The 6th month check point!

Ok, I have to admit that I'm slacking in updating the developments of my two lil pumpkins. Having 2 kiddos is certainly a handful and makes you wonder where on earth did the hours go everyday. In a blink of an eye, my baby K-girl is already 6 months old and it also marked my successful journey on breastfeeding her exclusively too! K-girl is now weighing at a healthy weight of 8kg! *beaming with pride*

This little girl's development is considered relatively faster than K-boy as he was a premature baby. At merely 1.5 months, she is able to hold her head & pushes her upper body up for a good 5 seconds during her tummy time! At 3 months plus, she began to try to roll over but only suceeded 2-3 weeks later, probably due to her heavy bum-bum. Hehe.

And now at 6 months of age, instead of trying to sit supported steadily, she's trying to get herself ready to crawl! I think she's going to skip the whole "learn-to-sit-unsupported-first-then-crawl" part which I am looking forward to so much.

Looks like I'll have to start chasing after the little "rabbit" soon once she finds her newfound freedom.

At 1 month old

Trying to roll over at 3.5 months old

Doing her "yoga" pose at 6 months old

Oh, and did I mention she's sprouting two white pearlies and starting her semi-solids now? More on that later. Gotta clock off now. :)

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Chinese Sponge Cake (鸡蛋糕)

On and off I've been missing the Chinese Sponge Cake which my late grandma used to make during Chinese New Year and Cheng Beng Festival (The Chinese' all souls' day). And somehow, the ones that I buy outside don't really taste quite the same. So when my friend shared her recipe in her blog, Alesia The Home Cook, I was jumping with joy!

I decided to make Chinese Sponge Cake cuppies as it would be easier for K-boy to hold and the lazy me don't have to cut the cakes prior to bringing them over to the babysitter's place. So, I halved the recipe for this one. For the original recipe, click here.

Recipe

What You'll Need3 eggs
130 grams  or 3/4 cup of caster sugar
150 grams or 1 1/4 cup of all purpose flour, sifted twice
63 ml ice cream soda

How To
1. Prepare the steamer or wok while you work on the batter.
2. Beat the eggs and sugar using a hand beater or mixer or a wire whisk until the mixture turns pale and fluffy or double in volume.
3. Divide flour into three portions and fold in the flour alternating with the soda drink, ending with the flour.
4. Pour the batter into the muffin/cake paper cups. Place the cups on a stainless steel/metal dish.
5. Steam on high for 15-20minutes.
6. Leave the cake to cool.

Note:
* I have tried replacing ice cream soda with 7-Up before but still ice cream soda wins hands down as it gives the cake a nice fragrant!

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Mini Baked Orange Doughnuts

One of my favourite past time during lunch hour is to go baking-supplies-browsing / grocery shopping at Jaya Grocer which is just across my office. So while I was browsing the products at the baking supplies aisle, this cute little pan caught my attention!

 

Wilton Mini Doughnut Pan

For a moment I thought to myself, "I thought doughnuts are supposed to be fried?". I flipped the pan, and I saw a recipe provided at the back of the packaging. Baked doughnuts seemed to be a good idea and a healthier choice for my kiddo. Although the pan is rather expensive, RM60+, but I still bought it anyway.

And being me, I waited anxiously for the weekend to come so that I could try out the pan and the recipes (I googled a few more!). I found this recipe which was also adapted from Wilton, so I decided to try it out.

 

 

See how cute the doughnuts turned out to be! And the texture is soft and fluffy with a very nice orange fragrant. I decorated some of them to make them attractive for the lil kiddo, but to my surprise he loves 'em plain and had 4 pieces at one go! So, here's the recipe:

 

MINI BAKED ORANGE DOUGHNUTS

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup granulated sugar
Zest of 1 orange
1 1/4 cups cake flour, sifted
1 1/4 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 1/2 tbsp. butter, melted
1/2 tsp. of vanilla

METHOD:
1. Heat oven to 425 degrees F.
2. In a small bowl combine sugar and orange zest until the sugar is moistened and fragrant.
3. In a large mixing bowl, sift together cake flour, baking powder, and salt. Stir in sugar mixture.
4. Add buttermilk, egg, butter, and vanilla and stir until just combined.
5. Fill each donut cup approximately half full. For easier filling, add the batter to a piping bag and pipe it into the pan.
6. Bake 4–6 minutes or until the top of the doughnuts spring back when touched.
7. Let cool in pan for 4–5 minutes before removing. Decorate the doughnuts with glaze, sprinkles, or cinnamon sugar.

