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.

Knowing the sex of baby and selecting a name...

One of the interesting topics that I will never miss when chatting with a friend is about the sex of little baby.

Most of my friends has been asking me if I know the sex of baby. After so many months of doctor's visit, our little baby still refuse to disclose the sex to me and hb. Meaby because I have told most of my friends that I would like to keep it a surprise and only find out the sex on the day of delivery. I think its more surprising to do that, to keep it a secret. :)

The only thing that is still bugging me along with this is that we have not selected 2 names yet, one for a baby girl and another for a baby boy. If you can tell, trying to select a name for your new born baby is not easy. There are a lot of aspects to consider and ensuring that the name for your child will not be a laughter or joke to their friends in future.

For my first pregnancy, we had the selection of name around 6 months. For the first timer, I remember what me and hb went through a long process and it actually took a few weeks to complete. Not like what "Friends" where Rachel and Ross did in the Central Perk coffee shop by selecting 5 names and both of them had a vote of Yes or No and finally did not come up with a decision. Well, we did it in a more conventional manner.

Basically we sat down, and started writing a list of names that we prefer for a baby girl. I had to go search for some of the baby names online and in some of the baby book that a friend borrowed me. after writing down around 15 names, we sat down again comparing notes and then cancelling off the names that we thought was too long, too fancy, too funny and that we don't quite like. the name list that we came up was quite interesting and I would never thought of calling our daughter by that name. Finally, we did have a few overlap names in the list and went on a voting session and selected Emily.

As for the Chinese name, it was a little bit more challenging for me as I can't read and write Chinese so I had to get help from my parents and parents-in-law to come up with a few suggestions. Of course, we did come up with the 'ping ying' of those names first.

A few days after Emily was born, then only we finalize on her Chinese name and went on to the department to register her birth certificate. At least we are given 2 weeks from the date of birth to do so :). Suggestion is to go to the Sg Ara branch to do this as the queue is the shortest and the birth certificate registration was completed within a few minutes. Below are some of the items that that will need to br brought to the Bitrh Certificat Registration

1. The original document at registration.
2. Application form duly completed and endorsed by the hospital
3. Letter of proof of birth from the hospital
4. Mother's and father's identity card
5. Marriage certificate
6. Identity card of informant (if applicable)

For Penang, you may contact the Bitrh Registration Department Tel at 04-226 5161 for more information

For this time round, I think we will complete the name selection in a few weeks time. But it may require a longer time since we have to come up with 2 list of names :)

Emily day's out at Youth Park

Hi Uncle & Aunties,

"I am very happy today because, finally mama and daddy has brought me to the Youth Park. Mama and Daddy promise to bring me to Youth park and let me play in the park. We went to the slides, the waterfall, run around the place and also I almost fall down 2 times.

Here are some pictures that mama and daddy took for me when I was in the park"

Love,
Emily.

Emily on the slide

Oh, some new things to play...

Rocking horse.. this is really fun.

Mama and me

Daddy and me

Third Trimester Challanges

Sorry for the long silence.. have been so tied up with year end project closure and last minute work. Well... that's the work in a corporate life. Even though you are 7 months pregnant, still have to stay up for work till 12 am in the morning with global partners. But nevertheless, it is still my responsibility and no complains with that.

Third trimester just started to kick in. I am starting to experience the night time leg cramps, back pain, numbness on the fingers and hands and most difficult of all, is trying to get a good night sleep. As far as I know, pregnant woman will need to sleep on the left hand side as advice my doctors to avoid the major arteries that may prevent the blood flow to the uterus. Thanks to my mother, during the weekdays, my mother will be taking care of Emily at night so that I can have a 'better' sleep at night.

During the weekends and nights without meetings, Emily will be back and will be sleeping with me. Well, she does not wake up in the middle of the night anymore for milk, but she will give me a light kick on my face or a knock on my head when she toss and turn. (I will use a pillow to avoid Emily kicking on my tummy :)) But so far, she has never done that before. Oh ya, i forgot to mention, after Emily stop tossing and turning on the bed, the little one starts the acrobatic act in the belly :)

However, having her back home sleeping beside me, is one of the happiest and bonding moment for me and Emily. I miss it very much. How nice if I don't have to work and just spend time with her everyday and night :)

Apart from the poor sleep schedule, I will still need to exercise more. During the 1st pregnancy, I walked a lot at night as an exercise with my mother for at least 30 minutes a day 5 times a week. Now, I just can't find the time to do any of that. I think lack of time is a problem. Not that I don't have a proper time management but 24 hours is just not enough !!! Wanting to spend more time with Emily and also that means that some other scarify has to be there.

I remember talking to my friend the other day, that we both did not even have time to put on lotion on our growing and expending belly.. unlike the 1st pregnancy, I think I bought 2 -3 bottles of lotions to and has religiously used it every night. That resulted in a very minimum stretch mark after the 1st pregnancy.

