Little Helper @ home

We are very glad that recently, Emily has turn into a "big" girl already. During the 1st month of Valerie's birth, she was not able to really accept little sister and she became very attached to me and my mom. This is a very normal norm as many mommies told me. Initially she is really jealous and she herself turned into a small little girl.

Well, that is 5 months ago, today, big sister Emily is a perfect little helper at home. Some of the example that Emily will be able to assist are quoted as below:

1) When Valerie's saliva is dropping from her mouth, Emily will walk over to take the cloth wipes and let us wipe her saliva from her mouth. Sometimes, she will take her sister's cloths to wipe the saliva but we told her its not clean, and she will go and take the cloth wipes.

2) Whenever she sees Valerie's shirt is pulled up and exposing her belly button, she will pull 'mei mei' shirt down and say 'close belly button'.

3) When Valerie is crying, Emily will bring out her pooh bear that sings and press the tummy of the pooh bear so that Valerie could listens to the pooh bear song. Or she will ask kakak to bring the rattle out and shake the rattle as Valerie loves the rattle.

4) The most amazing and unbelievable one is actually when little Valerie 'farted', that is the sign that she wants to poop poop. To our surprise, Emily will run over to the toilet, and bring along the potty for mama so that we can put Valerie on the potty. 99% of the time, Valerie will poop into the potty, means no dirty cloth diapers for mama :)
I am really surprised that Emily is very observant and did the responsibility of a big sister.

Emily is Potty Trained

I am very proud to say that Emily is potty trained at 18 months. It was actually 6 months ago when we realize that Emily is fully potty trained or toilet learned.

When ever she wants to pee she will say 'shi shi' or 'emm emm' & make the funny face, then will bring her to the toilet or get the potty for her. I can't remember when was the last time that she accidentally pee on her cloth diaper during the day time. It was actually when Emily was 18 months old, and I was still pregnant with Valerie at that time, she told me that she wanna 'emm emm' and make that funny face that she wanted to poop. We were sitting on the floor and I was not able to get up to get the potty for Emily. Emily ran to the toilet and bring out her potty and put it in front of me. She still does not know how to take off her own pants so I helped her to take off her pants and she will do her business there.

Here are a few tips on potty training methods that I am happy to share with all:

When Emily is still a infant

• When Emily is almost 1 months old, she will actually response to the "shhhh shhh" sound when she put her on the potty. It is to our surprise that she would actually response to it as we thought it was a coincident that it happened. So my mommy actually show me again that Emily was able to urinate and response when she makes the "shhhh shhhh" sound !! And again she urinate on the potty. It is very amazing that a small baby can actually understand and response to that.
• Consistency - Every time when Emily wakes up from her afternoon nap, and if she does not pee in her cloth diaper, the first thing that we will do is to bring her to the potty (or bring the potty to her) and "shh shh" her. I have to THANK both my parents who actually have a very good habit of training Emily on this, so every time she wakes up she get her potty training. Personally I think that this has becomes a habit that Emily 'automatically' knows that she needs to urinate in the potty when she wakes up.

When Emily becomes a toddler

• During Emily's toddler hood, when she is around 12-15 and she is able to walk on her own, we actually started to educate & remind her that she will need to urinate on the potty. When ever she urinate on her CD, we will put the CD into the potty, and tell her that you will need to "shh shh" in the potty. Of course, this is an easy task, we keep on reminding her on that and every time she was to pee, she eventually know how to say and we will remove her CD and let her urinate in the potty. Since Emily is wearing CD, it is easy to take off and easy to put on again. At this time she is able to understand what is right and what is wrong.
• It is important to have a consistent schedule. It is important to know your child capability. Normally we will have a quite consistent schedule when to ask Emily if she needs to 'shh shh' or not. It is around 2 hours each day that we will actually sit her on her potty and ask her to urinate.
• During the process we will give encouragement. We will usually stay with her till she has finished her business and give her an applause that she has done a good job ! She will response back with a cheeky smile and recognize her accomplishment as well. It is very important to give the positive encouragement to encourage the habit.
• Starting around 18 months onwards, she is already out of her CD and during the day time, she will be wearing the panties and walk around the house. No more CD in the afternoon except nap time. We wanted her to sleep well during her nap, so will still put on the CD for that but most of the time from my personal experience if she does not have dream, she will not urinate in the CD. Sometimes accidents happens especially when Emily is too tired or too excited (till she sort of forgets) Remember it is important not to 'scold' her when the accident happens as they will still need time to learn how to control their bowel movement. During the small accidents, the training pants will be a good solutions to avoid wet floors.
• During the night time, she will still be wearing CD but before she wears the CD and goes to bed, we will potty her again.
• When Emily is around 20 months, she actually does not need to wear training pants of CD at night anymore. The consistent habit of letting her urinate at potty before she sleeps, (that's the last thing that she will do) and then the first thing when she wakes up in the morning, is to potty train her again. It is actually quite amazing that when she wakes up in the morning, she has a huge amount of urine inside the potty but she knows how to "hold" the urine and not accidentally pee in the CD anymore.

