Such GIANT services.

My experiences shopping at the local hypermarket.


1. Me looking for the nappies/diapers section.

I spotted a friendly shop assistant. I approached her.

Me : Excuse me. Hi. May I know where is the nappy section??
She : **scratches head** Nappy? Huh?
Me : Mmm.. ok, you know, nappies? Diapers? Untuk diguna oleh bayi? (For used by babies)
She : Oh. Nappy! *Points to the kitchen section*
Me : Uh, no. Bukan, saya sedang cari nappies - untuk bayi. (I'm looking for nappies - for babies)
She : Oh, NAPKINS. *she corrected me. And proceeded to point to the right location.*
Me : o_O Uuuh, Ok. Thanks.

2. It's bear-y clean

Cutest Teddy Bear, originally uploaded by fcphoto.

After browsing many minutes at the nappies section, I proceeded to browse at the babies section (I do like browsing at merchandising/merchandise since I used to work in this area). I stood at the end of the isle for something that must be for toys. Before I change isle, an employee appeared from the other end and stopped right infront of some (soft toy) bears. He must've not seen me because what he did next was appalling! He stood there for 2 seconds (perhaps deciding which one to take) and reached out for one of them. He took a medium-sized bear, and used it to rub his nose several times. Eeeeew! I was aghasted. I did not move, frozen in my position.. partly, perhaps hoping he'd see me and getting to see his reaction that he has been found out - a look of shock, embarassment.. ? But no. He did not glance to his left. He put the bear back. Stood there for another 5 seconds before he decided that his nose has been thoroughly wiped clean.

Totally bizarre... and not in a good way.

o_O

So there, wonderful tales from Malaysia.

And no, I did not bring back a cuddly bear from this hypermarket that is synonymous with "everyday low prices, big variety and great value." Oh no, NO.

Week 25 to 27 : Photojournal

(Still cannot sit unsupported, but getting there)

More photos of Shean Wenn in Malaysia.

(With 'Poh-Tou' (means great-grandma in Hainanese))

(With grandma and grandpa)

("Going out - hat for protection from the glaring sun! Dad chose it for me")

(Zzzzzzz......)

She loves laughing and smiling to the slaves family! As grandpa would put it, she is so "ticklish".. she would just burst out laughing/squeeling whenever someone speaks to her or plays with her.


(Sitting on the bean bag watching her favourite Baby Einstein's Neighbourhood Animal)

Happy Birthday, Yen!

How young?

Shean Wenn arrived just in time for my sister's birthday on the 12th!

With the slaves family..

May you be blessed with good people, prosperity, health and happiness.. all year round, every year!

Love,
M, SW and sis.

The diligent crawler

She woke up early in the mornings,
eyes-bright, legs a-thumping;
She utters nothing,
just huffing and puffing;
As she continues to struggle to move forward..
when infact, she is doing very well backwards!
And when she reaches the end,
she hollers "Can you give me a hand?"!

(Timestamp - 7:59:32am)

(Timestamp - 8:18:28am)
(I found her in her cot, legs dangling out)

A new step in the next milestone : Crawling!

1st Week back

(Preoccupied with the mirror....)

This is Shean Wenn's first time in KL and she has been adjusting well... much better than I expected. Her maiden plane journey has also gone pretty well (relatively. Relative to Tobey and some other babies), as she managed to slumber a few hours combined. And I get to rest as well.

Coming home, she is showered with lots of attention and she basks in being in the centre of attention. She will coo, squel and chat in excitement.. charming her great-grandma, grandparents and uncle and aunties.

She also met my friends - WL and MVO came to visit on Saturday.

On Sunday, CG came to pick us up for lunch at BV2.

(Shean Wenn patiently sits in her stroller while chatting with mummy)

Getting her into the car took me 5 minutes. She happily sat on her stroller while mummy was catching up with CG and Prav in Delicious. SK, ML and baby Tobey could not make it this time. I fed her as soon as we sat down in Delicious as it was already her feed time. Delicious's staff happily obliged me with my requests for a pair of scissors (to cut open the RTD formula milk), more serviettes and hot water. Well done!