Will keep you all posted on the development of my pregnancy :)

Oh ya.. Merry Christmas & a Happy New year to all

3 Years Wedding Annivesary

Last night me and CK celebrated our 3rd year wedding anniversary with some friends and also celebrating Jonathan's Birthday together.

Time passes very fast... its already 3 years since our wedding anniversary.
Over this 3 years we have learned a lot through sharing experience, sharing the happiness, managing and understanding the difficulties and differences that we face and improving the marriage...

May we have many many more 3 years to come...

Emily Development Milestones

Firstly.. sorry for being so quite lately. I have been extreamly busy with work due to the quarter during the workdays and also busy taking care of Emily during the weekends. So it does not leave me with a lot of time to online.


Well, finally I am able to sit down and start to write something that is in my mind for some time. It has been rather amaizing watching my little baby grow up from a small baby to a 15 months toddler today. Everyday, she will show us something new and something special. The most interesting development that we recently notice in her is her ability to remember things which has been told to her only 1 or 2 times.

Below is the timeline and major development milestone that I can 'still' remember, can't remember all of them..

1 month: Able to listen to potty train and starting to use the potty right after her full moon.

5 months: Able to sit up stright without back-support.

8 months: Able to crawl in her own uniquie way. :)

12 months: Able to start walking on her own without support

13 months: Able to start speking, first words are of course Mama & Papa. Then followed by "No More". Today, she has the vocubary of around 50 words plus. Sometimes we mention an object to her once and she could remember it and point to the object and say the name.

Every child's development is different, some are faster, some are slower and some are super fast too. One of my friends daughter was able to walk and speak at the age of 10 months ! Wow...Below is the website from Baby center development milestone to show the mastered skills, emerging skills and advance skills http://www.babycenter.com/milestone-charts-birth-to-age-3. Enjoy reading through them..

Increase price of Formula Milk Powder

Formula Milk powder is really expensive, not sure if all the moms and dads will agree with me. Yesterday we went to Sunshine square to purchase and stock up Emily formula milk (FM) and realized that the price for the current brand that she is drinking has increase in price. It was a RM3 increase for a 900ml can. Emily consume around 4 cans per month.

Well, as a whole, this is not a major increase like car petrol or other commodities but this insignificant increase does create an awareness to me and my hb that we have saved a lot of money during the 1st year of Emily.

I can't stress more on the benefit of breastfeeding. I only spend RM 600 on the efficient double express pump and around RM50 on the additional 20 bottles to store the BM, but I guess I have saved more than a few thousand during the first few years. There are also a lot of indirect savings and benefit which we can't directly see from breastfeeding.

I was talking to one of my mama friend yesterday that when Emily fell sick with flu in her first 6 month of birth, she was able to recover very fast. Mainly I got the advice from my doctor to get infected with the same flu virus that Emily has and then breastfeed her so that when my body product the anti-body, it can be transfered and consumed by her. I did try to get sick when she got sick. As a result, Emily was able to recover fully from her flu within 3 days! Amaizing isn't it.

Right now, I guess that I will have to wait for another 5 months till new baby is born and commit to bf our new baby as long as I can :)

Mindfulness or Forgetfulness

Not sure if the hormonal changes that is happening within my body, I tend to be more forgetful compared to mindful. I had a full week offsite training class for my PMP (Project Management Practitioner course) which I have fully forgotten about. Luckily one of my team member gave me a call on Monday morning @ 9.30 am to ask if I am going to join. I was already 1.5 hours late. Traveling to the facility makes me even later...So I will say Forgetful - 1 , Mindful - 0 (again)

When I signed up for the class, I was fully prepared for the course work and committed hours of studies. Since my personal situation has changed and I am due to take the examination in December for this highly demanded professional course but I am not sure if I will be 'fit' to sit for the examination. There are about 200 questions that needs to be answered during the 4 hours exam. Wish me luck !!

Early morning call at 5am on Monday morning

This morning, at 5 am I heard a small and sweet voice calling mama, mama, mama :)

Emily is hungry and wants milk milk. After drinking her milk, she fell a sleep again.

Its the sweetest little voice and sweetest sound that I can desire to hear. She crawl towards me on the bed and hugged me and called mama again. As a mother, that can be the sweetest sound we hear and the heart just melts with it.

Even though I did not manage to get back to sleep till around 6 am - I guess that is the happiest early morning call that I can remember.

Baby Gathering @ Bee Ling's

A few weeks ago, we had a baby gathering at Bee Ling's house. Its really special this time because we have around 8 mama's attending the gathering and 11 baby gathering together. Our intention is of course for the mom's to meet and chat and also for the baby to gather and play. However, every baby seem to have their own 'interest' during that time and still does not know how to interact with each other.

