Sniff! Sniff!

Yes, the whole family (except the Daddy) is down with a bug. I suspected that Kieran brought it home from school. I seem to have gotten it the worst. I came down with a bad throat, a blocked nose and I am hacking my lungs out now. Kieran was alright the last few days but started coughing 2 days back. Kiefer just has a blocked nose. However, we are all recovering now, and I think it'll be many more of such episodes now that Kieran is in school. :( Anyway, Kieran came down with a swollen eye (think it was a sty) as well. And the good thing was that after I applied some medication for him 2 nights back and he cried so hard when I gave him his cough med, he actually managed to squeeze so hard that the sty burst and thus the swelling has subsided!!

That's K with his swollen eye playing "Set set set" with K2.

And this is what we've been doing the last week!!

Dancing and Jumping around the house!

Playing ball

Looking at picture cards!

babylegs... the mama-made ones..

  

thanks to Everything your mama made & more, I made my first pair of leg warmers for fer. Not that he needed them in SG, but just trying to cultivate the thought of a holiday at the end of the year to somewhere cold. but, with these warmers, he can now go cold shopping centers in his onesies!!

On to my 2nd pair!!

yes, it's the Flyer again!

Right, Kiefer sucks is thumbs (in fact any part of his hands that he can get at) loads nowadays, gets them all slimy and yucky!

And Kieran is trying to do the "victory" sign when he takes photos. He'll go "cheese" and tries to sign!

My solemn and deep-in-thots hubby.. heh..

K is for Kiefer

   

something for my little baby... :D

the WHEEL (& Week #2 @ Preschool!)

Went on the Singapore Flyer on Saturday. Was supposed to be a "reward" of sorts for Kieran for attending a week of school. Ha. Was going to bring him swimming in the morning but it was drizzling and cold, and as teachers, we had complimentary passes to the flyer and so off we went! By the way, Kieran calls it the "wheel" cos Singapore Flyer proves to be too much of a mouthful for him. Also, it just looks like a wheel to him!

To prevent the "dowan to go school" syndrome after a weekend, we brought Kieran to school on Saturday morning, pretending to show Daddy his school. We had to act disappointed that school was closed that day. Haha! On Sunday, I attended Sunday class with him. He clung on to me throughout the entire session. The tactic seemed to work because it seemed easier for him to go to school and on Tuesday, he walked in himself, parked his bag and just went about his business. No crying, nothing. And I thought all was good until today, he didn't want to wear his uniform in the morning and cried when I handed him over to his teachers. However, I think he was just trying his luck. Cos the crying stopped after only about a minute or less. Once I was out of the door, I peeped in, he was being carried and not crying anymore! We'll see what happens tomorrow.  He always seems happy when he sees me at the end of his school day. And when I ask him about school, it is always "syess!" So I guess while he is there, he really enjoys himself. But my poor baby is paying the sleep debt of having to wake up early. Today, he almost fell asleep on the way home and it was 1140am!! And poor thing, he didn't even get to drink his milk cos the bottle somehow leaked and he had milk all over him!!

I've gotta think of a new strategy for tomorrow. Think I'll wake him up earlier and get him to take a shower. It is usually easier to get him to change after a shower. He has this thing for staying in his PJs. I don't think it's just the uniform, I think it's getting him to wear anything else other than his PJs with his smell from the entire night.. ha.

Anyway, since we have complimentary passes till the end of the month, I think we'll go on the flyer again this weekend. With the lousy economy, it's time to save money and go for cheap (or better still, free) entertainment!!

Day #5 @ Preschool

Getting smarter. Held on to my hands with BOTH hands once we reached the colourful gate. He still wanted to go in and play, but made sure that I went with him.

Handed him over to his chinese teacher and left. 

Heard him crying away!

Picked him up at 1130, he looked alright. No look of relief, no want to cry. But was happy to see me. Hope he starts to get the idea that I (or ah gong/ daddy) will always be waiting outside to pick him up.

Anyway, we took a bus to school today and the ride was 45min! He was so tired by the time he got to school. Came back home, ate a few mouthfuls of lunch, started trying to poop but poop was stuck, crying and whinning to get the poop out. Once something came out, gave him a bottle of milk and now he is asleep! It is only 1pm!! Poor baby. Got to revert back to driving daddy to camp then him to school. At least he gets to sleep in the car for another hour!

Btw, he brought home a colouring of an apple yesterday, and today, he made a lantern (but I'm sure with loads of help from the teachers ha.)

Just for the record: I am very proud of my not-so-little baby. Even with the crying, he is really doing great. He's got to adjust to so many things this year and has been taking everything so well! 

As for Kiefer, he's been really good too. Sleeping in uncomfortable positions (slinged onto mummy, or on the hard bench) while waiting for Kor Kor to finish school everyday! 3 cheers for Kiefer too!!

Day #4 @ Preschool

Realised that the "bye, see you" is real. refused to let go of me and cried when i left.

When I picked him up at 1130, he had this look of relief and the "want to cry" face but he held his tears! Gave him a toy car set and he was happy already!

Day #3 at Preschool!

Kieran DIDN'T cry at all after I left!!!! 

The teachers said that he did very well. He played by himself and didn't look for me and didn't cry at all!!

