6 months: A day of milestones

[23 July 2015]

Thankful for a day of new milestones achieved. :)

(1st Achievement)

The first time Ethan tried crawling, he had a net backward movement. Haha, so no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't reach what he wanted and to be honest, he moved only a tiny bit of a distance.

So on 23rd July, I laid him on his play mat , placed his favorite toys at a distance in front of him and talked to him, encouraging him to go towards me. It wasn't instant. It took nearly 10 full minutes before he crawled about a good 30cm of more to reach his toys. 

Go, Ethan!

Finally!

(2nd Achievement)

He knows how to hold his own bottle now! :) I'm very surprised and pleased because he rarely drinks from the bottle. And when I say rarely, it's once or twice in a few months! I sent Ethan over to mum on 18th July as we went for the Barclays Asia Trophy and that was when mum taught him how to hold his bottle. Fast forward to the 23rd, we popped the bottle into his mouth and he held on to it automatically! I tried it again the next day and he was able to do it again. So.. Yay! :)

This also means that Ethan is finally not rejecting the Avent bottle. :) 

(3rd Achievement)

The second achievement of the day was that Ethan is no longer afraid of bubbles! 

In the past he would be very afraid if the bubbles went too near him and he would close his eyes and squirm a little. Now, he is able to enjoy looking at the bubbles and reach out to him! Can't wait for more bubble fun together. :)

4 months: First Baby Gathering

[7 June 2015]

Ethan had his first kids gathering on 7 June. He was the youngest as the two other kids were around the age of 1 - 2 years old.

He was generally well behaved, despite wanting to be carried initially and crying a little. He then warmed up to the people present and even fell asleep in the arms of the host's helper! Hehe

So here's my boy at the gathering. Love his cheery face. :)

5 months: Who's that coconut head?

5 months: Let's ^5!

One of his biggest achievements to date is his ability to perform a ^5 with us. One hand or two hands even. :) 

It started with a simple "Hi-5 with mummy, Ethan", before I proceeded to put my palm in front of him and lifted his to touch mine. We repeated this for a few weeks, as and when I felt like it.

So now, I'm trying to teach him how to clap. It isn't easy for him because he is afraid of clapping sounds and I guess he still isn't at that stage yet. So let's see when he would be able to respond to our prompt to do a clap! :)

Happy 5 months, Sweetheart!

On our last visit to the clinic on 11 June, you were 9.3kg heavy and 66cm tall. 

You have no idea how you melt your mama's heart. And I wish u could understand how lovely it is to see your daddy gush about how cute you are and kisses you on your face. 

You are getting more and more active and are also able to interact more with others. You are very generous with your smiles and I love how that makes others happy too. :)

You are still as chubby but I've been told that you have lost some weight. Mummy can't bear to see you lose your chubbiness so soon but I know it's part of growing up for you. We shall start you on solids next month and hope u will eat well! :)

You have started to recognize people and  show your preferences on who you want to be carried by. We pray that you will be a happy and friendly baby who interacts well with all. :)

Pulling hair and grabbing spectacles seem to be becoming a pastime to you. We know it's fun to you but it's pain for us. Haha. Just don't make mama bald, okie? :)

You started to flip over some time last week (11 June 2015) but mama didn't see it; grandma did. However, you only did it once. But you did it so frequently, over and over again on Friday and you made mummy so happy. <3 But do remember to be careful of where you are flipping towards! :)

You are a blessing from God and we thank Him for you. Happy 5 months, once again, Ethan. Have a good one. :)

4 months: Eating his med/supplement

Here's Ethan showing his happy face after eating his Chinese med/supplement. It's amazing how he likes eating it because it sure doesn't look like it is sweet or tasty to me. Hehe.

4 Months: Learning to hug my bolsters

Hello, everyone! Being a baby is sure not easy. Just today, I had to learn how to juggle hugging two bolsters at the same time! One or both of them would always pop out of my arms in no time. Why is that so? Being a baby is sure tough!

4 months: Toys are real yummy

Fun and yum go well together as far as Ethan is concerned. At 4 months, the little bun has started to put everything and anything into his mouth. 

