8 months - to the zoo (again!)

third time to the zoo for baby yesterday!
was looking forward to bringing baby to the zoo last weekend, but we were rained in, so we made it a point to make up for it during this long weekend. didn't expect the zoo to be teeming with people, but it was, and we were glad that we didn't have to line up to buy tickets (yay friends of the zoo!).

even before going into the zoo, we had a satisfying lunch of nasi lemak (with a huge piece of chicken) and laksa at the ah meng kopi outlet just at the zoo entrance. the huge mugs of iced lemon tea were really refreshing on a warm day. as there weren't any high chairs available, baby had to sit in her pram ... we gave her a piece of cucumber to chew on while we ate, and that kept her occupied for a good 10 minutes or so while we finished up our lunch. heh. :P  

this time, we got to see the animals in the "wild africa" section of the zoo. baby was mesmerised by the otters that did cute flips in the water. we also enjoyed watching the giraffe and zebra moving around in slow motion in the afternoon heat. baby also got to see the elephants again, and we finally made our way to the orang utan enclosure, which was really nicely done with the skywalk portion.

when it was feeding time for baby, we took shelter in the proboscis monkey exhibit, which was quite dark and cooling thanks to some wall fans. was hoping that baby would fall asleep after her feed, but she didn't, and so we had to endure 1-2 minutes of fussing at around 3 before she fell asleep in her pram. we ended the day by chilling out over a pepsi light at KFC waiting for baby to wake up before heading home. good times!

got (breast)milk? stories - 8 month milestone

the past month has been the toughest so far in terms of making sure there's enough breastmilk for baby. first, i had to adjust to going onto a full-time work schedule ... which means having to wake up early everyday (usually before 7) to pump and usually having to rush through lunch so that i can spend whatever is left of the lunch break to pump. then, the place where i'm at now has only one nursing room which is quite heavily used. believe me, i tried looking for alternative rooms, but they only have rooms with full glass doors and panels around here ... bah. hence, i have had occasions where i have to wait for the nursing room and then really rush to get my pumping done in order to be in time for the next class. third, there are days where we spend the whole day outside, which means i don't even have access to a nursing room .... so i have had to use the manual pump in toilets quite a few times already. not the best arrangement, but thankfully the toilets have been clean and my boobs have been cooperative. it also means i have to bring extra ice to make sure the milk doesn't go bad in the cooler bag.
sigh.
must admit that i have added formula milk to one of baby's feeds though ... because the bottles of ready-made formula that my mum helped to get earlier on are about to expire. :D so yes, baby has been getting 2oz of formula everyday for the past week. she doesn't seem to mind the difference in taste (maybe because it is still largely breastmilk in that feed), but it hopefully also means that she won't be rejecting formula milk in future when i REALLY stop pumping.
i hope this is worth it. next month, i will have to contend with two overseas trips ... how challenging.

7 months - baby eats more

i love the recipe recommendations in annabel karmel's "feeding you baby and toddler" which i found in the neighbourhood library. the attractive pictures also get me all excited about trying the various recipes.
baby loves her food and eats everything we feed her (except baby food from jars). she is also very ok with different textures and chunky foods that require some chewing. however, we haven't been all that adventurous when it comes to exposing baby to new foods. she gets fish (threadfin) porridge (made with fish bone & pork stock which i make in batches) for lunch and dinner everyday, but we mix in a different purée depending on what i can find in the supermarket that week. so far, she has had sweet potato, corn, carrot, pumpkin, banana, spinach, broccoli, and most recently red bell peppers mixed into her porridge. aside from porridge, baby also has fruits for dessert. she likes grapes, apples and plums and would probably eat a whole lot if we didn't control how much she eats. she's perfectly capable of finishing a whole australian october sun plum (which are currently in season) in one sitting!
love it that our baby is so fuss free when it comes to food, and most other things in general.

7 months - and loving it

baby is charming us on a daily basis and also learning stuff really quickly.
we play a game with her everyday which involves us asking her, "baby, where's the [insert name of object]?" and she gets plenty of applause when she looks at the object we mention. so far, she has been able to identify the clock, washing machine, potty, 小朋友 (cot mobile) and ceiling fan in our house, on top of her favourite three bears. i am pretty sure she can identify more than just these objects. she probably knows what birds are, given how she loves chasing after the birds that fly around our neighbourhood in the early morning. and i think she also knows that the long steel machine that rumbles past on the track that's just outside our window on a regular basis is the train.
baby has been crawling on her hands and knees for a week or so already, and she goes really fast. she'll always stop, put herself in a sitting position and look behind for us, as if to check that we are still watching her go on her explorations of the various rooms in the house. it's really cute to watch. also, baby is pulling herself into a standing position quite easily in her playpen. sometimes she goes down again slowly by holding onto the sides of the playpen and other times she plops down ... thank goodness for the diaper cushioning!
and she has been saying "baba ba" quite a few times this weekend. she has finally decided to be fair. :D

7 months - nightmares?