Woah!!!! Great job baby!!

Day #2 @ Preschool

Kieran enjoys going to school. If you ask him whether he likes school, he go "school? syess". He only says yes to stuff he likes. However, he still clings to me quite a bit. Kept wondering out of his play area to look for me. I think he is going to cry tomorrow when I just drop him off and go away. However, the principal says that she is confident that Kieran will be fine. I think so too, but still, it breaks my heart to see him cry (tho' I am fully capable to not doing anything while he cries haha..)

Overall, I think he is doing very well, considering this is the 1st time he attends something like that. The only previous classes he's gone for were just Tumbletots and Mummy/Daddy was always with him. He is considered one of those who cannot settle into the classes yet, but some of the other kids have been attending playgroup and stuff so... Well done Kieran!!

Kieran's 1st Day at Preschool!!

more updates later!!

Luggage Tag

Since my not-so-little Kieran is going to school soon, I decided to make him a little luggage tag to make sure that his bag doesn't go missing. Also, there's a little card inside with the address and contact number written on. Kinda like a "if found please return to" tag! Got the idea from Crafty Suzanne. I made it out of foam so that it will be a little studier to withstand rough handling. It's not fantastic, but I'm quite happy with the overall result!

Thomas saves the Day!

Spent a bomb bringing Kieran and Kiefer to the Thomas Saves the Day show last night! At least it was a good show. Lotsa singing and music. It was a little short, about 45min (minus intermission etc) but I guess children's attention aren't that long. 

Here are some shots of the show!!

Documenting the takeaways for the evening:

1) Blue Thomas T-shirt (Kieran wore it over whatever he was wearing the ENTIRE evening!)

2) Thomas & Percy plate (Kieran held onto it the ENTIRE evening)

3) The little blue cap which we only bought at the end of the show cos we saw how cute other kids look in it. haha..

Kieran was really good last night. He sat through the entire show on Daddy's lap and didn't get up to jump around or whine or anything! Before we went into the hall, we stopped at the little memorabilia stand outside and he was looking so sad when he saw other kids carrying super exorbitantly-priced light sticks and he didn't have any. Although he wanted 1 as well, he didn't make a big fuss. He just stood at the table looking at all the items on sale. That was when we decided to buy him the blue Thomas t-shirt (which, by the way was quite expensive too). I told him that we couldn't buy the light stick because it was very expensive and Mummy had no money for it! He seemed to understand and was REALLY happy with his t-shirt!! He didn't whine for the light stick that he so wanted! He really is a great kid! I love you baby!! He was smiling the entire evening and really really enjoyed himself. It is moments like this that we forget how he sometimes just drive us nuts!!

Kiefer was also a very good baby that night. He stayed up and watched the entire 1st half of the show and only went to sleep during the intermission. He was quiet and didn't disturb anyone at all!! 

Anyway, we had great seats last night. We were actually sitting in the FIRST row, right in front of the stage. Thus even when the mic stopped working for one of the actors during 1 part of the show, we could still hear what he was saying! Ha. Spent a bomb remember??

wordle

found a really fun site. took the words from my previous entry and it generated an image outta it!! real fun for scrapbooking!

Kiefer is 4 months old!

Our little Kiefer is 4 months old now! Time for some updates!!

Eats:

about 7-8x a day

10-15min each time

1 EBM feed in the evening (110ml-140ml)

Poops:

not very often. 

once a week if left to his own devices! :P

Dos:

laughs loads when people play with him

talks loads when he is happy

complains to tell us that he is hungry/sleepy/ uncomfortable

loves ele

loves to bounce on the bed with Kieran

chomps on his fingers/ fist/ whatever he can get his hands on

is 7.2kg!!

Grateful...

I am grateful each day for my loads of unfolded laundry because it means that we have lots of clothes for our backs.

I am grateful each day for my untidy house because it means that I have a roof over my head.

I am grateful each day for all the noise in my house because it means that I have a loving home with 2 wonderful boys who needs me.

I am grateful for a husband who comes home tired because it means that he has a job and is working hard to provide for us.

I thank God for all the things that He has given me to be grateful for.

Kiefer loves ele!

This is a little deja vu-ish.. 

Happy Birthday Daddy!!

It was Les' birthday yesterday. We've kinda started celebrating since the beginning of last week, with good meals, purchases etc etc. Alright, we just needed an excuse to make expensive purchases, ha. 

Anyway, we celebrated his birthday with a yummy chocolate cake from Awfully Chocolate. Throughout the entire week, I've been teaching Kieran to sing "Happy Birthday to Daddy" and also to blow out candles, and so he got to help his daddy do that on Sunday!

We made a little card for Daddy and the boys helped by putting their finger/toe prints to sign little hearts for him!!

Happy Birthday Darling!! We love you!!

Fish!

It started as something silly to get Kieran away from my scrapbooking stuff. I had some strips of paper leftover from cropping the photos and so I thought I'll make a fish for him to play with.

Then I decided to make another so that Kiefer could have 1 too!

Then it became many because I couldn't sleep that night and woke up to scrap a little more and decided to make a starfish, a turtle and some more fishes for Kieran to play with the next day.

