A trip to Changi airport

Mama and Papa brought Lele to Changi Airport today! We had so much fun that when Lele got home, he became a bit cranky cos of over-stimulation... ... Are all babies like that? Hmm... or maybe I just need to bring Lele out more often? But it's not that we NEVER bring Lele out. Almost everyday Lele gets to go downstairs for a walk with his grandpa. Sometimes, he gets to go to a nearby market or a trip in the car! Come weekend, Lele gets to enjoy family days with mama and papa. I guess babies being babies, their brain tires easily from processing too much information.

Heart tugger

There are many ways Lele tug at my heart.

Yesterday after I got home from work, he looked at me and gave a very sweet smile...

This morning while I was at work, papa was sms-ing me from home when he noticed Lele staring at him and his phone. So he told Lele that he is messaging mama and then pretended to be talking to mama on the phone. When he said, "Lele ye heng xiang mama (Lele also missed mama very much)", Lele gave a very sheepish grin...

All these little moments with him makes me want to give up the world just so I can stay by his side more often..........................................................................................................................................

LLL (Laugh Lele Laugh)

Today Lele reached another milestone: laughter, but too bad mama was not around to witness it. It happened like this...
Papa was at home with Lele when he poopoo, so papa went on to change his diaper. Papa's tolerance of stench is low, so he couldn't help but exclaim to Lele, "ee... chou chou!" and was hit by surprise when Lele started cackling loudly!!!
So papa repeated again and again. Each time Lele would be so tickled, seemingly by the word "chouchou" , that he laughed out loud!

I was quite when I papa told me via sms. His excitement was all over the place and I thought, "So unfair that papa, who spends so little time with Lele, gets to see his milestone." Of course, I didn't mean it that way... ... ...It's just that there are many frustrations in my life right now... no home of my home, a job that I don't like, yearning to be with my boy day and night, yet no option of becoming a SAHM as long as a place of my own is beyond reach...

There's nothing more I want right now than to stay in a place of my own with my husband and Lele..............................................................................................................................................................

Bottle-holding Lele

This pic was taken last Fri (24Aug) when I was feeding Lele after coming home from work. I was still in my uniform then, haha!!! Papa couldn't resist taking some pics of bottle-holding Lele! In fact, every one of us were so amused by the sight of him.

A little worried...

Lele is already 4 months now and yet he can't flip yet and showed not much inclination to do so... Even though I'm trying not to compare my son with other babies, I can't help feeling a little worried for him... Let's hope I'm just being paranoid...

Mr. Bumbo

Mama is very happy with Mr. Bumbo because Lele likes sitting in it quite alot. Being a baby, of course he can't sit in it for ages, but Lele is happy to sit in it and look around. He seems to enjoy the change in scenery!

Joanie and Lele

Yesterday, Mama Agnes brought BB Joanie to mama's home to get some flashcards from mama. BB Joanie is a very smiley baby. She smiled at mama the moment she entered her home! This made mama very happy. Even nainai was very amused at this hug-tugging little girl.

BB Joanie is indeed a very friendly baby. All the while mama Agnes, nainai and mama were chatting, she was caressing Lele's hand and looking at him. If only he knew how to appreciate a cute beauty! Haha!

The above is a picture of Lele and Joanie! Joanie's back is quite sturdy compared with Lele's, so she offered a good "body rest" for Lele. Just look at the 2 of them. Baby Joanie is born 8 days earlier than Lele but she can already flip whereas Lele cannot. Mama thinks it's okay for Lele to develop at his own pace, so she is not worried.

Lele can raise his head now!

Congratulations to Lele!
He is now able to raise his head high high while on his tummy. All his efforts in (crying) tummy time had paid off afterall!!!
Even mor excited are his mama, papa, yeye and nainai!

Nainai said according to the Lunar calendar, Lele is 4 mths old today.

So Lele had chosen a very good day to raise his head! Haha!

A trip to the beach!

The day after NDP, Lele woke up in a happy mood because mama, papa, yeye and nainai are going to bring him to......... the beach! First, they went to a run down coffee chop in Katong that has people queing up for it's pastries and toast. Yeye, nainai, mama and papa all thought that the kaya and butter is too sweet and not worth its name. To make matters worse, butter and kaya were spread in a thick paste and makes the toast hard to swallow.

One word... YUCKS!

There are no pictures taken at the beach because Lele enjoyed the seabreeze in mama's pouch soooooo much that he slept throughout. Better luck next time!

Fortune baby prayer meeting,9-Aug

Early on the morning of 9 Aug 2007, Grandpa and grandma came to fetch papa, mama and Lele to Tampines Soka Center for the Fortune Baby Prayer ceremony! It was a short and sweet ceremony for Lele the fortune baby! The meaning of fortune baby means a baby who has been born into a family which is practicing Nichiren Daishonin's Buddhism. The above picture was taken right before going in for the ceremony. Grandma was trying to put on mittens for Lele but he had a better idea how to dress up for his big show...

