Isaac as of 1st December 2007 (Part II)

Playpen fun time!

Here's Isaac having fun in his playpen. He'd read/lick his Elmo book and play with the set of 3 cloth cubes - except that he much prefers the green cover thingy which holds the 3 cubes. Don't ask me why. hahaha... anyway, he'd always play with them till they're all over his face! It's quite amusing hahaha... take a look yourself... :)

Pictures taken on 1st December 2007

Who's a Teochew Boy?

Isaac is a Teochew Boy!!! Both hubbs and I are Teochew. All four of my grandparents are Teochew; and all four of hubbs' grandparents are Teochew. Thus Isaac is as pure a Teochew Boy as can be!

And yes, we defintely plan to expose Isaac to the Teochew language. In fact, we're hoping to expose Isaac to Chinese and Teochew from a young age so that he can learn to speak these two languages fluently, and be effectively multi-lingual.

For those of you who know me personally, you know my chinese sucks big time. Well, yes, it HAS kinda improved quite a lot since I went Crescent and then JJ, and even much more when I got together with hubbs and actually married him. hahaha... In fact, most of you nice people out there would comment that my spoken mandarin is not THAT bad at all. Yeah my spoken mandarin's quite alright - conversational mandarin that is. I still can't forget the fact that I had to take my "A" Levels Chinese paper 3 times in order to scrape a pass so that I can go uni. tsk tsk tsk...

Well, at home, my parents speak mostly English, with a mix of Teochew. So we don't speak mandarin at home at all when I was growing up coz my parents themselves didn't really know mandarin coz they went to "English Schools" when they were growing up - thus they learnt English and Malay then (when we were for a short time, part of Malaysia). But then again, maybe it's just me, coz my sister's Chinese was almost perfect - she scored "A"s all the time!

Hubbs' side is almost totally opposite. His dad went to "Chinese School" and so is "Chinese Educated". So at home, they speak mostly Teochew and Chinese. So, hubbs' English is quite bad whilst his Chinese is very very good. Well, people also say that his England has improved lots since we got together kekeke...

As for Teochew, people tell me that when I was young, my Teochew was very fluent - coz I was brought up by my maternal grandmother (whom I call "Popo" !!!) and she spoke to me in Teochew all the time. I amtold that I was so fluent that I could sing Teochew songs! However, when I started schooling, I went back to live with my parents, and my Teochew deteriorated from insufficient practice. Now, am slowly trying to learn back my Teochew by practicing it with hubbs. Hubbs tells me that my Teochew has improved a lot since we got together. He's being nice. My MIL still has trouble understanding me when I speak Teochew.

Anywayz, we want Isaac to be fluent in English, Mandarin, and Teochew. Minimally. If he has capacity, I would like him to be fluent in Malay as well. Why? Well... coz both my maternal and paternal grandmothers are Nonya - Straits Chinese - so they both speak Malay. I was especially close to my Popo, and she tried to teach me some Malay when I was young. So... it'd be nice if Isaac learns some Malay. It'd be a tribute to my Popo! :)

So, this is our plan. We will assign different people to speak to Isaac in different languages. Exclusively. As much as possible. I'd be the one speaking to Isaac in English; hubbs in Chinese and my parents in law - Teochew. My parents would probably speak to Isaac in both English and Teochew. And we have a Malay family as our neighbours, so we hope they'd be able to teach Isaac the Malay language (they love playing with Isaac!).

So there it is! That's our plan. If we are successful (which I am sure we'd be), Isaac will be effectively multilingual! And most importantly, he'd be a rare TEOCHEW BOY!!!

Isaac as of 1st December 2007

Cough cough cough

On the night that I was away, 18th December, Isaac developed a cough. He started coughing that night. 19th, when I was back, he was still coughing. On 20th, we wanted to bring him to see a doctor, but the PDs were all closed coz it was Hari Raya - a public holiday. So on 21st, Friday morning, I brought him to see the PD in the morning before I went to work.

By then, I was coughing a little already. Think I got it from Isaac. Over the weekend, Christmas eve, and Christmas Day, our coughing steadily grew worse, and now hubbs has got it too. We've all got the hacking phelgmy cough. It disturbs Isaac's sleep and he has been cranky at night coz of it. So, our sleep gets disturbed too coz Isaac wakes up more often, and it's more difficult to pat him back to sleep coz he is cranky. Think that contributed to my and hubbs' cough getting worse.

So today, hubbs and I dropped Isaac off at my in-laws' place, hubbs sent me to work coz I had urgent stuff to rush out. And he went to get us numbers at the doctors. Then he picked me up late morning, when our numbers were approaching. Went to see doc, had lunch, then came back to sleep off the flu.