In conjunction with that, Bee Ling has also purchase a birthday cake for baby Jun Jie who celebrated his Chinese birthday that day :)

Thanks Bee Ling for a wonderful afternoon and gathering

All of them are playing with the toys on the floor separately.. hemm.. still don't know how to socialize yet
Happy Birthday to Jun Jie
Sitting: Lee May & Shey Nell, Angie & Emily
Standing: Daphnie & Issac, Siew Kooi's Hubby & Eugene, Siew Kooi & Vincent , Pei Jin & En En, Michelle & Jun Jia, Bee Ling & Zi Heng, Julia & Nicole.

Emily's Wearing her England Football Jersey

Here are some old pictures that has been taken in August with Emily and Daddy. I promised one of my counterpart in England to send some pictures of Emily wearing the England Football Jersey that he has send to Emily. Finally, I manage to take those pictures...

Mama, Emily & Daddy

Mama and Emily

"See Mama I am reading now"

"Mama what are you doing there ? Don't make me laugh la, I wanna read"

"Ok mama its really funny. Stop making that funny face .....hahaha"

Emily's birthday pics

Here are some of Emily's belated birthday pictures taken on 7/16/07.

"Oh its a surprise birthday"

"Yeah I am 1 year old now"

"Waiting for my birthday song....Happy Birthday To Me..."

"Look at the cool red egg, mama please have 1 "

Being Pregnant again...

Being pregnant brings a lot of joy to me. This is true only beyond the 1st trimester and beyond all the morning sickness and nausea.

I have a few happy thoughts about being pregnant and here they are:

1) When I am pregnant, I don't have to spend a lot of money on cloths and accessories. Not to mean that when I am pregnant, I don't have a sense of fashion (only the truth can tell :P) but I really take this time to save on shopping for shoes, cloths and lots of other things. So this 9-12 months will be a cost savings time for me. BUT the problem is I will start to spend the money that I saved from these few months very fast after the confinement period and when I get back to work :P

2) Being pregnant feels good because everyone in the house will pampare you like a baby (because you are carrying one). I have been so lucky that I dont have to drive to office everyday and search for a car park or walk from a car park which is half a football field. Now my hubby will drop me right at the door step. Being pampered also means that I don't have to do any house work like washing, cleaning and bla bla bla. See.. how lucky I am now...

3) When I am pregnant, I can sleep as much as I can. Not because I want to but because I need to. When I am pregnant, I can also eat anything that I want. However, I stilll need to control my sugar intake during the last few months of pregnancy.

4) I am also very delighted and excited when I can feel my little baby moving, twisting and kicking me. I truly enjoy every moment of that, even though it is in the middle of the night, a punch on the rib bones woke me up or a kick on the bladder makes me wanna pee. I enjoy every moment of Emily's movement in me.

5) Being pregnant makes me happy again because that I know in a few months time, I will be able to meet my new born baby and able to share our love and happiness with our new born baby.

So my dear friends get pregnant again :)

I'm Back

After being quite for so long, I am back to the blog pages. I think it has been exactly 2 months, 5 days I have not had the time and energy to blog about what has happened in my life. There are so many events that I wanted to share with my friends and family that happened during that time but don't have the opportunity to do so. Some of my far away friends were asking what happened to Angie whom has been away for so long.

Well, I have a very valid reason for this !! I was having morning sickness & nausea & vomiting for almost 2 months. Yes... I am pregnant again :) ..haha some would say it is very fast and some would actually its time to have the 2nd child while the gap is not too huge. For me there are a lot of challenges and memories during the last few weeks.

Being pregnant is one of the happiest moment in my first pregnancy. I can still remember clearly when I was pregnant with Emily, I enjoy every moment of it, even during the 1st trimester. I did not experience a huge amount of morning sickness only slight nausea during the evening for a few weeks. This pregnancy bring a totally different experience for me. I did not know that being "morning sick" was so tough :(. I was not able to eat or drink and any input to the mouth will cause output. So it was a tough time during the last few weeks.

However, I am on the lucky side now, stepped into the 2nd trimester now and the morning sickness and nausea has reduced tremendously. I am more energetic now and able to "run" around with Emily.
Emily being very very active, really requires a lot of attention from both of her parents. We really have to follow everywhere she walks to avoid falls and also unwanted accidents.

One of the hardest thing for me to let go is breastfeeding Emily. I had to stop breastfeeding or should I say naturally I had to stop because the milk supply has reduced tremendously. I remember it actually took me 1 week to totally stop lactating. When I found out that I am pregnant, I try to read more about Tandem breastfeeding from the Internet. Some approve of that and some actually encourage to stop. My gyne actually encouraged me to stop breastfeeding as it may affect the contraction of the uterus and also cause malnutrition to the fetus. During this time I am very very lucky and grateful to have the greatest mother in the whole world to help me care and feed Emily. I always thought that Emily being a breastfeed baby will have a difficult time to wean. But it came very naturally and easily. My mother really had to scarify a lot of her time and energy to help take care of Emily as I was too 'sick' to hold the responsibility of a mother at that time.

Being in the 2nd trimester now, I am back on my little feet and able to eat more and gaining weight. I am for one not concern about gaining too much weight as long as I am healthy and nurturing my little baby. This time round, I will try to enjoy every moment of the pregnancy and promise to keep all posted.

