Isaac as of 6th & 7th October 2007

Isaac the sam-seng-kia! Isaac the Thai-boxer!

12 weeks sprinted away!!!

Just like that. 12 weeks gone. Isaac is now 12 and a half weeks old. And this this my 3rd day back at work. how depressing.

Actually, it didn't turn out to be as bad as I thought. As in, I'd thought I'd miss Isaac a lot. Last week, before I was to start work this Monday, I'd often talk to Isaac, telling him that Mummy has to go to work, but that Mummy still loves him very much. Also kept telling him that he must remember me and my smell and who am I and that he must miss me!!! paranoid me, again, very scared he dun remember me how? I can talk talk talk to him until I start crying. so sad, know. He'd always smile and look very happy when I talk to him, but when I start crying, he'd stare at me and stop laughing. Like he knew.

Well, I must say I'm taking this whole coming back to work thingy quite well. I still miss him a lot, of course. But thankfully, am not emotional or teary about it at work. Don't even feel that way inside. Not sure why. I guess, ironically, it helps that I was constantly talking about him these few days. Coz all my colleagues at work would welcome me back with a "How's your baby?" and would exclaim "So cute!!!" when they see his pictures on my handphone.

Also, have been pumping milk at work. So, still feel kinda "useful" even at work - on being a mother, I mean. And of course, it helps that time flies when you're busy and before I know it, it's time to go home, and I can see my darling boy again!!! Can't wait to see him, and touch him and smell him. I'm happy we're bringing him home every night, and I don't think it's troublesome at all with all the shuttling.

Yesterday evening, he refused to drink from the bottle but happily latched on when I offered my breast. hehehe HAPPINESS. ah...

Hiaz. am so totally looking forward to the weekend now... so we can spend more time with Isaac.

Though, I must admit, it is certainly more tiring and strenous to stay home and look after him, than to come back to work. Salute all Stay At Home Mothers - really not easy.

Now, on the bright side, I am hoping to be able to blog every other day now, during lunch. Before, when I was looking after Isaac alone at home - this was hardly possible, as you can see from the frequency (or in-frequency...) of my posts...

hiaz... I miss my Isaac...

The Milk Trail - Part 4: Supply Update

Yes, milk again. If you'd noticed, I actually consciously stopped talking about milk for sometime. Was thinking that it was probably very boring for you guys to keep reading about me and my milk obsession. Yes, I would call it an obsession. hahaha but then again, I realise that milk is a major obsession with breastfeeding mums. We talk about milk all the time. How much milk we're expressing; how often we express; how to increase milk supply/production; etc etc... We're mad about milk!!! hahaha...

So, anywayz, when I last left you on my milk status - I was running short on milk, right? At least, I thought I was. That was during a period of time that I was quite stressed due to the following reasons

1) Isaac started to want to drink at almost every hour every evening.
2) I was faced with the possibility of going back to work in 2 weeks and had yet to build up a store of milk in my freezer - in case I couldn't pump enough to fulfill his needs when I went back to work.
3) I stopped seeing my milk gush out in spurts like it used to when I pumped.

It didn't help that I was stressed - coz then I started to get paranoid that my supply was dropping etc etc... so I actively emnbarked on a quest to increase my milk supply. I surfed the net and mothering forums for tips. Started smsing and msning all my breastfeeding mother friends. And most of all, I started pumping and pumping and pumping.

Which was initially a problem for me. Coz I didn't have time to pump. Coz I was taking care of Isaac alone at home, and he always wants to be carried all the time. Hence, I hardly had the time to pump after feeds as I would almost always be trying to rock him to sleep in my arms. Also didn't have time to wash and sterilise the pump and bottles. Then I leanrt from other bf-mums that one can pump one side while having the child latch on on the other breast.

And so I did that! I started to pump the other side whilst Isaac latched on. It helped tremendously that I happened to have two manual pumps. Thus I could prepare a pump, all sterilised, standby beside the bed, so when Isaac wakes up for a feed, I can immediately latch him on, and yet have the pump right there for me to pump the other side. And after he settles and I can get away, I can wash and sterilise the used pump, and take the 2nd sterilised pump out of the steriliser to standby for my next pump! This was how I pumped my way through the past month at wee hours of the morning. (couldn't and wouldn't pump in the afternoons and evenings as he was still drinking hourly and I didn't wanna have another incident of flat, empty breasts vs hungry baby again.)