Then we decided to make a fish tank for all of them to live in. (Ok, that was the only box that I could find in the quickest time possible...) That was Kieran pointing to his turtle!!

Sadly, the tank was destroyed by the end of the day because he decided to bring it out to dinner and shopping with him. 

So, we did another today!! :D

Having fun with the boys.

My days have fallen into some kind of routine (which is good for the boys). Kiefer wakes up at about 9ish usually for his milk and then Kieran will wake up closer to 10am. Thus I usually get up a little earlier and that's when I get to surf the internet a little, then try to get some stuff ready for lunch. Lunch time is usually jam-packed for me. I either feed Kieran his lunch then feed Kiefer or sometimes when the timing is right, I'll get to feed Kiefer and then Kieran. After which both the boys usually settle down for their afternoon nap. 

Kieran nowadays can sleep for a stretch of 1-2hours. Maybe this is due to Kiefer sleeping next t0 him. Kieran has always needed someone to sleep with him, if not he'll wake up after a max of about 1hr. So this 1-2hr break in the afternoon is really precious to me. I'll either get back online, do some digital scrapping, some regular scrapping or if I am tired, I'll just nap with the boys.  I don't usually do housework with this time.. haha.. it's too precious to be wasted like that. Laundry is done usually in the morning before the boys wake or evenings when Les is home. Same goes with vacuuming the floor. Having said that, I think my vacuum cleaner's busted! :(

Yesterday, Kieran woke up and the first thing he said was "pain pain" and he pointed to his lip.

Today he pointed to this photo me les, me and josh and said, air-crem. At first I thought he was saying "aeroplane" but there was no aeroplane in the photo, the I realised he said "ice-cream" that's another new 2-syllable word that he can manage now. Then just now, as he was throwing a tantrum, he said "outside" and "inside" with the correct usage of both the words!! Usually he uses the same words for both the opposite meanings, like "open" (which he pronounces as "a-pen") for unbuckling his seat belt as well as to buckle, to open doors as well as to close doors.

Anyway, here's something silly about buckling and unbuckling seat belts. As Kieran is really small, most of his pants cannot fit well at the waist. So I bought him a belt to tighten things up. The other day, we went to a restaurant where the high-chairs didn't come with seat belts. Usually we belt him down so that he will not stand up in the chair when he fusses. That day, there was no belt and at the end of the meal, he whined for us to "open, open" and he tried standing up but he couldn't. He flipped his shirt up (usually the seat belt buckles get covered by his shirt at the end of a meal), held on to his belt's buckle and asked us to open. Hahah, he thought that that buckle for the seat belt's buckle!! And psychologically, he just couldn't stand up!! HAHAHA.. so after the episode, whenever we go to a place where the high chairs have no belts, we'll still belt him up with an imaginary belt whenever his has his own waist belt on!! 

Happy Brothers!!

Kieran is starting to love his little brother. We hope that as Kiefer grows up, he'll also learn to love his big Kor Kor as well.

 

Milk intake (Kieran's)

Just wanted to record how much milk Kieran is drinking as a reference for Kiefer. For the last 1 year this was Kieran's drinking schedule:

6-7am - 110ml

about 9-11am (depending on the time he wakes up) - 180ml

Afternoon (between 2-4pm) - 180ml

Evening (about 8-9pm) - 180ml

Sleep at (ahem.. whatever time we sleep, usually 10ish)

For the record, Kieran had 4 accidents in the span of 1 hr last night. He was fooling around on the bed and put his blanket over his head and walked right off the bed!! Fortunately he landed on his side before his head hit the floor. It was more of a big fright for him than the ouchie on his head. It was scary to just see him walk right off the bed and we couldn't even catch him in time.  *Actually I wonder about life, what if we don't catch him in time, what if in life we didn't catch him and he ends up in a huge ouchie??*  After he recovered from that episode, he started tossing in the clean laundry on the floor and then he slipped and knocked his head. Strike #2. This time, it was fortunate that he was on the floor already, so he didn't really hit hard. Then, he was still gung ho, started to play inside the shallow laundry basket doing his boat rowing. Usually he sat inside and just rowed, but last night, he tried leaning onto the side, the basket tipped over and he nearly knocked the TV drawers, strike #3 and a load of crying and yelling cos he was frightened. And one would think that Strike #3 is the last, he had to have a 4th accident and this was really the ouchie and scary one. Again he went into the basket, leaned forwards and this time, he wasn't near enough to the cupboard to stop the basket from toppling over entirely and he fell right on his face on the floor. Started yelling again. Initially we thought there was nothing. Daddy picked him up went to the bathroom to clean his tears and noticed that his mouth was full of blood!! I got a towel and ice to stop the bleeding and tried to ice the spot. I thought that he had cut his lips but soon realised that there was no cut, and he wouldn't open his mouth for me. After crying for quite awhile, he allowed me to dap the cold cloth on his mouth and I saw that his lips were bruised and I think he was bleeding from his gums (front tooth). I can't get to the tooth and so until now, I don't know if the tooth is shaky. Anyway, I thought he was going to have trouble eating and drinking today, but surprisingly, he could drink water from a cup, took his milk and lunch with no problems today. And his lips were still a little swollen!! So #1, I think his teeth is fine. #2: children just have amazing powers of recovery. If i bruised my lips that way, I couldn't have eaten for the next few days!! #3: Kids just "bei zhai si"!! they just go at it again and again.. *4 accidents???!!! woah...* I don't want to experience it again!!