Note:
* Even though the pan is some-what like a non-stick pan, but it's best grease the pan before hand either with butter or baking spray.
* The left-over buttermilk in the carton can be freezed and kept until the next usage. Thaw entirely before using.

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Chocolate Chips Pancakes

Woke up early this morning, and was thinking of whipping up a quick breakfast for the lil kiddo. Oh, I haven't been making pancakes for a long time now. So again, I searched BBC Good Food for a yummy, quick and easy recipe. Hmm.. American Blueberry Pancakes with a 5-star from 149 ratings sounds good. Dang. I didn't stock up on blueberries. O'well, I'll just replace them with Chocolate chips then.

The pancakes turned out to be so fluffy and yummy, that the lil kiddo had 3 at one go!

Chocolate Chips Pancakes

Ingredients

200g self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 egg
300ml milk
knob butter
100g chocolate chips
sunflower oil or a little butter for cooking
golden or maple syrup

Method

1.Mix together the flour, baking powder and a pinch of salt in a large bowl. Beat the egg with the milk, make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and whisk in the milk to make a thick smooth batter. Beat in the melted butter, and gently stir in the chocolate chips.

2.Heat a teaspoon of oil or small knob of butter in a large non-stick frying pan. Drop a large tablespoonful of the batter per pancake into the pan to make pancakes about 7.5cm across. Make three or four pancakes at a time. Cook for about 3 minutes over a medium heat until small bubbles appear on the surface of each pancake, then turn and cook another 2-3 minutes until golden. Cover with kitchen paper to keep warm while you use up the rest of the batter. Serve with golden syrup.

For original recipe, click here.

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Chocolatey-Orange Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chinese New Year is round the corner, and apart from the spring cleaning and house decorating to get into the CNY mood, baking is another good way to get myself into the CNY mood. However, now with 2 kids, I could no longer bake some varieties of cookies for the festive season. So I have decided to bake some chocolate chips cookies over the weekend, and found this yummy recipe from All Recipes.com. I've always loved the choc-orange combo, thus I've made some changes to the recipe.

Chocolatey-Orange Chocolate Chip Cookies

 

INGREDIENTS
225 g butter, softened
270 g white sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
250 g all-purpose flour
55 g cocoa powder
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
Zest of 1 orange
335 g semisweet chocolate chips
60 g almond nibs

METHOD

1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

2.In large bowl, beat butter, sugar, eggs, orange zest and vanilla until light and fluffy. Combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt; stir into the butter mixture until well blended. Mix in the chocolate chips and almonds. Drop by rounded teaspoonful onto ungreased cookie sheets.

3.Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or just until set. Cool slightly on the cookie sheets before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

For original recipe, click here.

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Double Chocolate Cake Loaf

This recipe was adapted from BBC Good Food, my "official" favourite recipe site (ever since I found the yummy New York Cheese Cake recipe from them) as they have loads of yummy tested recipes! Even my hubby commented that this cake is some great stuff!

Double Chocolate Cake Loaf

Now, here's the recipe:

INGREDIENTS
* 175g softened butter , plus extra for greasing
* 155g caster sugar
* 3 eggs
* 140g self-raising flour
* 1/2 tsp baking powder
* 100ml milk
* 4 tbsp cocoa powder
* 50g plain chocolate chips or chunks

Method

Heat oven to 160C/140C fan/gas 3. Grease and line a 2lb/900g loaf tin with a long strip of baking parchment. To make the loaf cake batter, beat the butter and sugar with an electric whisk until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, flour, baking powder, milk and cocoa until smooth. Stir in the chocolate chips, then scrape into the tin. Bake for 45-50 mins until golden, risen and a skewer poked in the centre comes out clean.

For full original recipe, click here.

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Our little princess is finally here!!

Our little princess has decided to make her apperance just 2 days before her estimated due date! It had been a long wait not only for me, but also everyone around me. We have been told to expect a pre-mature birth at week 30 - when i caught some virus from lil K-boy's rotavirus episode which provoked early contractions since then. Baby was already in a nice position, and engaged at that time. While we were praying that she would stay inside until at least 36 weeks, she decided to stay even longer. And by week 37, I'm already feeling awfully tired by mid-day although people around me kept telling me that I look good despite being heavily pregnant.