See that chicly in the first picture? He loves that but he hasn't been very successful in gnawing at something so round so it always pops out of his hands. Hehe. He also likes it when I drop the chicky from a height, landing on him with a boom. :D

4 months: Happiness can be simple

We got Ethan a new toy. Initially, he didn't quite like it because of the loud sounds it made. But gradually as we showed the him the toy more frequently, he became more accepting. It was a surprise when we placed him on his tummy and he made an effort to lift himself up for an extended period and laughed so heartily when we set the balls spinning. 

He laughed every time we set the balls going and it was music to my ears. The look on his face was pure bliss.

Indeed, happiness can be so simple after all.

4 months: Found TV and loving it!

We introduced him to Baby TV some time back and he seems to like moving graphics a lot. So much so that if I'm in an urgent need to do something, putting him in front of the TV would be a good bet. What more, he gets distracted by sounds and the TV very easily. If he were to catch sight of the TV, he would stop drinking his milk and turn his head in an attempt to face the TV (shown in pic).

I'm trying to limit his TV time, say I would only let him have it when I need a little time to prepare myself for going out or when I need a little time to regain my sanity. All is fine so far and I'm hoping that he won't get increasingly fond of the big black box!!

4 months: Put your feet together!

Saw Ethan doing this for the first time today. His usual habit is to lift his legs up in the air and he still does, but I also noticed that he was putting this feet together, toes to toes. How cute! :)

When a baby is in our lives... ...

The past few days have been tiring for our family.

Awesome news is my sis in law gave birth to a lovely baby girl... my first niece. The first baby who would be calling me gugu. ♡ Already loving her so much... already finding myself smiling at her lovely face in the photograph.
A newborn is always a worry on his/her parents' minds. Is my baby healthy? Why does my baby cry so much? Is my baby getting enough milk? How's my baby's jaundice level like? And the list goes on. I personally feel that the first month is always very tough - having to deal with worries about the baby, coping with him/her while trying to get enough rest and recover. And of course, if there's hired help in the form of a confinement nanny, manage the helper as well.

And above all this, stay afloat and support each other through the journey of parenthood. Emotions can run wild and I know how freaking crazy it can get! Omg. I was one happy mama all the way until week 2 into confinement when I would cry very easily and for a long time. Wah scared my mum and hubby, man! Haha!

So I hope that my Bro and sis-in-law could settle down and get used to their new routines and also be able to enjoy their newborn. :)

For my side, Ethan was down with a cold. Felt so bad because he was out and about for bulk of the week and it could have been a mixture of over exposure + exhaustion + never wear enough clothes. :(

Feel so bad that I didn't take care of him well enough and it hurts to see him struggle to breath through his stuffy nose. Lesson learnt!

So because of his cold, he couldn't eat or rest well so he was a lil more fussy and cranky than usual. He woke up more during the nights and needed more attention in the day so I didn't really get to rest sufficiently. But really, I've never found myself so OKAY with such situations except for when I've become a mother. ♡

So let's just look fwd to a better week ahead. Life goes on and it will only get better! :)

3 Months: My pair of little hands

At 15 weeks old, Ethan can hold onto round things pretty well!

We gave him a plastic ball on Friday, expecting it to slip out of his hand but to our surprise, he held on to it pretty well! :)

He can now reach out to grab the dangling toys from his gym and hold it with two hands. He also loves to study his hands and fingers and put them together near his chest.

Most of all, he has learnt to appreciate his fist pretty well, often choosing to have a private feast on his own. Haha.

Hungry... put into his mouth.
Sleepy... put into his mouth.
Bored... put into his mouth.
Selfie... put into his mouth.

3 Months: Of cloth, blankie and saliva

Ethan has a special liking for pieces of cloth. The cloth can keep him entertained for long and can also help to keep him calm, letting him feel secured in his sleep. So after observing how he would play with the cloth which we used to cover him, I went to mothercare and bought him a security blanket. It's now his favourite and he hugs it to sleep every day. :)

 

Gradually, apart from hugging blankie, he has also started to put it into his mouth. Yum! Yum! Lol. And at times when he does not have the blankie with him, his fingers would play substitute.

I supposw you can guess there's quite a bit of saliva coming out from his mouth these days. I suspect it's the start of teeth and I certainly hope he won't try to bite me! Hehe!

Here's the little boy with his teether toy :)

His sleeping buddies

So what does Ethan need for a good rest? He needs his pacifier even if he's not hungry and also to hold on to his comfort blankie. :)

I'm glad he has found the things that can give him comfort and help soothe him to sleep.

