Still manage to cook....

I thought I will not manage to cook when Sugar is not at home, while looking after two very young children.

Look what I did today, yes, I manage to cook for the family, besides cooking some porridge for Jinc.

I think it is very amazing at how mothers can do, the multitasking is simply wonderful and I am really proud of myself as a well organised CEO of the house!

My girl...

Lilymay is 7.5kg. She is nearly 4 months old. She is quite a big baby, so much bigger than Jinc when Jinc was her age. Well, every baby is different, and I should not compare the two of them.

Lilymay is a very easy going baby, she smiles a lot, she is very playful, she loves milk, she sleeps well and she is fun to play with. I love her gummy smiles and she would find every sound that I made was funny and she just could not stop laughing!

Entering the fourth month, she has started to flip over, she loves her tummy time, she loves bath time and she splish-splash during her bath. Her favourite toy now is her own fingers and they never fail to keep her busy playing with them for minutes and minutes! She has chunky thighs, she can fit those 6-month old tops, and 9-month-old leggings. She has very short and fine hair, and she looks bald. She looks completely like a baby boy when she wears blue!

I love Lily-May so much and for a moment, I hope she won't grow as fast as Jinc does. But all babies grow fast... I love to cuddle her and can't stop kissing her! She smells so lovely and she is simply adorable!

Love fruits..

Jinc loves all kinds of fruits. I make sure he eats his fruits every day. Sometimes strawberry, sometimes grapes, bananas, apples, raspberries, nectarines, pears, etc. I rarely give Jinc oranges, because he makes too much mess eating oranges!

Today, I gave him small pieces of pear. He refused to eat them at first, but he eventually put them into his mouth. Just when I thought he was not going to finish the pear on his bowl, I returned from the kitchen and found that he had emptied his bowl. What a brilliant boy! That made me very happy!

I am sure every mom would love to see her child finishes his food at each meal. I am not a pushy mom, but I do sometimes feel a bit distress when Jinc does not finish his food...

Everyday cuteness...

My little girl, laughing playfully. I love love love babies...

Weston-Super-Mare

Summer has almost come to an end... as the cold weather approaches, we took the opportunity to enjoy the outdoor (sunshine) as much as possible!

We went to Weston-Super-Mare, it is the nearest beach available to where we live!

So, spent the day strolling around and having fun with the kids. Had some fish and chips, which tasted so bad! Jinc enjoyed so much, and during our journey back, he slept soundly in the car!

It was, overall a very nice day-out, sunshine, yes, but it was a bit chilly and very windy. I enjoyed myself too. I love it that I carried Lilymay in my Baby Bjorn baby carrier. It was so comfy and so 'stylish' on me. It helped to hide my post-baby body, hehe! I am still not losing the baby weight :(

I am using BabyBjorn Original Classic. It is available online, get yours now with just a click away!

A garden party...

Will be going to a garden party at Jinc's nan.. Jinc calls them nanny and granddad. They are our good friends and wanted Jinc as one of their grandsons. Pauline and Stewart are their names, we are friends and now we are so close and like a family. When Jinc was only three weeks old, and as a first time mum, I did not know what to do, Pauline came to see me every other day. She gave me lots of confidence and shared lots of useful parenting tips. She is a very well experienced nan. Sometimes when Sugar and I need some time out, we will take Jinc to nan, and nowadays, we take both Jinc and Lily-May to nan whenever we need time to go out as a couple.

Until today, Pauline and Stewart still come around every week, to spend time with Jinc and Lily-May, and have some casual coffee time at our place. We will go around for Christmas and celebrate birthdays together.

Yes, they are like granny to Jinc, and now Lily-May too. They are both very special persons to us.

My breasts...

I have been breastfeeding Lilymay since the minute she was put to me after she was born, and I am still breastfeeding her.

This time round, it is easier as Lilymay seems to know how to do it properly, she latches on very well, therefore, a smooth breastfeeding journey. I did not even need a breastfeeding support worker to help me. I had one, she was Becky and she assisted me when I was breastfeeding Jinc last year. Lilymay is three months and one week old, and I am grateful that I am doing this. I hope to be able to breastfeed her as long as I could. Lilymay is a very hungry baby, I do give her some top up of formula, she seems happy, and I am happy too!

I love the closeness of breastfeeding Lilymay, I love every bit of breastfeeding my baby! I am so glad I get to do it. I love my breasts too. I know it will sag as time goes by, it is ok for me. It has done a very good job for me as a mother!

UNSUBSCRIBE

Getting lots of junk mails in my inbox recently. Some are useful, but some are totally irrelevant to me, and all I do is click the 'unsubscribe' button.

