Lil Isaac's Full Month Bash

Finally, the end of my confinement. Then again, other than food, I don't really follow confinement rules. Hohoho, I probably drive my mum crazy. I had to run between home and hospital for both Lil Shauna and Isaac. I bath daily or risk stinking the kids to death and I washed my hair every few days. Seriously, in this weather, being sweaty, smelly and oily is something that I can do without.

The end of my confinement also marks Lil Isaac's full month bash. The 1st born somehow always gets better treatment. Lil Isaac's bash was on a much smaller scale, we only invited family and close friends. And to make sure that Lil Shauna doesn't feel left out, she gets to choose the party theme. We had a barney cake and barney balloons.



There was a simple "Happy Birthday song" plus blow candle plus cake cutting ceremony for the older kids while Lil Isaac had his milk. Each of the kid took turn to blow the candle and cut cake. It was funny how Lil Isaac was not part of the celebration during his party, but I dun think he mind at all. Milk was more important to him than anything else.



We also got a bouncer for the older kids.



I think Lil Shauna had a lot of fun. The kids were happy playing with the toys too. It was fortunate that we have so many toys to go around. The baby room was in a mess, filled with kids and toys.


I was just really glad that Lil Shauna doesnt stick to me and I get to do lots of catching up with friends. Hehe. And strangely, Lil Isaac was much alert for the main part of his celebration. When Lil Shauna had hers, she slept through her celebration and only woke up for milk when most of the guests left. She was peacefully asleep in her cot most of the time. This time, bcos Lil Isaac was so awake, he was passed around. Again, I was glad that there are people to entertain him and kept him busy while I enjoy myself. Hohoho.



He only fell asleep when most of the guest left in the early evening and he was really tired by then.


And while the prince slept on, the jiejies were happily opening his presents. To make sure that Lil Shauna doesnt feel left out, we got her presents too. She also received presents from Grandauntie, ah yee and Auntie J.


We all had an early night. It was seriously tiring to entertain guests. Although we only had family and close friends, the number was just nice for our humble little place and we finished most of the buffet food. Hehehe. And Lil Shauna skipped her nap for the 2nd time in her entire life. I am always strict about her taking her afternoon nap cos I still think that it is important for her to have a routine at this age. But mummy was too busy to tuck her in for her nap that day. Bad mummy. And there was too much fun for the princess to miss.

I am glad that the simple celebration went well. I didnt really put much effort into organising it, no fannciful decorations, no long guest list, no special effort. I love parties and get-together but I guess it will be a long time before we had such parties again.

Mummy Lim

First Field Trip

Felicia's school organized a field trip to the Yakult factory and some Pastamania outlet. Families were invited and I signed Lil Shauna for the trip too. So yday, a happy Lil Shauna joined Fione and Felicia for her very first field trip, under the supervision of Auntie MA, Auntie Breth (my brö's maid) and my SIL. I remembered how I used to lose school when the night before such school excursions. Hehehe.

The excursion was from 9am to 2pm with pasta lunch provided. The participants get to see how Yakult is manufactured and to make a pizza. I don't know if Lil Shauna enjoyed herself, she didn't show much interest when I asked her to help me baked cookies the last time. Well, Lil Shauna said that she did and I was glad to have that few hours of peace.

Lil Shauna came back with her masterpiece.


For some reasons, Auntie MA said that it is inedible. Maybe dirty hands or dropped onto the floor or undercooked? So, her masterpiece went into the dustbin after the photo and Lil Shauna didn't seem to mind at all. -.o"

Mummy Lim

Not Handsome Liao

Lil Isaac kena baby acne. It started recently and he had small pimples all over his face, mainly his cheek n forehead. There are some on his neck, body and arms too. We tried cleaning with water, applying lotion but it didn't seem to help. To add on to the problem, he developed cradle cap! Cradle cap usually affects the scalp but could appear on the face and ears too and Lil Isaac got his on his eyebrow. -_____-" The skin at his eyebrow is all flaky and it looks pretty painful. Poor Lil Isaac.


I am not exactly worried cos these are the common baby problems. They just take time to heal by themselves, Lil Shauna suffered from cradle cap too. But Popo is upset. She kept harping on the fact that he won't look good at his full month bash today. Hohoho. What to do, Lil Isaac never inherit my pretty genes. :p Come to think of it, he is really quite poor thing. When we had Lil Shauna, we took so many pix of her everyday. Lil Isaac paled so much in comparison. I had so much problem trying to find a nice pix of him to put in the card for the full month cake package. Hohoho.

Mummy Lim

First Official Outing

We finally brought Lil Isaac out yday, his 1st official outing. Bo bian, Popo couldnt take my nagging and allowed me to go out + bring Lil Isaac along. It is really tough trying to bring 2 kids out. We spent almost an hour getting myself and the kids ready and it was chaotic. When we are almost leaving the house, Lil Isaac had to choose that time to be hungry and cried non-stop. I had to latch him while walking when I have yet to master the art of nursing him outside lor. -.o"

While in the car, Lil Shauna had to insist to sit on mummy's lap while I nursed Lil Isaac. Then it was more waiting for my brother's family to be ready. We drove my brother's car instead bcos ours was too small. We were joking that the next car should be a 20 seater mini bus. Hohoho.