I've MC for tomorrow, but I kinda need to rush stuff coz I'm gonna start at my new department come January. Not many working days left this year! Hiaz, think I'd just sleep late and go into office in the afternoon tomorrow.

HIAZ. I've never been on MC so often before. Am seldom sick, perhaps once or twice a year. Even when I was pregnant, I hardly took MC at all. Guess less sleep and all didn't help. The week before, on 13th Dec, I was on MC as well, coz I had very bad blocked nose - wait, oh, yeah - I got that from Isaac too.

Ah well. what to do, I'm always in such close proximity of him that I guess it's inevitable I'd get the viruses from him. hahaha... Though PD says that Isaac is doing very well even though he has flu - largely and probably coz I am breastfeeding him - and hence he has more antibodies and high resistance coz of that. hehehe... Was happy to hear that :)

Okay, so all that's where we've been lah - what with the boobsy retreat, Christmas and all of us being sick - hardly had enough time to rest, much less blog. We didn't even go to the Christmas night party we were invited for - we all stayed home to rest and to sleep!

Have to go sleep already, tired.

Will upload more pix of Isaac, while I go wash the milk bottles and pump :p enjoy!

Boobsy retreat!

It's been such a long time since I did a blog entry that even though I am on mc this afternoon, I decided I shall do an entry till I feel groggy and drowsy from the cough medicine I just took.

It's been an eventful week or so - and I'm not just talking about Christmas!

Did I tell you guys that I'm about to have a change in career path? Well, sort of. I'm going to join the asset management department from January 2008 onwards. It's kinda exciting coz I'm going to do asset management stuff, which is kinda different from lease management / marketing stuff which I have been doing since graduation. The flip side is that I really like the colleagues and the environment in my current lease management department, so I'm really gonna miss them. But then, still in the same company, so at least I can like pop by as often as I like (or as and when I am free, rather!)

Anywayz (see, side-track again), had an all day meeting with the new department on Monday 17th Dec, and on 18th and 19th, went with the new department colleagues on a retreat! A 2 day 1 night trip to KL by coach. "So good! overseas trip!" I hear some of you saying. But I dreaded going on the trip! I was sooooo gonna miss my Isaac, I thought!

Turns out that my boobs was on my mind more than Isaac lor.

I forgot that the coach trip to KL was a good 5 to 6 hours plus!!! And my mammary glands (defined here as:"any of the large compound modified sebaceous glands that in female mammals are modified to secrete milk, are situated ventrally in pairs, and usually terminate in a nipple." ain't that hilarious!?) needed emptying every 4 hours plus or so! I thought I might be able to last the trip up as I have dragged pumping times before for 5 hours plus, but no... coz of the rest-stops and clearing of customs etc, my mammaries started to cry out in pain as early as the Yong Peng rest stop. By lunch time, I was like bursting already but really didn't want to pump there (how to ask for a private room with powerpoint at a malaysian shophouse restaurant?! can't imagine myself trying to explain why I wanted the room for in chinese - "Auntie, wo3 yao4 ji3 nai3, you3 mei2 you3 fang2 jian1?" ?!?!?!?

So, no choice, tahan all the way to KL. Practically grabbed my key from my colleague's hands, rushed upstairs into my room, and immediately started to set up the equipment to start pumping. It was truly sweeeet music to my early a few moments later - I never found the sound of the machine pumping so pleasant and soothing before.... ahhhh..... I happily pumped away for quite a while... (coz got a lot of milk mah) Suddenly, I had a horrific thought - "What if my pump died on me?! I'd be pumpless in a foreign country!? OH NO!?!?!? Immediately, I switched off the pump for awhile to let it rest. Then I swore to myself that I must always bring my trusty manual pump with me every time I leave the country! Which on hindsight, I should have brought with me, coz if worst come to worst, I could always drape a cloth on myself and pump on the coach! Desperate times calls for desperate measures, you know!!!

So for the entire retreat, I was very conscious of my boobs... Of course, I missed hubbs and Isaac terribly. So with Isaac, hubbs and boobs on my mind, I hardly enjoyed the trip at all. Couldn't wait to go home. Was wondering why I even brought my camera along - coz I wasn't interested in taking any pictures at all. Only till at night, after I spoke with hubbs on the phone and was about to go to bed, did I realise why I brought my camera... to see Isaac's pictures and videos!!! Was soooo glad that I had my camera with me then!

