Daddy's Little Princess

First Anniversary of My Blog!

Yes Yes, today is the 1st anniversary of my blog. One year ago on 30April i was motivated to start the blog because of my baby. I wanted to journal the journey so i have something to tell my grandchildren *gosh i actually think that far ahead*

I am actually pretty amazed that i could keep up blogging for the past year. Thanks to all my sisters and friends whom have been so encouraging through appreciating my tips and updates though we can't meet up that often anymore.

Hopefully this momentum can continue till my 2nd, 3rd, 4th .... child ... *ok that's a joke not a prophecy*

Cheers to sharing our lives through blogging! Happy Birthday First Chronicle!

Wish Come True!!

Before ...

... and after! ~~

Can you spot the difference? Ok not the hairband. Look closely. LOOK closely *hint hint*

Ta-Dah! ~ Yessss baby "suddenly" developed double eyelids! She was born with single eyelids with slight double eyelid on top but hardly visible. Then all of a sudden she woke up one day with the double eyelids. I thought she didn't have enough sleep, but the doubles had been there for more than 2 weeks now *hehe*

This is a hilarious topic in the family because eric has single but me double eyelids. And i was totally lamenting why baby had to look like him from Day One. Ok, seems like the "look like daddy quota" is up and after 4 months baby decided looking like me is a much better deal for life! Woahaha ~~

Oh yeah btw this is my secret (shallow) wish coming true :P

The Great Flipper

Notice how baby turns away from the boring bumper to 抢镜头 and get the maximum exposure possible on the camera!

5 Months!

Huh? Did i really grow that much?

YAY! Baby is 5 months already! It was a really remarkable past month where baby has achieved significant milestones!

1. She took to the bottle
Cheeeeers! ~~~ I don't have to say anything more on just how thrilled i am! There are many benefits to bottle feeding actually. I find that i could gauge how much and how frequent she drinks, so it is now easier to get into a routine. Plus, expressing into a bottle means your foremilk is mixed with the hindmilk and it ensures baby is getting both to absorb the necessary nutrients. Really thank God for this seemingly impossible task!

2. She loves rice cereal via spoon feeding
A lovely mummy friend recommended me to get the Heinz Rice Cereal for babies suitable from 4 months. I mixed a few teaspoons with breast milk and baby just can't get enough of it! She loves being fed from the spoon and would sometimes hold on so tightly to it like she wanted to feed herself! This is really a great first step to introducing solids in the coming months!

3. She flips over and does her mini-pushups
I was still a little worried about her motor development as pple was telling me babies should flip by the 3rd month! Well i guess each little one has their own pace, and by now she's such a great flipper you can't leave her alone for even one moment! So mummy frens, do not be overly anxious as each baby has their own timetable :)

4. She licks her toes
Oooh yeah, sounds thoroughly yucky doesn't it? She's been a bit of a gymnast, grabbing that pair of little feet and slurping them all around. Babies explore by taste so anything and everything her hands can get hold of, you know where it lands!

5. She grasps for her toys
First, we had to ply open her fingers. Then she holds on to the toy when we give it to her. Now she stretches out to grab her point of interest. And if you take the toy away, she screams! Wowo fierce lady in the making! ~~

Delightful Breakfast!

It's an open secret who's the 一家之煮 in the family. Hubby took the effort to make me a sumptuous breakfast today! Shreds of chicken mayo mixed with lettuce strips embalmed between gardenia whole meal bread pressed just well in the sandwich maker! Visual-looking and finger-licking goodness! ~

I had to torture hubby with my half-past six dinners each monday but i get a wonderful treat once i open my eyes. Life is just SO unfair isn't it? ^_^

Monday Practice

It's Monday once again and the perfect timing to make a guinea pig out of my unfortunate husband ^_^

Dish: Sweet and Sour Prawn
Description: Small sized prawns fried with dried chilli and scallion simmered in mixture of chilli sauce and ketchup
Verdict: Sauce was nice with a little sweet taste while prawn had a nice chew, though it tasted like it was a little overcooked
Rating: 3 out of 5

Dish: Stir Fried Lady's Fingers
Description: Sliced fingers lightly fried with garlic and cut chilli with a dash of bean sauce

Verdict: Veg cooked just right retaining the good crunch; bean sauce gave it the saltiness while the chilli balanced up the whole dish. Color was just right too!

Rating: 4 out of 5

Dish: Stir Fry Celery with Anchovies

Description: An ad hoc creation because i couldn't think of what to go with the veg and then i remembered the little fishes!

