We had bbo first birthday party at bukit timah plaza function room. We invited some friends and their children. Overall the party was good although the logistic is challenging given the short time we had to get the cake and order the food. Bb got a few new toy as present. Next time we can try other type of bb party.
We also had a dinner together with Janice family at diamond kitchen where we had set meal. The restaurant was quiet at science park
Still to come many more activity that bb could go eg boat riding at passion wave and nature walk to coney island and tree top walk
5 days holiday was tiring but happy. Brought bb to sentosa and took cable car.
7 aug- orchard eat tung hoi
8 Aug - suntec city
9 Aug rws cable car and kp BBQ
10 Aug staycation at pasir ris
Next time can bring bb go pasir ris ride bicycle. Lately we have been watch more movie with bbo at Gv.
After jpo and mitsui klia, there are 3 more outlet upcoming at Genting, penang and melaka.
Besides legoland Malaysia will soon have 20th century fox themepark and desaru quest theme park.
Bb flew to kl on raya. She seems to be happy and slept in the plane. We rented a iriz from. Avis at klia2 and the experience is good. Klia2 is spacious.the trip was quite rush but the car made travelling convenient. Drove almost 170 km in 2 days. Everything is new for bb. At 9 months bb can tolerate 1hr flight.
But return flight was no good because bb woke up b4 the flight took off. Actively moving in the kangaroo pouch. Distract bb with cartoon on the screen. When the plane started to descend bb cried terribly. no choice but bf her to calm her down till the plane touch down.
Places I want to bring bb
Ipoh, langkawi, desaru, bintan, kuching....
Today we brought sabrina to watch minion at shaw. M1 have Sunday movie 1 for 1 at shaw cinema. We paid 12 sgd for 2 tickets. Bb slept soundly thoughout the movie. It was comfortable in the cinema. We sat at the corner and its quite easy to bf. Morning show is the best as its less crowded and the parking is per entry on Sunday.
Few weeks later we watched Ant-man at suntec gv. Bb slept for <30 min. Nursed a few times no want to sleep anymore. Make noise but didn't cry. Carry her in n out the theater 5 to 6 times. Bought the HSBC movie card paid 17 sgd for 2 ticket.
Global roaming is going flat rate. Depending on where u go it maybe cheaper to pay your home isp provider than to pay for a local sim for data.
Maxis is offering rm 20 for 3 days with unlimited fb and watsapp plus 200 mb data to 15 countries.
This is cheaper than singtel but singtel offer 1gb data to aust and Malaysia per month for sgd 10
First thing is they do tummy time. Follow by flipping one side. Then they start to push up. Then they start to kick. Follow by rotation 360. Then they can flip both side and gong qiu. Then they learn how to sit n topple. Then they learn to glide. Then they sit up on their own before they start to crawl on 4. After they learn to stand. By 12 month they shd be walking. By then u can start to hear bb say words.
First 6 months is just milk. After that they start eating solid. When the teeth grows they start to chew. By 1 yr old they can eat on their own.
One of the good buy items that sabrina always use.
Quinny zapp and zapp xtra both can be mounted with maxi cosi infant car seat which is a very versatile combination.
The car seat can be used till ard 1 years old. Zapp frame is the same as zapp xtra so u can buy a zapp seat or zapp frame to interchange the system to duo combo. Buy a second hand frame with the infant car seat. This can be use for first 7 months. Zapp cant recline but zapp xtra is 2 piece system which is not foldable.
Quinny can be quite robust but heavy.
Now waiting for sabrina to learn how to walk. Then can bring her outdoor walking, beach, play ground, hiking, swimming, cycling, play badminton with Janice and play group activity.
Bb Sabrina start going to nanny 5mo in Mar '15. Generally her stay at nanny is quite fun because there are other 2 girls age 4 and 9 around. However feeding and bathing have been both challenging.
Feeding
First 2 days she cried during every single feed. Couldn't finish the bottle but need mummy to help bb complete the feed. On 3rd day bb cried less while feeding and able to finish (almost) a 3oz bottle, which is kinda too little for a 5mo bb. Milk volume slowly increased to 3.5oz per feeding. Our target is to further increase to 4oz and then maintain for a period of time. After 2 weeks she happily accept bottle from anyone, including baba.
Poo poo
From 3mo onwards, she used to poo consistently once or twice a day. Huge volume and clear for the whole day. No poo at night. But after gg nanny in 5mo, her poo patent changed. She poo frequently but in small amount. Every time she cried, poo followed. She even poo during night feed.
Bathing
Nanny using a small tub for bb to soak her body in. Quite challenging as bb doesn't really sit. But it is good to start training her to sit. Bb start crying the moment bb was put down on to nanny's bed.
