mean a high possibility of insufficient sleep. Aiyo..

My milk ss has been stagnant too despite my various attempts to boost ss. Lil Shauna is drinking more, but my ss dropping. Looks like my dream to exclusively feed her BM for 6 months might not be achievable. At least my boss is ok with my expressing in the office. Hmmm.. lots of adjustments and preparations to make.

Prayer requests:
1. Increased milk ss to meet Lil Shauna's increased dd;
2. Strength to cope with family & work dd;
3. Happy and easy bb who isnt too tough on popo and sleeps well at night.

My little princess will keep us gg.

Mummy Lim

Busy Sunday

We already knew that with the arrival of Lil Shauna, the weekends would be spent at the grandparents' place. Not that we are complaining. We do want Lil Shauna to be close to her grandparents. Since my mum is the main caregiver, that left Daddy Lim's parents to take care of. We have been faithfully visiting them every Sunday with Lil Shauna. We do look forward to the day where we can leave Lil Shauna with them for a few hours on Sundays and we sneak out for some "us-time". Hehe.

We had a busy Sunday last week. Mum was really kind to come and helped in the morning, so that I could get some housework done.

Strangely, popo gladly posed for the shot. It was bad-hair-day ah yi who needs some coaxing. Then we had a family lunch. It was pretty chaos with 3 babies...

Lil Shauna visited grandaunt in the afternoon. The last time grandaunt has seen her (in person) was during her full-month bash, which she spent the entire time sleeping. -.o" Grandaunt was so glad to sleep her. Lil Shauna was soundly asleep when we arrived at grandaunt's place. Grandaunt and cousin gugu spent so much effort trying to wake her up. After much effort, she finally opened her eyes and started bawling for milk. After milk, she went back to sleep. -.o" Grandaunt misses Lil Shauna so much and wanted us to visit her often. We will. Hehe. :)

Lil Shauna was wearing her new clothes, a gift from Mummy Leong. Ang, ang, huat ah! She has finally grown enuff to fit into new clothes. Hehe.

Then, we spent the evening at grandparents' place. As usual, nai nai misses Lil Shauna alot. By the time we were home. It was already 8+pm. Phew. Sundays would be like that in the future. It would be even more hectic if we add in church and I look forward to church where we can attend as a family. :)

Vaccination

Lil Shauna went for her 1st of the 3 6-in1 jab on Tuesday. She cried so badly when the doctor jabbed her. For the rest of the day, she was drowsy and cranky, demanding to be carried around. Seeing her suffered (from the jab), we obliged.

She was a little feverish in the evening. We wanted to cool her down and tried the fever stick on. She looked super cute with the stick-on.

I spent the night at my mum's place as daddy Lim was working late. I am glad that I did that cos Lil Shauna was super cranky. She woke up the moment we put her down.

Tummy Time
The 1st few attempt at tummy time. Lil Shauna dun really like it. She went all quiet and couldnt move much after struggling quite alot. So funny. ;p

Mummy Lim

Why am i working so hard?

Sigh.. its another late night here in the Yard.. Already worked till 130am last night, now im looking at spending another one here..

I MISS YOU BB AND EnEn!

but seriously why do i work so hard? am i afraid of losing my job..?? Should i try another job once my bond expires and i've collected another fat bonus? sigh.. Decisions decisions..

hey i got a poem i thought up while taking a dump:
The bowl your sitting on has two lids
Please don't cover them
When your done with your sh#t
The next user, my friend
has to open them with his feet
The stink that ensues
will send him into fits

LOLOL!!!!111one

Formatting

I gave up trying to format the last post..
Aiyo, so unpleasant to the eye. I had been trying to format it for the last 15 mins.. Haiz, can somebody tell me why like that? Not very idiot proof leh.

Mummy Lim

Outing to Vivo City

Daddy T, Mummy J & Baby C dated us this evening (Saturday). I was so excited to step out of the house. Wanted to sling Lil Shauna and was busying practising at home.

I had tried slinging Lil Shauna a few times previously but she was not very cooperative. Surprising, she fell asleep in the sling today. She looks pretty comfy all bundled up, hehe.

This is Daddy Lim with his princess, getting out of the house.

Daddy Lim is super excited about this photo cos he said that ye ye carried him and took a photo in the same fashion 30 years ago. Hehe.