Verdict: Veg was very very crunchy and the anchovies gave it a great taste! The anchovies could be fried to be more frangrant and crispy though. Taste is good but the overall presentation looked bland

Rating: 3 out of 5

Dish: Sambal Brinjal

Description: Sliced brinjal with garlic and scallion with spicy sambal sauce to add the zest!
Verdict: Tastes way better than it looks. Brinjal was a little overcooked and looks so BLACK ^_^ But the softness and sambal made it yummy

Rating: 2 out of 5

Tracy GAMBATE! ~

Getting a Maid

Some of my friends have been checking in with me regarding getting a maid, since i just got mine a couple months ago. Below are some information if you are thinking of getting a maid.

1. Required by law to take a e-learning (FDW-EOP) certification before you can employ a maid. Go to http://cec.sp.edu.sg/webapps/login/ to complete the online course. Should take you less than an hour and $30. After you complete it, your particulars will be sent to MOM so you are ready to apply work permit for your maid.

2. You need to first determine your criteria, e.g. Nationality? Age? Married? Height? Language spoken? Primary Role (baby-sit or elderly care)? You can contact any maid agency by looking through newspapers, or recommended by friends, or surf online. Give them your requirements and they will try to match against their current database. For my case, i email my request to many agencies through the web and they send me bio-datas of maids which they think might fit my criteria.

3. The bio-datas will tell you the basic particulars and experience of the maid. Of course photo is also attached so you can find someone who is pleasant to your eye. You may want to ask the agent more about the person, e.g. Can i interview her? Can i speak with her previous employer?At this time, you do not have to pay anything to the agency yet.

4. It is important to ensure that the maid meets your primary need. For example, if you want the maid to take care of your children, then look out for her experience in this area, even if she cannot take good care of your dog! After looking through so many bio-datas, it is true that it is almost impossible to find the "perfect maid" (just like we can't find the perfect mate!!), so you have to weigh the most desired criteria.

5. Once you finalize on your choice, this is the time to pay $$! Three types of fees:

a. Agent Fee - this is one time service fee to the agent, may range from $88 to $588. Look out if the agent will provide free replacement if you are not satisfied with your maid. Some agents have unlimited replacement within one year; some only one free replacement within six months.

b. Insurance - mandatory to buy insurance for the maid. There are different plans but the most common one is about $200 plus.

c. Placement Fee - this is a little difficult to explain, please bear with me. For the maid to work in Singapore, she has to pay a sum to the agent for finding work for her. It could be 4 or 5 months of her salary. Suppose her salary is $350 and she has to pay the agent $1400 (4 months' salary). So the maid will "borrow" $1400 from you, and you pay $1400 to the agent on her behalf, and she works 4 months for you free of charge. On the 5th month, then you start paying her the regular salary of $350. Sometimes, the agent will require you to pay the maid a nominal $20 from month 1-4, of which you will then deduct $80 on the 5th month from her pay. In summary, you need to pay upfront a lump sum though in actual fact you are not losing out in any way.

6. The amount of the placement fee, as well as the salary actually depends on the maid's experience. A worker without any experience may be paid $320 while one with two years' experience may be $370. For those whom have worked in Singapore for many years may command $400 or more. You also need to take note if the maid is entitled to any days off. If there is mutual agreement without days off, then you have to pay additional $20 to "buy up" the leave. For example, her salary is $350, and you buy up her off day, so you have to pay her monthly salary of $370.

7. Other considerations include

- Does she have a handphone? Would you allow her to have one?

- How many friends does she have in Singapore? Would she want to call/write to them?

- Does she want an off day?

Ok, hope this helps! It is definitely not easy to get a suitable helper, but exercising caution and doing detailed planning in advance may mitigate the risks involved.

Happy searching! :)

What's so funny??

Baby must have caught the laughing bug. Apparently anything we said and any noise we made seemed so funny to her, which in actual fact she was the hilarious one to look at! We had such a great car ride!

Delicious Chicken Rice @ Chinatown

Fried brinjal - crispy and tasty! Something new!

Went to visit my mum and she brought us out for dinner at this chicken rice restaurant at chinatown, along the street beside CK department store.

When the dishes were served, my eyes brightened with delight. Afterall, what would you expect to have at a chicken rice eating place? But they have many other side dishes that really spiced up the entire meal.

The chicken was tender and fragrant. We also ordered fried tofu, wu xiang springroll and this new dish - fried brinjal. My taste buds tantalized with every bite and i was already planning my next visit!

The bill came up to be $20+ for 4 persons. A must try for chicken lovers! :)

Ministry of Food

Softee ice-cream with red bean served with balls of yam and sweet potato

Definitely for macha lovers! Comes with fruits to lessen your calorie guilt!

A friend suggested to meet at Ministry of Food at Suntec for our tai tai gathering. It must have been ages since i stepped foot on that territory. Thought that MOF is a new food joint but friends said it has been there for some time already.

