Someone is 16 months old today!

Just realised that lil K is 16 months old today. Ah... how time flies. In another 8 months, he'd enter the Terrible Two phase.

Lately, although he's been real cheeky, but he starts to show response to what we're saying. Well, all the while he understands us, but he just chose not to give any response.

We've been telling him that he'd be a big brother soon, and there's a baby in my tummy as soon as we found out we're expecting the second one. At first, he couldn't care less, well, of course he wouldn't when there was no bump to be found! :p But as when the baby bump gets bigger, he seems to show more connection with the bump. First, it was the protuding belly button. He was so into pinching my belly button and smiles in delight when I said 'ouch'! But day by day, we kept telling that he's a big brother now and ask him to kiss my bump. After seeing his dad doing it, he started to follow suit. Now when I ask him "where is baby?", he'd lift up my shirt to reveal the bump, gives it a peck, put his cheek onto my bump as a gesture of 'hugging-the-baby', and finally giving my belly button a pinch. I think he thinks that the belly button is the baby cause when I asked "where is daddy's baby?", he'd pinch his dad's belly button too! =.=" Ah well, at least he's bonding with my bump :)

All these while we've been trying to make it a habit for him to put on his shoes/sandals before we go out. We'd make him sit at the landing steps, which is just the perfect height for him to sit and us to put on his shoes. So, when we tell him '"Come, let's put on shoe-shoe", he'd walk to the shoe cabinet and point while saying "shh..shh". Then we'd lead him to the step. And few days ago, when my hubby told him "K, we go kai kai (means outing in cantonese) later ok?", lil K heads straight to the landing step, sat down, and said "shh shh", while lifting both his feet up! LOL!

On his vocal skills, he's kinda stuck. When he picks up a new word, he'd pronounce it quite accurately. But somehow or rather, as the days go by, he'd pronounced it wrongly. Example, he started saying book as "bok"..and now it's "bak". We kept correcting him but still he'd go "bak..bak". Sigh.. looks like there'll be more effort needed in this area.

Oh,and now he has a new best buddy. It's Thomas the train from Thomas & Friends. He can really sit down and watch a whole DVD. And while watching it, he needs to hold his Thomas train with him. And the train is the first thing he looks for when he wakes up. Yeap, it's no longer his books that he looks for in the morning. It's Thomas now. And having Thomas to keep him company in the car seat is a must. He doesn't really play with it while in the car seat, but just by holding it while looking out at the scenery is just enough for him.

Everyday has been a lil surprise with us, as he tries to explore his world. Sometimes, I just couldn't believe how much my lil 34 weeker has grown!

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Out of Comfort Zone

Haven't been able to blog as frequent as I wanted to lately. What not, when I changed my job or should I say career last month. Had been in the previous company, in which it was the first company i worked for, for the past 7 years. I'd say the last 6.5 years was great.. till i had a jack-a$$ as my superior. Long story short, while he's being a total jerk, but it wasn't entirely him that made me quit. Another opportunity came along, and it's in a whole different industry although marketing related. So, why not?

In a nut shell, I've moved from building material industry to a retail marketing consultancy industry. Different industries altogether, different sets of challenges, with some similarities in between: N.U.M.B.E.R.S!! Yeah, from reportings to designing program mechanics. Seems like I can't run away from Excel spreadsheets. It used to be 3 tabs in a worksheet, and now it's 10 tabs in a worksheet. Nevertheless, it's fun. I was suprised how addictive this new challenge could be. Once I start on a case, I'm reluctant to stop till I get a first good draft of the mechanics before going for lunch or leaving office. Heh.

3 days after reporting to work, I was lucky enough to be sent to HK for orientation and training. It so happened that the HQ were organizing regional training on the mechanism design process, and I was lucky to join in. Made my life easier when I had to start designing mechanics. But on the other hand, it was my first time being away from my family for so long.. 5D 5N. I was practically 'crying' while going into the boarding gate. And my lil boy pulled some kind of 'boycott' with me when I got home. He used to be my mini "pelekat" (adhesive), but he chose to stick to his dad when he cries. *Heartache*

Now that I'm away again in Singapore for 3D2N, I hope he won't be pulling off another round of 'boycott' with me when I get home. This time around, I'm in Singapore to be mystery shopper for the company's client. Doing spot-checks on some random outlets. Sounds interesting, yah? Well, it is and it's darn tiring as well. I have to cover almost 40 stores in 3D2N, and today alone I've covered 20-ish stores (which was beyond my target for today :D) Yah, it's going in and out of the cab, and basically travelling in the cab the whole day. But it is really something very different to what I've been doing the past 7 years.