As I was still feeding Isaac directly - ie. latching him on - anything that I pumped was literally surplus. By pumping whilst I fed him, I was actually telling my body to produce enough milk for twins. I proceeded to freeze the milk that I expressed - the Expressed Breast Milk (EBM) - a nice breastfeeding term for milk that was squeezed outta our boobies. [Breastfeeding Mum Joke 3: How do you know a mother is breastfeeding her child? When she is very EXPRESSIVE!!! hiak hiak hiak...]

For those not in the know - frozen EBM can be stored for up to 3 months in the freezer, and 6 months if you have a deep freezer. Thus, I started to store frozen EBM. In milk bags - small plastic bags that are pre-sterilised. And today, about a month after I actively started to express and store milk, this is what our freezer compartment looks like (plan/top view)

That's more than 60 bags of EBM we have in the freezer, and we're running out of space!!!

Guess I had milk afterall ;p

Thank God!!! *grinz*

Isaac as of 4th October 2007

hiya guys, just downloaded more pix from my camera to my laptop and you know what - the pictures are starting to look the same!!! think that's coz I keep taking pictures of Isaac when he's smiling. After awhile, his smiley pix all look the same! hahahaha but I love taking smiley pix!!! never the mind!!! I know what I'd do, I'd start taking pix of him with other facial expressions as well, like when he cries or something. YES, he cries. albeit a smiley baby he is, he still cries. well, he IS, afterall, a baby.

hehehe anywayz, here're some more smiley pix of Isaac!!! He who laughes must smile first!!! hahahahaha........

Giving love-bites at 3 weeks old!!!

These pictures are taken on 24th August 2007 - when Isaac was approximately two and half weeks old. Guess what he's doing? Showing his lurve for his Papa by giving him a love-bite! hahahaha many love bites actually! (see 2nd picture below)

We realised early on, that whenever hubbs carries Isaac in that position, and Isaac is hungry, he'd start to suck on hubbs' arm. Coz that's the approximate position of my breast if I were to carry him. And so he would suck. And then we'd know he is hungry. hahaha...

For babies cry for many reasons. So, sometimes we wouldn't know if he was hungry, or if he wanted to be carried, or if he is sleepy and wants to sleep (yes, Isaac cries if he wants to sleep - no, we don't understand why he can't just drift off to sleep without crying) . So when he starts to suck on hubbs' arm, we know...

Gradually, we learned to distinguish the suckle-for-fun-fake-hunger and the real-thing-hungry-baby. Basically - it's how hard he suckles. hahaha... if Isaac is suckling for the fun of it, for comfort, he would lick lick, suckle suckle, gentle suckling. But if he was really hungry, he'd suckle love-bite outta Papa's arm. And as you can see from the love bites picture, he is one lurving hungry guy.

Why don't I feed him? Oh, I do. Just that I needed to get ready, you see. (first time mothers, need more time to get ready you know) so while I get ready to feed him, hubbs carries him and bears the brunt of his hunger. Well at least hubbs has the battle scars to show . Mummies can't bare their sore nipples for all and sundry to inspect ;p

Lately, we realised that hubbs' delicious arm has graduated from being a substitue meal, to being a proper dessert! Isaac loves slurping his Papa's arm after a good meal at Mummy's! It's also his favourie nightcap - a musthave before he falls asleep at night! :)

Isaac as of 18th September 2007

There! This is much much closer to what Isaac REALLY looks like NOW!!! :)

Breastfeeding Mum Joke 2

When does a breastfeeding mum know that her baby is growing up?
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When her baby's head starts to get bigger than her breast!!!


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cheh chehs Isabelle & Rebecca

These are cheh-chehs Isabelle (in blue) and Rebecca (in pink). They are our nieces, Isaac's cousins, my sister's kids. Isabelle is 2 this year, and Rebecca turns 4 in November. My mum takes care of the girls when my sister is at work. I did my confinement at my mum's place, so the girls were there throughout my confinement, often clamouring to see Baby Isaac.

We've been prepping the girls for the longest time, that there was going to be a new baby in the house - two, in fact, as my sister is pregnant and due to deliver in early November. Hence, to the girls the two babies became known to them as "Baby Isaac" and "our baby" (as their little sister's name has yet been set). We were prepping the girls coz they have been known to show bouts of jealousy - which is normal for kids. But it would be good if they were accepting of the new babies.

