Saturday 31 July 2010

Decisons decisions decisions...

July has come to an end...
My maternity leave would officially end on 30th September 2010. I guess it is almost time for me to think and sort out this matter.
I don't know. I have mix feelings about this. I would love to return to work, in a way, but...there is always a but, and this 'but' is so hard to justify!

I kinda think I would want an extension for my maternity leave. Let's see what the boss says, and decide later.

Now, the working mum vs. stay-at-home mum debate which occupies quite a lot of my mind lately will need to come to an end soon. Period.

Thursday 29 July 2010

Mummy's first birthday!


Today is my birthday, I am 34!
This is mummy's first birthday, and daddy has a little treat for mummy!
We did not go any where special, we went out for some shopping for the house, and ended up buying things for Jinc. I did not get anything special for myself, simply because I have Jinc now, he is the most wonderful gift of all time!

*sadly, i forgot to take pictures on today:(
* the above image of a cake is so 'my-style', so, it fits to be in this post, although no actual birthday cake for this year!

Tuesday 27 July 2010

Update, 5-month old


Yay, Jinc is now five months old. What a lovely stage.
He sleeps so well at night, and sometimes, he sleeps through for eight hours without feed. I am not too worry about dehydration, because I know him so well now, if he is hungry, he will show me the 'sign'!

He weights 7.35kg ( 16Ibs 3oz). He is not a heavy baby so far, he is a rather small baby if I were to compare him with other 5-6 months old in the baby group of our area. Well, Jinc is a good oriental size, and he is growing perfectly according to his growth chart in his little red book ( health record).

Jinc learns to roll over when he is about 18 weeks old. Now, he has master his roll-over skill and he can never get tired of rolling over, and over again when I put him to his tummy. He loves his tummy time, and he can now spend about half an hour playing on his tummy on the playmat, which is always on the floor. He gets really wriggly and attempts to roll during most of the nappy change, and I get very conscious about his safety. I no longer leave him to play on our bed while I run to the toilet, or run to the next room to get something, or sometimes run downstairs to get my camera. I can never leave him alone on a higher level. If I were to leave him on his own for a few minute, I will place him to his cot, I still think his cot is the safest place so far, to prevent him from falls.

Jinc has also learn to grab his toys, and he is able to change between both his hands when he is holding a little toy. He loves to bang on his toys, or tables, or sometimes my laps using his hands just to hear the sound of them.

He is still on his bottle and I have not started weaning him, no rush for that. But he loves to watch me eat, and he will kinda move his mouth when he sees me chewing my food, I think he is interested to try new taste soon. He looks so funny when he stares at me tentatively during my meals and I am so tempted to let him try some of my food, hah!

Jinc is very sensitive. He recognises his own name, whenever I called out his name, he will turn to the direction of where my voice came from. He does not respond well if other person calls him. I guess he is very familiar with my voice, because I spend the most hours with him every day!

At five months old, Jinc is able to show his emotions clearly. If he is grumpy, he will act grumpy. If he is happy, he just can't stop laughing. He is quite a straight forward baby boy so far..

Overall, Jinc is reaching his five month old milestones according to most of the baby magazines. I am a proud mother, to be honest.


Tuesday 20 July 2010

Forever, my baby!


Nearly five months on, and sometimes when I sit alone, I will think to myself, it is still very unbelievable that I am a mother now. My labour and my birth experience are still vivid, it is just like yesterday...

It was very daunting in the first two months as a new mom. As I go along, I get pretty hands on now and looking after my own child on my own is not a bad experience. It is a learning process, and every day, I am learning new things.

It has been very wonderful thus far, and I have heard so many comments from other mothers, whether they have one child or a few children, they said, their babies grow so quickly. I do believe them, and look at me now, my baby is going to be five months old.

I know, it will be soon when he gets to five years old and be our little trouble maker in the house!

Thursday 15 July 2010

Darling!


Jinc is such a darling, and every day, I can never get tired of staring at him.
I look at his hair, caress his little hands, cuddle him, smell his face.. oh, I can never get enough.
My baby is so so adorable!

Wednesday 14 July 2010

The house is so quiet now!

Argh, my mum and sis have left. They have gone back to Kuala Lumpur. The house is so quiet now, things are back to normal, we are back to our normal routine, and Jinc misses his grandma and aunt terribly... I miss them too.

When Sugar goes to work, it will be just me, and Jinc at home. We watch tv together, we sing nursery rhymes, we play peek-a-boo, we have fun bath time. Just mummy and Jinc, and I am sure Jinc would love more attention. Therefore, these days he become quite clingy.

Things are back to normal...I will again, plan my week with Jinc, when to go shopping, when to go meet friends for coffee, when to go to the baby group, when to go to the park,when to have friends over....We have got a whole list of fun things to do.

Isn't life great, as a stay-at-home mum with a 4-month old?

Now, questions that bother me and I have yet to have a proper answers:
1. Do I really want to return to work when my maternity leave ends?
2. How well can I cope as a working mum?
3. How to handle work-life balance?
4. How sustainable is single household income for us?
5. How about planning for baby no.2?

So, for now, Carpe diem....

Saturday 10 July 2010

Our 1st summer short trip...


Jinc is such a lucky baby. He goes to places with us before he is 6 months old!He loves it, he is absolute darling during all the trips. No grumpiness, and he is perfectly happy and comfortable to get out and about with us. We plan to bring him to fly long haul with us in November to Kuala Lumpur. He will be about 9month then. I am sure he will love it!

As my mum and sis are here for a visit, we have been going to lots of places, mainly to tourist attractions. We went to London by train, just a one-day trip. That was Jinc's very first trip by train, and he also got a taste of the London Underground. He slept soundly throughout the train ride though!

We also visited Bath on another week, what a beautiful place. From Bath, we drove for another hour to Stonehenge. It was a fun trip, we took lots of touristy pictures and I am sure, Jinc would not remember a bit. So, we have the pictures taken so that I can show him when he gets older. Those pics are for our family album, too precious and those pictures will last a life time of memory!

Well, that kinda sums up our summer trip for this year. With a baby on tow, I still think we do brilliantly well as new parents. I would love to travel more with Jinc and I even start to plan for next year summer. I know what we are going to do next year with a one year old!

Saturday 3 July 2010

We have a baby carrier....


A friend, Pete, a dad who has twin girls, who were born just 2 months before Jinc gave us a brand new baby carrier the other day. He bought himself a set of Baby Bjorn. We actually wanted to buy a Baby Bjorn when Jinc was about 13 weeks old, but the sales person told us not to invest in such because we would not use it much. I feel that the sales person was really honest! What kind of sales person will influence your impulse buying decision and talk you into saving your money?!

Anyway, the one that Pete gave us was from Mothercare. We would not mind although it is not very user friendly. The baby carrier came in handy for us. We can use it for lots of our summer trips, I suppose.

The pic shown a Gucci baby carrier, and it does look very posh. I use to fancy that when I was pregnant with Jinc. I could imagine Sugar wearing it with Jinc in it, for sure they both are going to look like celebrities! We give that a pass, because we do not want to bring up Jinc to be a brand conscious child even though we could afford that sort of lifestyle...