little PJ's first swim!

We brought little PJ for her first swim on Monday. It started pouring outside when we were about to leave the house. But no fear! Papa to the rescue! He drove us to Nex for the swim! (It is rather extravagant to drive to Nex because it's just 5min walk away. But oh well, the rain's to blame!)

So the first step to swimming is to do some simple warm up. It seemed more like raving little PJ's arms in the air. Then the shop assistants clipped the neck float on her.

getting ready!

Little PJ wanted to cry just before lowering her into the water. (Insecurity??) But thank God we managed to soothe her and she stopped as soon as she went into the water.

And so she swam for a good 20min. She was very calm throughout the swim. No crying or fussing, but no laughters or signs of joy either. She was more of "ok, I'm minding my own business here. Just let me get round my swim ok." So we take it in good faith that she enjoyed the swim. Both Hubby and I were so proud of her too!

my brave little baby. YAY!

Here's a short clip of her swimming experience.

And if you would have guessed, yes, we bought a swimming package for her. More swims to come soon!

2 interesting reads that I can totally resonate with...

#1 World Breastfeeding Week Salute

#2 【原來餵母奶 真的不是件容易的事！】 (taken from a FB page)

1.大多數的媽媽們都沒辦法做好月子，尤其是新手媽媽 。
要不是寶寶不肯好好吸，就是擔心他吃不飽。不到2-3小時就要餵一次，一次又要吸個十來分鐘甚至快一個小時。瓶餵媽媽更慘調了，鬧鐘按表操課。一不小心偷懶，硬塊就來找上你。半夜三更還要洗奶瓶、洗吸奶器的一推工具。重點是，不是你願意爆肝奶量就會夠。你還要看乳腺通不通，還有湯湯水水有沒有喝夠。關於做月子要好好休息這件事，還有待商確……

2.旁言旁語聽不完。
前期餵母奶，總是有人說“你的奶夠嗎？我以前都用噴的” 或是“寶寶一下就餓! 你沒奶啦！！” 甚至更慘的是“我們那個年代都是窮人才喝母奶！！”或是“你餵母奶我以後不好幫你帶啦”
過了六個月“母奶沒營養了啦！！” “拜託你想餵到幾歲阿?幫幫忙！ 又不是買不起奶粉！” 這些話不只是家人朋友，甚至是有的藥師或醫生都會義證嚴詞的說。好像大家最懂只有你不懂！

3.職場媽媽沒得挑
不管是倉庫、廁所、會議室…… 上班途中，為了擠奶，不管是什麼地方，衣服撩起來就開始抓緊時間擠奶，為的是寶寶隔天的便當。殊不知自己的便當都沒時間吃。心酸不見得有人能體諒，還怕同事閒言閒語說偷懶。

4.生理需求擺最後
為了餵奶，常常都顧不得自己餓，衣服一撩就來餵。因為沒有其他人的奶可以幫你餵。瓶餵媽媽也沒比較好。累的半死，眼睛都打不開時，還是得把吸奶器打開，看著家人在沉睡，開著小燈 繼~續~擠~

5.腫塊破皮樣樣來，乳腺炎更是令人心驚膽跳。
親餵媽媽遇到奶量小的寶寶，很容易硬塊。瓶餵媽媽遇到奶量大的寶寶，則每天在追奶。供需平衡不是不可能，但每個人的體質不同，每個寶寶的需求也不同。要平衡，往往都要耗費一些時間，但不管是親瓶餵，媽媽的乳頭通要從小姐時的細嫩鍛鍊到無堅不摧。寶寶咬，很痛；寶寶咬著扯，更是無敵霹靂痛。

6.時間管理一團遭
想出門怕寶寶餓。不是算準了何時要回家，就是怕出門塞車，擠奶的時間就錯過。在怎麼累 一定要早起，不來擠奶時間會來不及出門。字典裡已經沒有“賴床”這件事。因為擠奶是生活的重心，晚上早早想睡也可以，但中間要再爬起來擠奶

7.瓶餵媽媽，關於溫奶這件事……
因為母奶要一定的溫度加熱，等待是必要的。媽媽們都必須忍耐這段時間，所以保母或婆婆就會開始唸……用泡的多快ㄚ……

8.奶量ㄚ奶量……
奶量太多怕塞住，奶量太少要追奶。不管是多或是少，都是媽媽們的壓力來源。石頭奶的痛 不是生小孩的痛可以比的 。

說了這麼多，也只是希望各位爸爸媽媽公公婆婆鄰居阿姨們，當你們遇到母奶媽媽們時，能夠給他們一些鼓勵。母奶真的是用媽媽的心血換來的啊……

I survived Hubby's ICT!

Yes, I survived the week, or rather, the nights without Hubby. 

With much tears and frustration though. 

The gist of everything is, it was difficult to make little PJ sleep at night. For some unknown reasons, she would fuss and not fall asleep in the cot like how she did for the past 2 months, so I had to carry and pat her to sleep. Then when I put her down, she would wake up almost immediately and stare at me with her eyes wide open. So I had to pick her up again and redo all that I had done. This pat-sleep-put down-wake up-fuss-carry and pat again cycle took almost 2 hours on most nights, from 9pm to 11pm. The same cycle also went on for the 2am feed.