With all the pumping, I also tried my best to bring as many blue ice-blocks as I could, so that I could bring back as much milk as I can. Even had to get the hotel staff to place my blue ice-blocks in their kitchen freezer to freeze it, as the room's minifridge did not even have a mini freezer compartment at all.

I'm happy to announce that I didn't have to throw away a single drop of milk. Managed to bring enough storage to store all the milk I pumped during that 2 day 1 night trip. Here's the only picture I took in my entire trip! My milk!!!

Singlish from ang mohs!

Someone sent this to me recently, I think it is hilarious! It's a couple of skits done by kids from an international school in Singapore.

I've always been quite fascinated as Singlish as a language. Someone once pointed out to me before that Singlish actually has its own grammatical rules! And it's true, come to think of it. I mean, like, someone can actually speak "wrong" Singlish. why? coz they got the Singlish Grammer all mixed up! hahaha... not to mention they sometimes don't have adequate Singlish vocabulary to express themselves properly and accurately.

Haha shan't hold you up much longer - enjoy the videos! :)

Singlish Security Lecture



Singlish 101

Shio-nek oei!!!

Isaac has many names. I call him Isaac, most of the time. Well, most people do.

Our friend, Andrina, calls him Emmanuel (Isaac's middle name) coz she thinks that Emmanuel's a very nice name.

My nieces Rebecca and Isabelle calls him Baby Isaac. Actually, we found that a lot of people naturally called him Baby Isaac. As in, everyone automatically adds the "Baby" in front. We were thinking of all the other babies, and we don't ever recall automatically adding the "Baby" in front when call them... but it seems to be the case for Isaac. It's like Natalie, my youngest niece, was born 3 months after Isaac. But we'd all naturally go:" Hi Natalie! Hi Baby Isaac!" hahaha... dunno why also...

My mother-in-law calls him a variety of names. From Wenyuan (Isaac's chinese name) to "Te-Kiah" (piglet!) to "shio-nek" (in Teochew, it means "my precious"). This last name was coined by hubbs, I think. At least, when I first heard it, he was the one who said it. Gollum never fails to pop into my head everytime I heard hubbs go:"Shio-nek oei!!!"

I think it's quite cheeem Teochew, coz I'm Teochew and I never heard of the term shio-nek. Then again, my Teochew's not fantastic. Anywayz, I enjoy putting an angmoh('english') slang onto the term and call Isaac:"shio-nek..." - until hubbs told me:"Wait he thinks he's called Shawnette ah..." hummphh, well HE started it...

Gen, hubb's cousin asked one day:"Does Isaac have any nicknames?" I said:"Oh yes, he's called Shio-nek!" Gen:"Short neck?! hahaha you guys are so mean! his neck is not THAT short!" Me:"what??? oh!!! no, no, not short neck! SHIO-NEK! teochew for 'my precious'!!! hahaha..." Then we all turned and looked at Isaac's neck... hmmm....................


Couldn't see any neck. But heck! We're NOT calling him NO-NECK okay!!!

He flipped BACK!!!

Isaac flipped! He flipped BACK this time!!! I'd been telling him for ages:"Isaac, can you please learn how to flip back? so that you won't wake Mummy everytime you are uncomfortable on your front and want to flip back..." Then hubbs would always say:"Not so fast one lah... he'd be about 6 months before he learns how to flip back onto his back..." HA HA HA! Alright, Isaac!!! SHOW PAPA!!! You did it!!! Well done! hahahhaa...

Isaac flipped on Sunday afternoon 9th December 2007 - that makes him 4 mths and 3 days old when he flipped back. I was just talking to him, with him on his front. Then suddenly, he just tipped over! hahaha I was so excited I went to get hubbs to come see. Then I flipped Isaac over to his front, and asked him to flip back again, so that I could catch it on video. And he did! hahaha... WELL DONE, ISAAC!!!

bloggered!

I've been bloggered. I'm always composing blog posts inside my brain nowadays. But I haven't got enough time nor energy to blog as much as I want to. It's tough working full time, looking after Isaac at night, and being the 24 hour on call CEO of PamMI Pte Ltd, you know.

Initially, I thought now that I'm back at work, I might be able to blog everyday during lunch. However, that was not to be as I would usually wolf down my lunch so that I can go and pump milk.

At night, usually by the time we settle Isaac and get him to sleep, it'd be 9plus or 10plus - sounds early to you, but by then I'd be so tired already. Sometimes, I just fall asleep along with Isaac. Most other times, I'd have to get up to wash and sterilise the bottles and pump funnels for the next day's use. Recently though, hubbs has been very sweet, he'd wash and sterilise the bottles and pump funnels for me, so that I can just bathe and go to sleep.