Sweet dreams, my darling! :)

3 Months: Tummy Time Achievement unlocked

Proud mama moment for me yesterday when Ethan could withstand time on his tummy and support himself with his arms and shoulders.

We were told by the therapist to help him strengthen his neck muscles which seem to be a lil weak at 3 months.

I did not start tummy time with him till recently. At 3 months, he hated being on his tummy and would struggle real hard and cry the house down. Then, he realised that it was futile to resist and just happily rested on his tummy with his head on the mat wheh i turned him over. Even earlier attempts (B4 3 months) were punctured by my soft-heartedness when his cries pierced through the air. Such attempts were less than 1 minute. haha! I tried to justify and rationalise with myself that he was probably not ready and it might be too early, let's wait till his neck is studier.

Then, I started to see pictures of fellow January babies being able to enjoy tummy time, support their neck and prop themselves up. Haha, a big wake up call indeed. Coupled with what the therapist said, I have been diligently doing tummy time for him for the past 2 days and I'm glad the results are good. :)

Next up would be to work on the flipping! :)

Whose toy now? :)

The Charlie Brown that you see here was my little bro's favourite when he was very young. This isn't the exact toy that he adored but it was an extra that we bought - just in case. Yes, it was that precious to him.

Fast forward to today, I can't believe Ethan would have the chance to hold the same toy as my little brother and this toy is about 20 years old already. What a blessing. :)

For whatever reason, I always feel emotional when we discover things from the past, especially things with good memories. And I'm sure, this Charlie Brown is filled with sweet love and memories passed from Ethan's beloved uncle to himself.

Ethan at 2 Months

I shall pen this down before Ethan turns 3 months old!

 

Just a few weeks have made a world of a difference. I'm thankful that I live in an era of technology where taking down snippets of our lives is much easier and accessible. Thankful. :) However, the greedy person in me wish for a camera to me with me 24/7 so as to be able to capture down all the wonderful moments. Wait long long, Mavis.

 

So, it's move on to the updates on our Ethan.

 

HEIGHT & WEIGHT: around 7kg
We brought Ethan to our assigned PD at KKH when he has just turned 2 months old for a routine check. At that time, his weight was at 7.05kg and his length was 60.5cm.

Normally, newborns would put on about 1kg per month and that would mean, at 2 months, Ethan should be around 5.5kg. Naturally, we were concerned if he was overly heavy or if it was a concern at all. However, doc was pretty cool about it as Ethan has the length growth to boot his weight increment.

 

Our lil Ethan and his little muscles bring a lot of fun and joy to the family. :)

Because of his good growth, he can no longer fit into most of his newborn  or 3m clothes. He is mostly wearing clothes tagged 6m to 1 year.
 

HAIR: His hair is still brownish in nature. It has a strong tinge of bronze. Almost like I've done some highlights on his hair. He still has a big turf of hair on his head; thick and fluffy. It's very much thicker in the front but much sparser at the back, probably because he has been sleeping on his back all this time. I've seen a few strands of small hair on his pillow so I think he is starting to shed his hair like most babies do.  I want to try growing it out for him to see how it would be like but the daddy doesn't seem too keen. HEHE!!

 

EYES: Ethan's eyes are still in a dark brown-black shade.

What amazes me is his ability and willingness to hold long moments of eye contact and then smile sweetly to melt my heart. :) To me, it's like his way of telling me... hey mum... I know you love me. I love you too. :)

MOVEMENTS: Ethan enjoys moving his hands up and down and kicking his legs whenever he is having fun with his toys. Same goes when he's upset. Haha. His kicks are pretty strong , must say! 

He has started to like grabbing onto his swaddle cloth. I think the cloth gives him comfort as very often, he would be able to fall asleep while holding onto the cloth. Apart from that, he likes to rest his hands on my chest when feeding. He has also learnt to grab people's clothes. 

As for his legs, he loves to 'stand' on his legs which I think is still too early for him so I would try to minimise that as much as possible.

With his legs, he's able to shift himself up or down the bed so we can put him too close to the edge. 

SPEECH: Ethan likes to talk very much. Whenever I talk to him, he would always look at me in the eyes and smile, before answering me with his baby talk. He is usually very soft and goes "aaawww oooohhhh..."