("Can I have a pair of scissors to cut open my RTD, please?", I requested)

After her feed, she happily sat down while I ate my lunch, which was their Duck Confit Spaghettini (verdict : MOST YUMMY!). CG brought along his SLR and snapped some photos of her. She wasn't in her most jovial some of the time... but CG did manage to snap some lovely shots of her!

("Listening attentively to Praveen koko talk")

SW loved it when Praveen chatted to her... she looked at him attentively and gave some of her own comments as well! :)

(Our first outing back in KL - 9 Dec 2007)

After a hearty lunch (Thanks Prav and CG for the great company and good lunch), CG and us headed for a walk around BV2.... and finishing the day with a cuppa at *bucks!

(ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF CGLOW)

We are here...

thx, originally uploaded by Tsu Lin.

Hot - Sunshine everyday

Humid - It's been raining alot since we came back and I was joking to the family that Shean Wenn brings rain since the same happened when she was born (it rained almost everyday for 2 weeks and Britain's got hit by the worst flood in many years).

How things work - .. or DOES NOT WORK. Was looking for a payphone at KLIA when I touched down. Out of the 12 there, only 2 worked. Classic!

Beautiful! I miss the sunshine so much. Shean Wenn has been coping well since here. Not even suffering from jetlag. More photos will ensue.

Northampton : A visit to see Tobey

We thought we should reciprocate the chip-pea's visit some months back and went to visit baby Tobey - Shean Wenn's friend, up North in Northampton. It was a Friday and the hubs was on leave so we left the house at 9.30am, expecting a drive of 1.5-2.0 hours.

We reached the chip-pea's semi-detached house at 11am. We were early. ML (Tobey's mom) lead us in and we found baby Tobey sitting in his mattress in the living room. He greeted us by giving us a warm smile and bouncing up and down on his mattress, that boy is such a cheerful baby! He noticed Shean Wenn immediately and kept glancing at her. While hubs was taking SW out of her carseat to join Tobey to play on his mattress, Tobey kept tilting his head to his side to try to glance over hub's shoulders to peak at her! How adorable.

The two babies immediately warmed up to each other. Tobey allowed SW to play with his toys, and both of them chatted away (by "chatting", I mean baby-talk). And when Mommy Tobey asked Tobey to "sayang Shean Wenn", you know what he did? He put his hands on SW's face and "sayang"-ed her - Awwwwww.... how sweet is that? And then, he even pecked Shean Wenn a few times on her forehead and cheeks! Such a charmer, that boy!

"Tobey go "sayang" Shean Wenn", mommy chip-pea says.

Tobey trying to give Shean Wenn a friendly peck on the cheek!

Both photos courtesy of the chip-pea

We then drove to Milton Keynes to meet up with SK for lunch. The chip-pea bought us a lovely lunch of dim-sum. It was good catching up with them.

Then as SK goes back to work, the 5 of us (3 adults and 2 babies) went to the Milton Keynes mall for a walk. In the mall, they were having their christmas display, and boy, what glorious display! Very interesting for babies and kids.

The talking toad christmas display

There was a carousel in the midst of this Christmas display and ML bought tickets for us to go ride on it! Woohooo... I must admit, I think I had more fun than the babies. It was my first time going on a carousel. :P

Going round and round.

"Mommy's first time in a carousel" : Here with the chip-peas.

After the ride, ML and I went over to Mothercare where I found a bathing suit for SW at discount (for our impending trip back to the Equator)! *Glee*

We finally left (with a heavy heart) MK mall at 415pm, and got stuck in the (notorious) M25 traffic jam for 2 hours! We got back home at 7.15pm, a total of 3 hours on the road coming back. Ok, we should really avoid going out of or coming into London on a Friday.

Read the chip-pea's version here.

Weaning : Part 2

This is a backdated post - see date above.

Week 2 of the first trials went very well.

On Mon, I got her sat down, put on TWO bibs around her neck (one slightly bigger at the bottom and the smaller one on top so that the mess she creates will be filtered and not dirty her top so much!), one hankerchief on her bottom half of the body (incase her wandering hands decides to smear food all on her thighs). She was quite happy and was really looking forward to "mumm mumm" time.