for some reason, baby has been waking up at night crying quite badly. sometimes it happens once a night and on other "bad" days, there can be 3-4 of such episodes. certain times, she will cry and then settle herself to sleep again within seconds. but other times, the crying lasts for longer and we have to carry her to quieten her down before returning her to the cot. it doesn't take long to settle her again, but it still means that we have to climb out of bed and go to her room in a half dazed state.
can it really be another of those wonder weeks where she is making a mental leap? the wonder weeks app says they can get "nightmares" during this mental leap phase, so it could be that.
poor baby. and poor sleep interrupted us. hopefully this phase passes soon, although according to the app, the worst is yet to come (or, 1.5 weeks away).
if there are no new posts in the next fortnight, you'll know why. :/

7 months - back to work (ugh!)

posts have whittled down because i just started going back to work on a full time basis last week. the next two months will probably be the most challenging in terms of scheduling because there is minimum flexibility when it comes to starting the day (9am SHARP) and sometimes finding time to pump is difficult as there is that dreaded "networking" to do and there is only one very well utilised nursing room in the whole place! on the bright side, my day ends at or before 6pm, so i definitely get to be home before 7.30pm to bathe baby and put her to sleep at 8.30pm (yes, baby no longer sleeps at 8pm now ...)
i just feel very exhausted at the end of the day, but i still have to pump. twice. before heading to bed. and then it's up before 7am the next day so that i can fit in an early morning pumping session before i head out.
i love my sleep, so having to adjust to an earlier schedule ain't fun.
WE WILL GET THROUGH THIS ALIVE!

7 months - to the zoo!

brought baby to the zoo over the weekend and took the chance to sign up for the friends of the zoo membership. with the zoo so close to home, it made sense to sign up as we would be able to pop by even for just the late afternoon if we wanted to. membership comes with free parking, so all the better!
baby was all excited to see the animals again, and started going "mmm mmm MMMM!" when she saw the animals moving around in their enclosures, just like the last visit. we took the same route this time, so she got to see the babirusa, pygmy hippos and elephants again. we also managed to catch the splash safari show, although i think we sat too far from the stage for baby to bother much about the very talented sea lion. heh.

it's great that baby likes these zoo outings even though she sweats buckets. i think we will probably go back fortnightly if not even more often. maybe we will make it as far as the children's section of the zoo the next time we are there!

7 months - mama, the catch-all word

this is proof of baby saying mama. it's her favourite word right now. she says it when she is out and about in the carrier or in the pram, in between mouthfuls of food, when she is playing alone, when she wants attention. basically, she says it whenever she is in her talking mood. i feel so important. ;)

7 months - fan of the zoo

baby visited the zoo for the first time today. she finally got to see stripey sam and muddy molly in her storybooks in real life.
it was just a short visit in the late afternoon but after seeing her excitement at the various animal exhibits (especially the kangaroo, pygmy hippo and elephant enclosures), i think we will be frequent visitors going forward especially since we live quite nearby.
baby kept going "mmm! mmmm! mmm!" when she saw the baby kangaroos jumping around and was also mersmerised by the pygmy hippos swimming leisurely around.
friends of the zoo application form, where are you?

got (breast)milk? stories - 7 month milestone

sometimes i can't believe that baby is still getting 100% breastmilk now, after 7 months and even with me starting part time work. the 5-6 month period was probably the hardest as i had to adjust to going to work (and having only time to pump once at work) and also baby cutting back on her naps and being clingy while i was at home such that i couldn't pump while she was awake.
however, once baby started on solids at the 6 month mark, things got much better as she drinks less milk now and i am usually able to pump more than a day's supply of milk everyday even on the days when i work. have even started freezing milk again occasionally. lovely!
will be on a full time work schedule from next week onwards, so that's the next challenge we will have to get through. the hard thing is that it is not work, but a two month long course that will likely require me to be sociable during lunch. it will also be close to impossible to slip out halfway through discussions or lectures, so i am wondering when i will get to pump. bah.
in any case, as i told a fellow mum who is still breastfeeding her 14 month old son, i am working on the principle that any breastmilk i am giving baby after 6 months is really a bonus. and again, i give myself a pat on the back for making it this far ... especially having to lug a bulky backpack with the electric pump and cooler box PLUS my work laptop and ipad on public transport on the afternoons that i go to work. when i have to stand in the train with all the barang, it makes the train rides extra long.

7 months - affectionately mine

from babycenter:

"Your baby is learning to recognize emotions and moods, and finding new ways to demonstrate those feelings. One wonderful example: You might start getting kisses. They may be drooly and gummy at first, but they'll be just as sweet! When your baby's bored, you may hear a fretful squawk or an attention-getting squeal."

so are those gentle licks that baby has been planting on my nose with a smile the beginnings of kisses? awwww.

7 months - she claps

baby has been able to clap her hands for quite awhile now, but in the past week, she has been able to do so on cue when we sing the "can you clap your hands?" song. she breaks out into quite enthusiastic clapping when we sing that, and usually with a smile. it's great entertainment for us. realised too that when her grandparents say 拍拍手, baby also is able to respond by clapping her hands as well. wow, we have a bilingual baby here!

7 months - crawling

baby is trying to master crawling on her hands and knees, but she hasn't really figured it out yet, so most of the time she is just on her feet or knees and rocking back and forth. then she usually decides that doing the army crawl on her tummy will get her to where she wants to go faster. really cute to watch.