We brought Lil Shauna to an indoor playground at Kallang Leisure Park and she had great fun. She needed minimal supervision and was happily climbing up the structure and down the slide. daddy Lim and I took care of Lil Isaac and relax one corner most of the time. Lil Isaac was drowsy and chose to sleep most of the time. I even had to wake him up to nurse and he fell asleep shortly. I was worried that my breasts might burst. Hohoho.

It was managble overall but I think a little too long for Lil Isaac. We left the house at 10+am and only reached home at 6pm. Gosh, I was exhausted by then. I fell asleep on the sofa at 7pm until 9pm to tuck the princess to bed. And I was right about Lil Isaac taking revenge in the night. He slept so much and nursed so little in the day and he woke up for milk at 11pm, 1am, 3am, 5am, 6am and nursed at 8am, 9am and even 10am. -_______-" And he often latches for comfort and will latch for 10 mins on only one side and fall asleep again. No amount of tickling can wake him. I was also too tired to try to wake him and was grateful that he wasnt wide awake after nursing but pissed that he woke up so many times yet nurse so little, robbing me of my beauty sleep.

I am tired, I better catch some sleep before Lil Isaac wakes up for milk again and before the princess comes home and demands my attention. Zzzzzz... Oh ya, must practic emore and learn how to latch Lil Isaac outside.

Mummy Lim

Dirty Post

Last night, Lil Shauna went to bed diaperless and I fell asleep after tucking her in. I forgot that she was diaperless and to help her put on diaper when I woke up for the 1st night feed. In the end, she wet our bed. She 'fell' on Daddy Lim who was sleeping on the mattress on the floor and he felt her wet butt. He changed her and helped her put on diaper. So nice of him.

Then, during one of the night feeds, I smelled Lil Isaac's poo poo while latching him. As he appeared to not want to poo poo some more, I changed his diaper. I put him on the sofa and just as I cleaned his butt and took away the soiled diaper, he gave an explosive poo poo with a loud fart! It was so loud that both I and Lil Isaac jumped. And he soiled the sofa. -.o"

So, I have a soiled bed and sofa in one night. -.o"

Mummy Lim

Weird Dress Sense

I miss those times where Lil Shauna will don anything that I make her to. I will dress her up so nicely before we go gai gai and I will be uber proud of her. She has come to a stage where she wants to be independent and wants to chose what she wants to wear. It is a torture EVERYDAY after shower cos it will be so tough to coax her to wear something. She will run around naked or take ages to choose what she wants or cannot decide what she wants or insist that she wants to wear something that is in the laundry or wear something that is totally unsuitable, like a jacket. It just drives us crazy. So, we now have a situation where she will wear gaigai clothes at home and insist that she wants to wear home clothes to go gai gai. -___________-"

Now, we have to get her approval before we buy something for her and that still doesnt mean that she will wear it. But if it is something that she doesnt want, we can be sure that they can sit in the drawer to collect dust until such a time that she grew too big for them. Faint.

It irritates me even more that she will pick only that few pieces to wear despite all the great and nice clothes that I buy for her. The nice clothes are just collecting dust despite my numerous attempts to "sell" them to Lil Shauna. She insist that she doesnt want to wear them. Now I understand why some kids can have a great wardrobe but always end up wearing that same few pieces.

Just today, I spent almost an hour coaxing her to change into proper attire. 1st, she wanted to wear a shirt that is pretty worn out and getting a little too small with a tutu skirt. She is going to an indoor playground with the cousins and I dun see how she's going to climb around in a tutu skirt. I told her that the tutu skirt is not appropriate and she bargained to wear her pyjamas long pants instead. -.o" I took a long time to coax her to change out of the top and skirt and wanted her to pick one of the 2 really nice white tops that I bought for her but she has never worn before with a recently bought new purple Gap shorts. In the end, the shorts was my only success. She still insist on the worn out top. -_______-" Then I tried to help her put on knee length socks but she screamed murder and I have to give in to her demand for some other socks cos we were running out of time. Goodness me, my idea of dressing her in a sleeveless white top and a purple demin shorts with knee length socks totally failed lor. Boohoo. And I dont think I will ever have my way with her liao. This is one of those times that I rejoice at the thought that I have 2 kids. Now, I can at least turn my attention to Lil Isaac and make him wear what I wanted until such a time that he starts resist. Hohoho. But boys clothes are so boring. Haiz.

Mummy Lim

Orientation

Lil Shauna started attending playgroup in February this year. She took a long time to warm up and still needs auntie MA to stay in the class with her for a short while or we will end up with a crying kid. I heard that she's not very participative in class but will come home and sing for us what she has learnt in school. She can now recognise numbers and some alphabets. Thus, school is good.