Coz I do the night duty you see. Nowadays, Isaac doesn't really cry at night. I'd hear him fidgeting and will just pick him up to feed him. He'd be drinking sleepily and would fall back into sleep after he's done. This is unlike the past, where Isaac used to have trouble falling back to sleep and would cry and cry. hubbs would help me out by rocking back to sleep. So, now that Isaac doesn't cry at night in between feeds, hubbs gets a full night sleep.

But if I succumb to temptation to sleep early every night, then I wouldn't have time to blog! So, I'd have to sacrifice sleeping time to blog lor... so poor thing, right? kekeke... Well, it's not that I'm "very free" - but that I make the effort to keep blogging. I dunno how long I can keep this up, but at least, it'd be good for as long as I can. Something is better than nothing, right?

Some people comment that blogs are so silly, and a waste of time. Perhaps, for some people, and some blogs. But I feel that it's nice to have a blog to chronicle the growth of Isaac and ourselves. Yeah, ourselves. Think we're growing to be adults! HAHAHA... oh, you know what I mean. It's no mean feat being parents. And nothing beats being one to really know and understand how difficult it is. Challenging but fulfilling.

Kids nowadays are so lucky, isn't it? When they grow up, they'd have thousands of photos of themselves to look at, videos to see, and some even have blogs to call their own. I feel that this is a way to let us remember how we were like, too. How things were like. How it was going through the tough first few months, the fun of watching and witnessing Isaac's firsts, the pain and tediousness of breastfeeding, the feelings of "fresh parents" learning our way through Isaac.

I mean, humans all have amazingly short-term memories. We all kinda forget something we're not in the midst of. Like now, I can hardly recall how frustrating and tiring it was during the first two months. No, I don't mean to say I've forgotten it all, but that, I'd lost memory of the intensity of those feelings.

I remember, when I was a teenager, going through the usual growing pains and teen-angst period of my life, I used to like HATE my parents (now I don't lah). So I would constantly tell myself that I have to remember my feelings as a teenager, so that next time when I have my own kids, I would understand how they feel. Well, I bet you in 15 years time when I'm yelling at Isaac for something he should or shouldn't be doing - I don't think I'd remember how I felt like being a teenager.

Also, it strikes me how, when sometimes I ask my colleagues, friends or relatives what they did with their kids when they were young and had a certain problem I am now facing with Isaac - they would answer:" Oh I can't remember, it was so long ago."

So, I think this blog is good, in that sense. It'd remind me of this period of time. Of when I first became a mother. Of Isaac in his first few months of life. Of how hubbs and I handled the things that came our way. And hopefully, when Isaac reads this next time, it'd show him how much we love him, and we hope he'd love us equally much in return. [I hope he'd love me as much as hubbs loves his mother. No, wait! I hope Isaac'd love me MORE than hubbs loves his mother! fwwahahhahaha...]

postscript: To all those who say:"Wah, Pamela, you really very free hor, write so much." I have this to say:"I am not FREE. I make it a point to write. I make an effort. I sacrifice sleep to write. I sacrifice going out for lunch to write. I sacrifice watching the news with hubbs to write. To have time to write, hubbs and I have to live with a mess of clothes that are not folded, a living room table which is messy, a dish-holder filled with dishes waiting to be put back into the cupboard. I ask myself:"15 years from now, will Isaac appreciate the writing that I have done here, or will he commend me on a neat living room table and neat stacks of folded clothes when he was 4 months old." The answer is clear :p Besides... you all very FREE hor? Keep coming to read my blog... :p

Isaac is 4 mths old today!

Four months ago, today, on the 6th of August 2007 - Isaac was born! Seems like such a long time ago already! Here're some more smiley pix of Isaac ;p

pictures taken on 22nd November 2007

Am too tired to post, but I thought I HAD to post something on Isaac's 4mth old birthday (since I missed out on posting on the first three months already :p)

Mummy & Isaac

picture taken 18th November 2007

FINALLY - a decent picture of Isaac and I. Decent, meaning, I don't look FAT. Actually, think I don't look half bad in this pic - even though my hair's a mess and I'm all sweaty hahahaha...

People are starting to say that Isaac is beginning to look like me! What do you think? :)

August 2007 Mummies Gathering!

On Saturday just past, we had an August 2007 Mummies Gathering! We're mummies from the SingaporeMotherhood Forum - August 2007 MTB thread. See, that's all of us above, with our babies. A pity some mummies left before we took the picture.