Kieran goes "whee!!"

Brought K&K to the new Sengkang Swimming Complex in the morning. For the price of $2, I think it's quite a lot of fun! Haven't been to an SSC swimming pool for a long time already and I'm pleasantly surprised by how nice they look now. Kieran had fun at the outdoor kid's pool and he eve went down the slide twice!! Of course, Daddy had to kind of push him off! Kiefer just had his fun dipping his butt into the water. After a while, he just fell asleep, in his swim suit, while still in the water!! Poor baby! Borrowed the photo below from www.biow.post1.org. This is how the children's pool looked like. Slides and water guns and water sprays everywhere! The only setback was that it is a public pool and there's just loads of people on a Saturday. Then again, for $2, it was a cheap, good, clean fun! We'll probably bring the boys there again, but this time on a weekday afternoon or something.

Dinner with the Laus

The Laus have returned to the USA again, I guess it'll be next year before we see them again (*means: we are probably not going this year.. :( ) Had dinner on on Monday night at The Rice Table before they left. 

Kiefer is 3 mths old!!

Kiefer is just growing so quickly!! I can tell by the frequency that I cut his little nails! I have to cut them almost everyday and still, I find little bits of scratches everywhere on him!

He is growing to be a little individual! He coos and gurgles all the time and loves having people talk to him. Still a sleepyhead sometimes, he gets so comfortable in his carseat that he can sleep through noisy dinners! And yes, he has officially slept through the night! His first stretch of sleep is about 6hrs. So he'll sleep at about 10, and waking up at about 4am (sometimes he sleeps all the way till 5ish-6!!) for his first feed. He usually stirs again at about 6am for his next feed, but sometimes he wakes just wanting to be comforted and that's when I shove the pacifier into his mouth and he falls back right asleep till about 9ish!! Good boy!

brothers.

I don't know if it is because of the cough med that Kieran is taking or simply because the 7th mth is here again or he is simply just whinny and grouchy, Kieran is simply impossible the last few days. However he's shown vast improvement today. Though he still a little whinny, he is much happier and even willing to *lend* (can hold and touch, not proto-sharing) Kiefer a number of toy cars to play with! Kiefer was so happy that Kor Kor played "set, set, set" with him!

Kieran is ill

Kieran caught a bug from somewhere and has been sick for the last 3 days. The fever's been coming and going for the last 3 days and he's also got a cough. This is the worst he's ever been sick. The previous times that he was sick, he was not like this. This time, he could still play, but he couldn't really eat. He simply took 1 bite of anything, chewed it and then spat it out. He didn't even drank much milk over the few days. Yesterday, his diaper was dry for the entire day!! Yippee? Nope, no accidents either, no toilet. Simply no pee. He is getting dehydrated!!!

Do they look alike?

Kiefer @ 2nd mth

Kieran @ 3rd mth

See how much has Kieran grown!

Digital kit from ShabbyPrincess.com

No! (to diaper)

Kieran refused to wear diaper this morning. He wanted to wear a specific shirt and NO diapers. At first he didn't even want to put on shorts! I managed to convince him into wearing shorts, and told him that he needed to tell me if he needed to pee. I tried getting him to pee into his potty before putting him into shorts, again he refused. I wasn't going to force him to do so as I am a big worrier of backfiring. So, 5 mins after being in his shorts only, I heard a yell and crying in the living room. There he was, standing in a puddle of pee, afraid to move and pee trickling down his leg. I think he thought that he was going to get a spanking already. So I did the textbook way, told him it is ok, whisked him off to the bathroom to clean up and showed him the potty again.

This is the part where I become inconsistent. I think I am not ready to go cold turkey of being diaperless yet. After we cleaned up, I put him in diaper pants instead of tape diapers. I think I should have continued with the shorts and cleaned the house up a few more times, since he initiated the diaperless move. Too late now. Guess I'll psych myself to try going diaperless cold turkey tomorrow and the rest of the week.

Pooping!

Woohoo!! Kieran managed a #2 in his new potty!!! Good job!!

On the other hand, one more appliance has broken down in the house! My Avent steriliser is broken. I still turns on but it stops the sterilising 1s after i press the button!! Infuriating, since I need to use it 2x a day to sterilise the pumps! And, I already left the spare one at the inlaws. Gotta go get it tmr. Meanwhile gotta wait by the stove to boil the bottles.

I (action)

Haha, another speech/ vocabulary development of Kieran's. He is really starting to talk a lot more and we've begun to hear him construct phrases in the last few days. Now, instead of saying "No", he'll sometimes say "No tans" (No thanks) when offered something. It is also quite funny that he now says "I" followed by some action words to express himself. E.g. "I sit", " I drink". He also mimics a lot of our speech. When he completes a certain task, he'll now say " Good job!" to himself because that is what we always say to him when he does something right. 