Till then.. cheers....

Strip Washing Cloth Diaper

Strip Washing your cloth diaper: What do you need ?

1) Dish washing soap detergent – Any type can be used can be used.
2) A soft tooth brush
3) The cloth diapers only ( no inserts)
4) Your hands

Step 1) Pour some soap detergent on the suede part of the cloth diaper.

Step 2) Scrub the suede cloth of the diaper with your both hands

Step 3) Use a soft tooth brush to scrub the suede cloth gently


Step 4) Turn the diaper inside out and perform the same step 2-3 again

Step 5) Rinse with a LOT of water to wash away the detergent and soap.

Finally wash the diaper in the washing machine without any detergent.

What Keeps You Up At Night ?

As a parent what is our greatest fear ? What keeps you up at night ? For me, my greatest fear arise when
...our beloved children are sick
...our beloved children can't tell them what is causing the pain
...worrying about when our beloved child can get well soon.

Last weekend, I was not feeling well with some light flu and as a result of that, Emily has gotten the flu from me and had a slight fever over the weekend. It was really very painful when I see her not able to sleep well and wants to be cuddled. When put on the bed, she will start crying...

I think every parent wish that they can take the pain away from their baby and suffer on behalf of them.

8 Random facts about myself

I was tagged by bZBee who was tag by Sharine and now I have blog something about myself.
What is the 8 random fact about me?

1) I am an ISFJ (Introverted, Sensing,Feeling,Judging) under the Myers-Briggs typology which is a very famous personality test. Based on what it means above, I am moderately expressed as an introvert person and seemingly an emotional person. However, based on the comments and feedback from my friends, they find me totally the opposite. Some of my friends find me extrovert and able to mix up with a new group of people easily (which is not what I feel actually). The test is kinda fun, you can take the Personality test and find out what your personality is :)

2) I love to gather around my family. One of my most important value that I treasure a most is family first. When ever there is a chance I would love to have my family member together, eating, watching TV or even be together in the same room chatting makes me very happy. In fact, as I grow older, I realize that trying to gather your siblings around is getting harder as they may have their own family and priorities. So the time spend together is actually priceless.

3) I love to watch TV series, Movies and anything that has to be shown in TV. In other words, I was an TV addict BE (Before Emily). Things has changed, majority of my preference has changed a lot with the lil Emily being around. Less time to watch CSI, Smallville, 24, Monk (the list can get very long here) but still can allocate time to watch HEROES.

4) I am brought up in a very disciplined family. My father use to act like the Major in the military, so we are bounded with a strict time schedule, always train to be on time (so I don't like to be late or people being late for the matter of fact) and always have to eat at the dinner table. No food allowed anywhere. I think I am going to be more flexible to my lil Emily :)

5) I love to go for aerobics its the only sports activities that I do. I use to go for aerobic classes 3 times a week and sweat a lot. It is always a tiring and stress relive moment after a great aerobic session. Again, time is of a constrain now, family first. Aerobic later. As for the other sports, I don't really like swimming due to the smell of chlorine, I don't like to play tennis or squash due to being so tired chasing for the ball and I don't like cycling.

6) Despite the fact that I don't like to Cycle, but I totally support my DH favourite sport. He is a MTB freak. He is a adrenaline junkie that's seeks for thrill every weekend and still go for more. I truly support his "dangerous" hobby and pick up a few knowledge over his MTB passion.

7) I hate to FLY on a plane. The worst thing that I am ask to do is to travel overseas where I have to sit on a plane for 15 long hours, stranded in the single small seat and not able to move around. I am not claustrophobic but I am air sick. Yes I am air sick. So every time I need to take out the passport, I will take a dozen of air sickness pill with me and sleep 90% of the time on the plane. Not able to eat anything during the trip but once I touch the ground, I am back to normal.

8) I am also a workaholic. I don't mean to contradict with # 2. Family still comes first but beside that I really like to work. Sometimes when I am on a project or on a deadline, I will need to complete it regardless of what it takes. And sometimes it takes more than I can give. I try to control myself on that and learning to develop a balance in life

Ok, so this is the small random facts about my life.

What is my Breastfeeding Secret ?

This post is specially dedicated to my cousin sister Chris who is expecting her baby in Aug and my 2 BEST of friends Mei and Yen who are expecting their baby in Sept and Oct. For me, I was very fortunate to know a good friend who has given me a lot of motivation, encouragement and support during the early confinement weeks. KC - a BIG thank you for that !! Now its my turn to pass along my sharing with all my mommy-to-be and also the daddy-to-be friends.

When I was pregnant, I keep on asking friends about breastfeeding because I wanted the best for my lil baby. I keep on remembering the phrase that Josie told me "Breastfeeding is the most time consuming thing in the whole wide world, but it is worth it".