So even when I was pregnant, I would tell them that they were going to have another playmate soon, and that his name was Isaac. They too, at their age of the constant WHYs?, often asked me "Ee-ee, why is your stomach so big?" and I would reply "That is because someone is inside." They'd ask "Who's inside?" and I would say "Baby Isaac!"

Over time, it became
Girls: "Ee-ee, why is your stomach so big?"
Me: "Because who is inside?"
Girls: " Who?"
Me: "Who???"
Girls: "BABY ISAAC!!!"
and they would ask over and over again, and we would repeat it over and over again and they always laughed and were excited that Baby Isaac was growing inside me.

Sometimes, it'd be
Girls: "Ee-ee, why Baby Isaac still inside? why he don't come out and play?"
Me: "That's because he's still growing. He needs to be bigger and stronger, then he can come out and play."

One day, they asked again
Girls: "Ee-ee, why Baby Isaac still inside?
Me: "That's because he is still growing. He has to grow his eyebrows, his ears, his eyes, his nose..."
Rebecca: "Ee-ee, our baby already grow all these you know. Baby Isaac still dun have?"
I was *stunned* hahahhaa sharp girl she was, coz my tummy then was much bigger than my sister's - who is 3 months due after me. and my sister must have told the girls what their baby was growing by the week, so Becca was puzzled as to why Baby Isaac was bigger and yet slower at growing eyebrows, nose and ears than their baby! hahaha... so I quickly replied
Me: "Oh, he has already! but he needs to grow his legs and hands a bit longer so that he's taller, and he needs to grow and make them stronger..."

But more often than not, it was "Ee-ee, why your stomach so big?" and I'd always reply that that's coz Baby Isaac was inside.

Alas, 3 weeks after I delivered, Becca asked me: "Ee-ee, why your stomach still so big?" Sighz. with a great weight in my heart (and everywhere elsewhere), I replied: "huh... er... coz Ee-ee FAT lor." in the background, I could hear my dad laugh-choking on his drink. *roll*eyes* #@*&#^*#(&@**!!

Isaac @ 1 mth

Well, almost one month. This picture was taken on 3rd September 2007, just 3 days shy of Isaac's one month on 6th. If I recall correctly, this camera was out of action at that time (due to the milk spilt on the shutter causing it to kinda jam up, remember?) so this is the closest I have to Isaac at one month old.

Isaac looks like a big boy, doesn't he? Like his face looks older than 1 month. what to do - think he inherited the chao4 lao3 genes from his Papa. HAHAHA...

Isaac as of 27/28 August 2007

picture taken 27th August 2007

picture taken 28th August 2007

You pig!!!

This is a picture of me and Isaac on 18th August 2007 - 12 days after Isaac was born. How'd I look? FAT, right? well, it WAS just 12 days after I delivered... (trying to console myself ;p)

Anywayz, what I wanted to say was... to complain and let of steam rather, was... that my mother-in-law keeps calling me TE-BOR (read in Teochew or Hokkien) - it literally means PIG-MOTHER (Mother Pig) - though what she really means is "Mother of the Pig" - since Isaac is born in the Year of the Pig.

But it is sooooo irritating!!! Wah lioaz, she keeps on calling me te-bor te-bor... urrghhh... never in my life (fat as I was) have I ever been called a PIG. Now, best - MOTHER PIG somemore. *roll*eyes*

Hiaz, but what to do, it would appear that I am certainly now a mother pig - since I am the mother of a PIG. *roll*eyes* so you see this picture, looks perfect doesn't it? A perfect picture of the Mother Pig and her Piglet. I certainly look humongously FAT here, no doubt about that!

hmmm... come to think of it... since this year is the Year of the Golden Pig - does that make me a KIM TE-BOR??? (Golden Mother Pig?!)

HAHAHAHHAA...

P.S. Hey! No offence against all those who ARE born in the Year of the Pig yeah?! Just thought this would make a hilarious post. Though it really IS quite irritating of my mother-in-law to keep calling me a Mother Pig - I'm half-amused, half exasperated by it, I guess. Well, in fact, the chinese do consider the Pig Year a good year tohave babies - in fact, this year, being the Year of the Golden Pig - is supposed to be a fantastically excellent year to have a little one! I have soooooo many friends and acquaintances who are pregnant! sighz!!! Next time, registering for school will be a big problem!!! jialatz!!!