However, he is still having a little trouble with the word "share". He thinks that "share" means the other person has to give the item to him. So he'll go "share, share" and crying when he wants something that someone else is holding. :(

We are really looking forward to more phrases from him!

Mummy's milk

Thanks to Kiefer, Kieran is also drinking some au naturel breastmilk everyday! I gave Kieran some when I started pumping initially as I only got small amounts. Nowadays I've been pumping twice a day to store in the freezer in preparation for when I return to work. However, the supply is building up and the bags of milk are taking up space in the freezer. Also, I am using up the milk bags really fast and thus I thought I should just give all the extra milk to Kieran instead. When it's time to go back to work, then I'll start storing the milk again. Whatever it is, Kieran gets to gain some benefits of having some breastmilk in his diet (hopefully it helps to alleviate his eczema), I'll free up some freezer space, and also I'll get to maintain my milk supply. Great! So now, Kieran gets about 1 feed of breastmilk everyday!

Splash..!

Kiefer's First Swim!

He was uncomfortable at first because the water was rather cold, but he soon enjoyed dipping inside! He also enjoyed floating around in the inflatable rocket! :P

Here's Kieran, happy as always when he is in the pool!

Kiefer is 2 months old!

Woah.. Kiefer is 2 months today! He is really going to grow into a big boy. He is starting to hold his head very well. You can almost not support his head when carrying him! 

And this is Kor Kor, having a laugh with his little brother!!

Who?

Guess who's who??

About the thumb..

Seeing Kiefer everyday constantly reminds me of how Kieran was when he was small. Time simply flies when you are having fun!! Kieran was only doing all the things that Kiefer is doing. It all seem not too long ago!!! 

 I remember we were so amused when Kieran started sucking his fist and then his thumb!! Found these pictures and decided to scrap them. We have so many pictures of Kieran in soft copy and nobody sees them. I'm glad I took up scrapbooking, now I can make use of all these photos!!

Weight gain

I blogged about this when Kieran was about 2 months old to check that he was gaining well. Looks like Kiefer is gaining VERY well. Average of 170g/wk comes up to 680g/mth. Kiefer should weigh 3530g by his first month. BUThe weighed 3850g at his first month check up!!! Hope he doesn't grow into a "fat" baby!! Even with the higher limit of weight gain (at 241g/wk), he still overshoots the weight gain by about 40g!! :P

Sleeping in..

With Kiefer around, we've been sleeping late and waking up late the next day. Kieran wakes up at 11+ almost everyday! That's almost lunch time already. I wonder when we'll be able to go back to our old sleeping time (i.e. about 1030 latest). Nowadays, we sleep closing midnight almost every night!! Kiefer takes his final feed before he sleeps for the night at about 9pm, by the time i shower, finish pumping and settle down, it is usually close to 11pm. Kieran will wait for the both of us to be in bed before he will go to sleep. Even then, he sometimes remains awake even though the both of us have fallen asleep! Kiefer does not cooperate sometimes either. He sometimes wants to be carried to sleep. So I have to sit there just carrying him for about half and hour before he falls asleep. I think I am owing a really huge sleep debt. Even now, as both of them are napping, I can't seem to sleep either! I think I am the only one losing A LOT of sleep, can't sleep in the afternoons, and waking up every 3 hrs in the night!!! I wonder what I am running on!!!

Family of Four

Night Baby?

Kiefer's schedule is kind of opposite from all of us. He is usually sleepy in the day and starts to really wake up by about 8-9pm at night! This sleeping/waking schedule of hi really drives us crazy sometimes. He also doesn't seem to drink a lot of milk in the day, saving all the milk drinking for the waking hours in the evenings.  

A typical feeding frequency is as follows:

Every 2hrs if the day if he is awake, 4hrs if he is sleeping or when we are out and he is in the stroller/ carseat

After 8pm, 1 bottle of EBM at abt 9pm (he seems to drink A LOT from the bottle. We've tried giving him 70ml but he is never satisfied. The other night, he drank about 100ml from the bottle!)

He will fuss and want to suckle every 1/2 hr or so until he falls asleep at about 10pm.

He'll wake again at about midnight for another feeding and about every 3hrs after that.

In between all these feedings, I'll pump about 2x a day (about 7am and 10pm) to get used to pumping and to store some EBM so that Daddy can feed. 

I realised that I didn't record all these down with Kieran and I can't remember what we actually did with Kieran. I don't remember him being as fussy but I do remember him feeding a lot too. So we are kinda like starting all over again... 

My little Spy!

This picture was taken Sept last year. How my little boy has grown!! He still looks really cheeky tho' :)

He is in his Terrible Twos now and we seldom pass a day without some crying and fights. However, al is still well. At the end of it all, he always returns to be the sweet little boy he's always been!!

Some fights that we get into:

Clothes - not wanting to change to go out

Diapers - not wanting to get into them but not willing to pee in the toilet

Seating - not wanting to get into the high chair/ not wanting to get into his own seat/ wanting to sit on me in my seat/ not going into the car seat/ not going into the stroller

Toys - bringing toys to bed (including an empty toy box)/ not willing to share toys

Crying - crying/ whining whenever he doesn't get his way (that's rather tiring cos we have to sit there and let him cry it out)

I guess as all references say, toddlers at this age have difficulty expressing themselves due to the lack of language and yet having a developing personality. So suck it up and wait it out!! :P

Milk Strike?