Although she adores her teachers, we are switching her to a new school next year. The current playgroup does not focus much on academic aspect. Our princess will be attending pre-nursery and we have signed her up with a church in the Jurong West area. This will also allow her to have exposure to a Christian background at a young age. If the school is good, she will do her nursery and kindergarten years with the school too. The class duration is 3 hours and she will have to take school bus to school. Unlike her current playgroup, parents/ guardians will only be allowed to accompany the kids on their 1st 3 days and they will then be on their own. I shivered at the thought.

Daddy Lim and I brought Lil Shauna to her orientation last Friday. Her new class will probably have about 12 to 16 students and all of them are born in year 2008. As expected, she clamped up and cling on to us the moment we reached the church compound, like what she usually does in an unfamiliar environment. It took us lots of coaxing before she was willing to join the rest at the table to play toys.


And they had mandarin music session and Lil Shauna again adopt her koala bear stance. She refused to stand, refused to participate while the rest of the kids tried to imitate the teacher and dance to the music. Some of the kids looked so much younger than her but she is the only one clinging on to me, refusing to let go. I sense big trouble. She was a little more willing to join in story time and was willing to sit on the mat but refuse to participate when the teacher asked for volunteers. I seriously duno how she will survive school come January 2011. I already foresee alot of crying and I-don't-want-to-go-to-school every morning. Haiz. I should start praying that she will miraculously love to go to school then.

The only big plus point is that the school has a huge outdoor playground with slides and cars and stuff. Lil Shauna came alive when we left the class and saw the playground. All the previous shyness left her. -.o"


I am not sure what she was scared of. The teachers? The crowd? Too many adults? She is fine when she's at the playground or when she saw other kids. We went for breakfast at a nearby MacDonalds after the orientation and she saw a jie jie at the table beside and even asked the jie jie for her name lor. Then she initaite to wave to a mei mei at the table behind us. So why is she so clamped up during class? Haiz, I just hope that she will suddenly overcome all the shyness come January 2011.

Mummy Lim

2 Kids

It is super frustrating when both kiddos fuss at the same time. The younger one will not stop until I latch him but the older one wouldn't let me go insisting that I play/ carry/ feed/ pat/ sayang/ fill in the blank, while the younger one wails on. Going to the younger one will immediately set on the crying sensor in the older one. -.o"

It is during this time that I wish there are 2 of me or that my breasts can be detached from my body or that the kids have a switch. A switch that allows me to turn one off 1st while I attend to the other one. Seriously, I don't know how to handle them simultaneously. I flipped, throw in the white towel if I have a choice. Heng I still have my mum and helper. Time will pass, they will grow up, things will get better.

Mummy Lim

Diaper Free

We have been quite successful in toilet training Lil Shauna so much so that she refuses diapers most of the time now including nap and bed time. But seriously, diapers must be really uncomfortable. Lil Shauna always end up with sticky butt when clad in diaper. Then, there is the nasty diaper rash.

We had allowed her to go diaperless most of the time now including nap time but had to help her put on diaper after she's soundly asleep in the night. Cannot lah, too dangerous liao. And I dun think she's ready to wake up in the middle of the night to use the toilet.

She can now hold her pee and only let go every few hours. When she's in good mood, she will tell us that she needs the potty. Otherwise, she still very much required our prompting. There are still many accidents. In fact, she can soil many bottoms a day but at least we are progressing.

Lil Shauna has started to go diaperless in school this week. She peed in class on the 1st day but went accident free subsequently. She still doesn't know how to tell the teachers that she needs the toilet but auntie MA stayed around to make sure that she uses the school toilet during the toilet break. To us, this is a great achievement already. We are hoping that Lil Shauna will be able to go diaper free when she attends pre-nursery next year. Hehe.

And there are episodes that she goes diaper free and without accidents when Daddy Lim brings her to the playground or when ah mah brings her to Centris. Lil Shauna also sometimes goes diaper free in Centris. Hehehe. Hopefully, she can soon go diaperless even when we bring her go gai gai. Yeah!

Mummy Lim

Forgetful

I was undressing Lil Isaac just now to get him ready for bath. He was lying half naked on the bed, waving his arms and kicking his legs, probably reflexes and looking totally helpless. Suddenly, it dawned on me that I dislike this infancy stage and that there is a long way to go before this squirmy thing will be independent. And I was wondering why did I choose to go through this again. Afterall, I tried this 29 months ago with Lil Shauna and I already knew that I dun like it. -.o"

It must be forgetfulness. -.-" Human beings are plain forgetful. After 2 years, I forgot how painful pregnancy is and how dreadful is it to take care of newborn thus our decision to have one more to torture ourselves. Hahaha.

Maybe I can take comfort that time will pass really quickly and soon Lil Shauna and Isaac will all grow up and I will forget how difficult time had been. Hohoho.

Mummy Lim