I do actually read some of the junk mails, mostly promo emails selling things, but there are some really good ones such as offering tips on how to save energy. The purpose of the mail is of course, asking you to switch energy supplier for cheaper ones. I am sourcing, and definitely time for me to switch, the energy bills are increasing and sometimes I think it is rather ridiculous!

Inflation...

Kicking ball in the garden..

Jinc is like a small footballer, he loves balls!

Youtube shown here is Jinc having some fun, he is 17months old!
Oh, my baby, i love him to bits!

What a mess...

Look at the news... Riot every where in major towns. It is terrifying and it makes us think for a while, what would the future be for the United Kingdom? Youngsters, teenagers, kids are sending the country into a rampage.

I wonder why this is happening and it has been happening for a few days now, widespread to other towns as well. I wonder how the government is going to get the country back on track!

Chillin' Out

Father and son chillin'out at the backyard of a friend's house on a summer afternoon. They really enjoyed themselves.

This is pure happiness, while I watched them played together...

A rainy sunday...

Raining... it made me feel so lazy, for once, i thought i just wanted to have a long afternoon nap!

As Lily-May was having her nap, Jinc and I played colouring. It was messy but we had lots of fun. Time really flies, Jinc is 17 months and he likes to scribble. I bought him a set of colouring felt tip pens, and he will hold the pen and start to scribble. Cute! My boy is really growing up, and soon, I have to start to do school run and prepare lunch boxes. How exciting is that!

Motherhood, it is a lifelong career and I love it!

I am always tired at the end of the day when my two kids are in bed. Tired, but all worth it.

Online shopping!

It is so easy these days. I can buy anything online, even online grocery shopping! Love the idea of online shopping, saves time and money. Online grocery shopping suits me just nice these days. Imagine if I were to bring two babies out, I wonder I would have enough hands for the trolley!

I will do lots of online grocery shopping when winter is here. The delivery man of my grocery to my doorstep is always friendly and helpful. I bet he loves his job too! I use Tesco a lot. Will try Asda some other time, and I think Asda is relatively cheaper. I am so used to Tesco, and I love it as it is so easy. It saves my items in favourite for my next shopping, so I do not need to search for those regular items again, saves me lots of time searching and browsing and putting things into my basket! How clever!

It's my birthday!

No celebrations.

All I want is to have two hours of uninterrupted nap in the afternoon. Impossible, who will help me to look after my babies? Completely impossible at night too, because Lilymay will wake for her feed in the middle of the night. But it is alright, she only wakes twice at night, which is quite OK for me.

Well, I am 35 this year!

No presents. Sugar bought me a Rolex. The Rolex is more of a 'push present'( more about the push present in other post later). So, he said no birthday present for this year. I do not mind, as I have lots of love from him and the babies!

Life is good, can't ask for more!

Greatest gift of all...

What a lovely Sunday!

Sun is shining, the two little ones are having their afternoon nap.

I have time to have a cuppa and go online, what a relaxing afternoon. I am also listening to my Ipod, after so long... it's been awhile, quite awhile.

I hope we have more sun, the past few days have been raining and I have been lazy...All I want to do is to catch up with some sleeps.

Today is absolutely wonderful, but Sugar is working the whole afternoon, therefore, we are not going anywhere. Yesterday was pretty cool too, it was my very first time going out with the kids, completely on my own bringing two 'babies'. It was not as bad as I would have imagined! We went to a friend's house, the Tus, and they have two sons, so Jinc was having a lot of fun with the two boys. I am looking forward to going out more with my two babies.

On another note, Lilymay is ten-weeks old, and she is such a darling!

Photobooking

I have been creating photobooks for Lilymay for the past few weeks. I have been doing that for Jinc and now, I am so busy, I have got two children and I am creating more photobooks for the both of them.

I really enjoy doing it. I enjoy taking their pictures and instead of printing those photos, a photobook is more practical for me.

Received the photobook in the post the other day. The picture quality was not as good as before. I don't think so I will order from Bootsphoto again. The reason that I still use Bootsphoto is because I have bought the credits for photobooks a year ago. No choice, I will have to use up all the credits. Will create and purchase photobooks from another site instead.

Click and see,
i) Lilymay newborn and hospital pics
ii) The first few weeks

Jinc has a temperature :(

Jinc has never had a temperature since the day he was born. During the teething stage, and also after his immunisation, he was always fine and normal, and I am so proud of him.

However, he had a temperature yesterday for the very first time, 38.9C, which was quite high. I was a bit panicky, first time...the very first, I did not know what to expect and what to do next. So I rang a friend, who is an experience mom of two. We did not rush to the GP or A&E, I just continued to monitor his temperature, let him wear loose clothing, and make sure he did not get too hot. The temperature came on and off, so I got worry and rang the GP, according to the GP, it looked like he had some viral infection, and advised me to give him some Calpol.

