Confinement lady or not?

After having little Keziah without a confinement lady, I really think I should get one for the 2nd one. Just think of the experience of the first, having to manage everything myself, the tiredness, the little help to coax the little one till it was crisis point really motivate me to want to pay $1800 for a confinement lady to help out. At least I hope I can get more rest and recuperate from the first and not be aching now in the early weeks with this 2nd one. Otherwise, I am not sure if I can go beyond number 2.Also, I want to spend some time with little Keziah even on the arrival of the 2nd to bridge their gap. Don't want to start off with grounds for siblings rivalry.

But some considerations:
1. Where is the CL going to stay? We don't have any spare room and she might have to share my room with me. Otherwise, it's the study room that link the hall and kitchen but that would mean she won't have any privacy. Actually this is our biggest headache!
2. Availability? Having called 2 CLs, both were already booked for Jan. Can you imagine, people already started booking CL at 5 weeks of conception! One of them was even the Mother-in-law who called to book her service.
3. Price. Worth paying for their service? These are mainly Malaysians and if we don't apply temporary work permit for them, fingercrossed we don't get caught and simply have to let them go to checkpoint to have passport stamped again. On top of that, we have to also include her meals while she cooks for Mommy.
4. Good care of baby especially coaxing a wakeful one if that happens again.
4. Good confinement food and REGULAR meals. Otherwise, my mum will have to rush to and fro to bring me food. Hopefully no more diluted red date longan water.
5. Pro-breastfeeding? Able to cook food to support breastfeeding and not like some elders who keep saying that bm not filling, bm not enough.

Any advice?

Grounded Weekend

Somehow little Keziah has been falling sick almost every other month. Last Thursday, think she caught a bug and got a bad throat infection, resulting to a high fever of 39.1 degrees. She was practically sleeping the whole day and rather cranky the moment she woke. This was certainly not her. We had to sponge her down the whole night and she certainly didn't like it. It wasn't till Friday that her fever came down. But that didn't end the story. Next we realised, she was having running nose and cough. The flu bug must be rather dominant. We asked the doctor if we needed to boost her immune system with vitamins but he said there wasn't a need and probably she had been out too much and exposed to the bug somehow somewhere. So with this, a quiet weekend.

Little Shrek in Act

Well Mommy is taking a brief time off during lunch to just put up a post. I really think I should be taking more videos looking at the rate Keziah is growing. There is just so much to document.

Yi Yi brought this shrek hairband for Keziah. Just look at her with it...




She also very keen on 'helping out' with household chores. She so happy with the magic wipe in hand.

Little Cousin Raelyn

Last night, Keziah's little cousin Raelyn came to visit after her return from States a few weeks ago. Actually, I am not even sure that I have spelt her name correctly as her name was really unique. Now only 2 months old, this little baby is actually rather big and definitely of good height. Hearing her cries and seeing her sleep on the chest really reminded me of Keziah when she was that age. They are so similar in many ways. Raelyn is a really lovely baby and certainly looked like her Daddy. Though it was about Keziah's bedtime when they came, nonetheless, we took her down to see the little baby. It's her second time meeting her and we realised actually Keziah is rather gentle with baby despite her being rather strong in her limbs. She was so keen to look at baby Raelyn that she allowed Auntie Jean to carry after several failed attempts to tempt her with food and drinks. She would gently stroke little Raelyn's forehead and pat her on her bum to put her to sleep when asked to. Such a lovely sight. Hope Keziah will be so too when our little one arrives. Just a pity Mommy and Daddy didn't catch a picture of the sight!

A different experience..

Now that Keziah has grown a year past her tiny little stature when she was just days old or months old, it's really difficult to imagine when she was first born. Somehow this second pregnancy is a little different from the first.
1. More exhausted
2. More cramps and aches even though it's only 6 wks
3. More discomfort though not exactly throwing up
4. Distaste for fish somehow which I never had in the past
5. Carbo rush at early stage
6. Shivering hands and legs when the tummy growls though I am seriously not sure if I am really hungry at all. Just an empty feeling
7. Funny cravings at funny times

Looks like this little one is gonna be quite different. Maybe it's true that every pregnancy is different just like every baby is an individual.