It was quite an interesting experience, this gathering of forummers. It's like we all kinda knew one another, and yet for many of us, it was the first time that we were seeing each other. So it was kinda exciting yet awkward at the same time. We were like strangers, and yet we weren't. [at this point - hubbs, who has been watching me type this entry, comments that I am very longwinded *grrrrrrr*... it's called being descriptive, silly!!!]

Anywayz, it was a weird feeling. I'd almost wish we were all back in front of the computer, all on the forum page. I felt like I wanted to be part of every conversation, to listen in on what everyone is saying, and talking about. Just like in the forum. Then it struck me how voyeuristic it is, to be part of a forum group.

I was thinking, then, what would be a good venue for a gathering for forummers like us. Then this image popped into mind: a large meeting room with a large round table and all of us at a seat, with our computers, typing on the forum, but looking up to see each other's faces whenever someone posts something, to share smiles, laughs, groans, knowing looks, "me also!!!"s and "ah yoh"s etc etc...

hahaha that was just a thought... then of course, we can all take a break by going to the buffet table and coagulating into the various groups that had organised our mini-bulk-purchases be it for milkbags or guccibags or eyebags (haha the last we all have already!)

Well, all in all, it was pretty fun. We all finally got to see each other in the flesh, and our little bubs too. :) can't wait for our next gathering :p

Here's Isaac looking cheeky in the stroller. He was alright for the first half hour, then he got kinda cranky and wanted to sleep. Napped in hubbs arms for a good part of the gathering, then woke up just as everyone was leaving. tsk tsk tsk...


Isaac in the bumbo. Think one of his legs is fatter than the other, coz one side could get in fine, but the other had difficulty going in! :O He seemed to like the seat fine though. Here he is staring at the satay that his Papa is offering him... He doesn't seem to realise that it's food... guess it looks kinda different from Mummy's n*pple ;p (yes yes dun be grossssssss...)

And here's Double Isaac!!! :) Nining with Ike (short for Isaac) and me and Isaac!!! :)

ISAAC: International Standard Apparatus for Absolute Conditioning

Picture taken 26th October 2007

See. That's the ISAAC and me. My newly acquired gym equipment. Barely 3 and a half months old. It's the critically acclaimed International Standard Apparatus for Absolute Conditioning. I used to weigh 81kg at my peak. But over the past three and a half months, I have lost 14kg! That's like 1kg a week!!! All thanks to ISAAC!!!

It's an integrated system that is customised for my every need. Seeing that my biggest problem is excess calories, the ISAAC applies the Double S technique to alleviate this situation for me. Basically, it Sucks & Siphons the calories itself out of my body at every 3 hour interval! How's THAT for direct results?!

Next up, it deduces that my arms are flabby and proceeds to engage me in intense weight lifting. Everyday, I would have to lift the ISAAC itself - at least 20 repetitions a day. Minimally 20 times. The exercise trains and tones all parts of the arm, very thorough indeed. But the most beautiful part of the system, is that the weight that I lift would increase everyday - without me even realising it!?!? Ain't that a beauty?! I've been gradually lifting heavier and heavier ISAAC without even realising it! Can you imagine my delight when I found out that I can now lift a weight that is more than double the original weight that I used to lift at the start of this exercise regime!?

Then comes my big blob of fats at my tummy. The ISAAC knows the way to go - is to do more crunches - "abdominizer" style. Thus, all I have to do is to hold the ISAAC on my tummy and it would push and exert a pressure on my tummy and I would (and should) tense my stomach muscles so that it provides an equal and opposite force to the push coming from the ISAAC. The picture above shows me doing a set of the ISAAC : Abdominizer Crunches. Currently, I have yet to see much effect from these. I think it's coz I haven't been doing enough sets of it. The ISAAC knows this and is constantly signaling me to do so.

Lastly, the ISAAC senses that I have thunderous thighs and a humongous butt. Thus, it ensures that I am constantly on my feet, rushing here and there in the house taking things, washing things, doing things - basically keeping me busy so that I am always on my feet and do not have the chance to rest on my vast behind.

I hear from other people who have the ISAAC (and similar equipment) tell me that, in the near future, the ISAAC would even start to make me run here and there. *Shudder* am not looking forward to that though - I've flat feet and hate running.

All in all, even though it is definitely not cheap at all, I would say the ISAAC has been a good investment. I believe it would continue to yield good results in helping me reduce my weight. A great plus point of it is that it' constantly customises and updates and changes its activity plans for me - so I won't get bored doing the same thing day in day out, month in month out, year in year out.

But the best part about the ISAAC, says hubbs, it that now, I've assets that rival the infamous Amy Yip's... ... ... ... *blush* They're not THAT BIG!?!?