I gave her half a spoonful and she took to it like duck to water - munching and swallowing as though she's been doing this for awhile. Wow! I'm so proud of her, how and when did she learn this in the span of 3 days? Just last week she was not very excited about it. I would soon find out...

Then that night, she kinda coughed at around 4am. I woke up to check on her, and found her asleep... and practicing munching! That was just so funny! So now I know how she practices. This girl just amazes me - I did not noticed her interest at us eating (we sometimes put her sitting near us during dinner).. somehow, she must've learnt quietly.

FIVE SIGNS THAT SHE LOVES HER FOOD :
1. Leaning forward towards the spoon as I scoop her rice cereal.
2. She almost cried everytime I pulled the spoon away from her mouth to scoop for more.
3. Wanting to grab onto the spoon to stuff into her mouth, but in her haste to do so, she stuffed her own fingers instead! ..
4. .. and started to munch on them (the fingers!).
5. Crying for more despite having eaten almost one-third of rice cereal from the VIA Cup (50ml - every drop of it).


Then, when she had her 4th month vaccination and developed a fever, I decided to stop solid for the day until her fever subsided. It subsided the next day and from then, I have been feeding her solid once a day. Somehow, her sleeping schedule also became better and almost returned to "normal" (when she could sleep 6 to 8 hours at stretch - how I miss those days).


WHAT'S NEXT
Image taken from tesco.com

We bought this Braun handblender and I would be making some mashed potato puree next week for her!


Read updates on the weaning series (updated regularly later), as she progresses in this crucial stage.

Daytime activities

"Look ma! I can lift Cotton Tail with BOTH legs!"

How I, a stay-at-home-mom, spend time with my daughter and what I do with her on a daily basis to develop her skills as she goes through her 4th month.

READING :

Poring over the pages of "Peepo Baby"

I started reading to her since 1 month old. Of course at that time I read to her lying down on the bed, with her beside me. She likes to look at the words when I point them out as I read them aloud. At 3.5 month old, I read to her sitting up, with her on my lap.


TUMMY-TIME AND ROLLING OVER :

To strengthen her neck muscles

She loves rolling over from back to front, especially during nappy-changing time and this is absolutely frustrating to me. And she does this with ease and with such speed I almost have to roll her over again and again and again just to secure the diaper correctly. Hmmph! Cheeky.


PLAYTIME :

Major milestone in this department. Before she turned 18 weeks, she showed absolutely no major interests in toys. She would bat at the toys on her gym, yes... but shove her a toy at her hands and she'll have no desire to hold on to it to explore further. Her interests at toys were merely batting/shuffling them, and if it makes a noise, she will do it another time and that even.. will not hold her attention for long.

I was a tad worried - will she be a late bloomer in this department?

We decided (by "we", I meant "I" :P) to get a new toy for her - the toy of choice is one of Tobey's favourite. A flutterbug (Butterfly) rattle with foldable wings that makes the rattling sound. I demonstrated to her how to have fun with it! After 2 days, she too found it interesting. Her eyes will lit up when I show her the toy. "Hooray!" My heart did a little summersault in delight seeing that she has finally like playing with toys.




And just the other day, while putting her lying on her back on the bed with her flutterbug a little faraway to reach.. she decided she will rollover to reach it. And she did! (She now rolls over in 2secs, really must keep an eye on her as she loves doing this very often.)

VICTORIOUS
"Nevermind the disshevelled hair, I gotcha, flutterbug!"

Her new favourite bunny - Cotton Tail

Mucking around with Cotton Tail

Again, showing interest in her toy.

DISCOVERY TIME : Now at Week 20, she has discovered her toes... and she is FASCINATED by them and would stare at them at length. She would also flex her toes and tries to touch them (doing an abdominal crunch).

"Touching my toes!"

SQUEELING :

Squeeling in a high pitch voice is one of her favourite activity too. She sometimes does this during her "me time" that I suspect she is just practicing her squeeling/laughing. How else do you explain a baby sititng by herself and going "Aaaaahhhhhhh..... Kakakakkaa..... Aaaaahhhhhhh.. KAKAKA".. you get my drift... Perhaps a soprano in the making!