We observed that there were several occasions when he shouted out "nen" or "nen nen" and most recently, "ma". We are very well aware that these sounds carry no meaning to our Lil baby at such a young age but we just couldn't help by rejoice when we heard them. :)

MILK INTAKE: Due to a few episodes of bad merlioning, we have decided at the start of his 2nd month  to direct latch Ethan rather than bottle feed like before. This has helped very much with the merlioning issue and it has also reduced a lot of anxiety in both mummy and baby. This is because I don't have to worry about warming the bottle quick enough when he's hungry and Ethan would have food in the quickest time possible. He used to take as much as 160ml till 180ml and looking back, I feel that it's too much. I have no idea how much I'm giving him now but I would give him only one side of my breasts each feed.

LIKES:

- He loves his Fisher Price musical mobile. Like totally L.O.V.E. haha! My mum was telling me that I should buy one for him after she has observed him looking at the moving fan and the flaps of the air con. So off we went to search for the musical mobile... He can stare at it for a long time and very often, he would be cooing and moving his hands and legs in delight. 

- He likes to have conversations. He loves it when people look at him.in the eye and need chat with him and he would reply with his own  baby language.

- He likes to be carried, especially for bedtime and when he wants to look at his surroundings.

- He loves to have his head stroked when he's about to fall asleep. :)

- He likes looking into mirrors. Looking into the mirror would make him smile and kick in delight. 

- Weird but true, his favourite part of the house is the kitchen. Whenever he's crying or being fussy, a walk into the kitchen would almost always calm him down immediately. 

- He likes white noise - specifically that of the washing machine.

- He enjoys long walks and bumpy rides so he always sleeps very well when we are out. 

- He loves our old bear, Oli. He would look at Oli, reach out to it and try to touch it and also try to have always conversation with him. What surprised us was how he managed to grab Oli and brought him up a short distance. We thought since he likes bears, we should give the other toys a wash so that he could play with them. But nope, he only likes Oli and Oli only.

- He loves pooping. You will always see a cheery and active Ethan post pooping. 

Dislikes: 

- He dislikes getting his nails cut. Or to be more specific, he hates to have anyone touch his fingers or hands. -_-

- Till now, he still cries bloody murder most of the times during his bath. 

- He dislikes waiting. Waiting for anything that he wants, that's it.

- He dislikes being left alone. He likes to be surrounded by people and have conversations. 'Me-time' is totally not his type of thing. 

- He dislikes being changed out, specifically when we have to touch his hands or when we have to pull sth over his head.

- He dislikes tummy time. While he can hold his head quite steadily for a while, he dislikes having to push and support his head when on his tummy. 

- He used to love lying on my tummy with his tummy to mine. He would then rest his head on my chest. Gradually, he became more active and loves to hold his head upright, turning left and right with ease. We rarely carry him in a lying down position anymore unless he's going to sleep. 

------------------------------------------------------

Time really flies and by the time I go back to work, I wouldn't be be the first to witness all these growth in him. Till then, let me enjoy these magical moments with him. :)

A Promise

I held his pinkie with mine and said, "Let's be best friends forever."

He looked into my eyes and let out the sweetest smile.

A promise is a promise, little boy. Mummy loves you. :)

The worst has happened

The worst has happened. Yesterday was a very eventful day and on top of that, I fell ill. Hubby is not around as he's working overseas and I am down with bad chills and fever as high at 39 degree  Celsius.

I don't dare to touch Ethan at all, for fear of spreading the fever to him. The worst has happened - not being to touch, cuddle and care for my child. But I know with my mum around, he's in good hands.:)

Mummy misses you very much, Ethan boy!

Bathing Hero

The little one would usually make a little noise or wail when we bathe him but today.... achievement unlocked! No crying when bathing. It was an enjoying bathing session for baby and I. :)

Let's do a fist pump, mummy! ♡

Ethan's First / Full Month Celebration with ecreative

Thinking that Ethan would arrive in mid Jan or earlier, we planned to throw a party for him to celebrate his first month. I looked into possible venues, caterer and decorations and was really excited about everything. Came 15 Jan - Nothing. 16... 17... 18... still nothing! By then I had given up hope on throwing a party as our guests would be too busy to join in the celebration since it is on the 2nd day of Chinese New Year. As such, we decided to just give out cakes to announce and celebrate Ethan's birth.