I did just that, Calpol every four hours, continued to monitored his temperature. He acted normal, he had his night time milk as top up, he had his meal and snacks as usual, I gave him lots of water to drink. He went to bed as normal. As I said, it was on and off. The whole night, I did not quite sleep, I was worried.

It really worn me off the next morning. He still had a bit of temperature, but it went away in the afternoon. He was all well and happy. What a relief!

I can cook!

These days, as I am looking after a baby and a toddler all by myself, I hardly have time to do proper cooking regularly.

I love cooking and enjoy cooking for friends and family. Sometimes, when Sugar is around, he will help me with the childcare while I stay in the kitchen to prepare delicious meals. I really enjoy my time in the kitchen, from food preparation till the washing up of dishes. I love every bit of it. I have never imagined that I have become so in love with my kitchen!

I cooked some Malaysian style Pan Mee today. I can easily get those flat noodles from Tesco these days. I cooked the dry ones, oh, so yummy that I forgot to take pictures!

Rasa Malaysia is my favourite online recipe finder. It has lots of my favourite dishes, and mouth watering pictures. Love good food photographs on the site too. I am sure those dishes taste as good as they look!

Every day amazement..

Jinc can easily put a bin liner to the bin without us teaching him how to do it...amazing!

He is a very observant little boy and he does copy things we do around the house. I also notice that he can remember words that we have told him once. Just once! For example, he would point at a picture of horse and said it out loud 'horr'! I have only taught him once!

When we are reading together, I will point at pictures and tell him the words. Then when we finish, I will go back again to the picture and say the words, without pointing at the pictures, he could easily points out the pictures. How clever! He is just eighteen months old!

He is my smart little baby!

Lily May first immunisation

Took Lily-May to her GP for her very first set of immunisation and her eight week check. First jab, all ok, and she was so strong, she cried a bit, and the whole day, she was not grumpy at all. My brave little girl...

As for the eighth week check, everything was fine, except that she has got mongolian blue spot on her left ankle, which I thought was the mark caused by the hospital ID tag. The GP assured me that the spot will eventually fade away as she grows, I hope so. It looks like a bruise!

At eight weeks, Lily-May is 5.7kg ( 12Ibs 9Oz). She sleeps well and she is a very happy baby! She made me a very happy mum too!

I still cannot believe it , that I can actually look after two very young kids (Jinc is 16months old and Lilymay is 2 months old) at the same time!

My mini-me!

Every one says Lily-May looks so much like me. Bless her.
She is eight weeks old now. Sleeps well and she is a very calm baby, so much easier than Jinc!

In The Night Garden LIVE

We are taking Jinc to go see In The Night Garden Live. He absolutely loves the show, and the LIVE show happens to be around the town near to where we live. We bought premium tickets and make sure we get to sit as close to the stage as possible.

We will have to leave Lilymay to the nanny... :(

Jinc is very excited when I mentioned to him that we are going to meet Iggle Piggle! He will dance his way to the telly and he is so cute. I could see that he is feeling all excited and I am sure he will enjoy the live show!

A New Car

We bought a new car. It is more like a family car as we are a family of four now. It is a Mazda 6 Estate. It is voted the best family car 2010. It suits us ideally at this moment. It has a very spacious car boot which is what we need to put the buggies. It is diesel and can save us on the petrol as the fuel prices are going up so much.

We wanted a seven-seater or a people carrier. In the end, we chose the Estate because it suits us just nice, and I just cannot think of why we would want a seven-seater as we are only a family of four, and the only passengers will be our two little ones.

As our circumstances have changed, I would really miss driving a fast sports car. Perhaps, when the kids grow up, I can choose to drive a sports car again, but I am sure I will be quite old then, and would probably drive at 30mph!!

Hay fever

It is the time of the year, spring...as trees, grass and plants release pollen as part of their reproductive process. It is the season that hay fever sufferers dread most! Sugar has very bad hay fever during this season, I really pity him as he will sneeze about 50 times in a row, and have watery eyes! He uses tissues like there is no tomorrow, and it is a nightmare to be out with him during the day.

He normally starts taking his allergy pills to prevent his hay fever when the very early signs of the symptom appear. He thought of getting an injection to help ease his allergies, but never got around to do it. He gets this every year. He seems to be able to live with it, but I actually hate to see him being so 'affected' by hay fever!

I have read from the internet that it affects around one in four people, which is quite common during spring and summer.