The most important training is consistency and also educating your toddler that they can do it. Just lead by example and role model. Keep on reminding her that she needs to tell mama and papa that she needs to go toilet and we will bring her there.

Now, we have already started the same potty train Valerie and she has the same good response as her sister Emily :)

How to teach toddler to share their toys..

"Toy Jail" emphasizes the mutual benefit of sharing

Melissa is one tactful mom. I love this solution -- teaches skills without finger-pointing.

Our toddlers are 17 months apart and are constantly competing for toys. That's a nice way of putting it, right? :) I'm not a yeller, and I see that sharing is hard, so if things get heated, the toys go into Toy Jail. "This toy is causing a whole bunch of trouble today. Let's put it in jail and see if we'll have a better day with it tomorrow." Some of the hotly contested toys live in toy jail, poor things, but it seems to work about 80% of the time. My four year-old will stop and say, "Here, you take it before it goes into Toy Jail."

Mothers Room is one of the most relaxing place

I have to say that the mothers room in my working place is one of the most peaceful place availble on earth or at least in office. Well, meaby a bit of overstatement but it is true. When ever I go to the Mother's Room to EBM, I will find that it is very peaceful and very quite. It is truly a time where I can relax and just focus on something without multi-tasking. Not to mention, its a place where I can meet other moms who are breastfeeding and also share the fun and painful stories of pregnancy stories, baby care, breastfeeding and anything under the sun when it comes to baby and toddlers.

I still remembered when I travel overseas for my business trip in 2006 and I had to EBM in the airport and also on the plane, the mothers room in HK International airport was one of the most relaxing place too. With the baby pictures hanging on the walls, and also the soft and baby friendly environment, makes me miss Emily a lot.

I think its is great that more and more public places are more concious and preparing great and clean places for baby feeding and mothers too. This is very much needed to raise the awareness and encouragement of breastfeeding.

Mother's Day Dinner

Happy family.. having Mother's Day dinner in Gurney.

Finally some pictures of Valerie..

Its a big challange to take pictures now a days. Since we don't have a lot of time and Emily who likes to grab the camera from us when bring the camera out we really don't have much pictures of Valerie.

I have been asking around my mama friends around if they have the same problems. "It is very common that your no. 2 will have less pictures". But I'll do my best to capture the wonderful moments as much as I can, as I know that the moment will not come again

Emily trying to carry Valerie.

Busy working schedule

Have been M.I.A for some time..busy with work, moving house and also for my two little angels.

No excuse not to keep you all updated but I guess 24 hours is barely enough to complete work, take care of 2 kids at home and also allocate enough time to manage the household.

Just to share with you all how busy a working mom's schedule are as below.

6-7am - Wake up and breastfeed baby Valerie
8am - At work. Managing emails, meeting schedule, projects, timelines and deadlines. This is what we have to do :) Oh ya..Not to mention EBM 2 times a day to bring back home.
5pm - Off work (for now). Getting ready to drive home.
5.30pm - Reach home, can't wait to carry both my little girls. Emily will rush out to the door asking to be hug. First word that comes out of her mouth will be "mama's back, mama carry emily"
5.45pm - Get ready to breastfeed baby valerie. if she has taken her 2nd bottle later, then this will wait for later.
6pm - Bath Emily and get everyone ready for dinner
8pm - Finish dinner, spend another 1-2 hours with both my girls
10pm - Start work again.. night meeting with counterparts. * this happens every Tue, Wed and Thursday. Guess its tough to work for a MNC huh.
11.30 pm - Meeting ends, preparing both kids to go to sleep.