Okay! Now we are all set for the big show! Lele is all dressed up and ready! Erm, Leleboy, the camera is this way.............

Lele decided to catch a snooze in mama's pouch before going up. Ooo, mama looks like she needs some sleep herself!

Hey! I'm camera-shy when asleep!

Heehee! Yeah, the ceremony is over! Let's take a family picture! Lele got his very first prayer beads a souvenir! Hooray! Lele can't wait to nibble on it when he got the chance! Haha!

Lele is already asleep by the time another picture with grandma and grandpa was taken.............

This is an accidental picture taken while changing Lele's diapers in grandma's car. Lele is sooooo picture-perfect in this picture ...

Yehhhhh... and No....

YEHHH! Lele can now sleep throughout the night without waking up even once for a night feed.
Lele is an early sleeper. So he usually falls asleep by 7.30pm each night. Well, sometimes he sleeps a little longer but the latest time was only 8.30.
Since he sleeps so early, we thought it is only reasonable that he wakes up for a nightfeed. He usually gets up for a feed at about 3-4am each night, then going back to sleep till 8 in the morning.

That was when the Air Con was switched on the entire time he slept.

Ever since the Air Con was not switched on, we discovered to my pleasure and my husband's displeasure, that Lele slept much better! For the 5th consecutive night, he did not need a night feed. This is good because it meant unbrken sleep for my husband and I.

However these few days Lele woke up at 6am to play and suck on his fingers, and would cry for milk at about 6.30 or later. This time is when we were about to leave for work so it's kind of inconvenient in that way....................

I'm not sure if Lele woke up because my pump and stuff woke him?

Dilema

This morning I woke up to express milk and for the first time I did not bring the breast pump with me to work.
This allowed me a leisurely lunch out with my colleagues. They were surprised that I gave up so soon and felt that it's a waste... ...

I myself felt guilty that I am out enjoying myself instead of expressing milk which is good for my baby.......................................After all, it's only 3 times a day. How hard can that be? Nights and morning might be busy, but the chance to express milk for my Lele precious only comes this once and never again.
So what if it is a little tiring and more than a little troublesome? It's for the good of my Lele precious.

SO, I've decided to give it another shot.

For at least till Lele is 4 months old.

Lele is a twinkle twinkle star!

Found a great website that can make Lele into a star!
I think I better get myself ready because I'm sure to become a
CELEBRITY MAMA!
http://www.myabcadventure.com/index.htm?movieid=766A59B2-96E2-4D3E-9BC6-1B04ABA195BB

To continue or not?

Help! I'm at a loss right now as to whether I should continue breastfeeding my Lele precious...

Right now, with a daily pump of 3 times per day, Lele manages to enjoy breastmilk 2 times out of 4/5 times per day, so half his dietary intake comes from me. It's all good.

But
I'm also tired from having to wake up early to squeeze and press, eating a hasty lunch at work so that I can squeezesqueeze press press, and rushing home to finish all errands so that I can squeezepress at night.

This morning during teabreak, I announced my decision to stop to my colleagues, and one of their reaction was, "No! Don't stop! The baby is still so young..."
Ya... Lele is still so young. Should I not continue till at least one more month?Afterall, I have come so far... Couldn't be that hard, right?

Should I or should I not... stop? Am I selfish in stopping just for my personal tiredness? Why should I let tiredness get the better or me when
it means a healthy start for Lele precious?

OH!!!

Help me think, please!

Lele and the sling!

I borrowed the baby sling from a colleague who was kind enough to lend it to me to try on my son! To my husband's and my surprise, Lele enjoyed the snug lil baby wrap!!!??? He looked hot, with little space to move around, and a little squished, if you ask me, but he LOVED it.........

Oh, babies... HOW CAN ANYONE TRULY UNDERSTAND THEM? Anyway, I'm getting sleepy so here are some pictures of my dear son and I.

Warning: He looked quite grumpy but I swear I'm telling the truth when I said he enjoyed being in the sling!

Lele is tall

After comparing the heights of several babie's height and wt on Motherhood April Mummies' thread, I realise that Lele really IS tall! Lele is 63cm tall and 6.5Kg, but a few of the babies are 7.5Kg and about the same height or shorter than him.
HmmHmm... Can I start dreaming about being a model mummie? Hee Hee...
I would love to post a few pics of my precious on the blog so as to liven up the whole thing, but Lele's papa left my dig cam at his sch and kept on forgetting to bring it back. So I guess you just have to bear with me for a while there.

I wanna start flashcards with my precious!

Now I'm trying to collect ideas and actually get to it. If I can spend every day 10mins of time flashing with Lele, it sounds like a pretty feasible plan!

Lele's temp had gone down!

I'm so happy that Lele's temp had gone down this morning! It's a great load off my mind! However, his appetite seemed to have been affected by the jab. He did not wake up at all since his last feed at 8 something last night and only ate this morning at 7.30am... Even so, all he took was 120ml of milk, much decreased from his usual 150ml. Even breast milk intake had decreased. Last time, he could finish off 170ml of breast milk and still want more. Today, he only dranl 150 ml. I guess this is just his body's way of adjusting to the antibodies injected into his system...
He was also a little bit crankier than usual. But then, he's usually cranky during the day so I can't tell whether its due to the jab or his usual behavviour plus a little bit more...