I have to admit breastfeeding at the beginning is indeed the toughest thing to do right after the delivery of a baby. After delivery of a new born baby, our body is going through a major restructuring of hormonal changes and this experience could be overwhelming for some mom. Some of us may experience "Baby Blues" or Post Delivery Depression. I remember that that time was quite difficult for me as our mood swing due anxiety and lots of things to worry about.

Here are a couple of things to take note to be successful in breastfeeding a newborn:-

#1) First Feeding is very important. The colostrum has high concentrations of nutrients and antibodies. IT is also high in carbohydrates, high in protein, high in antibody and low in fat (as human newborns may find it difficult to digest). Newborns have very small digestive systems, and colostrum delivers its nutrients in very concentrated low-volume form. It has mild laxative effect, encouraging the passing of the baby's first stool, which s call meconium. This clears excess bilirubin, a waste product of dead red blood cells which is produced in large quantities at birth due to blood volume reduction, from the infant's body and helps prevent jaundice.(This part is taken from Wikipedia, I did not write this :P)

#2) Supply & Demand. The economic theory of supply and demand is the only concept that you will need to remember while breastfeeding. The more you feed or express, the more the brain will be programmed to simulated the breast milk (BM) production. It is perfectly normal if your baby request for milk every 2-3 hours. My baby was a small eater during the confinement period and she only consume around 3 oz every 3 hours. This allows me to actually have extra time to express the remain ding using a breast pump. There are 2 reason for that, firstly to simulate more demand so that the production can increase and secondly, to stock some supply of BM if your baby suddenly go through a growth sprout. I remember that the baby will usually go through a growth sprout in the 3, 6, 9 and 12 months. But each baby is definitely unique.

#3) Buy a good breast pump. I have purchased a single Medela Electric for ~RM 350 and have used that during the confinement month. After that, I realize that it is not efficient to express the milk fast enough during the working hours. So after the confinement month, I went out to purchase a double Medala Electric Pump which cost RM 598. The initial investment may be a bit shocking to me as well but I can guarantee you that it is all worth it. For a formula fed baby, the amount of money parents need to pay for the milk powder supply ranges from RM 150 to RM 200 per month and it gets more when the baby is growing due to the increase intake. The initial investment of the breast pump is nothing compared to that. Some moms prefer to use the single pump from Avent which has been said to have very good vacuum. But the disatvante of the single pump is it will take longer for each pumping session. Having to work in a hectic organization, expressing 2 times in office is very time consuming. So I finally resort to using the double Medela electric pump

#4) Resting. It is very very important that we get the rest needed. Delivery is a very hectic process for the mom and the baby. So try to get as much sleep as possible. Try to get some sleep when your baby is sleeping too.. It is very much needed to help you to gain the energy for producing the required amount of BMfor your new born. Not forgetting that you will need to wake up in the middle of the night at least 1 or 2 times to breastfeed your baby. So if you can catch any sleep during the afternoon nap it would be good.

#5) Drink more fluid, soup, natural milkmaid organic tea to help boost the fluid in your body. At average, we need to drink around 8 glasses or 2 liter of water a day. As a nursing mother, we definitely need to drink more than that. The Chinese tradition believes that during confinement period, we should be drinking water but need to drink the herbs, red dates, dried longan as our daily water consumption. I was really against this believe and drank the amount of water I needed. Apart from drinking just water, it would be good to drink fish soup as it also contains DHA and Omega to help provide the required nutrition for your baby.

#6) Storing BM. After expressing you need to store the BM in the fridge. The rule of thumb of storing it in the fidge is it can be kept from 3-5 days. If it is being kept in the freezer, then it can be stored up to 3 months. While warming the milk, do not boil it under the fire. All that is needed is to warm it in a hot cup of water of a bottle warmer.

#7) Nipple Confussion. Of course, direct feeding is more beneficial for both the mother and baby. It encourages a lot of bonding between mommy and baby. However, for baby whom are aged below 6 weeks old are encouraged to be fed directly and not to bottle feed so often to avoid the confussion from the baby. Some baby may have a preferance over a method and reject the other method totally. So you will need to select a method which is prefered by your baby.

For the moment, this is what I can think of as a sharing pieces for all of you. I will continue to post more information on breastfeeding and encourage and promote breastfeeding to our babies !

PS: Fathers-to-be, after reading this, please do understand that your wife go through a LOT for your baby so give them all the support and love that is needed.

Baby Crawling contest Emily Won!!

Today, as usualy I went home to my mom's house for lunch and my mom read in the papers about a baby crawling contest in Sunshine Square @ Bayan Baru in conjunction of the 1 Stop Baby Essential Fair. So we decided to give Emily a try to enter the contest.

We went to Sunshine Square at around 2pm and the hall is filled with moms and baby :) Of course, my first thought is "Would Emily be afraid of so many babies?" "Is she going to be able to crawl on the stage" and many many more. To my surprise, she was not shy at all !! Here are some of Emily picture after we put her on the stage. Emily immediately started to crawl to the middle of the stage while the other babies are just sitting at the side.
In no time, Emily was already socializing with some other baby on the stage. See what she did removing the "R" from the floor mat (Thats what she do everyday on ours at home :P) She is definately the baby in Spotlight as she was wearing the CUTE Drybees Pink Retro diaper (to go with her pink skirt). A few mommy even come over to ask about that !

