Sleeping Bean

Daddy doing his favourite activity of the day - Resting Bean on his chest. This little girl must be so sleep deprived that she fell asleep within a minute.

Slept for a good 25min and Daddy can't move at all.

Bean refused to eat her cereal after waking up. Makes me wonder is she rejecting cereal or simply too tired to eat? She downed her milk though. I poured most of the un-eaten cereal into the training cup to mix with bm and she finished it though.

The just wake up face.

My new friend at Coris

Just wanna say a big THANK YOU to Mummy Sherryl who has been so kind to offer puree to little Xiang Ying. Sherryl is proud Mummy of cute baby Adelle.

Hehe... XY and Adelle can be good friends in future :D

Bean loves cereal

Cereal for dinner on Sunday

Updates on introducing solids

We’ve been feeding Xiang Ying Healthy Times brown rice cereal mixed with breastmilk since last Sat/Sun (16/17th Jan). Weekday evening was a mad rush for us so we stopped her for few days till Thurs where we re-introduced cereal for her again. It took 5 meal times before she mastered the skills of swallowing and showed interest in eating. Now she opens her mouth readily whenever the spoon goes near her. Quite a fast learner I think. She is not so messy nowadays. In fact the new rubber bib is often un-dirtied even after use. As mentioned before in my previous post, the recommended age to start on solids is 6 months. However, due to Bean often has hunger pangs (waking up at 1-2am for milk), we decided to start her earlier. Instead of following the guideline strictly, we do our own judgment whether she’s ready by observing her cues. After having cereal for dinner (about 730pm) and last milk at about 10pm, she is able to sleep till about 6-7am, no longer waking up at 1am for milk. This is good news for her Daddy since he is the one doing shift now. Eversince Xiang Ying “unlatched” herself from Mummy, I no longer have the “signal” to detect to her calls. I sleep till my alarm wakes me.

Besides Healthy Times brown rice cereal, I also started her on Heinz Vanilla Custard on Sunday morning for breakfast. She loves it. Silly me later on realized that this should be served as dessert instead of a main meal. She finished up 2 heaped tablespoons mixed with 60ml breastmilk and drank another 50ml in her new training cup. That’s how much she loves it haha. Anyway I tried a small dip of the Vanilla Custard. Don’t say it’s disgusting of me to do it ok. If I don’t taste it how I know what she’s eating. Tasted kinda sweet and um… artificial to me. XY must be attracted to the sweetness since she probably can’t tell what’s artificial or not. We are giving her all organic cereal right now though I’m not sure how long we can keep this up and how exactly good is that gonna be. Don’t care lah since everyone said organic is good then it must be good right?

The next thing now is that she is taking in less milk. I’m not sure if this is a potential problem or I’m worrying myself unduly but I would have much preferred that she takes her milk as usual. Not to boast or anything but since the last post I mentioned about insufficient supply and supplementing with formula milk, my supply has gradually increased and now that she consumes even lesser milk than before. Current “problem” is the open can of NAN HA1 we opened for a little over a week which she rejected at first and we had to mix with breastmilk and “force” her to drink it. I think in total she drank less than 5 times. Few times we pour it away as by the time we made the formula milk, she already fell asleep. Since my supply is enough for her nowadays, we do not supplement with formula milk anymore. We would eventually have to throw the can away after 28 days opening. *Sigh* This would be the second can of milk powder we are discarding. First can was discarded at week 6 as that was the time I was producing enough milk. Should be happy that she’s getting the benefits of breastmilk but at the same time I find it wasteful. Each can costs a whopping $38 before the price raised. Current retail price is $41.70. Another concern is the bottles of EBM in the fridge. She consumes so little nowadays that we almost run out of bottles to store them. Just for info, we use two 250ml Medela bottles and two 260ml Avent bottles to store in fridge and three of them are almost always full. Again, not boasting but this is quite a hindrance as milk has to be consumed within 3 days. I’m not freezing it anymore. Not that the volume is worth freezing and anyway XY doesn’t like thawed milk taste. That’s my little fussy-girl Princess for you. I have onhand 1 box Lansinoh (50 count), 2 boxes Blue Egg (25 count) and 1 box half used Lansinoh milk bags. Any takers???

The atas feeding tools from Combi

Beanster family outing Jan 2010

Since our family goes out shopping on average once a month, I decided to create this title for easy future reference. Hopefully blogspot is still in operation by the time Bean is old enough to read my blog.

Dinner was at Canele. Was my third visit there and hubby’s first. I always remember to order their House Salad each time. I think it’s Salad Canele but I prefer to call it their House Salad.



It’s ever soooo good! Chokeful of crabmeat with greens (I think is Romaine lettuce), fresh tomatoes, hard boiled egg and a dressing which isn’t too rich (think vinegarette like). Even hubs who is not a salad person agreed it’s good.

I had spicy tomato based pasta for my main.

Tasted alike chilli crab and again they were sooo generous with the crabmeat. *Wondering if XX’s favourite pasta can fight with this or not. Haha*

Hubs had Doria – baked rice.