Sleeping
During day time bb sleeps in the living room where nanny can watch her and does her kitchen chores at the same time. Evening nap is in nanny's room together with xuan2. Bb need help to sleep usually rocking, cuddling, lullaby and pacifier etc.
Playing
Bb doesn't really play but watch xuan2 and zhining play. The girls are playing little pony toy figures, castle, picture cards etc. They also role playing animals such as frogs and puppies. They don't switch on tv in the day which is a good thing.
I thought I'll be happy when bb goes to nanny. I'll have my own time to relax, rest and do whatever I want. But when the day finally came, it's a mixed feeling. After sending her, I return to a empty home. A place with all the bb stuff around but no bb. A place that is so quiet that i can hear my heartbeat. The moment I stepped into the house, I miss her already. Separation anxiety is so true, for both bb n mummy.
I can only fly to places in the north like bkk taipei Seoul and Japan. Another option is to fly to USA with united. Sigh so much hassle... Can't even use on sq
Surprisingly sin to aust one way is 17.5k sin to sea is also 17.5k
Sin to Seoul or tpe is 20k
Sin to Japan is 22.5k
Better use it for aust
#1 - 2009 in Germany. Poor student does not deserve to travel anywhere.
#2 - 2011 in Japan. Honeymoon.
#3 - 2015 in Singapore. We made a conscious decision not to go anywhere because bb Sabrina is too young to travel during this crazy period. So stay put in sg. This place was deserted. Less cars on the road. Even the popular free car park along orchard road was still available after 1pm. We made comprehensive lunch/dinner plan.
Sometimes I wonder why Singaporeans complain?
There are so much relief to their personal income tax
1. Earn income relief
2. CPF relief
3. CPF voluntary contribution relief
4. Parenthood tax rebate if your child is Singaporean
5. Child relief
6. Maid levy relief if you have a maid for woman with child or old folks to care
7. Working mother child relief for woman if your child is Singaporean
8. Parent relief
And finally if the government is generous a one time rebate of the final income tax.
I wonder if there is any tax to be paid at all? No wonder people can afford to go holiday
8 Oct 2014, she went through a narrow birth canal and came to this big and beautiful world at 2.7kg of weight.
0mo - Just like many other babies, she had jaundice. After phototherapy, her weight dropped to 2.4kg. It took her a week to purge the meconium and start to gain weight. She seldom cried but only made some "ngu way ngu way..." baby sound. She doesn't move her limbs much but spent most of the time sleeping on her back. Poo during almost every single feed.
1mo - Helping her bathe is manageable as her neck gain some strength and her legs stay still. She loves sleeping on the rocker but hate the mothercare mattress because the surface is plastic which caused her perspire in her sleep. Her head is wet indicating she is warm. We swaddled her at night because her startle reflex is waking her up frequently.
1.5mo - Her weight increased to 4.48kg which brings her to 50 percentile. Choked by her own saliva quite frequently and cough like an old man. She kicks her legs when she is happy, excited or agitated.
2.5mo - Stop swaddling at night as she outgrown the startle reflex. Her night waking frequency also became more predictable. Started with some tummy time. She tried hard although she got this wobbly head and tiny hands. She likes to stretch her head backward when being held upright. Everything behind her back is more interesting.
3mo - She noticed her hands and sometimes stared at them for awhile. Sucking her lips while staring at her hands. Made "aaloo aaloo..." sound. She can kick her legs backward in a synchronized manner during tummy time.
3.5mo - 6.5kg (75 percentile!). More frequent tummy time to train her back muscle. She can twist and turn her upper body to try reaching out for a toy. Some days she doesn't poo at all. Then the next day her poo is so much that it leaks from her diaper. Mittens have been removed from her standard attire. She slowly open up her fists. She sucks her fingers to explore her body parts. Sometimes she wakes up and goes back to sleep by sucking thumb, self soothing. It is also a cue for us to feed her. She can make more sound especially before sleeping, she will "sing".
4mo - Socks no more. Giggle and LOL for the first time. Reason, unknown. Hand-eye coordination improved and able to push away milk bottle when being fed. With a little push she manage to flip over but struggling to push her big head up. The next day she flip for the first time! Now she loves it. Made series of more complicated sound such as, "hao wu ar wi wu...". Outgrown the rocket, almost. It has served us well n it's time to move on. Started to sleep train her by putting her down when drowsy while still awake according to all the "expert". Hope it works for bb Sabrina.