At 2.30pm, the organizer passed us 1 piece of Pet Pet disposable diaper and requested all moms to change their baby to wear the Pet Pet disposable diaper for the contest. Well, of course, all of the moms put their baby on stage and started to change them! I actually need my sister's help to change Emily as she is such a wriggly baby.

Emily was the 1st 2 baby that was put on stage for the contest. My hubby was with her on one end of the floor mat and I was on the other hand waving a "CD" at Emily (thats the secreat of her victory). We just don't know why Emily loves CD's compatred to the other Fisher Price toys.

Below is the Video of Emily speed when she was crawling from one end to the other end. In only 8.6 seconds !!

Of course, after that, none of us actually thought that she would have a chance to win the competiton as there are more than 26 babies there. So we just waited for the whole session to end.

There were around 5 consolation prices and after the 2nd winner was announced my sister said to me "Angie, Emily is going to be the winner". I was not able to believe it but the MC made the annoucement and it says " The Winner of the Baby Crawling Contest is Emily Ooi" . OMG we were sooooooooo proud of her !! Or rather we were so proud as parents ! Our 11 month old baby is the winner of the Baby crawling contest !!

Look at the proud Mama and Papa on stage receiving the 1st Price.

Now, I have 3 packets of XL disposable diaper.. what am going to do with that ?? Hemmm.....

What's your past time?

Some like to fish, some like to swim, I like read books and watch TV.
Do you know what my Hubby's with his favorite past time is ? Check out his video below..

Breastfeeding 101

Making The Breastfeeding Decision : 8 Reasons to Consider Breastfeeding

Still not convinced breastfeeding is right for you? Here are eight more important medical findings you should consider.

1) Breastfeeding could increase your baby's intelligence level. Researchers in one study followed a group of babies into their teens and 20s, documenting intellectual development and cognition along the way. The result: Babies who were breastfed were simply smarter.

2) Breastfed babies have better pain relief and less stress. In one study, doctors found that both crying and "grimacing" -- expressions of pain and stress -- were dramatically reduced in babies who were breastfed, compared to those who were not.
Heart rate was also lower in breastfed babies, even when subjected to stressful or painful medical procedures. What's more, researchers report that preventing stress in an infant's early life may have positive benefits on how important brain chemicals are processed later in life, which may in turn help him or her better cope with stress and anxiety.
The American Academy of Pediatrics also points out that breastfeeding during a painful procedure for baby, such as a needle stick, provides pain relief.

3) Breastfeeding can help your child build better bones. That means your child will develop a stronger skeletal frame. Doctors in one study showed that at age 8, children who were breastfed three months or longer had a stronger bone density in their neck and spine than those who were breastfeed less than three months, or not at all.

4) Breastfed babies get plenty of cholesterol. Compared to baby formula, mother's milk is packed with cholesterol. And while that's not so great for adults, cholesterol for babies is needed for proper growth and development. Some research shows that the high cholesterol content in mother's milk may help nutritionally program a newborn's metabolism in a way that reduces susceptibility to high cholesterol and other dietary fat problems later in life.

5) Breastfeeding may control obesity later on. Research shows how high levels of the protein hormone leptin -- abundant in mother's milk -- influences a baby's growth and body composition development. Ultimately this can affect an infant's ability to be satisfied by food and the ability to self-regulate caloric intake. The end result: Breastfeeding may help your baby control weight and protect them against obesity later in life. Other studies show that breastfed babies also generally have lower insulin levels, which in turn can also help control obesity.

6) Breastfeeding may mean less risk of asthma. If your baby is at risk for asthma or other respiratory ailments, breastfeeding may offer some protection. A group of Australian researchers found that breastfeeding had a protective effect against asthma even when the mother herself had this breathing disorder. In another study, doctors found that even a few short weeks of breastfeeding following birth offered some measure of protection against the development of asthma.
7) Breastfed babies have stronger immune systems. Because your breast milk contains an array of disease-preventing immune factors, doctors have long known that nursing can protect your baby from a variety of illnesses. Recent studies show that protective effects of breast milk may be permanent. Even after baby is weaned, the immune system remains stronger than in infants who were not breastfed.

8) Breastfeeding cuts the risk of allergies. If you're looking to protect your baby from multiple allergic diseases, including allergic rhinitis or even atopic dermatitis, breastfeeding can do it. Researchers found that babies who were breastfed exclusively during the first two years of life were less likely to have any of these problems.

Taken from Web MD. Published September 29, 2003. Medically updated May 2005.