Then the whole cycle will start again the next day. No doubt it is very tiring and very stressful but I enjoy every moment of it. To me, work is work and play is play. When I work, I do my best and spend 100% of my time @ work. But when I spend time with my family its all family time.

I am sure that a lot of moms can relate to it.

Gotto go back to my "working" time now.. just stole 10 mins to type this :)

Breastfeeding again

I always wanted to write down my experience on breastfeeding and sharing this with other new mommy. Hopefully this "story" can help you understand breastfeeding better.

Before I went on labor, I told the nurses in the nursery that I will be fully breastfeeding my baby after she is born. I reminded them that I will need them to cup feed baby while I am not able to fully breastfeed her for the first 2 days. The nurse in the hospital actually refer to me as "mama yang fully nak breastfeed" when they talk to each other.


As I am a very strong supporter of breastfeeding, the only goal that I have in my mind after labor is to ensure I fully breastfeed Valerie. After the tiring labor, I was send back to my room at around 10.30pm and rested for the whole night. The next morning at around 7am, the nurse came to my room, asking if I am going to breastfeed my baby. I told yes of course and waited in the room. To my misunderstanding I thought that the nurse will be bring little Valerie to my room so that I can bf her but instead I will need to go to the nursery. After a very tiring labor and 7 hours of sleep, I still could not really put my feet on the ground. I was alone that morning, hb went back home to sleep because he is not allowed to spend a night in the hospital. The most challenging experience that I have after labor is actually getting down the bed (which is relatively high for me). I forced myself to get off the bed, went to the toilet to changed my cloths before I walked to the nursery to see my little baby.


When I reach the nursery, the nurse carry Valerie to my arms and say, this is your little baby. I could still remember the happiness of holding her. Here is where I started to feed little Valerie but of course, the first 2 days, the milk supply has not come yet. However, I can see the colostrum form and baby is feeding on that. Even breastfeeding schedule is "on demand" which means it depend on when baby is hungry, but the hospital has a few slots for breastfeeding. I am quite surprised that the hospital is encouraging all the mommy's to breastfeed their newborn. Only supplement with formula if requested. So in every 4-5 hours, I will go to the nursery and feed her. I can still remember that on the 2nd day after labor, I started to notice that the milk is actually coming in. On the 3rd day after I came back home, I have engorgement as the milk is changing from colostrum to milk. As my previous experience breastfeeding Emily, the most painful memory that I have is the engorgement pain. I tried many ways to let Valerie to feed but she is more of a sleepy baby and did not really wanted to feed. I tried to use hot compress and massaging to express the milk, but it was not quite successful. On the 4th day, the engorgement pain become more and more painful and I started to have slight fever. Baby Valerie is admitted to the hospital again due to slight jaundice. To reduce the engorgement pain I had to resort to use cabbage and it actually works for me.

After using the cabbage, I manage to express the BM and manage to successfully breastfeed Valerie when she returns home. I have also manage to keep around 20 bottles of EMB frozen for Valerie just in case I need to travel abroad in the next few months.

Today, Valerie is fully breastfeed and even Emily is consuming the extra milk supply that her sister can't finish. I am so glad that this is one of the BEST gift that as a mom I am able to provide.

My labor day experiance

It has been some time since I am able to sit down in front of the computer and blog on my past few months experience. I have gotto say that being a mom of 2 is not an easy task. Its more like working in office on a very hectic day, with endless back to back meetings and multiply it with 10 times. That's how busy it is being a stay at home mom (I'll explain later why I am so busy). I guess I really have to respect my friends who are full time moms who can manage both the entire household, 2 kids and some even the own business! I better get back to my topic before I continue talking about WAHM's magical touch.