We have started telling Keziah her impending pal. It was rather cute on Sunday night when we asked her to sayang the little one in my tummy which has yet to show. She actually did! She can be rather strong with her pats but when it comes to babies she can be really gentle. Sure hope that she truely understand.

Keziah is really starting to behave like a little young lady. She would prop herself down on the platform ledge of our bed to listen to the radio, sit in her little sofa seat to read her books or simply enjoy the comfort like an adult sinking into his armchair, follow an adult but also certainly sure of what she wants when she does. She really cheeky especially when she shows you that smile with her eyes closed. Her little tummy is growing round and tight just as mommy's will be. She now a good cuddle size though I must say the weight is now quite unbearable at 10.5kg for long in the arms. Just amazing how she grows, this wonderful gift from God. Every child is a blessing from God.

Number Two....

God has been gracious to us. With our little wonderful gift of Keziah now at 13 months, it looks like now we are going to be repeating the cycle again. Though it's still early, the visit to the gynae just this Tue shows the gestation sac and the little yolk of life. However, Mommy seems to be having more cramps and backaches comparatively and certainly a lot more tired. By the time Mommy puts Keziah to bed, she too has also unconsciously slipped into dreamland after a whole day out at work. Daddy and Mommy are rather excited. Not sure if little Keziah is aware she's going to be a big sister soon.

First Mother's Day....

Today is our first Mother's Day. But really it's more of celebrating for Daddy and Mommy's parents then Mommy herself.

Lunch was met to be with Grandpa, grandma and yi yi but Yi Yi was not feeling well. So we had to shelf the plan. Anyway, Daddy and Mommy still took Keziah down to Forum to have some fun in the play area after a quick lunch at MacDonald's. *Wink* Looks like Daddy and Mommy are MacDonald's kids coz that's the often place we end up with for a relatively cheap lunch while little Keziah gets her balloon. Today, the nice auntie at MacDonald's made Keziah a hat. She was so excited putting it on at home and showing it off.




We all had a good afternoon threesome nap together for almost 1.5 hour after all the action at Forum. Being well rested was a good beginning to the evening.

Dinner was with Ta Ta, Nei Nei, Shu Shu and XinYi jie jie, not to mention dear Daddy and Mommy. We had a nice family dinner at out favourite Japanese restaurant Ichi Boshi which serves pretty decent Japanese food. The Mother's Day set was well worth the while. Keziah was all smiley. Giggling and grining as she played peekaboo with Ta Ta and making funny faces at Shu Shu. Gee...Daddy let the cat out of the bag by telling everyone that we could be expecting a little pal for Keziah very soon. Haha, for now, let's keep it low till we confirm with the gynae following Tuesday.

Auntie Kareen and Uncle Guowei's Wedding

Yesterday was a busy day for Daddy who was the photographer of the wedding and for Mommy who has to do very much the preparation of meals and taking care of Keziah on her own with some help from PIL.

The most significant event was really the return journey from the dinner. As usual, with every wedding dinner, it usually never ends early. However, with this, the terrible story was the parking at Liang Court. The traffic was madness. We waited like forever for my father in law to get the car out of the carpark that we wondered if anything had happened. I guessed we would have waited almost an hour. Keziah was so tired that she fell asleep as it was way beyond her 9pm bedtime. Daddy had to carry her despite Mommy reliefing off and on for just a short while. It was past midnight by the time we reached home and placed Keziah in her cot. Thankfully, Daddy and Mommy had done the wise decision of changing her diapers and dressing in appropriate wear for sleep to have to rouse the little princess to change.

TV addiction?

Keziah hasn't been really a fan of the TV. However, last week Mommy decided to show Baby Signing Times to Keziah on the TV as she heard from some friends that it was effective in helping babies to sign and communicate. She usually only watched for a short while before roaming around during first two days of viewing after coming home from Grandma's place. However, we noticed that on subsequent days, she actually 'demanded' to watch it on arriving home by pointing to the TV. Is Baby Signing Times so addictive? Anyway on Friday, the DVD player broke down and Keziah just didn't seem to understand despite Mommy's repetitive explanation. She was clearly upset.