Reason why Mom's choose Cloth Diaper

Recently, more moms are moving over to Cloth Diaper as opposed to Disposable diapers. Below article has been taken by Susan Doak from Baby By You on the top 10 reason why mom choose cloth diaper but

I can tell you at least 5 reason I move on to Cloth Diaper:-

1) Ease to use. My mom don't have to wash and fold at least a dozen of lampin every 2 days. Both my parents are very concern about using disposable diaper, so they both resort to using the traditional Lampin for the past 10 months. Even though Emily can be potty trained and sometimes, she does not even wet 2 lampin per day, my mom still need to wash around a dozen of lampin on a weekly basis. With this cloth diaper, she only need to wash 4 cloth diaper and 5 insert and NO need to fold them. Imagine how much time and effort is saved to do other more productive work.

2) Health. I know that my baby is safe wearing cloth diaper. In the past, during the weekend I use to put on the disposable diaper for Emily because I just can't manage to change the lampin every 30 mins or so. Ended up, she has diaper rash and her skin turn red. When my parents are over my house and see Emily with the disposable, you know "who" gets the comment... With cloth diaper, I know that its not only save but I can kiss the rash and red skin good bye !

3) Save money!! I use to be concern if I put on a new disposable diaper for Emily will she poop on it immediately ? Especially when she is breastfeed, it always happen. ended up, we have to spend a lot of $$ on the disposable. With the cloth diaper, I don't have to be concern if she poop and there goes the Mamy Poko (and say there goes 80 sen). The cloth diaper well taken care off, it can be passed on to my next baby and even to my sis's baby if she doesn't mind :P

4) I am crazy over Cloth Diaper because it is so CUTE !! After I start to purchase a piece of Bumwear cloth diaper, I was so in love with the concept of the product. It leads me to go Google for more information on cloth diapering. After that, another 6 pieces of Drybees!! Sometimes I can't believe why I did not come across the cloth diaper when I went to US and shop for her cloths and toys but I could not find any store that carry cloth diaper. Only recently I know that the profit margin is low therefore it is not always available on a brick & mortar store. If I would have found out about it earlier, I guess I would have even had more fun time dressing up Emily

5) Environment. Of course, disposable diaper is very convenient, you just need to throw it away when its soiled, or change it after 5 hours or so. BUT everyday, when I throw a disposable diaper away I would be very concern about how many trees that I am chopping that day. Most of the time, I throw away 5-6 disposable diaper a day during the weekend, guess how many trees I have chopped down.

Hopefully I m doing something good by sharing the cloth diaper to my family & friends and start converting them :)

Below is the reason given by Susan Doak from Baby By You.

The Top Ten Reasons To Cloth Diaper by Susan K. Dodge-Doak
http://www.BabyByYou.com

#1. Your baby's comfort.
Would you like to wear stiff paper (and/or plastic) underwear 24 hours a day? The comfort of cotton and knowing I was providing the best possible comfort for my daughter was the #1 reason I switched to cloth diapers, and why I still love them so much today.

#2. The environment.
Leave a cleaner world behind for your baby, and your grandchildren. Disposables leave behind an average of 2.7 tons of non-biodegradable waste (not to mention the waste produced by manufacturing them alone) per child. Compare that to a few dozen cotton diapers, and the responsible choice also becomes an easy one.

#3. Save money.
With disposables, some estimate you spend an average of $2000 per child. Cloth compares at only an average of $150-$350 per child (with the added but minimal cost of electricity and water to launder them). What a great excuse to start a college fund for your baby now, and you can rest assure that your money is being well-spent and not going to "waste" in a land-fill!


#4. Potty training is easier, and happens earlier.
It's a little-known fact that cloth diaper children potty train earlier, and with less effort on their parent's part. This has mostly to do with the fact that when a cloth diaper is wet, they can feel the sensation. Chemical laden disposables can feel so dry, your baby never gets a chance to understand what their body is doing.

#5. Cotton diapers are gel free.
Polyacrylate gel in diapers is a relatively new phenomenon, and no one really knows what the long term effects are. It also leaches moisture from your babies skin. Additionally, disposables are full of dioxins. While non-organic cotton cloth diapers can also have dioxins, they typically are washed out within the first few pre-washes (before your baby will ever wear them), however one-use-only disposables are never rid of them. Additionally, and perhaps the most compelling reason to use cloth diapers, is that disposable diapers containing polyacrylate gel are suspected of exacerbating, and even causing, asthma .

#6. Cloth diapers are so much better looking.
Photographers still traditionally photograph diapered babies in cloth diapers, simply because they are so much cuter! Today they are available in as many prints and colors as their are fabrics available, not to mention the combination of choices you have with twill, flannel, hemp, terry and more. Imagine how many classic baby photos would suddenly become less "quaint" with a baby wrapped in a disposable diaper. I prefer to bring my groceries home in paper and plastic, not my baby!

#7. More fun for Mom.
While not every mother (or woman, for that matter) is a born "shopaholic", most moms I know just love how fun it is to shop for cloth diapers. There are unlimited choices today in cloth diapering, like all-in-one, terry, flannel, contour, prefold, fitted and other contemporary-style cloth diapers. And when you are on a budget, swapping is a great, and economical, way to try the latest new "rage" in cloth diapers.