Isaac as of November 2007

The Milk Trail: What a letdown!

The Milk Trail is not all about milk supply. It's also about how the milk gets to the baby. When the baby is born, he would have to learn how to suckle, and the mother should do her part to ensure that the baby latches on correctly. As with anything else, good guidance is important.

In the beginning, I had my fair share of sore, bleeding and cracked nipples. As time went by, I realised that the cracking of the nipples was nature's way of adjusting us and making us suitable for the baby to suckle. I found that my nipple is now deformed. That's to say, it certainly has a different shape from before I delivered.

Coz when the nipple cracks, it is like an earthquake fault line. But it heals very quickly - with an application or two of the wonderliquid breastmilk, it heals right up - a new layer of skin forming over it. Over time, with many of these healed cracks, the nipple starts to elongate and become rather disfigured. A fellow mummy I was discussing this with said that the disfigured nipple looks just like a witch's hat! How apt a description! hahaha!

But I think this is just nature's way of adjusting our body - to fit the little one. Clever, ain't it? :)

This isn't what I wanted to talk about. What I wanted to tell you guys about is this all about LETDOWN. What's that? Well, according books and websites - letdown is when the body sends a signal to the brain that milk is required, then the body releases some chemical to cause the ducts in the breast to constrict to force milk from the milk sacs/glands within the breast into the area around the nipple so that the baby can suck. Something like that.

So anywayz, before we knew what a letdown was, it was pretty miraculous to us. Coz it would seem that there was no milk, or insufficient milk, and just after some chanting of "God, please give us more milk. God, please give us more milk. God, please give us more milk." and the milk would come! Like a bolt of lightning it would hit me! and hit Isaac! For the milk would come shooting out from the nipple! Gushing forth like a water hose! Sometimes there'd be one spray, sometimes two, and sometimes many!

And when that happens - Isaac would SCREEEAAAM in terror!!! He'd choke and splutter and screeeaam with all his might. He'd cry and cry and be soooo angry that he can't drink his milk at all. I would tell him:" okay okay, no more already, no more spray already!" But he'd be too busy screaming and crying to hear me.

If hubbs was around, he'd have to whisk Isaac off to walk and pat and cuddle him to calm him down before returning him to me to let him drink his milk. If I was alone with Isaac (which I often was during the 2nd and 3rd month of my maternity leave), I'd have no choice but to carry Isaac half-dressed and with mybrestfriend breastpillow strapped around my waist (looking like an UFO) and walk around the house trying to calm Isaac down.

Initially, we didn't know why Isaac would cry and cry shortly after he latched on. Then I realised that he would cry when I get a pain in the breasts (it's a warning sign that the letdown is coming), and Isaac would disengage (un-latch) himself, and the nipple would start sprraaaying milk in Isaac's face.

The first time we saw that we were all so amused. hahahahhahaa... actually we still are. hahaha so mean, yeah?! But we can't help it! It's hilarious to see milk spurting out like a shower head! It'd rain all over Isaac's face and he used to get soooo pissed! I'd try my best to aim the sprays of milk into his mouth, or to try to re-insert my nipple into his mouth but he'd get even more pissed. what?!?! don't waste milk mah... :p

After awhile, we got kinda worried. Coz this'd happen everytime I fed Isaac, and sometimes he'd be so angry he'd refuse to drink altogether! So he wouldn't have drank very much. We started to call the letdown The Bolt. It was just like a bolt of lightning! I started to give him suggestions:"Why don't you just swallow? When The Bolt is here, just swallow - you don't even have to suck! isn't that great?!"After some time, I got so desperate I started to tell him:"Isaac, come on, just drink it. Don't waste milk! You know The Bolt is going to come, and Mummy can't stop it, so you just have to learn how to DEAL WITH IT. You hear me?! Learn how to deal with it!!!"

Poor lil' guy!!! Such a demanding Mummy! My million pep talks didn't work, of course. So I went on the internet to go search for some solutions. Some websites suggested that I express some milk before I fed Isaac. I tried that, but it didn't quite work. Even if I'd express out most of the milk, when the letdown come - it was The Bolt striking again.

So, the time came when we went to the paediatrician for Isaac's jab, and we told her the problem we had. So she taught us a very simple solution - whenever I felt the letdown coming (when it hurts lah), I should disengage Isaac from the nipple, and soak up the sprays in a tissue paper, and let Isaac latch back on when the sprays have ended. The only problem is that during the period of time that I disengage him, he might cry coz he'd hungry.