We decided that we wanted to give out red eggs as that would be the best symbol of why we are even giving out anything - to announce and celebration a baby's birth. And we also decided to give out cakes instead of something unconventional such as cookies and durian puffs which I would love to have, but may not be well received by every one.

Price was also a very important factor as we had to give the packages to our families, relatives, friends and colleagues, so we wanted something that is presentable and yet not too damaging on our wallets. Of course, even with an attractive tag, it's very important that the items have to be reasonably tasty.

We did quite a lot of ding-donging around as we were met with some restrictions with our initial choices and we finally settled on ordering from ecreative and I must say it's not bad at all!

What we like:
- affordable packages starting from $5.90 (GST not included)

- it is Halal certified so we could give it to our Muslim friends too.

- friendly and helpful staff! I was served by Ruz via the phone and she was patient and polite even though I made some changes to my initial orders.

- clarity and efficiency. I received my invoice via email very quickly and it's important to me as I dislike being left hanging wondering if my order got through or if the order has been keyed in correctly or not.

- presentable packaging. It arrived in big lovely boxes which are sleek and cute. Totally exceeded my expectations.

- it is near to our home so we could do self collection easily so that only fresh products are distributed out.

- the food items are fresh and quite tasty. We selected cupcakes and they were soft and fluffy. The cream wasn't the best tasting but it was fine. The donuts also tasted good, not dense and stale. We were also happy that the red eggs were evenly dyed!

What we didn't really like:
- I didn't like and wasn't comfortable that I had to give my credit card details to the service staff over the phone. I would appreciate a more secured way of making payment.

- the cream could be make tastier by making it more buttery.

- the cupcakes were not all evenly made. Some had more cake and some lesser. Those lesser were levelled by putting in more cream but I didn't enjoy having so much cream in my cupcake. Less cream more cake, pls!

- ecreative gave us a lot of plastic bags which I think is meant for us to put the boxes of goodies in. But the plastics bags were not exactly the nicest looking around. To be frank, the box itself is quite sturdy so I don't think there's need for those extra plastic bags.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

On the whole, we are happy with ecreative, especially with regard to the box packaging. It would be even better of they could make slight improvements based on what we observed.

Little Ethan at 1 Month Old

Say Hi to little Ethan! :)



Hair color: A lovely head of brown-black

Eye color: Brown-black as well

Eyes: the shape of his eyes takes after me but just like his father, he has lovely double eye lids. He has long eyelashes, just like his daddy and mummy.

Nose: hard to tell for now but it is button-like! There were initially quite a lot of white specks on his little nose and mum says it's pretty common for newborns. I'm glad it has since cleared up! :)

Lips: Dedinitely mine! Just like mine, his lips dries and peel very easily.

Face shape: Definitely mine since its round and bun-like. Hehe

Ears: he has lovely ears that take after his daddy but he has hairs at the rims of his ears!



Other features: Ethan takes after me when it comes to the hair compartment. His amount of hair totally spells MACHO. Haha! He has a full head of soft hair when he was born and what more. Much hair is found on his back and also the rims of his ears. People usually marvel at his hair and it's a good conversation starter! Lol.

Feeding: Ethan is on total breastfeeding and we alternate between direct latching when it's more convenient to do so (when we are out, in the night or when he is crying very hard for his milk).

Alternatively, when Hubby or my mum is around to help, we would be using the bottle.

Currently, he takes about 140ml at one month. He can last for around 3 hours, but when he falls asleep when directly latching, he would then wake up every 2 hours for his feed.

He also requires us to segment his feed into 3 parts by burping him, otherwise, he would usually vomit at the end of the feed.

The best thing about feeding (whether directly or using a bottle) is that I can talk and play with him and study his facial features closely. He's changing every single day and I'm trying to grab hold of every single moment of his babyhood.
Sleep: Theres no fixed timing that we try to enforce but generally, he is able to sleep at night. The thing that we are trying to get him to learn is to go to sleep by himself rather than needing us to be there. His current favorite sleeping position is to lie on our chest on his tummy. However, he tends to fret easily in the middle of his sleep and would need us to pat or carry him before he would calm down.