Even with all the excitement over the iMac, I thought that I should blog this down, as reference to refer to if it happens with Kiefer.

Kieran is refusing milk these days. He either does not want his milk, or he'll not finish drinking it. I've already made less milk for him each time but he still doesn't finish. He's starting to skip his early morning 110ml, and for the rest of the day, he doesn't finish the milk given to him. I wonder if it is because of the presence of Kiefer. Anyway, I've tried giving him milk in a cup, doesn't work either, unless the milk is soya milk. i think his total milk intake is probably between 400ml to 480ml (a drop from 740ml). That's quite a huge drop. He is on the lower limit for milk intake (between 480 - 720ml) for a toddler. Nowadays, I try to boost his calcium intake with yoghurt and ice-cream (yipee for him!!) instead.

Meanwhile, some photos from Kiefer's full month celebration:

An Apple a day...

A continuation to the previous post. We've gotten a refurb iMac yesterday and we are loving it! Yes, we are still trying to get used to using the Mac system, but I am enjoying it already! First of all, the interface looks really neat and clean, the images are crisp and sharp. Just looking at it makes me feel that it was money well spent... haha.. I think that this iMac is an indulgence. Even Kieran is loving it. He loves watching his cartoons and slideshow of photos on the 24" screen. Looks like the 3 of us will be fighting over this new item in the house!!!

Apple.. yum...

I'm having fun!!

Finally...

Finally, the 1 month confinement is done with!! Tmr, we'll be having a celebration to celebration Kiefer's full month. Now that all these are done with I finally get some time to sit down and scrap again!!

Left Kieran at the inlaws the other day and went shopping at PS with Kiefer. It's good to not have an active toddler running around while you try to shop!!! :P Anyway, managed to pick up some scrapbooking supplies :D and thus, I can start scrapping again! I figured I'd probably will have lots of photos to scrap with 3 boys in the house!

Here's one of my birthday 3 weeks ago! It's been a long while since I celebrated my birthday and it was really great. Hubb did all the planning and I got a wonderful pressie from him this birthday! Most of all, I have 3 special boys by my side, celebrating my birthday this year! Happy 29th birthday to me!

All I want is you

Watched Juno yesterday and found that I liked the songs from the movie, esp this one:

All i want is you (Juno OST)
Lyrics from http://www.stlyrics.com/j/juno.htm

If I was a flower growing wild and free
All I'd want is you to be my sweet honey bee.
And if I was a tree growing tall and green
All I'd want is you to shade me and be my leaves


All I want is you, will you be my bride
Take me by the hand and stand by my side
All I want is you, will you stay with me?
Hold me in your arms and sway me like the sea.

If you were a river in the mountains tall,
The rumble of your water would be my call.
If you were the winter, I know I'd be the snow
Just as long as you were with me, let the cold winds blow

All I want is you, will you be my bride
Take me by the hand and stand by my side
All I want is you, will you stay with me?
Hold me in your arms and sway me like the sea.

If you were a wink, I'd be a nod
If you were a seed, well I'd be a pod.
If you were the floor, I'd wanna be the rug
And if you were a kiss, I know I'd be a hug
All I want is you, will you be my bride

Take me by the hand and stand by my side
All I want is you, will you stay with me?
Hold me in your arms and sway me like the sea.

If you were the wood, I'd be the fire.
If you were the love, I'd be the desire.
If you were a castle, I'd be your moat,
And if you were an ocean, I'd learn to float.

All I want is you, will you be my bride
Take me by the hand and stand by my side
All I want is you, will you stay with me?
Hold me in your arms and sway me like the sea.

Kieran is 2!!!

We celebrated Kieran's 2nd birthday yesterday! It wasn't a children's party, was more of a family gathering. Here are some snapshots:

How's Kieran these days?

Kieran is still a little unsure about his little brother. Also as he approaches the great Terrible Twos, he is starting to throw a lot more tantrums. He'll whine and yell whenever things are not done his way or he can't get to something that he wants. However, his tantrums aren't as bad as some kids that I have seen around. I think he just has difficulties trying to express himself.

He has a new "no" now. He will cross his hands behind him, pout and stand there looking downwards. Whenever he does that, we go to him and go "haha" then he'll not be able to hold that stance and start to smile and giggle!! That's the fun little boy that we have!

Reversing...

Kiefer is starting to reverse his day/night cycle :) Yipee!!! But it also means that he is starting to wake at night for milk... urgh.. still I'm glad for the reversal!!

Cluster feeder?

Got this off Kellymom.com. Sounds very much like what Kiefer is doing!!

Cluster feeding, also called bunch feeding, is when babies space feeding closer together at certain times of the day and go longer between feedings at other times. This is very common, and often occurs in the evenings. It's often -but not always- followed by a longer sleep period than usual: baby may be "tanking up" before a long sleep. For example, your baby may nurse every hour (or even constantly) between 6 and 10 PM, then have a longish stretch of sleep at night - baby may even sleep all night.