It's a really really really nice place. Japanese restaurant with lots of desserts that would make you drool on the menu. Totally spoilt for choice, and you'll be delighted at the friendly price tags too :)

Try out this place the next time you want to hang out with friends. You would enjoy a nice leisurely afternoon with visually good looking desserts served with giant portions. Downside: mind the calories!!

The Many Faces of Baby Charis

Surprised!

Excited ... hehe

Blur aka Stoned


Cheeky .. BLAH ^_^

And finally ... ERIC! :)

Learnings on Breastfeeding

Breastfeeding is a really big topic. I remembered attending the pre-natal class and the nurse emphasized again and again that we should persevere no matter what/who/how/why and provide baby with this best nutrition and gift by God. I have gained some personal experience and knowledge from a lot of helpful friends in the past months and would like to share some insights with my dear sisters.

1. The repeated emphasis by the doctors/nurses proved to be very helpful because indeed in the first week when milk hasn't really come through, pple have already started to "throw cold water" and ask me to give formula because there was no milk. DO NOT be deceived. Stay positive, because every mother WILL HAVE milk unless there is a medical or exceptional condition. Continue to let your baby suckle even though there isn't seem to be a lot of milk. Also drink lots of fluid especially soup (green papaya fish soup is highly recommended). My gynae also prescribed fenugreek. Though my milk flow was retarded to come, it DID come eventually and i'm still happily breastfeeding my baby. If your confinement lady suggests for you to give formula, think twice. Consult your lactation consultant to determine if you really have a low milk supply.

2. When you breastfeed, there is a "letdown" effect, where a lot of milk will be released. Apart from the letdown where milk comes in sprays and jets, your breasts will have milk but smaller drops. The letdown causes both breasts to produce a lot of milk at the same time. So while you are feeding on one side, you might find the other side dripping. Sometimes, when the baby suckle for a long time, you may experience two letdowns in the single feed.

3. After the first month when the milk supply is getting established, you can try expressing breast milk so your hubby can feed and have some baby bonding. Another benefit is when you pump you will empty your breasts, making your body think that the milk is all finished so it will start to produce more. In this way the milk supply will go up. Of course you will also avoid the painful transition to bottle later on if you start the baby in the early months.

4. You can try letting baby suckle on one side and manual pump the other side at the same time. In this way, you will capture the letdown milk on the other breast and it will not go to waste. I use the Avent manual pump and it works very well for me.

5. When you are going back to work, you may need to express your milk in the fastest way. My neighbour lent me the Medela dual electric pump which works wonders in a couple of minutes! It drains both sides in a jiffy and you can go back to your work desk with minimal disruption! So for you mothers who really want to get the most breastmilk for your baby, you may consider getting both the manual pump and electric pump. Use the electric one during working hours and the manual one when you go home to direct feed your baby.

I'm definitely not an expert on this topic, but so many thanks to all the experienced mums whom had so selflessly shared their learnings. Let's continue to persevere in this noble task and calling of nursing our babies!

"Mouth"stone

Yummy toes. Want to try?

If i have a blue mercedes ... i would bite it!

Babies explore a lot by taste. Around 4 months, there is a major milestone when they start to put everything and anything into their mouth. This is their way of getting to know the world.

Mine no exception, baby has started to catch hold of her feet and doing the acrobatic stunt of putting them into the mouth. She gets a lot of fun catching her toes and letting go and doing it over and over again. We've also gotten her a tiny teether which she eagerly grabs and licks it like some lollipop!

We're very happy that she can entertain herself, so i get a break!!

The Battle is Over!!!

Special shaped NUK teat

Finally the days of struggle are over. Moving into the 2nd week back to work, baby has finally taken the bottle. YAY! ~~

It was a month of bitter cry and torture for both baby and myself. We tried all means and ways to transition baby to the bottle but whenever the Avent bottle appeared she will cry, sometimes even before we put it into her mouth!

Some friends truly empathized with my plight and recommended me to try NUK bottle. The teat is supposed to the best imitation of the mother's breast and most babies find it easy getting used to. I rushed to buy a NUK bottle early one morning and voila! baby sucked happily and finished with a loud burrrrrp!! I was so thrilled i could jump through the roof! ~~

On hindsight, i tried to provide the best for baby (or so i thought the best in the market), but the Avent teat is quite hard, long and big. My baby found it oppressive once being inserted into the mouth.

If you have the same problem as me where baby refuse the bottle, you might want to try NUK. They have latex and silicone teats. I don't know which one is better but i got the latex one. Hehe the yellow color looks quite cool ^_^ Some other friends also recommended Pigeon. They have a special mechanism to control air flow which goes well with the baby.

Once again, thank God for this miracle!