We had dinner at Marche. This is actually our 1st attempt to bring Lil Shauna out for such activity. Truth be told, I was a little gan cheong. I oso tried my 1st breastfeeding attempt in the public. Pretty successful. Hehe. When we were leaving the restaurant, Lil Shauna started getting cranky and cried so badly. Nothing that we do could calm her. Luckily she stopped after we left the place. Otherwise, we would have headed home. I bet it is the air-con. Or maybe she just decided that she dun like the place anymore. :(

We stopped by coffee bean.

Baby C is so cute. She smiles at camera, so sweet. I am full of envy, looking forward to Lil Shauna's 1st smile and her responding to us. :)

Our 2nd family portrait. It is normally Daddy Lim with Lil Shauna, me with Lil Shauna or lots of Lil Shauna by herself. It is quite difficult to "zi pai" with a baby. We expect many more family photos to come!

It was an enjoyable experience. Although it was tough bringing Lil Shauna out, we look forward to many of such outings. Hehe. I dun think I can handle her alone yet. I need an extra pair of hands to change her, pass me tissue, help me put her into sling, etc. Jia you, jia you!

Video
Mummy J asked for video for Lil Shauna's progress. Mummy P always say that babies have nice cries. So here is Lil Shauna crying her heart out bcos the milk is late. Cute meh?? Hehe.

Mummy Lim

Lil Shauna is...

Lil Shauna is 2 months old.

She weighs 4.2kg (with clothings & diapers) and is 53cm long.

She drinks about 100ml of milk every 3 hourly.

Lil Shauna can suck her wrist (popo says that she will find her fingers and start sucking them soon).

She likes to stare at the sky & at lights.

She can entertain herself for alittle while before she starts making cranky noises.

She loves her musical toy to bits and can stay entertain for awhile.

Her legs are getting stronger and she kicks really hard when her milk is late.

This is the little princess with her musical bunny. My efforts are paying off. Look at those cheeks. Hehehe.

Mummy Lim

Things Will Get Better

Hey gers, thank you for all the smses and encouragements.
I told Daddy Lim and my mum about how I felt, although I wasnt very calm when I relate my feelings. I think it is a good move. Bottling up the fustrations do me no good. They are both worried for me and are paying me more attention. I even had dinner alone with Daddy Lim today at JP. I guess I needed the break. My mum helped to look after Lil Shauna while we had dinner. It felt so good. :)

Lil Shauna had been cranky today (again). I hope it is a passing phrase. Things will get better. :)

Mummy Lim

Angry Mummy

I had been really cranky recently and I would like to blame it on the lack of sleep. I realise that I cant handle Lil Shauna on my own, definitely not an entire day. It is not that I am not a good mummy, just that I need someone to help watch over her when I shower, eat, express milk, wash clothes, etc. She has been really fussy recently. Refusing sleep after feed or sleeps only when carried and wakes up shortly after put down. With a fussy baby I have no time to myself (just in case you are wondering, I am expressing and Lil Shauna happens to be asleep after her feed, after fussing the entire day).

I had been suffering from a lack of sleep for the past few nights, averaging 3 to 5 hours of interrupted sleep. To keep my sanity, I take an hour of nap in the day. Without that one precious hour, I get super cranky by evening. Daddy Lim was caught up with work yday. He was at work until 2am this morning. Luckily, my mum was here to help yday. I managed to catch 2 hours of sleep in the day (wat a bonus). By nightfall, I was still feeling alright. Lil Shauna only went to bed at 9+pm. I went to bed at about 10+pm. Before I managed to sleep, she was making noises and woke up at 11+pm for her feed. I went back to bed at 1+am and woke up at 4am for the 2nd feed. She woke me up at 6.30am, crying for milk again. In other words, I had about 4 hours of interrupted sleep last night. Daddy Lim went to work shortly leaving with me a fussy baby who refused to go back to sleep.

My mum is supposed to come in the morning and she is going out with my bro's family in the afternoon. She called me at 8.30am, apparently just out of bed. She said that she will come soon. I told her not to rush. She asked about breakfast. With no mood for food (I need sleep more than anything else), I told her not to cook, just tabao something on her way here, which she agreed. At 9.45am, she was still at home. She cooked... then claimed that she will be here shortly. She only reached about 10.30am. I quickly took my breakfast, helped to bath Lil Shauna and wash her clothes. My mum helped to feed her. By the time I was done, it was 11.45am and I dived into bed, hoping for some precious sleep. Daddy Lim came home shortly but I was already unconscious.