Was good as well. All of a sudden, he remarked that he felt a resemblence between the Chinese Loh Mai Kai (chicken glutinous rice) and baked rice. I was appalled. Just where is the resemblence?

Dessert was raspberry ice cream with cute little pink rose flavoured sticks.
Don't know what they are called but I like it.

Turned out to be well... different from the pic.

Hubs did a silly thing. He spoon fed the 5 month and 3 weeks old Bean the ice cream! Is he crazy!!! Bean was curious and she kinda responded to that. Haha. That made the hubby very gian to take over the feeding in next meal. He thought it must be easy work and very fun. I did prepare the brown rice cereal and fulfill his wish by handing over the bowl to him the next feed but he gave up after about 2 spoons. So much for his paternal instinct huh!

As usual, a visit to Taka is a must each time we are in town. This time round we got the Combi feeding bowl and spoon/noodle cutter set to match the earlier bought Combi items and some miscellaneous stuff. Also stocked up on my GNC supplements for lactacting Mummies and Fenugreek. Making good use of the Taka additional 10% discount. Oh ya have to mention it here. Just 2 days after I purchased the rubber bib and expensive training cup, everywhere is having 20% off for Combi items. Although I had used CapMall voucher for that but also Dui ma. So we had to purchase some other stuff at Taka to “break even” a bit. I was just telling hubby nowadays the kids are damn pampered. They even need to have a special set of cutlery and utensils for eating. Before having my Bean, I would secretly wince whenever I see a parent taking from their bag a case of utensils for the child. Look what I’m doing here? I bought my Bean an atas set of that. Noodle cutter? Cannot borrow scissors from the service staff is it? Spoon, cannot use normal spoon is it? Answer is: Of course not la. Must use personalized one ok. Before using the Combi spoon, I was using the spoon my Dear Aunt bought for me. It has a rubber tip and long handle. Rubber tip so it’s gentle to baby’s mouth. Long handle to counter in case they tug at the spoon. Was great the rubber tip but Combi’s ergonomic design worked better for babies who just started on solids. The base of the feeding tip was flat so I could easily “sweep” the base at the side of the feeding bowl and feeding will be less messy in this case.

Round up this post with Daddy-Daughter pics. No pics of myself since I am the *ahem* better photographer between us, I take all the pics most of the time.

Hey Mummy, look out for my 无影脚

* LOVE *

* We bumped into 4 friends that day and ALL of them have children. 1 of them is my sec school close friend whom I lost contact for over 3 years. Glad to see that she's doing well now. Her 2nd child is about 2 months older than Bean. Also bumped into the nice couple who attended the same antenal class at Mount Alvernia and we exchanged contacts this time round. Their baby girl is just 12 days older than Bean. The other 2 are hubby's friends. Feeling kinda old now. No longer those days where we can go anywhere freely and without consideration. However, no regrets giving birth to Bean. She brings joy to us everyday! *

Yogi Bean

Caught her in "Child's Pose" early yesterday morning.
This happens to be my favourite position when I was still practising. Haha

Don't ask me how the beanie landed on her back. Some days it even landed on the back of her head without assistance from me or Daddy.

Another round of purchase for Bean

Yeah for my Capitaland Mall vouchers! Which equals to more stuff for Xiang Ying. I decided to buy the plastic kind of bib for her as she tends to make a big mess whenever I feed her cereal. She does not really know how to swallow it yet but this evening, she showed interest by opening her mouth fast for the spoon. I'm also going to introduce to her the training cup. Combi stuff is costly man and if i were to use my own $ to buy it, I'll probably have to wait for some storewide discount. It's really not me to pay $23.90 for a training cup. Mind you the teat have to be changed every stage. And that little toothbrush to prepare her for brushing her... gums. No pearlie yet la. Only a small bit on lower gums.

Cuddly Bean

Aw... we just love it when she does that.

Disclaimer: I had one scene taken when Bean was HUGGING me!!! But those pics were accidentally deleted by the old one. Gosh he IS getting old eh?

Leftover pics from first feeding session

I love all those expressions *LOL*.

Bean's first taste of cereal

Yes, we decided to start her early, before the 6 months mark.
Very challenging. I started with 3 teaspoons mixed with about 20ml breastmilk.
She doesn't really know what was going on since is her first try but it's important to let her try new textures now :D

Next weekend I'll try apple puree. Hope she likes it.
Btw I realised we need loads of bibs when she's really on solids.

Good news and bad news

Can see the empty bag? Yes, that's 1 of the bad news. I'm down to my last pack of frozen breastmilk. Meaning - Bean will have to take supplement of 1-2 feeds of formula milk anytime soon. I'm so struggling to keep up with her consumption. Who said demand = supply? Hehe... hubby still adhering to this rule though.