Anyway, on Saturday while Daddy was out taking picture for his cousin's wedding and we being home after the church ceremony, Mommy decided to let Keziah have a short entertainment of Baby Signing Times on the MAC. Just look at her...so focussed....

At 13 month...

Today Keziah is exactly 13 month old. Thought it is a good time to do a time check on her development.

So far she can:
* Walk very well now since starting at 11-month. Getting better with each day. She just loves to giggle as she toddle around.
* Climb up and down the sofa and bed
* Very good with pointing to show that she recognises what we are referring to and also demanding her wants.
* Follow simple instructions but really that depends on her mood.
* Throwing her tantrums quite obviously when Daddy and Mommy tells her 'NO'
* Sleeping through the night after a good night milkfeed
* Signing very little now as Daddy and Mommy haven't quite exposed her (work, sorry, wave bye bye, good morning, good night)
* Making a lot of gibberish noise, varying her tones with her moods to express herself
* Chew on a peeled apple on her own
* Smile with mouth wide open when Daddy and Mommy say 'smile'

Things that Keziah loves to do at 13-month:
* Swims and baths
* Taking joy rides on Barney and others
* Feeling and touching to excite her senses
* Reaching out to grab things which are out of her reach
* Anything that is not a toy and new will interest her
* Roaming around the house and porch at her own ease. Or rather she enjoys being out and walking on her own unless it's unfamiliar grounds
* Surprisingly or not, balloons seem to draw her attention
* Taking things in and out of boxes
* Favourite foods: Yougart and fruits (especially bananas)

Daddy and Mommy hope she could soon:
* Start to use recognisable word and call 'Dada' and 'Mama'
* Be interested/willing to self feed herself (ok Daddy and Mommy have to bear with the mess when the day comes)
* Start to use fork and spoon

Whatever said, Keziah has grown to be more loveable each day. She definitely developing her physical skills more than the verbal. Mommy just can't wait to knock off from work each day to give her a cuddle. She is also getting more and more adventureous that Daddy and Mommy are a little worried at times about her safety. Recently, she's been standing up on the bed and run before throwing herself down. Off and on, she gets knocks on her head coz she was simply so playful that she doesn't really see where she is going or throwing herself off. However, Daddy and Mommy realised that she is rather vulnerable to cough. She has been coughing for about a week and the medication from the last visit to the doctor 2 months back hasn't seen to have done much good. Probably, she will have to visit the doctor again if things don't turn for the better soon.

Wedding bells in May and June

Daddy and Mommy realised that there were so many wedding invites for these 2 months. Just over this weekend, we attended 2 weddings. That being said, Daddy and Mommy didn't bring Keziah along as wedding dinners were as usual very late. It was also a good time that Daddy and Mommy could spend alone for awhile while Keziah was taken care by her grandparents. So for 2 nights, Keziah was tucked into bed by her grandparents. Guess it's time for her to learn to have someone else beside her aside from Daddy and Mommy. Heehee, but of course, while at the dinner, Daddy and Mommy were always thinking of how she was and if her grandparents could cope with the increasing mobility and willfulness of this little one.

Uncle Jeff's Birthday....fun out at the Gardens

Well today is labour day and also dear Keziah's Uncle Jeff's Birthday. Of course she has to don on her "I love my Uncle" t-shirt which Uncle Jeff has bought her during her birth to greet him a HAPPY BIRTHDAY.


Just an interesting stunt we caught her in while at United Square shopping for some grocery for her lunch.


AFter a good afternoon snooze, Daddy and Mommy brought Keziah out to the Botanics Gardens for a late afternoon stroll. Now a toddler good on her feet, she definitely loves to explore but Mommy seriously thinks she is rather timid. In a new place and new environment, she rather be carried until she was prodded to walk on her twos.