On a wednesday afternoon

I am not getting enough sleep. Probably have to shift my bedtime to an hour earlier. What else is new right. This is what happens when you are a movie buff and an hour or two of screen time is essential.

Last week, I had a DIY hair coloring session at home to cover my greys. I really liked the outcome. L'oreal does the best haircolour products for hiding grey. Having a nice shade of colour really helps boost confidence! So I went on to do my nails and put on some makeup. Makes me feel younger already!

Also I have finally selected my push present from Poh Heng. An Alpha pendant and necklace which looks very similar to the one Tiffany has. Love it. Have been wearing it daily! And a Coach bag which I gifted myself for no reason. Ah sometimes you gotta give yourself some love.

Liam is growing up to be strong, active and healthy. :)
I've got a nice pic of him somewhere in my computer! Actually every pic of his is a nice pic. Ah found one here.

Apart from shopping, we have been exploring Punggol's Waterway and I must say that it is turning out really beautiful. We have walked from one end to the other and its really nice to have such a huge water themed park so close to home.

I love living in Punggol, not only is it quiet, but exciting as well with plans for amenities such as the sports complex, shopping hub, horse riding etc.

Can't wait!

Shopping, sleep and Lil Liam

Went a bit mad shopping this month, i bought myself a pair of star studded leather shoes for about 60 and a black dress for about 40. 2 shorts, & 3 T-shirts from Uniqlo...Just a couple of hundreds not that much i guess... Oh yah and a black bag from The Sak...

Being a mom with a stressful job does that to you. You need all the shopping you can get to ease the tension~

Mattress on the floor for my toddler
Liam has been co-sleeping with me on the floor after we ditched his cot at 6 months old. What i like about this is that he doesn't need to transition to a full sized bed later. What's not too grt about it is, i have to thoroughly childproof his room. He is a super walker now and is showing signs of climbing...

At almost 15months, he is very hyper, loves to eat, snack, explore, pull the fan and play with the TV remote. It is impossible for him to sit still for more then 2 mins which i find both fun and tiresome. But what's a kid to do eh.

Sleep has been a constant battle. He still wakes up some nights to play. Maybe learning to walk is making him more excitable. Or he is probably just not a great sleeper.

Tree with roots


A Sketch for work ...

A little dusty at my blog

It's been so busy for the past year and a half. I cannot remember any day that i am not fully occupied. I seem unable to find time for personal enrichment such as painting, even playing the piano has taken a back seat.

The latest "fun" thing i did was for Liam's invite.



I have however been reading more as traveling to work from my new home takes a longer time. The last book that i really enjoyed reading is titled The Hangman's Daughter, published by Amazon. If you like Mysteries this is a good book to add to your library. Also, it is based on a true story which makes the book even better. It's like studying history without the boring stuff. :D

Liam's Development
I am constantly amazed at Liam's growth and progress. Lately, he has mastered crawling, progressing rapidly from army styled to a steady four legged position (10 months). Also, his lower front molars finally made an appearance to the relief of his parent and grandparents at 10.5 months. The fever that accompanied it was mild and the fussiness bearable.

Sleep
Liam is a bad sleeper and so far, he has not been able to sleep through the night from 7:30pm to 6:30am. He usually wakes at midnight for a bottle and finally wakes at around 5:30 in the morning. And that is on a good night. On a difficult night, he wakes up to play at 3am refusing to sleep. After 2 hours of playing and crying, he will finally return to bed for another hour and will be up again at 6am.

I hope this pattern will stop eventually. Sigh~~~

Austria
Planning this has not been fun, traveling with 7 other ppl is not easy, adding a baby in the mix is a recipe for disaster. I cannot even begin to imagine 13hours on the plane with an infant. It must be one of life's craziest things to subject yourself to. But here we are on a trip that is supposed to fulfill some lifelong dream of my Father-in-law.

All i hope is for the trip to be as uneventful as possible and to return home sane with no one hurt feelings of otherwise.

*fingers crossed.

Long time no post

It has been a long long time since i last posted. Lately i have been busy with moving, and will still be busy until EVERYTHING is unpacked. Even tomorrow will be fully dedicated to unpacking the stuff for the work room and putting things where they belong. We are both eagerly waiting for more furniture to be shipped and assembled by IKEA so that we will have shelfs etc. to put all the stuff we have into their proper places.

Baby Liam is doing very well :) I love my baby!