Cluster feeding often coincides with your baby's fussy time. Baby will nurse a few minutes, pull off, fuss/cry, nurse a few minutes, pull off, fuss/cry... on and on... for hours. This can be VERY frustrating, and mom starts wondering if baby is getting enough milk, if something she is eating is bothering baby, if EVERYTHING she is doing is bothering baby... It can really ruin your confidence, particularly if there is someone else around asking the same questions (your mother, your husband, your mother-in-law).

This behavior is NORMAL! It has nothing to do with your breastmilk or your mothering. If baby is happy the rest of the day, and baby doesn't seem to be in pain (as with colic) during the fussy time - just keep trying to soothe your baby and don't beat yourself up about the cause. Let baby nurse as long and as often as he will. Recruit dad (or another helper) to bring you food/drink and fetch things (book/remote/phone/etc.) while you are nursing and holding baby.
Does this mean that baby needs more milk than I can provide?
No. Don't give baby a bottle -- supplementation will only tell your body that you need LESS milk at this time, and that will not help matters. Also, keep in mind that formula fed babies experience fussy periods in the evening, too -- fussy evenings are common for all young babies, no matter how they are fed.

The Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine spells this out in their supplementary feeding guidelines:
There are common clinical situations where evaluation and breastfeeding management may be necessary, but supplementation is NOT INDICATED including... The infant who is fussy at night or constantly feeding for several hours.

Why do babies fuss in the evening?
One frequently-heard explanation for baby's fussiness in the evenings is that milk volume tends to be lower in the evening due to the natural cycling of hormones throughout the day. However, Dr. Peter Hartmann, a breastfeeding researcher, has said that in the women he has studied, milk volume is not low at this time of day. Even if milk volume is lower in the evening, fat content is typically higher in the evening (particularly if baby is allowed to control this via cue feeding), so the amount of calories that baby is getting should not be significantly different. Milk flow can be slower in the evening, which may be frustrating for some babies.

Doctors often attribute evening fussiness to baby's immature nervous system (and the fussiness does end as baby gets older, usually by 3-4 months). However, Dr. Katherine Dettwyler (who does research on breastfeeding in traditional societies) states that babies in Mali, West Africa and other traditional societies don't have colic or late afternoon/evening fussiness. These babies are carried all day and usually nurse several times each hour.

So perhaps none of these explanations is a complete answer to baby's evening fussiness. For many babies, the fussy time seems to be characterized by a need to have small quantities of milk at frequent intervals, combined with lots of holding, cuddling and movement. Babies who are offered as much expressed milk or formula as they will take by bottle [note: this practice will decrease your milk supply!] often behave in exactly the same way in the evenings. Baby takes a small amount and dozes (and fusses), then a little more, and so on. Perhaps babies "remember" mom being very active during her pregnancy at these times, and want to be held, rocked, and nurtured constantly again.

Perhaps babies simply need to nurse more often at this time -- rather than consume more milk.


Page last modified: 05/17/2006 Written: 10/29/1998

2008 kellymom and its licensors. All Rights Reserved.

Happy Birthday to Me!!

Gosh, I'm 29 already. This year's birthday is really a special one for me. It's on the same day as Mother's Day! Also, I have 2 wonderful little boys and 1 fantastic big boy to celebrate it with me!

This month is going to be a month long celebration. Kiefer's born on 1 May, my birthday's 11 May, Kieran's birthday is this weekend, 17 May!! On top of that, Mother's Day is also in the month of May. Poor (or issit lucky, he can't forget our birthdays this way can he?) Hubby has to be the busiest person this month!!

Kiefer is 1 week old!

Wow! time flies by really quickly. Kiefer is 1 week old already! Things at home are good. Kieran is pretty good with his little brother around. He is still a little apprehensive sometimes, but nowadays, he will touch Kiefer, hold his hand and says Hi to him. When he wakes up, he will go to the cot to take a look at his little brother.

It seems that with Kiefer around, it is actually easier to make Kieran take his afternoon naps! We'll go into the room at about 2ish, he will drink his milk, watch some cartoon and when I turn off the show, he may whine a little (only a little), sometimes not at all and just go to sleep. He seems to know not to disturb Kiefer! Of cos, Kiefer is not so considerate. He'll still cry regardless whether Kor Kor is trying to sleep or not!!

I really hope for this 2 boys of mine to be the best of brothers. Kieran has a very good disposition. I'm sure he'll love his little brother. Will have to teach Kiefer to love his big brother as well!!

New addition to our family!!

Labour Pains II

A record of the birthing process in the delivery of our little Kiefer:

4am
Woke up at about 4am in the morning to use the bathroom and felt some fluid coming out. Woke Les up and told him that his baby is coming today. Went into the bathroom and saw blood-stained mucus. Realised that the mucus plug really came out. Tried to go back to sleep, but was a little too excited already. Felt some cramps (i.e. PMS type). Did some rough timing and the pains came every 10- 20mins or so. Tried to get some sleep. So half-sat, half-laid in bed for another hour. Pains were coming in at regular intervals.

5am
Pains came regularly. Couldn’t sleep anymore. Woke up to pack last minute things. Mainly Kieran’s stuff. Went to lie down for awhile till about 6am.

6am
Decided to give a call to Dr Lim. Described symptoms to him. He said to admit to hospital as it sounds like I’m in labour.