Let's hope and pray that I will not get it, but you will never know!

A little helper...

Jinc is 16 months old now..he is ever so cute, apart from his tantrum...

He is my little helper around the house. Ever since he has a little sister, he understands that he is a brother and has to help around the house. He is such a great help to bin Lily-May's nappies for me whenever Lily-May has a change, he is able to tidy up his own toys, he is always making sure the kitchen door is shut, whenever the door is left open, he will just go and close the door, and then come to me to ask for a praise. He is so cute, I think he is very bright at 16 months old!

It is so quick now and Jinc is learning to talk. He understands so much from us, whether it is in Mandarin, Cantonese or in English. He will nod his head when it is a 'yes', and he is able to say 'no'. He waves goodbye and gives out flying kisses. He helps me a lot to pass things around, especially I told him to put things back on the table.

He can do so much, with his little hands, and he understands so much. However, he is not potty train yet... I wonder how to start, especially I have a baby to look after and can't find the time and patience to potty train him.. We shall wait, i guess.

In the Night Garden Live

Jinc is a great fan of In The Night Garden, and we are going to take him to In The Night Garden LIVE show at Woburn! Yay!

Looking forward to a great day out.. Unfortunately, my little princess will not be coming with us, she will go to nanny's for a relaxing day.

Hope to take her with us NEXT year!

Sixty Six!

When I was pregnant with Lily-May, the final weeks were dreadful. I was so huge that I could not sleep well, I could not find a comfortable position in bed, and my bump was so big, I could not carry Jinc!

On those final weeks, I was 80kg, that was the heaviest ever in my 35 years of age!

Now, six weeks post pregnancy, I am 66kg! Still a long way to go to reach my ideal weight, which is 50kg!

Stealing time...

Argh, i am so busy with two young kids now. It is quite fun in some ways, but hardly have time to myself.

It is very warm today, the live-in helper, or rather, the nanny has taken Jinc to the park, Lily-May is having her nap, and I thought I should get some sleep myself, but quiet afternoon like this is so hard to come by, I decided to go online, and blog...finally!

I am so please to have two lovely kids now. Everything looks good, but inside my heart, I really fancy some time to myself, so that I could put my feet up, for once, or have a long bath, without having to worry about the kids.

A mom of two, it is a challenge every day and hardly can get things done uninterrupted, even talking on the phone for a while, is as challenging as ever! I am going to have to live like this for the next few years, is this a good thing or a bad thing?

Lily-May is one week old now!

My second baby, she is already one-week old!!! Yay!

Burberry for mothers day!

Sugar got me a surprise mothers' day gift ( Although it is late, but it is very sweet of him). It is very unexpected, but very pleasant. In the UK, Mothers' Day is the fourth Sunday of Lent. As I was brought up and growing up in Malaysia, Mothers' Day is always on May. So, I really did not expect anything.

It is a cashmere Burberry snood. I like the colour and I am so grateful he did not choose the Burberry signature brown check, that is too common and too Burberry. He certainly knows me very well!

This black and grey one is just nice as it does not 'shout' Burberry. Very practical and it keeps me warm. It warms my heart too. I feel so loved!

Week 38

I am now 38 weeks pregnant with our second baby.

Counting down on the b-day, feeling anxious, although I had been through labour about 14 months ago, my very first birth experience is still vivid. I just want a straight forward birth. This time, I have got the GroupB strep again. The same with my 1st pregnancy. I just hope things go smoothly and I am able to return home as soon as possible. I am so going to miss Jinc, I am sure.

This time around, we have hired a live-in helper. She is really helpful and she is already here with us on the 18th. Jinc gets along well with her, and I am so please. I am all ready to go to the hospital and concentrate for the 'push'!

Oh, life is great, with a live-in helper...At least I could put my feet up after a meal, and have time to read my favourite magazines, uninterrupted.

Mothers day!

It is mothers here in the UK, nothing much for me, it is a lazy sunday afterall.

Yesterday was our third wedding anniversary. Nothing much as well, as Sugar is working long hours, and when he got home, Jinc and I were in bed!!! Three years and counting. As I am now heavily pregnant, I am very tired and have no celebrations at all!

First tooth brush

Jinc is already 14 months old. He has got eight teeth, so far, four on the top and four at the bottom. We bought a toothbrush for him when he turned one, but only to properly get (help) him to use it two months later.

He has seen me brushing my teeth every day. So, one day, I took the tooth brush out and told him to open his mouth, then I said to him, ' brush-brush-brush, brush to your left, brush to your right'. He got so interested now he thinks his toothbrush is his favourite toy!