Movements: Ethan is quite active for his age. At around week 1 to 2, he started to love kicking hard with his legs, especially when we were changing him, seemingly to tell us of his displeasure. He would kick so hard that we were worried might propel himself up and hit his head on the wall. There were a few times when he was kicking so hard that he was propelling himself away from us as we were trying to take his clothes off for bathing.

Needless to say, bathing him can be quite a challenge for all of us as he would struggle and kick hard when in the tub, making it hard to have a tight grip on him.
He would also kick his leg against each other or at our arms as we carry him as he's impatient about having to wait for his milk.

He would sometimes also try to push us away using his hands and arms and when i rest him on his stomach against mine when he's unwilling, he would also use his arms and push hard to move himself away.

It's also interesting to note that he is now able to use his hards to push his loosen pacifier back into his mouth.

By week 2, he was already able to lift his head off from our chests slightly and currently, he's able to to it for a longer time even though his head is still quite weak.

Pacifier: We introduced the pacifier to Ethan very early on at around his 2nd week as he was fussing quite a bit and the pacifier brought him much comfort. It was even more comforting for us to know that he isn't addicted to it! Hahaha! Yesterday, I was told that he pushed the pacifier into his mouth and that pushed it away purposefully immediately after. He also does not demand for it on normal days after and is able to sleep well without it.



Eyes: Initially, perhaps due to his developing sight as like all newborns, he would always look at things from the corner of his eyes which made him very sly-looking or very discontented. That has stopped gradually and he is now able to focus on an object and follow its movements from left to right.

He's extremely curious about the world around him and loves to be out and about. Recently, he has also taken a liking to lights. He would stare long at the ceiling lights or also the TV.

Smiles: His first smile was a day after he was born and till now he would give us smiles when he's satisfied after his feed, in his sleep or simply when he finds it ticklish when we roll the milk bottle against his lips.

He laughed for the first time on 31st January 2015. It was a short distinct chuckle that's oh so cute. Can't wait to hear more laughter from him!



Other details: The little boy seems to be able to understand our speech. While I highly doubt he understands the content, I believe he responds accordingly due to the tone used. The dad's the disciplinarian and he's the one who uses the stern tone more often and Ethan is usually more well behaved in front of him.

So what about the sounds little Ethan makes? He does not respond to us with his own words yet, but one distinctive one would he going "Aiyok Aiyok Aiyok" when he's crying. Haha!



Alright, here's his progress for his 1st month and we are already looking forward to his development in the 2nd month! :)

Ethan, daddy and mummy love you! ♡

The two firsts.

Yesterday (27th Feb) was the first time I brought Ethan out to a mall on my own! We went to meet my colleagues for lunch at the nearby mall and man, did it take much planning for the whole day just to make sure that I would be on time for the appointment. Haha!

It was slightly stressful, ensuring that the little one got his feed and nap so that he wouldn't fret during the lunch date and I'm glad it all worked out well! My colleagues had a good time playing with Ethan and seeing how Clara took wefie with my boy reminded me that I rarely have photos taken with Ethan! How can!!!? Haha his precious moments without me in the picture??? Hahaha...

Achievement on bringing kid to the mall alone checked! Next achievement would be to take lots a wefie with the little boy.



The hubby and I had the opportunity to catch the Chingay 2015 live and we made the decision to watch the parade together as we know we won't get to have much time together, much less date time, with baby Ethan around. So after lunch with my colleagues, I went home and it was another round of big plans waiting to be executed. I was pretty worried that he would be hungry fast so I gave my mum an extra bottle of milk. The last thing I wanted was for my mum to call me because of a wailing hungry baby.

We had fun at the parade. It's our first time out on our own without the little boy and it's a good time off for us both. Of course, the anxious mummy in me couldn't help but dropped my mum a few messages asking about the boy.

Here's our little one sleeping soundly at my mum's:



The hubby and I tend to want to retreat I to our own little world whenever we have a little free time when Ethan is sleeping. Both of us would be on our phones or iPad or we would be doing our housework and attending to other commitments. While I think it's not exactly good for our relationship if this continues for a long time, I think it's a necessary stage where we get used to the new routine and added responsibilities as new parents. I think it's important that we have some 'me' time away from everything and just cater to our own needs. Our first date without Ethan is a good big step into tuning back into couple-time so I'm absolutely looking forward to our next date together. AND IT'S COMING SOON! :)