Bz Mommy

I blogged about Dawn’s bicycle in Feb, and since then, Dawn has improved in her cycling.  I think its time soon to remove the guiding wheels :p

Anyway, daddy brought Dawn for her cycling trips again and see how this girl shines under the sun!

Love her hat…looks like a Japanese?

Daddy took this photo to show me how fast she can peddle on her bicycle.  And he claims that he has to walk very fast or at times run after her!

Due to Eva’s appearance, we had to ask Dawn to be understanding and that we have to stop our weekly family outing on the weekends for a month or so.  Dawn is a very understanding girl and she looks forward to May (I was having confinement in April).  And she keeps saying that we are going to the beach for picnic and sand play in May.

We had so much things to do and the sand play only happened in the last weekend of May, at a very last minute decision on a Sunday morning.  Phew, at least we honor our promises to her.  Daddy is great! Even though it’s only a 30 mins stay in the park, he disregards the hassles and brought the whole family there! Yes, with little Eva.

So off we went, packing Dawn’s bicycle & sand play equipment and Eva’s pram into the car boot.

Of course little Eva can’t play with Dawn Jie Jie and she slept soundly under the shade and the sea breeze.

I had to stay with Eva and also look after Dawn’s bicycle, and so hubby found a stool with a good shade for me to rest while waiting for them. This is how far I was away from them.

Happy Dawn under the sun!

They didn’t have much time to build a proper sand castle (as we have to go back home for lunch), but Dawn’s has great fun.  She’s proud with filling up the sand in one of the tool and brought to show me 3x! Love this girl!

I realised as I become wiser (aka older), I am less of an outdoor person.  Used to love the sun so much, tanned until my friends call me “Orh lu lu” (means black/tan in my skin colour), love the beach and the water even though I do not know how to swim.  I even went to a sand treasure hunt thingy in Sentosa – digging for treasure balls in the sandcastles under the noon sun! How crazy was that?

Now?  Scare of sun because it can cause pigmentation on my face, hate the sweat running down my forehead and my body, hate the aftermath sweat smell on me and the insects or disgusting things that are lying on the ground.

And I spotted this after sitting at the stool for a good 25 mins! GOSH!

It has started to decompose and it’s head has many holes with the flies flying though all the holes. PUKE.  And worst, I wondered in my mind whether worms will all surface if the body is flipped away from the ground..gosh gosh gosh

….. and it’s not on a real lion but a bubble one..

We were at Vivo City and saw a tent where children can take the “Animal” rides.  It’s expensive though, $8 for a 5mins ride ><;

Because it was so hot that afternoon and thus we had to convince Dawn not to go to the open-air playground @ Vivo but to take this ride instead.

And it was Dawn who chose the lion ride.

Daddy said that she knows how to drive it! Dawn claimed that she will drive a car next time and drive papa and mama around next time

pardon for the blur photo..:x

Having a gap of 4 years since taking care of a baby proofs that memory can really fail when we are not doing the “job” everyday. Ever since Eva was here, I realised that I had forgot alot of stuff during Dawn’s baby days. Now that it’s still fresh in my mind, jotting down some notes incase need to refer again.

• ♥ Cheap maternity clothes can be found in Carrano.  Why spend so much for casual maternity wear? I went to the Carrano at Bencoolen mall. I did buy from Spring Maternity too, for working pants and dinner dresses.  For weekend wear, Carrano is sufficient.  If you are lucky, you might find some suitable for working too!

• ♥ Most Newborns cry for milk every 1-1.5 hrs after discharged from hospital. Reasons? Either we didn’t hear their cries in hospital because they are in the nursery or they have finished their 3 days reserve in the body and are really hungry. As what most internet reference will state, it’s not that the mother does not have enough breast milk, it’s because the stomach of a baby is so small that they can’t drink enough to last them longer than 1-1.5 hours. So breastfeeding mums, be patient and just keep feeding.

• ♥ It’s tiring for the first 2 weeks when baby and mother are discharged from the hospital. So mothers should get as much rests in the hospital for that 2-3 nights stay. Hopefully the friends and relatives understands that the mother needs alot of rests! Baby poo when breast-fed? Ring that bell and ask ms nurse to help!

• ♥ Besides crying for milk, newborns cry when they first reach the house because it’s a different environment and surroundings. Having sleeping in the womb for 9 months, and staying in the nursery for 2-3 nights, it’s “too much” for them to understand why need to change bed/surroundings/people again.

• ♥ Remember to ask the baby’s PD to provide the cord powder @ discharge so that you can start using it when back at home.

• ♥ It’s very common for babies to have air (colic) in their stomach and cry non-stop or become very fussy.  Instead of bringing the baby to the PD and pay a fee for the consultation, buy the Dentinox Infant Colic Drops from Guardian-like pharmacy.  If you go to PD, it will be the same that they will provide.  Tried it for my Dawn (and get chopped a near $100 including consultation fees) so I am a smarter mum now with Eva.

• ♥ Same, if babies have cradle cap, buy the Dentinox Cradle Cap Treatment Shampoo from pharmacy.

• ♥ Use good nappy cream if you can.  I tried those cheap nappy cream on Dawn before (those that sells like less than $10 for 2-3 tubes) and resulted in nappy rash.  I swear by Desitin Rapid Relief Cream now.  Expensive, but a tube can last for long time.  And it’s good!