So we tried it. Sometimes I didn't disengage him early enough and he'd be choking and spluttering already and be angry and wouldn't drink. Sometimes I caught the sprays in time and he'd be fine. Yet again, sometimes I didn't disengage him when The Bolt came but he seemed fine with it. So I started to be complacent and did not disengage him all the time. Kept trying my luck. However, most of the time, he'd still get pissed.

I realised it had something to do with the direction of the spray. Then I remembered what the PD said:"Of course he's angry. How would you like it if someone shot a jet of water down your throat using a hose?" hmmm... good point. So I realised that if the spray was shooting down his throat, he'd be really pissed. but if it was shooting at the top of his mouth, then it wasn't as bad. Also, if my breast wasn't very full, the spray wouldn't be as forceful, then he wouldn't choke and cry either.

So how was I to know whether he'd be affected by it or not??? So I started my pep talks again. "Isaac, you don't have to cry. If you can't handle The Bolt, just disengage, and Mummy will soak up the milk, and then you can continue drinking." I repeated this to him everytime I fed him , when he was drinking calmly. After a few days, he stopped crying. He'd disengage and let me soak up the milk. Even if the milk was spraying all over his face, he'd just smile and wait for me to clean it up.

He is such a good boy! Smart too!!! He actually knew what I was saying!!! (YES, I really think so.) So, we finally got past the problem of The Bolt. So much so, that now, at night when I feed him, I can't see the tiny milk sprays in the night, right? So Isaac sometimes ends up with a face spotted with milk till daybreak! hahaha... I truely think this is the secret of his flawless complexion. kekeke... (anyone wants breastmilk? I'm giving away frozen milk... kekeke...)

Here's a picture of Isaac after he was hit by The Bolt :) what a sweet boy!

Isaac is now BOTAK HEAD!!!

Hubbs has been bugging me for the longest time to have Isaac's head shaved. He thinks that botak head babies look very cute, and keeps pointing out other botak head babies that we come across. He also said that he'd cut botak head himself when Isaac cuts botak head.

I was kinda reluctant, coz Isaac's hair... well, it's not much, but at least have some... and quite cute what - wispy wispy baby hair... But then quite a lot of people were saying that babies cut botak head then their hair will grow out again more evenly and thicker...

So I agreed to have Isaac's head shaved. We decided to do it this weekend coz next weekend's schedule's kinda packed, and we wanted to do it before Isaac turns 4 months on 6th December.

So, I was to try to shave Isaac's head :) Well, for those of you who don't know, I have taken hairdressing lessons before and have been cutting hubbs hair (yes yes darling hubbs has been my training head aka guinea pig) for the past 2 years or so. But I wasn't sure if my shaver could shave Isaac's hair coz his hair is so fine, even though I have the 'professional' kinda shaver.

Turns out there was nothing to worry about! The shaver worked fine!!! :) We placed Isaac in the Bumbo seat that Mary had lent us, and Isaac sat in it throughout his haircut! It's the perfect seat for a hair cut session! haha! Here're the pix!

Before pix of Isaac's hairdo

Here's Isaac in the Bumbo seat, trying to figure out what it is, I think!

And that's me shaving Isaac's hair!
After Isaac had his haircut, we bathed him, I latched him, and we tried to make him sleep... coz I was supposed to give hubbs a haircut too! Hehehehe... hubbs decided not to cut botak afterall... but he WAS due for a haircut, so... sleep Isaac! SLEEP!!!

He did. For like 5 minutes!?!? So I actually popped him in his playpen and turned the musical mobile. Yes, ours is hand-cranked. Relative passed this to us, it works well, and Isaac likes it - so we never bought a new one for him. Only thing is it's kinda troublesome coz we have to turn it.

So... guess what?! I had to keep running into the room to crank the musical mobile in between cutting hubbs' hair!!! And I managed to cut hubbs' hair in 4 cranksof the musical mobile!!! hahaha... how's that for speed cutting!!! kekeke...

Here're my two favourite men! So handsome, right!?!? :)

okay!!! CEO of PamMI is moonlighting!!! hahahaha... FREE BOTAK HEAD HAIRCUTTING for babies born this year! FREE HAIRCUTS for men (guy friends only, sorry no strangers kekeke) who like short short hair like hubbs! (no confidence in cutting long hair and women's hair :p) No guarantee that you'd be satisfied with your hairdo, but guaranteed FOC!!! hehehe... I reserve the right to say NO (without assigning any reasons) to anyone who wants a haircut!!! (better put in disclaimer, scully got chee-ko-pek lurking around :p) hahahaha seriously, email me if you require my hairdressing services for your baby - at your own risk! kekeke...