So, again, I'm glad this opportunity came by, and I'm happy to be out of the comfort zone. :)

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The Stork News

We received the stork news on Christmas eve last year. Talking about receiving Christmas present, I think that's the best Christmas present we've received by far. *beams* :)

This time around, the pregnancy journey into the 1st trimester wasn't as smooth as lil K. For at least lil K, I knew what food to avoid and when the sickness usually kicks in. I was feeling much more tired than my first pregnancy, and the dizziness, nausea, and vomiting were kicking in round the clock. There was no way in determining whether I was having morning or evening sickness. And I could be enjoying the food this moment but ending up in the toilet the next. Sigh. Ok, and to complete the pieces of the puzzle, this is the real reason I stopped breastfeeding lil K (not because I'm making plans for no 2). At the escalating rate of my frequent visit to the toilet and the decreasing appetite, I have no choice but to take this step although I was hoping I could breastfeed him till my 2nd trimester, hoping he'd self wean at that time. Anyhow, the sickness are starting to decrease now, although it could still be temperamental occasionally, but it's still better than an everyday event. :p

And I learnt that since I had placenta previa in my previous pregnancy, the risk of recurrence is actually higher. I was kind of worried, cause I've just changed my job and I hope I wouldn't end up in another pregnancy complication. Thankfully, during the last check-up my gynae told me that the placenta position looks very good and there's nothing to be worried of. *phew*

The baby bump showed up a lil bit earlier this time around, but I'm still fitting into my normal pants. No need for maternity pants now at least :p

And oh, I'd be due in August... that's another 5 months to go!

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Milestones @ 14 Months

Lil K's milestones achievement at 14 month old:

* Called us 'a-ma' and 'a-pa'
* Learnt to stand on his own
* Took his first few steps and now started to explore around the house on his own
* Climbed the staircase
* Climbed onto the sofa
* Learnt to get down from our bed safely
* Points to the Elmo toy we got him and said "ah-mo"
* Throws tantrum (by screaming and knock his head onto the wall/floor/table) to get things done his way..  =.=
* Learning to self-feed

My lil son is really growing up and I'm starting to miss the baby in him already...

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Weaning Journey

I've always wanted to breastfeed lil K for as long as possible - either 2 years or until when I'm pregnant. Of late, and when we're having plans to plan for the 2nd one, I've started reading up articles on breastfeeding during pregnancy. Sure there are lots of mom out there who are able to breastfeed throughout their pregnancy and I'm inspired by them, but a number of questions start popping into my head at the same time. What if lil K doesn't self wean by the time I hit 2nd trimester and my belly starts getting bigger each day? What if the 2nd pregnancy is worse than the 1st i.e. the nausea & vomitting, etc? Will I be able to have enough food intake to produce nutrients for lil K, baby and me? Yadiyadiyada...
I'm really worried that I'd be stuck with the nausea and vomitting. I've had that during my 1st pregnancy, though it was minor but it was not fun. Yes, each pregnancy would be different but what if it's worse than the 1st? Much after consideration and reluctance, I've finally made the decision to wean lil K off my boobs.

Lil K has a habit of wanting to nurse direct when he's  back from the nanny's place, before he goes to sleep and during his dreamfeed. It's his way of getting mommy's comfort from me after being away from him for 8.5 hours. Slowly I replaced the nursing session when he's back from nanny with bottle feed but I still remained the nurse to sleep session. To my surprise he accepted the 1st change quite well and didn't fuss to nurse direct. Yay! One challenge down! :D

Next it was to slowly wean him from nursing direct during his dreamfeed. And he took it pretty well and it was cute to see him hold the bottle and feed himself during his dreamfeed! Great! Two down! XD

