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