#8. Better cushioning for baby's bum.
We all know that babies and toddlers have their fair share of bumps and spills! Cushy cotton provides a much softer "landing pad" than a flat paper diaper.

#9. Convenience.
Convenience? Yes, convenience! You'll never have to worry about making another late-night trip to your grocery store for a package of disposable diapers.. You'll never have to hold your nose while emptying and re-bagging one of those complicated "Diaper Genie ®" contraptions.. And you'll have approximately two bags less of garbage to haul to the curb every week!

#10. Being a leader is much more fun than being a follower.
Stand out from the crowd and show you care to give your baby the very best, including the way you diaper. It's so much more fun to share the joy of cloth diapering with other mothers (who are usually very curious!), than to waste time clipping the latest coupons for the cheapest disposable paper diaper.

Dinner at Manhattan Fish

The whole family went for dinner last week. Another outing for the Father's day weekend. This was the 3rd consecutive week that we went out for dinner that week.

This time Uncle Kok Wee treat us at Manhattan Fish. We had a lot fried, grill, cheesy and baked fish with lots of chips. We got to keep remembering to take the pics before the meal and not after the meals :)

Crazy about Cloth Diaper

Lately, I have been so into cloth diapering. thanks to a few good friends Sin Dee & Sandra that has shared this wonderful cloth diaper to me and now my Emily has benefit a lot from the cloth diaper.

I have started to fall in love with cloth diaper and starting to recomend this wonderful product to my friends and family. Its such a pity that I only got to know about this after Emily was 10 months old (should have know about this much earlier !)

Here are some of the pics of my cute Emily wearing Drybees Orchid (above) and Drybees Pink Retro (below). Don't you just love the cute prints :)

Sandra is of course the expert in Cloth Diapering and I have learn sooooooo much from you!!. Thank you for sharing the wonderful Drybees information with me and I will pass on this knowledge to my friends and family members.

Emily is a very wriggly baby and trying to get her down tryin to change her diaper is very challanging. The Drybees velcro /aplix makes it much easier to change her and my mom and dad who takes care of Emily during the day can't agree more.

Another picture of Emily wearing Magenta color from Bumwear. She is slighly small size for Bumwear as it is a 1 size diaper.

Taking the pictures of Emily is not easy, we took around 40 pics during the weekend but only a few of them can be used. She is just move too much (like her daddy) !

Fathers Day Celebration

This year is a special year for both me and CK, because we are first time parents and of course, first time celebrating Mothers Day and Fathers Day. CK is going to hear her first "Papapapapa" from Emily for the Father's Day 'gift'.

Emily is starting to babble words like papa (yeah papa first and not mama), ho ho, goo goo, nana dada (yeah still no mama yet) but I am sure that she will learn pick up how to call Mama soon (she is a pretty fast learner).

Here is a pic that we took during our Father's day celebration at the a very famous and recomended Nyonya Cafe called Nyonya Breeze @ Abu Siti Lane. The food there is very delicios but the wait for the food is very long, probably due to Fathers day.

From the pic you can see that Emily is quite tired because we have been taking a lot of picture of her wearing the cute hairband and she is just too tired out of smiling. Its was a fun fun day out as Jolene came back from KL to visit us and of course.

Angie's Blogging

For the first time in so many years, after reading so many blogs, Angie's blogging now.
The main motiviation is to keep all updated about my dearest baby girl's progress and also the big and small stuff that happens in my simple yet not that boring life :)

Happy Blogging Angie !

Emily learning to speak

Lately, Emily keeps on impressing all of us. She is starting to say words which we have not really thought her before and she know what it means. Yesterday, she was watching the Barney video and in the video, there is a clock.

Emily pointed to the clock and say "Clock" and pointed at the clock on our wall. My jaw was just open. I am quite impressed with her ability to words which we did not repeat to her a lot.


Her favourite word so far in the pirority below :

1) No more- Emily was able to pronounce "No more" when she was around 13 months old. Probably we always tell her "no more Barney" indicating the end of the video session etc.

2) Ma ma - Definately one of Emily's favourite word. She sometimes even babble this mama at the middle of the night when she has a dream.

3) Pa pa - This is actually the first word thats Emily learn to say when she was around 8 months old. I think she does not know what it means but she will just go "papapapa" for no particular reason.

4) Yi Yi (means aunty) - Another of her favourite word to call she she see's my sister around

5) Por Por (means grandma) - Finally she learn how to pronounce por por lately

6) Gong Gong (mean grandpa) - My dad is qiute disapointed because Emily learn to call her last. given my dad loves her so much. Now, she will call gong gong when every she sees him and try to steal a smile from him.


Beside calling our our 'roles' Emily starts to pick up a few words a day, sometimes from the video that she watch and also sometimes just from following what we say. Impressive...