Aftermath of 5-in-1

I had been taking Lele's temperature every few hours ever since he came back home. He had been doing well except for the last few hours. His temperature rose a little bit. After his feed, I measured his temp and found that it had gone up to 37.3 degree C. It's not fever yet because I was told by the doctor that anything above 37.5 degree C is classified as fever. However, I was still a little bit worried and had wanted to feed him with the medicine prescribed.

Lele seemed a very happy boy despite his temperature! He was talking to his favourite blackwhitered mobile toy all the while I was wiping his body! Haha!

His grandpa was so excited to see him talking that he called him "Gary"

by mistake! Haha! Gary is my brother-in-law...

Lele is really fortunate to be born into this family with so many people who love and care for him.

After wiping his body, I measured him again and found that the temp had dropped to 36.8 degree C. I decided not to give him any medicine so as to let his body build up its defence mechanism.

As a mother, of course I'm very worried that the fever might escalate. However, I also realise that it is necessary for a child to not be over-reliant on medicine from a young age. I myself had seldom been given medicine by my parents ever since I was young. That's why I seldom have flu, cold or fever. I want Lele to be as strong and healthy as me.

Mama and papa and baby!

Here's our family photo shot! Papa is on the left, the one smiling crazily. Mama is on the right, winking flirtatiously at the camera. Lele is in the center, acting like a perfectly nice little model boy!

The day Lele was born...

I gave birth to Lele on 22 April after a short 2 and a 1/2 hours of labour. Lele's actual name is Tian Le. We named him so because we wanted him to be a symbol of joy, adding joy to everyboy's lives, anywhere he goes.

I was very lucky to be able to "enjoy" such short labour for my first baby! I'm really really lucky. However, the pains of labour was nothing compared with pains from episectomy stiches. I was in such pain for the next few days that I could hardly turn around even in bed. Going to the washroom took at least 10 mins and painkillers prescribed did not seem to alleviate the pain I felt. It was so painful I could hardly sleep.

However, when I held my baby in my arms and and look at him suckle peacefully, I felt that all the pain was worth it.

No number of words could describe the immense joy and love I felt towards this little darling...............

5-in-1 jab

This morning, I brought Lele for the 5-in-1 jab. Before going, I was a bit worried because the jab is known to cause fever in the first 2 days after jab. My worries were unfounded because not only did the jab go quite smoothly, Lele made some friends as well! They were a pair of toddler siblings. First the gorgor, then his meimei came up to lele, wanting to touch him and interact with him. The gorgor was especially sociable. He kept pointing to the play corner and wanted me to bring Lele there to play. And when I did, he and his sister demonstrated to Lele how he should play with the toys! Even though the gor gor was no more than 4 years old, he was very kind towards his own sister. When she was brought in for her jab, he became worried and kept on wanting to enter the room ot look for his meimei! I hope Lele can be equally caring towards his future siblings!

Lele cried during the jab, of course, but calmed down within mins after! After the jab, we had to wait for the doctor to give Lele a checkup, and he fell asleep while we were waiting. Amazing!

The last time we came for the Hep B jab and jaundice check 2 months ago, Lele took longer to settle. In fact, after the jaundice check, he cried until his whole face turned red and he was screaming away in papa's arms, and only settled down after I took over. Papa was quite sad then because he felt that Lele did not like him as much as he like mama. Of course Lele likes the both of us! It's just that he sometimes prefers to be carried by certain people in cerain ways when he is especially insecure. Besides, I still have the "milky" smell on me as I'm breastfeeding, and that must certainly have calming effects on Lele.

This time round, Lele is behaving so well unlike previous times. I think Lele has been pricked by the needle so many times before that he had learnt to take it easy... Haha! I'm so proud of my son for being such a brave little boy!

Lele is now back home, more than 5 hours after the jab, and he has not developed any fever yet. Neither did he exhibit signs of clinginess or fussiness that some babies are prone to after the 5-in-1 jab. I just hope that my darling will remain safe i these 2 days... If anything, Lele seemed a little bit sleepier after the jab.

Besides the jab, Lele also had his height, weight and head circumference measured. Here are Lele's vital stats!

Age: 13weeks+ Ht: 63cm Wt: 6.485Kg Head circumference: 42cm

2 months ago, Lele was only 4.5kg and 54 1/2cm. HOW MUCH HE HAD GROWN IN JUST 2 months!

I was afraid that Lele might be overweight because he has good appetite for milk at his age... 150-180ml every 3 hours... Doctor's diagnosis was that Lele is of ideal weight because he is tall for his age. He also advised that it's okay for babies to be overweight because they will lose it as they get older. Well well...The doc advised that as Lele's neck is still not strong yet, it's better for us to support it when we carry him.