• ♥ Mentioned in my previous post also, get the glass bottles from hospitals, they are great for small feeds as required by the baby.  For breast-fed mums, if you have decided to breast feed but also to pump and feed by bottles (so that you have some rest while the family members help to feed and bond with the baby), buy the teats and bottles when there’s sales.  I was in much dilemma because I want to breastfeed but read from forums that buying teats will “give excuses” and not successfully breastfeed in the end.  I think that’s not the point anymore, if you decide to breastfeed, nothing else can stop you, not even a teat or a bottle. As my hubby always said to me, it’s a lifestyle that you chose, so if you want to breastfeed and at the same time want others to help out feed so that you can rest, just buy a good pump + the teats to standby before baby is here.

• ♥ No need to buy expensive branded milk bags! Milk bags can be as cheap as less than $10 in a box of 30 pcs.  They are as good as those branded ones and BPA free too.

• ♥ Buy lots of wet wipes if you are a working mum.  Even if you are a stay-at-home mum, I think this kind of money cannot save. I will write another post on wet wipes reviews again.

• ♥ There’s a shop at Bugis selling cheap baby clothes.  They sell like 6 pcs in a pack and it average out to be about $2 per shirt.  Same for mittens and booties.  If you are not able to get any hand-me-down clothes, then you can visit this shop.  It’s opposite the famous temple, the corner shop below the HDB block.  In front of the shop is a public toilet. Why spend on branded baby/newborn clothes when they outgrow them very fast and hardly step out of the house except for doctor’s visits and 1 month old celebration?

• ♥ It is common for newborn to keep dropping the pacifier out from the mouth even though they want it.  They are still learning how to suck and hold on to the pacifier.

• ♥ Get samples for diapers, milk powder etc.  Even from your gynae’s clinic! Being thick-skin will not kill but save a hole from your pockets!

• ♥ Newborns do not need pillows, instead buy the nappy cloth (that comes in 10 in a pack) and use it as a “pillow” for baby to sleep on.  Fold it a few times to form a rectangle shape.  As newborn will sometimes spit out milk (yes, even after burping), having the nappy cloth will protect the mattress.  I would rather wash a nappy cloth then changing the mattress every time when baby spit milk on it! Nappy cloth can also be the burp cloth and the cloth to swaddle the baby in Singapore’s climate.

• ♥ Check this video out on how to burp babies!

• ♥ By 2nd month, babies will need toys to play with.  Toys such as musical mobiles, or anything that are hang above their head when lying down so that they can look at it. Eva loves her musical mobile which has a hippo, ostrich and frog on it.  And she will sound as if she is talking to them if they stopped or moved. Cute!

My mother and my mother-in-law have the same birth-date!  I still remember when Dear & I first talked about it, we were confused with each other because I was talking about my mom’s birthday and he thought I was talking about his mom’s birthday, and then we both came to realised that their birthdays falls on the same day!

And so ever since, we have to ensure that we celebrate both birthdays

This year it’s easier for us because it’s also public holiday.  And so we have lunch celebration for my mom and dinner celebration for my mother-in-law.

Dawn made birthday cards for her PohPoh (my mom) and Nai Nai (my mother-in-law)! She was excited and couldn’t keep it as a secret to Nai Nai.  :D

I realised we have really came a long way, it’s amazing to see Dawn who can’t write or draw (when she’s a baby), and now she can draw human (her imagination is good!) and write her own name. I love her soooo much!

We had lunch at home because mum think it’s easier for us since Eva is still so young.  I love my mom! She’s always so thoughtful

Here’s mom’s signature dumplings, big and fat with lots of fillings!

My mom’s Kong Ba…slurp!

Table full of food!! Sis bought crabs over, too bad I am still breastfeeding and decided not to over eat and cause Eva to have allergy..

Birthday cake which my sis bought over, pretty!

I didn’t manage to take photos for the dinner because Eva was a handful..

But anyways, Happy Birthday to the 2 mothers!

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Eva is 8 weeks old! So fast she is already 2 months!

A little record on some of her milestones :

Weight at birth (25 March) : 2.86 KG

Weight at discharged (27 March) : 2.685 KG

Weight at 1 week old : 2.9 KG

Weight at 1 month old : 3.98 KG

Weight at 2 months old : appro 4.4 KG

It’s amazing how baby change every single day.

Eva @ Day 1 :

Eva @ Day 6 :

Eva @ Day 31 :

Recent Photos of Eva :

Did you see the change?

I posted about Dawn’s car seat a few weeks ago.  See how comfortable she is in the car seat!

I think kids nowadays are too smart.  They know what’s “Arcade” at a very young age!

Though “unfortunately” Dawn gets to know what’s arcade and loves to go there, we limit the frequency and time in the arcade.  Hopefully by the time she’s in primary school, she has already grown sick of arcade..haha!  As parents, I personally think that we cannot stop kids from all these multimedia exposure, or restrict them from engaging and playing them.  The more we restrict, the more they will yearn to want it.  My mother used to scold me for exposing Dawn to PS3, iphone games, computer games etc too early and said that Dawn will not want to study next time….however, till now, Dawn has started to get bored with iphone games (even new games!), PS3 and the old computer games and will stop when she felt that she has enough of them for a session.  Issn’t it good that kids learn how to stop playing when they have enough then to keep nagging them to stop?

Anyway, this is Dawn playing the drum game in children’s arcade, and she is very good at it!

As I was on maternity leave, I went to Dawn’s sports day at her child care centre.

What surprised me was the performance that started off the sports day, and Dawn was one of the performers! I am really glad that I had made the choice to attend the sports day.

A Beautiful Banner made :

Dawn getting ready for the performance :

With her pong pong :

Look at her shaking her little bum! So cute right! In case you can’t spot her, she is the one standing at the 2nd row and just below the Sports Day Banner.

She participated in 2 games and she’s a fast runner!

Getting ready for the games :

Prize ceremony :

Giving a hug to Ms Phoon :

Well done Dawn!