PamMI Pte Ltd

Isaac is fully fed by PamMI Pte Ltd - Pamela Milk Industries Pte Ltd!!! *big*grin*

I have been fully breastfeeding Isaac since he was born. During my 12 weeks maternity leave, I usually latched him on direct for 98% of the time. Thank goodness he can latch on fine. Have been psychoing him since he was in my tummy to "Please learn how to suckle Mummy's breast properly. Please learn how to suckle Mummy's breast properly. Please learn how to suckle Mummy's breast properly." hehehe... goooooood boy...

A month before I went back to work, I pumped while he latched and stocked up frozen breastmilk like crazy. So by the time I went back to work, I had a freezerful of expressed breast milk (EBM). Even when I went back to work, I pumped while I was in office. So, PamMI was in full operation all this while.

Since I went back to work on 29th October, Isaac has been drinking (defrosted and warmed) frozen EBM in the day when hubbs' mother is taking care of him. We went with the FIFO (first-in-first-out) principle of using the breast milk. So he was drinking EBM that was about a month old.

However, when we went to the paediatrician's last Friday, pd was suggesting that we give him fresh EBM instead - i.e. pumped today, drink tomorrow. Coz fresh milk is the most nutritious, right? ;)

So, since Monday 19th Nov 2007, Isaac now has fresh milk to drink everyday. And only the surplus is frozen.

Now this is a major change for PamMI. Coz now day-to-day operations have changed. Everyone in PamMI from the CEO (Chief Expressing Officer) to the Packaging Unit, Storeman, and Janitor (quite messy sometimes you know) has been affected by this change in company policy. We're still adjusting as we speak. (Who's "we"? Me, me, and oh! ME!!!)

Here's how things used to run in PamMI.This is the CEO's workstation: My Brestfriend breastpillow for adequate support and comfort for the client; a pillow to further enhance the comfort of the client and ensure optimum positioning for maximum access to the milk outlet; pumping equipment for expressing surplus milk; tissue for wiping the client's mouth and face when milk gets on them (and a little basket for containing used tissues), and water for the thirsty CEO who finds milk production a very dyhydrating experience indeed.

Here's the CEO with our major (and only) client, providing top notch direct-to-client service and conducting her CEO duties at the same time.

A quick peek at our treasured client... :)

After the session, milk is capped, labelled with date, time and quantity produced, and stored in the refrigerator in chronological order.

Milk is labelled and bagged, and placed in a plastic container and stored so that it will be frozen into a fixed and uniformed shape for efficient use of storage space.

The store(wo)man ensures that the frozen milk is stored in the freezer in chronological order, neatly and efficiently.

Milk is then transported to hubb's parents' place via a Fridge-To-Go and ready for defrosting for serving to the client.

However, now with the change in company directive, PamMI now supplies fresh milk to its client every day. Thus PamMI enters a new phase as the above production line is now half as active and there is a new process in place to handle the fresh milk order.

We hope that everything will be well at PamMI. Till our next report... stay tuned!

Isaac's 4th flip!

I did it!Finally managed to upload the video of Isaac flipping! :)

In the August mummies forum thread, Isaac's one of the first to flip. Plus, he likes to flip at 4am/5am... he is indeed an EARLY FLIPPER!!! hahaha...

Isaac is 6.898kg @ 14 weeks!

We brought Isaac for his 2nd immunisation jab on Friday afternoon. He weighed in at about 6.9kg, and measured 61cm long/tall! (always dunno to say long or tall! hahaha) Isaac is 14 weeks old.

We kinda thought he was big for his age. I mean, not huge, but above average, ya know. But paedeatrician (commonly known as PD) says he's at 50th percentile - i.e. AVERAGE.

hehehe that's fine with me really, I spent my whole life being above average in weight - oh okay, maybe I'm exaggerating a little, but still, I DID spend my whole life working hard NOT to be above average in weight (failing at times) , so I'm happy that Isaac is growing well and strong, but is only at average weight.

Hubbs however, doesn't mind that Isaac gets a little chubby. Coz he figures that as Isaac has his genes, Isaac might lose his baby weight very quickly and become a skinny lamp-pole like his Papa. Or as we call hubbs - the bottomless pit.

Which I think is good what. I mean, to be able to eat all you want and all you can and NOT be FAT?! wow! Gimme that anytime, man!!!

But in the meanwhile, since we dunno whose genes Isaac will inherit for his weight profile - I think we should err on the side of caution and keep him average, yah? :)

Picture taken 27th October 2007