I did my routine pre-natal check-up at week 37. Did a CTG monitoring (to monitor baby's heart rate & if there's any contraction) for 30 minutes, and found out that I've been having mild contractions. My gynae did the vaginal examination and found out I was already 1 cm dilated. I was excited by the news, and doctor told me that she's expecting me to deliver within one weeks time as I was to be considered a first timer for natural birth (Kyan was born via c-sec). 7 days came and went by, and yet there's no sign of labour kicking in. :(

Went back for weekly check-up, and found out that I'm still at 1cm dilation only! Bummer. Doctor said, "Well, at least the cervix is softer now. Now question is, what is your plan if the baby is going to go beyond week 40?" To be honest, we were prepared for premature labour only... the thought of having an overdue baby didn't occur to mind at all! I told her we will think about it. Another week camte by and went, and yet there's still no sign of labour. Went for check-up, only to be informed that I dilated another 0.5cm and cervix is much softer compared to previous check-up. Sigh... This time around, my doctor suggested to induce if there's no sign by my EDD and she tentatively made a booking at the labour ward. I was kind of reluctant, as I knew induce is not recommended for VBAC and which means there's a higher chance that I might end up in the OT. However, she did say if I change my mind, I can always call the labour ward to cancel the booking. I went back to the office and started applying for maternity leave, praying hard that this little princess of mine would give me some sign soon and I won't have to waste much of the maternity leaves waiting for her arrival.

I woke up with a start in the wee hours of Sunday morning, which some contraction pain that I've never experienced before. However, it wasn't regular at all. So I just did some breathing exercise to help me get through the pain and I slept back again. In the morning, I saw some bloody show. Boy oh boy! I was excited, but yet I didn't dare to be too exicted as I know there are some mothers who gave birth days only after the show. Well, at least I won't have to be induced :) Contractions weren't frequent/regular as usual and I carried on with my normal Sunday routine. Dinner time came, and the contractions started to get regular but within the span of 15-25 minutes apart. Ooo.. now I'm getting more excited, but I still went out for a nice steamboat dinner with hubby and my in-laws, and continued with some window shopping at 1 Utama after the dinner. Contractions were still the same. My mom-in-law was more worried than I am.. hehe. On the way home, I even asked hubby to stop at McD's for a sundae cone. :p

While waiting for the contractions to be nearer, I decided to watch some TVB series to relax and accompany hubby's who's still working on his office paper works. At 1.30am, I started to feel tired and decided to retire to bed. Half an hour later, suddenly the contractions went from 15 minutes to 5 minutes apart! And the pain was getting more intense. Told my hubby that it's time to check myself into the labour ward.

Once at the labour ward, I was strapped down with the CTG, in which the doctor has previously told me that I would be on continuous monitoring if I opt for VBAC. Therefore, she advised to come-in only when the contractions are 5 mins apart, unless my water bag has ruptured. Luckily although I was in bed with CTG, I was still allowed to change position every now and then - lying on sides and all. The 1st VE came, and I was 2.5cm dilated. The  contraction pain has started to get more intense but the slow and deep breathing still able to get me through the contraction surges. 2 hours later, I was already 5cm dilated and I started to ask for the gas - which I alternate between breathing exercise. Hubby and I even bet on the time we think the lil girl will make her appearance. I remembered I said "I think she'd be out around 5.30 to 6 am". 5:30am came, and I was only 7cm dilated, and I could no longer handle the pain, not even with the gas which I started off with. So I asked for penthidine (still refusing epidural), and that allowed me to doze off in between the minutes of contraction - well actually I'm not too sure if it was the gas that made me drowsy in the first place, or that I'm too tired, or it was the effect of penthidine, or all of the above.

Anyhow, doctor arrived soon after and I was already 8.5-9cm dilated by then and feeling the urge to push the baby out. Yet, I was asked to wait for a full 10cm dilation before pushing. Thank god, I was allowed to push 15 minutes later. The nurses started prepping the bed, by removing the edge part of the bed and propped up two small boards at 45 degree for me to put soles on, 2 small hand bars at the bed side, and putting the bed at 45 degree upright so that I'm at a sitting position. With the guidance of the doctor & midwife, and the support of hubby, baby K-girl was born 30 minutes later!

Finally the long wait is over, and I am glad that I managed to go through natural birth successfully this time, without epidural. And the best part is I was able to craddle K-girl in my arms and breastfeed her immediately after delivery! Best feeling ever!!

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