7ish am
Finally left the house to send Kieran down to in-laws. He was still sleeping. It was like a regular school day where we leave the house in the morning while he is sleeping.

Dropped Kieran off. Kissed him and said bye to him. Went by the car wash to give our dirty car a good wash. Ate a few bites of subway (should have eaten more, was hungry throughout the labour).

8am
Reached hospital. Dr Lim was already waiting. Did a check and said I was about 2cm. Told him that I didn’t want to go onto the Syntocin drip. He said ok, he’ll break the water bag and let the contractions develop for a couple of hours and see how.

9am
Dr Lim came back in to break the water bag and about 9ish 10am. He didn’t use the instrument this time. He used his fingers. It was the most uncomfortable/ painful (not quite the word either) thing. The contractions slowly built up. As I didn’t want the Syntocin to speed things up, contractions built slowly.

9 – 130pm
Dilated to 3-4cm. Contractions started becoming stronger after noon. Dr Lim called in to ask if I wanted to go on the drip at about noon. Refused it again. He came in at about 130pm to check. Asked if I wanted the pethidine. I said no. But about 1/2h after he left, I asked for it. He said we should have about 2-4h from this point onwards (exactly what he said with Kieran!!)

130-3pm
The contractions built up really quickly from here. I was on entonox. Realised that I couldn’t remember how to use it. So there were a couple of times that I breathed through it too late and it didn’t help in the contractions. As baby really moved low towards the cervix, I felt the need to push quite early. I kind of panicked and the bearing down feeling was worse. I frantically told Les to get the nurses to check. When she came in, she said I was only 3-4cm. That was when I really panicked and started to cry uncontrollably. Luckily Les was there to quickly calm me down. If I were still crying by the time the next contraction came, I wouldn’t be able to control it. And if I started pushing, I may end up with an emergency caesarean!! Thanks Darling again!

At between 5-7cm he started to speed things up by using his fingers to actually stretch the cervix. That part was quite scary too. Each time he stretched it, the pushing sensation came!! But he was really confident that baby could come out naturally. After he did that, the cervix dilated to the 7-9cm quite quickly. I remember him coming in and commenting that he knew it was going to be fast and he didn’t dare to walk away, he was just waiting outside the door!

The contractions started coming in hard and strong. Every time I used the entonox too late or lost my control or couldn’t relax, I felt the bearing down sensation. Dr Lim came in and said I was 7cm then. I was feeling frantic again, because I had 2 more centimetres to go. Had to talk to Kiefer to tell him not to move against the cervix (I think I talked to him earlier when I had the bearing down feeling at 3-4cm, this part is fuzzy to me. I don’t think I could talk much at 7cm already!).

The last 2cm were really quick. Cos the bearing down sensations were coming with each contraction. I had to ask if I could start pushing. When I was allowed to push, it was almost a relief actually, to go with the flow of the contractions.

Kiefer was born with a few pushes. No epidural, no drip, no vacuum. Les got to cut the umbilical cord. I got to see my own placenta!


First thought when I saw Kiefer:
Gosh, he looks EXACTLY like Kieran!

He was alert, looking around and smiling. I fell in love again. I fell in love with this little boy that Les & I created! He is so much a part of us.
It’s the 4 of us now, a new family, again.

What’s different?
I was more alert throughout the entire labour. I could talk cohesively between contractions. I could feel Dr Lim tugging as he stitched me up.
I can walk around quite a bit (maybe cos no drip) and my tummy didn’t feel as painful. Maybe tomorrow it’ll start to hurt.

What’s the same?
I yelled that it stings and hurts when Dr put the anaethestic for the episiotomy. I yelled that it stings and hurts when Kiefer crowned.
The timing cycle seems to be similar. Kieran was born about 1h+ after I asked for pethidine. Looks like my pain threshold is consistent!

Still, when I see his little face, EVERYTHING WAS WORTH IT!!! And when I saw the happy look on Kieran’s face when Les brought him into the delivery suite to see his little brother, I knew that I would love Kieran even more!! Kieran has to be a big brother at 2 years old. That is quite something for him to accomplish and I think I admire him for that!

As for the Daddy of our babies, he’s been my support throughout the labour. I think he was more tired than I am. Having to stand there throughout my pains, telling me to relax and hold my entonox and hold my hand. He also had to follow my “orders” in between contraction as I kept telling him to do this and that in the next contraction. I think we make a good team. Because I could tell him exactly what I needed him to do and that he could understand and help me by doing all the things I told him in those short intervals, we make it through the labour together. I told him to tell me not to squeeze his hands (at first he said, nevermind just squeeze) because it would mean that I am not relaxing, he remembered and told me so. I told him to listen for my breathing through the entonox and remind me to breathe because I realised after a few contractions that when I tensed up, I stop breathing. He did that. I told him to check that my whole body is relaxed, not just my fingers. He did that. He did all these with each and every contraction after which I told him so. Also, I can now rest on the hospital bed, he has to be at home looking after Kieran on his own.

Thank you baby, I love you.
And thank you babies, I love all of you.

The Mummy.
1 May 2008
2218h
Mt Alvernia Hospital