I am quite upset that being a working mum i have somehow become a weekend parent. And since i have moved away from my in-laws distance has become a bother so i am not able to see my son everyday but only bring him home on the weekends and try to also visit him at least once on a weekday. Now He stays with his Grandparents from Mondays to Fridays. At least i know he is safe and well taken care of. As for missing him...I guess i will have to get over it

Hopefully when he is old enough to be enrolled into childcare, i will be able to send him somewhere near home and see him everyday after work.

Last week i won free lodging at The Oberoi during a lucky draw at my Company's Christmas celebration. So next year, Hubby and i will be planning a family trip with baby Liam to Lombok on his birthday month! :) It's all quite exciting and i cannot wait! *love love love.

At work, this are going as normal, although my art director has tendered but i guess things will work out slowly and by next year a new team will be in place.

Ah life goes on...

Renovation/ Baby

Liam at 5 months


Restless nights~
My dear son is now 5 months old. He had a bout of Fungal infection and on top of that, we found out that he was allergic to his infant formula (Enfalac A+). He developed rashes everywhere which refused to go away. The Ped suspected a milk allergy and advised us to change his formula milk to NAN H.A. It made a HUGE difference, within 2 days his rashes cleared. :) Those rashes were awful. It made him irritable and affected his night time rest. Now altho his skin condition has improved tremendously, i have passed my flu bug to him... so poor boy was wheezing away the whole night with a stuffy nose.

I am very happy with my current Pediatrician Dr Ho from Baby and child clinic in Tampiness. If you need to find an experienced baby doctor, she comes highly recommended.

My separation anxiety
Liam is probably to young to develop separation anxiety but i cannot help but worry about my impeding move to Punggol. As work takes up my day time, i am only available to my baby at night while still living with his grandparents. I am breast feeding him now but will have to stop once i relocate becoz hubby and i have decided to leave Liam with his grandparents overnight until we can figure out a better solution on how ferry the baby to and from his grandparents house to our new home before and after work.

Working from 9:00am -5:30pm...
Will need to rush baby from home to grandparents place by 7:30am and pick him up before 7:00pm (his bedtime)! Very tiring for us if we were to do it 5 days a week. For now we can only bring him home on weekends and off days and visit him at his grandparents whenever we are free. Or alternatively, we could find a nanny around where we live and bring him home every night. But his grandparents will probably feel sad with that arrangement.

Ah not much fun.

New home

This is the master bedroom. The contractor painted it the wrong colour. This is the colour of Liam's room. The master bedroom should have been grey... The contractor says that it's not an issue and will get his workers to repaint the walls again.

baby onwards

Baby is currently 9 weeks old and things have begun to fall more or less into place. Although he still has his challenging times, some major improvements are.

1) less crying

2) less feedings

3) more regulated sleeping times

4) more sleeping

5) no fuss at night (drink and sleep)

6) so far he has been waking 2 times at nite to feed for the past 3 nites (i am hoping it stays that way.)

7) colic seems to have improved tremendously

Milestones

1) Smiling more

2) likes to play

3) able to lift head 45 degrees when placed on his stomach

4) super cute when he is not crying

5) Able to follow you with his eyes

Today, after his shower, he accidentally hit himself with his hands. It's very funny how he has no control over his limbs. Hubby and i try to reduce self-inflicted pain by swaddling at night.

So far, parenthood has been a crazy roller-coaster ride. The first month was the hardest, with his colic and my postpartum body and the 2 hourly feeds around the clock. Did i mention post natal blues? Well yes, it was one crazy ride. Lots of tears, lots and lots of agony.

As for me, i have been taking Fenugreek to increase milk supply and lecithin to regulate my recurring milk blister.

For those of you who are thinking of increasing your milk supply, Fenugreek worked really well for me. As for the milk blister, i am going to watch out for improvements as i have only started taking the herb 3 days ago. Both supplements don't seem to have any side effect for me so they are probably worth a try.

Oops need to go now. babys crying!

super super busy

Been a crazy confinement month. Not that i did any confinement practices. My sincere advise to all mums would be to get reliable help or a good confinement lady! Being a new mum poses sooo many challenges. Just figuring out breastfeeding takes a good while. Am i glad i got electric dual pumps or what.

There should be a manual that comes with a baby especially for new mothers because there is sooo much to learn and soo little time to do it. URGH

Talk about sleepless nights. I had the worst cases of sleepless nights during the first 3 weeks.

After that my body seem to wake up by itself. Now though i get woken up by painful engorgements despite pumping every night before i sleep.

Apart from physical discomfort and personal mental adjustment, i also have to learn to be a parent in other people's eyes. Seemingly being a parent automatically gives everyone a right to give unwanted advice. Sigh...