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! :)

Feeding our little boy

Ethan has been in our lives for nearly 4 weeks and he's a surprise every day, bringing much joy and laughter to all of us in the family. :)

Milk Intake

When he was born, he was already able to suckle on my breasts immediately when the nurses placed him onto my chest for skin-to-skin contact. I was initially worried that he might not be able to latch on well and that would be quite stressful for the both of us. He also opened his eyes soon afterwards and for the 2-ish hours when we were still in the delivery room, he was all active and alert and didn't go back to sleep at all. Perhaps he too was excited to meet all of us. :)

He feeds very well and on the 2nd night, he wanted to latch on almost all the time. I couldn't sleep and was exhausted and the little boy was frustrated as well. He was wailing badly and I had no choice but to call in the nurse for help. We eventually decided to send him back to the nursery and let the nurses feed him some formula milk. 

He started with 20ml of milk and very soon, by the 2nd week, he graduated to needing 80ml of feed. As of now in the 3rd week, he is taking in around 100 - 120ml of milk every three hours. What more, I suspect he's undergoing a growth spurt and he demands to be fed every 2 hours... By the time we finish feeding, burping and trying to put him to sleep, guess what? It's time to feed him again. Wahahaha. 

Diaper Choices

9Before giving birth, I spent time reading up on diapers reviews and I was adamant on providing the best for my little one. There is afterall so many pieces in one packet, how expensive could it get, right? That was my initial thought and I had my choice set on the brand Merries.

Come Ethan and..... all the poopy business. Haha. I tell you, I think the number of times he poops in a day is more than the number of times I poop in a week! Ethan tends to poop when feeding and after feeding and that would mean at least 2 change of diapers within one feeding period. Together with the fact that he tends to have explosive poops, it's important that we change him promptly so that he's more comfortable.

So the first brand Ethan wore was Huggies which was provided by the hospital. It was not bad and we like that we could tell if the diaper is wet just by looking at the cartoons printed on. The yellow cartoon prints would turn blue if the baby has wet his diaper. That saved us a lot of trouble of trying to peep into his diaper from the side gatherings and made things easier and straight forward for a first-time parent. Ethan took well to the brand and didn't suffer from rashes. What more, I find that Huggies is reasonably soft on his bump and its holding capacity is pretty good!

We also had Pet Pet on hand at that time so we were alternating between them. While Pet Pet is value for money, it is comparatively less soft and Ethan developed diaper rashes once during the time he wore the brand. One plus point about Pet Pet is that its newborn diapers have a special cut-out for the umbilical cord peg hence we need not fold down the front portion of the diaper. The holding capacity is quite good too, similar to that as Huggies, i would say. We used this as the 'Day' diaper since there are more frequent diaper changes in the day and I don't want to risk his butt getting rashes again from wearing the diaper for too long. Wearing this affordable diaper for frequent change does help to save on the diaper costs.

When Pet Pet was running low, we tried the diapers from Giant. Definitely one of the, if not cheapest, of the lot. I like the prints as it was cute and vibrant. However, we found the diapers pretty warm and that it's not as soft too. The holding capacity is not as high and it gets full pretty easily.

We were given a Cake Hamper by a lovely friend and Merries diapers were found within the package. Merries is definitely our favourite so far but I wish the cost is more pocket friendly. Merries is soft and the cotton is breathable. Ethan could wear it for a longer time and not suffer from rashes. The holding capacity is good and it's our 'Night' diaper due to its comfortable material.

Finally, when we have finished using all these, hubby bought Dryers. It was on promotion, selling 2 packets (88 pieces in S) for $30. Very good price I would say. Its performance is commendable; Ethan can wear it for a longer stretch and it can hold quite a reasonable lot of his output as well. The material is soft and comfy as well. Frankly, we will continue to buy this brand of the promotion continues as it's really quite value for money.

So that's all for Ethan's diaper journey so far. We hope to be able to try more brands and find one that us most comfortable and also economical for our little boy. :)

Ethan and Mummy

After I've given birth to Ethan, the excited hubby helped to send pictures to my family, relatives and friends, informing them of the good news. The replies I got were all the same - that Ethan looks very much like me. Or some said he looks exactly like me when I was a baby. Looking back at the first pictures taken, indeed, it is so. The similarities are so interesting, especially when we are of different gender.

The little one has a lot of hair. This was usually the first thing visitors commented on when they first saw him. (He even has hair on his ears!) I didn't have as much, but it was comparable. He also takes after my bun face and thick lips.

His lovely eyes, nose and ears take after his Daddy. Quite a 'fair' mix isn't it? Hehe

After interacting with Ethan for 3 weeks, we found other non-physical similarities between us as well. Just like me, he likes to do lazy stretches and also likes to sleep with his two arms spread open, as if he is trying to lift weights. Haha, of all things to take after, right?

Oh well, I'm writing this post after barely sleeping for 3 hours last night. I can't deny that it's a love-hate relationship and it can be very draining physically and emotionally. Moments when he fussed excessively, I'm just thankful that I could walk away and let my mum handle him while I regained my sanity. But looking at him when he smiles and when he's drinking his milk with a contented look... It makes everything so much more bearable and worthy. :)

Ethan, mummy is looking forward to know more about you as you learn more about us as well. Let's get along well! We love you! ♡

The Last Time

Saw this on my mummies forum and thought that it's a good reminder to self.

:)

一辈子

一辈子很长, 一辈子也很短。
幸好一辈子的路上有你。

♡

Ethan, Our Boy

ETHAN

Strong, Firm and Enduring

He's our boy. :)