I left weaning him from nursing to sleep till the very last as it's really something I know that both of us will miss a lot. And this one, as expected, it wasn't as easy as the earlier two. We introduced him to a soft toy which he liked and let him hug the toy to sleep. But he wasn't keen on the idea. He still wanted to nurse direct, and me, well I gave in of course. Until there was this day I wasn't feeling too well at night and I went to bed early. Hubs said he'd take care of lil K and try to tuck him to bed. I went off to dreamland and was to be awaken by lil K's crying. He was crying so much and I knew he wanted to nurse. And with me not being well, I just wanted to get up to nurse him to sleep so that I can retire to bed a.s.a.p.. But hubs told me not to do anything and go back to bed. It's really heart breaking to see the lil bub cry and wail for at least 30 minutes. Finally lil K was too tired from all the crying and dozed off while sobbing away. Another heart breaking moment! Then I lost it! It was my turn started crying, feeling bad and guilty for wanting to wean him from nursing so that I can prepare for the 2nd pregnancy - BAD, SELFISH MOM. Hubs couldn't understand why I felt this way since I was the one who made the decision of wanting to wean him. At least his hugs was all that mattered at that time.

The next day, hubs had his 2nd attempt to tuck lil K to bed. This time, there was no crying or wailings. Lil K just played in his cot for 30 minutes and dozed off himself. Even 3rd & 4th attempt was the same! Another yay! :D

However, for the past 2 days he'd been trying to tell me he missed the nursing session we used to have. He'd come to me and hug, and point to my boobs at times. So I responded with 'Mommy no more milk milk dy..'. Well he was disappointed, but I gave him lots of hugs every now and then when he's playing, to let him know that mommy's comfort will always be around but in a different form. So that cheered him up again. But it was the more frequent hugs that I've been showering him of late, he refused to sleep on his own. He wanted to be cuddled to sleep. Of course he still try his way to get a direct latch, but I just responded with 'Mommy no more milk milk dy.. Mommy hug hug to sleep ok?' He didn't liked the idea at first but he still accepted it. So now, it's cuddling him to sleep instead of nursing. Guess all these takes time, after all he's only a 13-month old.

On the brighter note, at least I still managed to wean him. :)

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Mee Jawa

A Nyonya-inspired noodle soup that is generally served in thick tomato or potato based soup.

Mee Jawa Sauce Ingredients:

200gm    Sweet potato
30gm      Prawn paste
20gm      Chili paste
30gm      Meat curry powder
30gm      Onion
20gm      Shallot
20gm      Ginger
20gm      Garlic
15gm      Tamarind Juice (Jus Asam Jawa)
20gm      Ground peanuts
20gm      Sugar
15gm      Salt
2 liters    Water

Method:
1. Place sweet potato, prawn paste, chili paste, meat curry powder, onion, shallot, ginger, garlic, tamarind juice and water together and bring to boil. Set aside to cool.
2. When boiled ingredients have cooled, blen them together and then return to the pot to heat over low flames.
3. Add in ground peanuts, then season with salt and sugar. Serve with boiled noodles.

Personally, I replaced the prawn paste with fresh prawns (about 8 nos). And I find 2 liters of water is a bit too much, unless you have ample of time to heat the blended sauce over low flames to thicken to sauce, I would suggest to reduce the water used.
Hubby's verdict: The sauce smelled like those sold at stalls/ restaurants. Taste is yummy too. But somehow there's something missing.. I guess it must be the prawn paste that I omitted.

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Moist Blueberry Cupcakes

Recipe from Squidoo.com

Ingredients List :

1 1/4 cups flour

3/4 cup sugar (I reduced to 2/3 cup)

1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup butter

1 egg, beaten

3/4 cup milk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

2/3 cup blueberries

1/3 cup chopped unblanched almonds, toasted (I omitted these as I'm baking the cupcake for lil K)

Instructions:

Sift dry ingredients together to mix well.

Cut in the butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

Whisk egg vigorously to incorporate air and make the eggs light.

Stir in egg, milk and vanilla and combine thoroughly.

Add to dry mixture and stir together (some lumps should remain) and add the blueberries.

Fill well greased muffin tins with batter until two thirds full.

Bake in a pre-heated 350 degree oven for 20 minutes or until done.

Hubby's Verdict: YUMMY!!

Lil K's Verdict: He finished 2 whole cupcakes

Mother-in-law's Verdict: Nice and very moist cupcake

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