The other bad news is that Bean is waking up more often then usual for midnight feeds. Previously, she was able to last till 5 or 6am from her last feed at 9-10pm. For the past few days however, she wakes up around 130am for an extra feed. That also explains why it is getting harder to keep up for with consumption: she drinks more than I can pump. I actually slept through it and K is the one who wakes up to feed her. I believe Bean is going through a growth spurt right now and needs to up her intake of milk. The problem with her is, we tried to increase the volume per feed but she does not finish it. Rather, she prefers to have smaller and frequent feeds. *Headache* I told hubby she probably wants to act lady; pretend to be small eater but not enough so keep asking for seconds and thirds. Read: 少量多餐. Haha. This might also be an indication that she is ready for solids. We are planning to start her on Saturday. Not a big feed but just a few mouths to let her feel the texture and taste.

Down to the good news - 2 of them. Firstly, Fenugreek worked for me (I think). Been taking it 3 times daily for 16 days now and my supply went from going back to usual volume to increased by up to 100ml per day. Eventhough increased but still not enough for Bean as mentioned earlier of her growth spurts. The next good news is I broke my record by able to yield a total of 820ml BM on good days. My bestest record is being able to pump 265ml for a single session. Seems a lot right but don't happen all the time la. Only ONCE. Since Bean no longer wants to latch, night feeding gets better for me. Daddy can just heat up a bottle and feed her while I continue to sleep uninterrupted. How good is that!

In her Bumbo seat

I usually put Bean in her Bumbo or few minutes everyday. Have not been sit-training her for past few days and today I remembered to do it. Viola! She can sit well on her own now.

* Yes, she's still wearing that tiny bodysuit bought by her 姨妈 *

Getting ready for 30th Jan

Yes yes me looking forward to the day Bean can start on her solids. I didn't seek advice from PD or other mummies. Just go by my instinct. Planning to start her on cereal first. Not sure which brand is good so we bought 3 different brands to try. In fact the Heinz vanilla custard appeals to me so much I'm not sure I'm buying for Bean or myself.

Right now Bean's expenses don't really cost much. Mainly on diapers since she's on breastmilk. But once she's started on solids, it will surely increase. I'm planning to toilet train her soon so we can use less disposables.

The 3 brands of cereal for my Bean:

Trial run SAHM

Stayed home whole of Tuesday with my baby.
No particular reason. I was tired and wanted to spend more time with her so took the day off.
She's such a darling! Slept 3 hours for her first nap. Woke up drank her milk and fell asleep within an hour on her own. Woke up after a 2 hours and we went supermarketing together. Evening about 8pm, I spent only less than 1 hour to put her to bed. My baby is getting so sensible nowadays!

Here's a video of how she fell asleep by herself. My pillow is there to prevent her from falling off. Eversince she fell from my bed (yes, the high high bed) on Sat night, K fixed a rule that we always have to use props to surround her when she's on our bed.

New Year Sale - Ameda Lactaline Personal Dual Electric Pump

From now till end Feb 2010, take 5% off. UP: $300.
2 units ready stock in SG. Free delivery up to your door step.

Email: pinkdew@singnet.com.sg
SMS: Josephine 98421275

Assortment of videos from last month

The Singing Bean



Daddy makes me laugh



Just fooling around

Mr Laughing-stock's daughter: Little Miss Laughing Bean

It all started on Saturday afternoon when we were trying out best to make Bean sleep. Instead of sleeping, she did a sequel to her 一字马number - 朝天瞪. Sorry not very good with Chinese writing but I think you get it? So I was teasing Bean for doing the action and "hitting" her with her bolster and she felt sooooo amused she couldn't stop laughing! K and I were shocked we didn't know how to react. He immediately recorded her laughter on his iphone. Was a good 1min+ before we decided he'd better rush get the videocam. By this time, Bean was tired and the laughter was lesser and not so um.. hysterical. Ok I've tried the whole of tonight but just unable to upload the voice memo no matter which format. Tried photobucket, youtube and blogger. So there, only the video (forgotten which format) on youtube for your viewing pleasure. Let me know if you interested to join Bean in her laughter, I'll gladly email the voice memo file :D

Anyone knows how to upload that file pls let me know. TIA :)

Happy 2010!

Oops 1 day late...

One of essential items to begin my new year with.
Weekly planner. Bills, appointments etc. Now even record my honeydew flavour with it. My Ah Lim interested to see?

Am I considered "lucky" or what? Got my menses early morning of the new year!
Hey I thought total breastfeeding will delay it? Hmph!! Almost forgotten how it felt like. The months during pregnancy and 5 months after delivered Bean... Yeah that sucky cramp feeling is back. No escape. Am also suspecting my drop in supply could be due to it so I'm not sitting there and taking a chance. GNC Fenugreek to the rescue! I'm already on multiple supplements daily and Fenugreek is just an additional. Was just joking with hubby last night. 1 bottle Fenugreek can last at least a month, depending on how many I pop each day. Still cheaper than giving formula milk. Haha.. just joking. Breastmilk is still the best. I just have to Tong till end of Jan when Bean hits 6 months and then I'm more willing to supplement with FM. Still not too sure if it's gonna work for me yet.



One of my happy moments - when Bean is napping.
New Pupsik beansprout pillow :)