But oh! Does she also love squeeling when daddy comes home and play with her. That girl just knows how to tug at Meng's heartstrings. Hubs will be so happy when he sees her laughing and squeeling at all his jokes!! (Little does he know she does that when she is by herself too)


NAPPING :

An important part of growing for a newborn baby is getting enough sleep. During sleep or naptime, their brains will be busy developing especially from the things that they have seen and learnt during the day. At 4 months old, Shean Wenn now sleeps 2 or 3 times during the day for half hour to one and a half hour stretches, depending on how tired she is. She sleeps more on the bed during the day than previously (before she turned 4 months old), when she can fall asleep on her rocker/swing. She now demands to be put to sleep on the bed during the day!

The rare occasion she fell alseep on her rocker during the day

Weaning : Part 1

Weaning means introducing solids to a baby. The NHS and even babycenter recommend that babies be weaned at about 6 months, or if needed to be done before 6 months, to do it not before 4 months.

As Shean Wenn turned 4 months and a week old last week (18 weeks), I did a pre-trial weaning to gauge her reaction to "solids" (or semi-solid, in this case). I used a gluten-free rice cereal mixed with some formula milk and blend into a runny consistency to feed her.

Feeding her the rice cereal
1st TRIAL : Thursday

I gave her a spoonful and she took to it quite happily, not knowing what to expect. Look at where the food ended up!

She's quite happy with it, but look at the mess!!

2nd TRIAL : Saturday

I thought I should try giving her the rice cereal again. This time, she grimaced but still took in half spoonfuls, three times. She spat out most of it, and together with her saliva, made a mess. She still has not learned the art of swallowing her semi-solid, but I know in due time she will... practice makes perfect!

Halfway through the feed, she got distracted by her toes!!

At week 18, I noticed her drooling has increased alot. She still loves sucking on her fingers or thumb (or both) and her drool will smear everywhere!

Read updates on the weaning series (updated regularly later), as she progresses in this crucial stage.

Geeky joke

The many gems of Facebook - besides being able to keep in touch with friends (long lost, some you don't even remember :P), and getting addicted to its various games/tests... I found this "bumper sticker" highly amusing. It reminds me of long hours slogging with tutorials and text books!


Found it via N's facebook

Week 18

"In my new dress"

Mon (22 Oct)
This is the second time we have to postpone her fourth month vaccination due to her recovering from her cold. We went to see the GP to get a diagnosis, and he said it is just the common cold. I mentioned to him that she had watery poo the night before and he checked and reassured us that she is not dehydrated.

Her fourth month vaccination involves THREE NEEDLES. Ouch.. Her previous 2 vaccinations involved 2 needles each. So this would be an extra jab onto one of her thighs. Be brave, my little girl! Ok, I should say that to myself instead since I am the one with the phobia of needles. :(


Autumn is here
... and it is not very agreeable to Shean Wenn's skin. Her eczema flares up easily during this very cold and dry weather. I have to diligently moisturise her lest her skin becomes too dry and her eczema will flare up.

But oh, look how pretty she is in her pink dress that I bought! I can now finally dress her up in pretty tights and the little skirt **laughs gleefully**




Drinking Water
I have started her on this new water (drinking) regime - to give her once after her sleep in the day or after her bath. On Wed, Thur and Fri, she did not protest much and drank 2oz each time! I am happy! This was after Mrs Chip-Pea advised me on her method. Good one. I hope it is not just a one-off thing but also hope she will, in time, love drinking water (and not be like me).


What's next?
Since I have a long time more to go before weaning her, I thought I shall not lose out in introducing new things to her. I have started to bring out the Avent Magic Non-Spill cup and letting her try to take sips (by sucking) of water on it. She finds this very unnecessary! She will wriggle her nose in disapproval. So far, I have tried to make her get used to the cup at least and also to encourage her hand-eye-mouth coordination by showing her how to hold the cup and putting it in her mouth. She is learning well. :)

Holding the cup all by herself! Good job, baby!

Today, while on our way to the mall, she finally held the cup with both hands and put it in her mouth. Of course getting her to sip it is another task! I will be trying to teach her that in the next week. **fingers cross* Hopefully she will be able to learn to drink water by herself in no time! Oh! What a hopeful mom, I am.