Tiredness, impatience and the loneliness and quietness of the night unleashed a whole bout of emotions in me, coupled with much spanking of little PJ's butt. Hubby would receive SMSes from me at the wee hours, saying how lousy I felt for losing patience with little PJ. 

You cannot imagine how HAPPY and RELIEVED I was when Hubby returned home at the end of the week. My knight in shining armour had appeared again. 

Till now, little PJ still doesn't fall asleep in her cot like she did before. But I am glad that now Hubby is here to share her fussing with me. 

apprehensive about the coming week

Little PJ had been rather cranky over the long weekend. Fussing before every nap & needing us to pat her to sleep, crying during the bottlefeeds & drinking only half the amount that she normally would drink. 

Hubby will be outfield for his ICT for a week, starting tomorrow. The next time I will see him is Friday night. :(

No one to share the midnight feedings with me. No one to tag team with if little PJ is fussy & cranky at night. (Day time I have my mum). No one to encourage me for the next 5 days. Feeling so apprehensive now. :(

ICT, I hate you.

vaccination...OUCH~!

Hubby and I brought little PJ for her vaccination today. It was the first vaccination after the discharge from hospital. I felt very gan cheong for her. When the doctor was preparing the jab, little PJ was looking at him and smiling away. Totally unaware of what was in store for her. As expected, she cried her lungs out after the needle went in. As I held her down for the jab and saw her face turning red from the crying, my heart cringed. :(

Still got many more vaccinations to go. Jiayou. For both little PJ and myself.

family is the foundation our lives

The National Family Council held its appreciation lunch on 30 July for its members and partners involved in this year's National Family Celebrations. Hubby was invited to this lunch as one of the partners involved, and he brought both little PJ and myself to the lunch as well. The family pledge was also launched then. We were the only 'family' present at the lunch and this was noticed by the press. After the whole event, we were invited for an interview regarding our response to the family pledge. This interview was featured in the newspapers the next day.

The purpose of this post is not to share the fact that we were featured in the newspapers, but rather to share how God has used us as a family as we choose to move in faith.

The journey began from the Momentum Conference: Family.Foundation.Future, where the Holy Spirit downloaded an idea in Hubby. During the car ride home, Hubby shared his idea with me, and our discussion conceived Project Cactus Love - a D.I.Y activity to design a cactus pot to promote appreciation of family. Hubby then put together a proposal within a few hours to apply for Project Superglue funding (the closing date for application of funding was the day after the conference).

4 weeks later, Hubby received a call to inform of the successful application to have the project executed at the National Family Celebrations on 29 June 2013. However, the haze situation then had caused the outdoor celebrations to be cancelled. BUT! That didn't put Project Cactus Love to stop. With divine opportunity and timing, Hubby managed to carry out this project at TOUCH Young Arrows Run & Raisin' 2013. Funds were raised at this event to bless the low income families under the wings of TOUCH Young Arrows. You can view the photos of Project Cactus Love here.

So after everything ended, Hubby got invited to the appreciation lunch blah blah blah (as mentioned above) and we got featured in the newspapers.

We really want to thank God for the opportunity to make a statement to promote family in a time like this. The institution of marriage is being challenged. But we believe in the commitment to our marriage and to uphold the Family as the foundation of our lives.

mini staycation @ Goodwood Park Hotel

As our belated wedding anniversary and my advanced birthday celebrations, we had a 2D1N staycation at Goodwood Park Hotel. First time away from home overnight with little PJ. And first time that little PJ gets to sleep in an air-conditioned room (no, we don't have aircon currently).

We booked a deluxe room originally, but to our pleasant surprise, we got upgraded to a junior suite upon check-in! Reason was that Hubby indicated that it was our wedding anniversary and so GWP decided to upgrade it for us! YAYNESS~! A sweet start to our staycation! :)   

Our junior suite

THIS is the complimentary coffee!

The upgrade to a junior suite turned out to be a great blessing to us as we really needed the space for little PJ's cot, the stroller, our luggages and the space to watch TV and for midnight pumping without waking little PJ up.

For me, one of the highlights during a hotel stay is, the bed. I'm not joking, seriously. Due to space constraint and as a temporary measure, our current bed is very small small.It's somewhere between a single and queen size bed. That's how small it is. And hard. We term it the 'THB' - Tiny Hard Bed. So I always look forward to bigger, softer and more comfy beds in hotels. I had so much fun rolling in the king-size bed at GWP. 

Little PJ has a cot to sleep in too

After settling down, Hubby took over looking after little PJ, so that I can go for a pedicure session at the shopping mall next door. So sweet hor? Even though he was a little apprehensive, he still allowed me to take some time off to pamper myself. 

After my pedicure session, we walked around at ION Orchard for a while before settling down for 'anniversary dinner' at Watami. Little PJ was also cooperative enough to remain quiet for 30min so that we can have our dinner in peace.

Set dinner for 2 @ Watami

We got another pleasant surprise when we returned to our room and found a little cake in the living room. It's complimentary in celebration of our wedding anniversary. How thoughtful is that!

Hazelnut chocolate cake. Very yummy!

Another highlight of a hotel stay for me is, the breakfast. I love intercontinental breakfast buffet that allows me to have a bit of everything. 

A bit of western, a bit of oriental

Overall, we were very satisfied with the stay and the service by the hotel staff. For the price we paid, it was worth it. But more importantly, we spent some quality time together as a family. :)

Happy hearts. :)