4.5mo - She drools a lot. Sign of teething? She is able to perform more mini push ups. Gain strength on her hands and able to grab toy ball. Her voice became louder. She accepted head gear. She used to shake her head a lot whenever we put something on her head. When being held upright she turn her head frequently instead of stretching backward (2mo).
5mo - When on tummy, she can rotate her body anti clockwise slowly. Since she goes to nanny, she discovered that she can sit (from her bathing routine). She make more noise when lying on mattress but quiet down when being place on sitting position.
5.5mo - She must have discovered her tongue as she stick it out more often. Sometimes she uses her fingers to pull out her tongue. When push up on tummy her head can turn towards the back. Blowing bubble is her favorite. Can put weight on her legs. Sit on high chair. Started on solid food.
6mo - bb flip on the other side from tummy to back. Pull away handkerchief from her face. Stop blowing saliva after she started 2 weeks ago. Grab everything & anything and mouth it. Open mouth wide when spoon is approaching her lips. Nap on tummy and wake up pushing herself.
6.5mo - Babble the word ba ba ba and blow her lips. Rotate her body almost 180° when on tummy. Able to pass toy from 1 hand to another.
7mo - while on tummy able to push her butt backward n then push body forward to reach out for toys. Lift up butt. Suck breast facing down then fell asleep. Push up the whole body for short while. Sit longer without support.
7.5mo - 2 front teeth on the lower jaw came out. Move body forward like a seal. Can focus on small object like moving ants.
8mo - stay awake for 5 hours. sit up from tummy position. Can sit still on a toy car. 2 front teeth from upper jaw start to appear. Trying to stand up. Blow her lips without saliva. Crawl towards favorite object.
8.5mo - she pull herself stand up inside the bb cot. Able to babble ma ma ma. Suck her lips and make kissing sound.
9mo - stand up with minimum support and squad back down to pick up toy. Drink plain water using spout. Poo while standing in bb cot. Press on button using thumb. Respond to music. 4 legged crawl.
9.5mo - make "be be bia te te tia" sound. Able to hold bottle n drink from bottle. Crawl then sit then stand up. Tried drinking from straw.
10mo - wave bye bye. Say "muah muah ma ma". Imitate our sound such as baba, mama, jie jie, yi yi etc.
10.5mo - Hi 5, flying kiss, push her ride-on and walk behind the moving ride-on. Started to drink 1 formula feed a day for transition. Feed herself with the star puff snacks.
11.5mo - hold teething rusk, bite and eat it. Won't drop it on the floor anymore. Try porridge again.
12mo - stood up unaided. Walked a few small steps and sit back down. Clap hands. Reverse and came down from bed safely. Put toys into a box.
Every week there will always be some baby stuff that we need to buy. Either clothes, toys, books, mattress, swimwear... Shoes, food steamer, chair, diaper. I think every month there shd be ard 150 SGD spending.
By june mid we need to get a new travel stroller. Most likely will change to zapp xtra seat by then
Before oct will need to get a new car seat for toddler and a new pair of shoe
In the 0mo (Oct '14) baby slept almost all the time. she only woke up every ~2 hours for feed. Her stomach is so small that it can only hold that much of milk that last for 2 hours max. Occasionally she stay awake whole night because the concept of time did not exist in the womb.
1mo (Nov '14), we finished those few bottles, completely dropped the bottle feed and purely feed direct. Bb sometimes wake up every hour because milk intake from breast directly is more tiring so bb tends to drink less. This the most exhausting month. Mummy is constantly lack of sleep. On average 4 feeds a night.
2mo (Dec '14) onwards bb sleep stretch longer gradually. 4 hours sleep is a blessing to mummy. Average 3 feeds then reduced to 2 feeds a night.
3mo (Jan '15). Bb can almost sleep throughout the night waking up only once. Usually is around or between 3-4am. Her sleeping record so far was 930pm to 545am. But it would be good for mummy to wake up in the middle of night to pump milk to maintain the milk supply.
4mo (Feb '15) we started to sleep train bb. Day time nap is bb guided. She sleeps, eats, plays whenever she likes. Sleeps when tired. But night time sleep we tried to fix it around 9-10pm. So she will have a 6 hour stretch. How to sleep train? All the websites talk about the same thing, put bb down when drowsy but awake. Trust me it is tough to implement. We still have to nurse, cuddle, rock, sing, do all the stunt to make her sleepy. The moment I put her down she either fall asleep quickly or turn wide awake. If she goes zzz, good for us. If she fuss, I'll pat her, sing to her or give her a pacifier. She usually doesn't take pacifier. It's only for sleeping. If all tricks fail, try again. She will eventually get tired and defeated by the zzz monster.
5mo (Mar '15) Her night sleep further stretch to 6 hours long.