Look mom! TWO HANDS!

Current obsession : Sucking fingers
Yes, she likes to suck her fingers or thumbs, depending on which one finds it way to her mouth. Sometimes while bottlefeeding her, she will grab hold of my hands, and want to try to hold the bottle. And then her hands will inch its way to the teats and then, her fingers will end up in her mouth instead and she will abandon drinking milk altogether! Hmmm.. really a case of finger-licking good - much tastier than her milk, I guess!

**Muacks muacks!**

Week 16 & 17

Photo edited by my friend ES
The photo above was edited by a good friend, ES aka pixel. Thanks ES! See the original photo here.


Under the weather
It was inevitable. The hubs came down with the cold for almost 2 weeks and within a few days, Shean Wenn has caught it from her dad. I was still alright then, but finally succumbed to the cold virus last week. And that was the reason why I did not update this blog. It was torturous, especially with a baby (although she is not feeling well) who is so energetic! She will still wrestle with me to NOT DRINK her water whenever I try to feed some to her. At the end of each session, I will be SO EXHAUSTED I will need to put her down and get a rest myself.

Now, 1 week later, I am slowly but surely recovering... thanks to Superdrug's Vit C effervescent which I diligently drink everyday. It is difficult to care for a baby when you are feeling under the weather.

A walk in the park
The hubs, SIL and I brought Shean Wenn to the park for a little walk after a buffet session (for the adults!) one fine Sunday. This is the Kensington Garden where there is a Memorial Park for the late Princess Diana. During this brisk (and brief) walk, we even managed to take a few photos.

At "The small field of flowers" in memory of Princess Diana


Sleeping
During the night - in specific, the midnight feed, Shean Wenn will usually fall asleep on her own when I put her down after the feed. She usually dozes off after a few small cries. I also noticed she will rub her head vigorously side-to-side before falling asleep. A quick check with Tobey's mom and she confirms that he does that too. And this "habit" makes the hair at the back of her head crumpled up like dreadlocks and created a little bald patch too!

During the day, she usually does not fall asleep on her own easily. There would be more protests (read : crying) or completely refuses to sleep on her own eventhough I can see that she is very tired. After a few cuddles from me, then she will be able to fall asleep on my arms.

But I am determined to "train" her to sleep - and without swaddling. I am not swaddling her anymore as she is slowly out-growing the muslin cloth. It is not an easy task. She likes the freedom of both hands out, but yet has not learnt how to not stir herself up everytime she moved them after almost falling asleep. At the REM (Rapid Eye Movement) state, one or both of her hands will just need to move abit, and she'll be jerked from her sleep and get startled. Then the process will repeat... sometimes she does not get to go back to sleep and will wake up wide-eyed! And if she sees mommy around, she will flash a big smile (and melt my heart)at her, if she does not, she will scream to get her attention... and if I do not get there in time, start to cry. Oh boy, what am I to do with her?

She finally falls asleep... Sshhhhh...


Watching telly
Since she has turned 3 months and 2 weeks, I thought it was the right time to introduce some television to her. My programme of choice was of course The Baby Einstein Series. At first, I showed her the Baby Mozart... and like me, she found it extremely boring! (She pays very little attention to it when I switches it on and prefers to look around her instead. This went on for a few days and I decided to give up on that video) Next, I put in one that Daphne, my SIL gave us. It was the "Animals in my Yard" - and after a few times watching it, I think she finds it quite interesting although she does lose concentration after awhile. But better than nothing! Sometimes she even shrills while watching it halfway. I am not sure if her shrilling is due to something she was watching, or she is just practicing her laughter! But boy oh boy.. does it put a smile on my face when she laughs. :)

The hubs sometimes will put her on his lap to watch various other programmes - Rugby, Football, news, and even our all-time favourite Top Gear. So don't be surprised if she grows up to like these programmes. :P

And one day, when I spread out the mat and put some toys there for her to play, she chose to stare at the TV instead! (It was some property shows I am so fond of watching) Hehe, hmmmm... I wonder if I should limit her intake of TV programmes?

All the toys but she chose to stare at the telly!


Week 17 Stats
Weight : 5.85kg (Lost some weight due falling sick)