Well, it all started at 5.am (again. same time with my 1st labor of Emily) and I started to have the painful contraction. If I remember correctly (which I need to do after delivery) it was the 4th time I am having "false alarm" for Valerie's delivery. It always happened in the middle of the night, and the contraction started and ended after 1 - 2 hours. So on the 1st March 2008, at 5am the contractions started and again, I woke up in the morning asking myself if its the day "again" ?

The contraction is quite mild after a few hours of pain and since I m due for a medical check-up with my gyne that morning, I actually took my bag along and went to the hospital. After the doctors inspection she told me that "today is the day". Happily I ask my hb to pick up the bag from the car and I was admitted to the Labor Room at 12 noon.

In the labor room the nurse of Hospital Pantai were very nice and friendly started to prep me for the delivery. I was actually not feeling so much contraction at that time but the doctor insisted that I should be admitted to the labor room so that the midwives and nurses can monitor my progress. The interesting thing is I was admitted at 12 noon on a Saturday and I had to change 3 shift of mid-wives and nurses before Valerie is born.

Well, in the labor room, its actually quite chilly and me and hb was sitting there, chatting and trying to finalize on the name selection. Bare in mind that we still don't know the sex of our baby yet at that time. The nurses too my blood pressure and baby heartbeat every 30 mins. My cervix only open up to 2 cm at that time. After a few hours of in the labor room and the contraction did not really kick in, the nurse decided to break the water bag. It was around 4pm when my water broke and the contraction started to be more painful.

At 4.40pm, the pain started to be more severe but still not too severe. The nurse told me I was only 4-5 cm and still another 50% to go. After 5pm, I think I kind of not quite aware of the situation because the pain is gaining up on me. Dr Yeap came to visit me at around 5.30 and told me that I am going to delivery tonight before 12 am. What a good news.. I was hoping that she will say that you are going to deliver around 1-2 hours but it did not happened. I was given an injection that supposed to help reduce the pain. but I think the injection was more painful than the labor pain and it did not really 'reduce' the pain. It made me giddy so that I can't feel the pain that much. The contraction pain actually lasted till around 9.30 (5 hours in total) and baby Valerie is born at 3.55kg naturally.

During the whole time, my hb is supporting me, encouraging me all the way. Not to forget, my mom who is also inside the labor room, is holding my hand and giving me the fullest support. Without their encouragement and support, it will be harder to go through the 5 hours of actual labor pain. I can still remember clearly the day Emily is born in 2006 and now in 2008 Valerie is born. Both the labor experience is unforgettable and also the most painful moment in my life as well as the happiest moment in my life.

Emily's pictures by Uncle Allen

Valerie Ooi pictures

Here we go..finally mommy has time to post some of Valerie's pictures online.

Looking at Valerie's picture reminds me of Emily..she really looks a lot like her sister who looks a lot like daddy :)

Valerie's first day in Hospital Pantai

Playing the "waiting game"

Has been a long time since I log into the blog. I have been so busy with CNY and also 1001 things to do.

Well, today, I have passed the 38 weeks limit and its safe for baby to be born. I have been having a few times of 'practice contraction' at night since 2 weeks ago. Meaby because of the late night meetings (till ~ 12am) and lots of work at that time.
The contraction pain is soooooooooooo real and I thought that I will need to pack up to go to hospital at 4am in the morning. The contraction pain also known as Braxton Hix occurred every 10 minutes and lasted for 30 seconds. Its exactly the same kind of pain that I experience during the 1st pregnancy.. so how was I able to tell if it is real or false alarm ?

Anyway, after 2 hours of pain, it subside after I woke up and ended up visiting gyne with a false alarm.

Well, I hope that the D day is coming soon. It heavy, tiring and very difficult to rest at night now.

Will keep all of you posted on my progress and also baby pictures :)

6.50am !

Yesterday morning Emily woke up around 6.50am requesting for her early milk milk, probably she was hungry. Normally her feeding time is around 8am or 9am in the morning. Recently she has not been eating much of her solid food and has been quite challenging to try feed the food that we prepare.

As usual, she does the Koala Bear hug, with her hands around my neck and her pairs of legs on top of my big round belly. And as she was hugging me, she was actually rolling my hair with her little fingers and I felt that it was very very sweet.(She has this habit of rolling her hair too when she is drink milk.)