My mum woke me up at 1+pm cos it was time for her to join my bro. I was really pissed to be awaken in the midst of my beauty sleep. My mum was eager to go off as my bro was waiting. She was carrying Lil Shauna who was fussing alittle and went on to tell me that Lil Shauna is due for her feed soon and stuff. At that point of time, I really blew my top. I felt so helpless. She knew that she is gg to join my bro, then she should have come a little earlier and let me catch up a little on my sleep. Why cant she get her priorities right? To me, sleep is more impt than food or anything else, yet she chose to waste precious time cooking breakfast. -.o" I had been suffering from sleepless nights largely due to the family crisis and a hungry baby, yet the rest of the family seems mildly affected. I chased her off and started expressing my frustration to my sister (who will be staying with me for awhile) and crying at the same time. Her presence helps.

Daddy Lim was of no help cos he was catching up on his lost sleep. He woke up at 3+pm and was rushing off to his friend's place for guitar practice. I asked if he could stay until 4pm for me to express milk and he said that the practice was supposed to start at 4pm, indicating his unwillingness. After the morning episode, I didnt want to plead with him. Fine, I will handle Lil Shauna on my own. She wun kill me. I am pissed again. The feeling of helplessness and anger swam me.

We were supposed to have a family dinner, but I was pretty unwilling. Dinner with Lil Shauna had not been too enjoyable. My sister was tired too so the dinner was called off. By late afternoon, my mum kept calling to ask if we need them to tabao dinner, which I squarely rejected. I think I am still pissed with her.

At 6pm, I called Daddy Lim who was still at his friend's place. I asked him if he is coming home soon, which he replied that he would if I want him to. I told him to make his own decision, if he doesnt want to come home soon, fine with me. I am not sure if he knew how pissed I am but he replied that he will be coming home shortly after checking with his friends.

I am just so pissed. It seems that I am suffering the most or maybe I am just self-centered. My weekend is non-existent. I have no time for myself, I am looking after Lil Shauna 24/7 and many times on my own. People around me seem to be enjoying themselves. I am trying hard not to deny them of their self time by not asking them to help. Ending up I dun even have time to do the basic things, let alone time to do my own stuff. I am just so pissed. I am an angry mummy.

Mummy Lim

I Cant Do Without My Mum

Just a short one... I realise that I cant handle Lil Shauna without my mum, especially when she gets really cranky. Sometimes, I just need a breather and I am so thankful for her. Hehehe..

Oh, and Daddy Lim too. He was so sweet last night. I had been suffering from lack of sleep. Trying to survive on 4 to 5 hrs of interrupted sleep per night. Lil Shauna finally went to bed last night at 9+pm. Daddy Lim tucked her in after my 2 failed attempts. I was fast asleep shortly after Daddy Lim took over. Lil Shauna started crying for milk at 11+pm. I was really feeling miserable. Daddy Lim didnt stir and I was angry that I am always the one doing night feeds. I loudly exclaim that I cant do it and Daddy Lim immediately woke up to heat up the milk and feed Lil Shauna. Guilty, I woke up to help. Afterall, he has to work today and has to work late. After he fed her, I expressed the milk and Lil Shauna is back in dreamland, Daddy Lim said that he needed a smoke and ask me to join him at the corridor (our house is a non-smoking house). I tot he was angry and wanted to reprimand me. Instead, he said that we have not spent time quietly for a long while and hugged me. Oh gosh... I started crying. He was just so sweet. I felt so much better after that and found new strength to go on.

Thank you bb. I love you. Muakz..

Mummy Lim

Crisis

Havent blog for awhile. My family went thru' a crisis recently and we were all too busy handling watever that hits us. Dun worry, nothing has happened to Daddy Lim, Lil Shauna or myself. We are very much alive & kicking.

We are recovering well and I think we will get out of it soon. Amazingly, crisis always bring the family closer. Due to the crisis, I spoke at length with my brother. I think I have never communicate so much to him in my entire life. Haha. Dun ask, I will share when I am ready. :) Looking at it, I see God's hand in it again and I found many things to give thanks for. It is simply His perfect timing. I shared that wif my sister too (my bro & sis have given up their faith many years ago). I hope she sees wat I saw.

I am going back to work on 21 Jul 08. I think I will miss my baby. I hope I wun have to stay too late at work. However, I felt this excitement buzzing whenever I rem that I am gg back to work, hehe.

I am worried that my mum and SIL wun be able to handle the 3 kids when I go back to work. If that is really the case, I will look for a nanny for Lil Shauna. The last option will be a maid. I have asked my bro if he has considered hiring a maid. I will help to finance. He is considering. With an extra pair of hands, I think we will all benefit. I always tot that my SIL & mum should have some space & time of their own. We'll see how it goes...

Mummy Lim