At the same time, little one inside my tummy was kicking me furiously. Meaby because little one is also feeling hungry already and it is always almost the same time I start to feel the movement in the morning. I am sure that Emily felt the big movement in the tummy but she probably does not know if it was from little baby.

I had this sudden burst of happiness & joy that I am the luckiest person on earth. The joy of being able to hold both my baby in my arm physically and 'virtually'. I just don't know how to pen this experience down, but you will know it when you experience it :)

8 things to prepare before childbirth

Time is passing by very fast. I have around 8 weeks to go before the MLOA (Maternity Leave of Absence) starts to take effect. I have been extremely busy with the preparation of ensuring that my work in office is being passdown and coordinate during my absence. Along with that, there are like 1001 things that needs to be prepared before the arrival of new baby in March.

Below are the 8 things that I think comes in pirority will need to get prepared with in the coming few weeks.

1) Preparing myself emotionally and mentally. Even though, it has been around 18 months after the delivery of my first baby, I can still remember the event of the day (very clearly). Every contraction, every pain that run through the entire body except the hair (no epidural) and the wonderful moment of carrying my new born baby in my arms is the happiest moment in my life. Preparing myself emotionally and mentally for this time helps me to be able be able to relax more and able to enjoy the process childbirth more this time.

2) Spending time with Emily. For the next few weeks, I will try to spend as much time as I can with Emily, because I know that when little baby is born, the time that I will have for her will definitely be lesser. I am very concern that she may not understand that change that may be happening and I am concern that she will be jealous if she see me nursing another baby but I have got some advice to help to help reduce some of the 'jealousy'.

3) Preparation at work. I don't know why but this is the first thing that comes to my mind when I am writing on the 10 things to prepare. I guess it is one of the most important things that I need to ensure a smooth transition to my back-up before I start to go on MLOA. There are a lot of documentations that needs to be completed and process that needs to be recorded so that it can be easies for my back-up to handle the daily task at work.

4) Preparation for Breastfeeding. Starting to prepare myself mentally is a very important step towards a successful breastfeeding of a new born. Basically, the will of the mind is very strong and our body will eventually produce the required milk supply for the new born.

5) Cut my long hair. I have very long and thick hair and based on the experience on the 1st pregnancy, it was too hot and very difficult to manage. I beg my mother to allow me to wash my hair after 14 days into confinement and of course, its a quick splash only and then another few more days not washing my hair. This time round, especially after CNY it scares me off how hot the weather can be lately. I have just visited my hairdresser and she has given me a new short hairstyle.. the shortest hairstyle that I can ever recall cutting in the past 10 years! But I am very satisfied and feel much cooler now.

6) Cleaning & Washing in other words nesting... I did this the first time and I am doing it again. I have been trying to keep our house, wash and re-wash baby cloths, blanket, traditional lampins and cleaning out the closet, drawer as clean as possible meaby its due to the nesting instinct that every woman/mom has. I remember I read in the books that it is very normal for expecting mothers to clean and prepare the environment in preparation of welcoming a new born baby. Or another reason is meaby because it is nearing Chinese New Year and I find the need to clean the house for that reason. This also includes starting to pack the delivery bag that needs to be brought to the hospital anytime

7) Walking...more walking. One of the exercise that I don't have time to commit and do. I use to walk for around 30 mins for at least 4 times a week previously as advice given by my mom and alot of friends. This time round, I have lesser time to go walking after dinner and hopefully it will not have any negative impact on me.

8) Resting more when time is near, which means don't be to "pek chek" as Chinese use to say and try to relax more. Its really hard trying to rest more especially after I come up with the list of 1001 things to do before childbirth, but getting the sufficient rest and energy is one of the most important aspect in preparation for the long hours of labour and delivery.

I think I better stop at no. 8 else, I will just stress myself more with more things to prepare :)

Waistline expansion

The title says it all. I have been feeling very stretch from all sides lately, from my growing belly and also the work related requirements lately :(. The skin is feeling very itchy and I need to remind myself constantly that I need to apply more cream and oil to avoid stretch mark !!

Last night, I finally took out the measurement tape and measure my waistline and it reads 38.5 inch. Putting 38.5 inch on my petite body frame, actually makes me look a bit funny. :P How amazing is our body being able to stretch itself to accommodate for such a growth !

Compared to my previous pregnancy, I am quite sure that the . However I regret that I did not record it down. So starting this week, I will be measuring this waistline expansion till delivery :)

32 weeks = 38.5 inch
34 weeks = ?
36 weeks = ?
40 weeks = ?

Toddler Food Guide

Recently we have a problem with Emily starting to select the food that she is taking. Up till 17 months, she does not have any problem finishing 2 bowls of porridge per meal which is a very happy thing for parents to see. The porridge that we prepare for her has a balance diet, cooked with various types of vegetable, meat, fish and pumpkin.

However, we have started to allow her to explore her taste buds by allowing her to taste different types of food. This has definitely generate more curiosity and also she has developed a preference towards certain types of food.

Right before I start to feel stressful, she started to reject the nice porridge that we have provided to her for 11 months. She started to spit out food and swing her head away when the spoon is near her mouth. I think I went through one of the most stressful time in feeding her for the past few weeks when she really does not wish to eat anything as compared to a few big bowl of nutritious porridge. Luckily during this time when she refuse to eat the porridge, she has increased her consumption of milk from 3-4 feedings of 6oz per day to 5 feedings of 6oz per day. Guess she is really hungry from not getting enough 'solid' food.

I have went on several website and reading about toddler's eating problem. Its a really true problem that is affecting a lot of toddlers around the world. One of the advice that I get from majorities of the moms is I should be stress out due to this. The toddler will select the food that she likes to eat and her appetites will change from day to day.

Below are some nutritious guidelines for toddler age 2-8 yrs old.

Food Guide Pyramid for Young Children Daily Guide for 2- to 8-Year-Olds

Grains = Make half your grains whole
• Look for the word "whole" in front of the grain name on the list of ingredients

Vegetables = Vary your vegetables
• Eat more dark vegetables
• Eat more orange vegetables
• Eat more dry beans and peas

Fruits = Focus on fruits
• Eat a variety of fruits
• Choose fresh, frozen, canned, or dried fruit
• Go easy on fruit juices

Oils = Know your fats
• Make most of your fat sources from fish, nuts, and vegetable oils
• Limit solid fats like butter, stick margarine, shortening, and lard

Milk = Get your calcium-rich foods
• Go low-fat or fat-free
• If you don't or can't consume milk, choose lactose-free products or other calcium sources

Meat & Beans = Go lean on protein
• Choose low-fat or lean meats and poultry
• Bake it, broil it, or grill it
• Vary your sources with more fish, beans, peas, nuts, and seeds

Baby Thingy to buy for a new born: Baby Checklist

Getting ready for childbirth can be quite exciting and at the same time increase the anxiety of the mother. For first time parents, there are a lot of things that needs to be purchased before the arrival of a new born baby. Below are some of the items that I had on my checklist for Emily. Of course, the list is not complete and there are much more baby stuff that you can get :)

1. Baby feeding bottles & teats
2. Baby bottle Sterilizer
3. Baby clothing's including lampin, baby front opening shirt, hat, blanket with hood, Nappie liner, handy, mittens and booties, bath towels
4. Baby bath including baby soap, baby oil, baby lotion for the baby massage
5. Dettol
6. Cotton wools and cotton buds
7. Baby wipes
8. Small baby tub
9. Accessories such as
10. Baby bag
11. Baby car seat and basket
12. Baby cot
13. Baby blanket, pillow, crib bumper set
14. Baby stroller
15. Nail clipper
16. Diaper rash cream
17. Mosquito netting

Mama stuff:-

1. Maternity pads
2. Nursing bra
3. Nursing pads
4. A good breastpump (How can I forget this)

One thing that I did not purchase was : Milk powder. This is to encourage my mindset to fully breastfeed. Since I am the eldest in the family and I did not get a lot of pass me down, you can imagine how much fun I actually had to go shopping around for the baby thingy.