He has started to play with the tooth brush, and I am brushing his teeth every day, without using any tooth paste. He is still too young to understand how to spit out the tooth paste. So, one step at a time, we shall wait then...

It is very interesting, to teach my child the basics. There are still many things for him to learn, learn to say our language, learn to eat by himself, learn to use the toilet and the list goes on... I am sure, one day he will be very independent and won't be my clingy baby anymore!

Counting down!

It's been awhile since my last post. It's been really busy these days, not to mention my easily-tired-heavily-pregnant body.

I am counting down to the b-day. I have 8 weeks to go until I see my second baby. Then I will go through all the thrill of having a newborn and the endless feeding-and-changing a newborn all over again.

It is very exciting for us, and I am so looking forward to seeing Jinc cuddling his little sister!

JInc is ONE today!

Jinc is one today, how quick!

Jinc is walking!

Welcome to toddler hood, my little baby!
Jinc will be one- year-old in about 3 weeks time. I just saw him walking towards me without the help of furniture around him or his pull-along toys. He happily walked towards me while babbling ma-ma-mama-mama..
The moment was magical, and it made me so happy!

Nasty cold

I have got a nasty cold. I am also the only person who looks after Jinc. Jinc spends most of his times with me at home when daddy goes to work I am very sure I will pass the cold to him, and yes, i did.

Jinc is coughing too, and not sleeping well. Hope he gets well soon. It is quite hard not to kiss him every time I carry him, or to put him to bed.

I am sure he will be fine soon!

Update, 11 Months

Where have the time gone?

Jinc is now 11 months old. He is developing quite well as an eleven month old.
He is still loving his milk, although he eats what I normally eat now during meal time. I do occasionally cook baby food for him. He is not a fussy eater I would say, he literally accepts all sort of food with different textures and tastes. No, have not let him try spicy food though. He is able to hold a little spoon and feed himself, with a bit of my help to put the food to the spoon. He also loves all sort of finger food and is quite good at picking his finger food from the food tray of his high chair.

Jinc sleeps through so well at night and I must praise him for that. He still has his afternoon nap which normally last about 1 hour. He is able to play and entertain himself. If he is in a good mood, he can even sing, all in his baby language. He loves to dance when I say 'disco dancing' while playing some music. He will just copy me, so cute!

He is growing fast, and he is going to be a big brother! I am really grateful that I am always beside him and is able to see him developing to different stages.

What a god send!!!

Jinc is very mobile these days. He is attempting to climb up the staircase but we used his buggy to block it. He would then tried to push the buggy away, he is very strong.

To be better safe than sorry, we decided to fix a safety gate. So I have been looking around on the website and reading reviews. In the end, we bought the Lindam Sure Shut Orto. Lindam is a very reliable brand when it comes to child safety products. It is reasonably priced, easy to fit ( pressure fit) with no drills and screws, which is brilliant for us. It it auto-shut too. It can be easily taken out when we decided to move to another house! Or it can be easily be refitted to another place in the house, eg, the hallway.

Now, we have got this safety gate, and I am sure Jinc is safe to play in the lounge, and he can only go up the staircase with me by his side. This Lindam stair gate is such a good product and I would recommend to anyone who wants to child proof his house.

For hassle free shopping, get it from Amazon with just a click,

Jinc's 1st xylophone

I bought this xylophone for Jinc. He is still not very good in playing with it, he bangs on it. So much fun for him... I think this toy is great as it is colourful and safe to play for his age!

You can get it online from Amazon,with just a click!

'No'

Jinc understands the word 'No', and he says no whenever I leave him alone in the room. He did not say exactly 'no', but he will scream 'noo-noo-noo-noo', then cries. My baby is certainly growing up. He is going to be a big brother soon!!

Pic: 1,2,3,4,5, he is showing off his teeth, and the sixth tooth is pushing through...

New Year!

Happy 2011 every one!
Another year.. this is going to be an eventful year for us.
In 2011, we will have a new addition to our family, and we are so looking forward to it.
We will be a family of four. daddy, mummy, Jinc and a little baby!!!

On the eve of Christmas...

..we were snowed in. Pics shown the snow in our garden!

It is very nice we are going to have a white Christmas. Looking out the window, it is plain white and the flying snow flakes are simply beautiful.

Hope the snow will stop soon so we get to drive to nanny's on Christmas Day! It is Jinc's first Christmas and also our very first Christmas to spend at Nanny's....

I must make a note to thank Nanny. I am so grateful to have her as Jinc has the privilege to call her nanny. She is like a real grandma for Jinc, indeed. Now, a little bit about Jinc's English Nan...

Nanny's real name is called Pauline. She is in her sixties, and her husband is called Stewart, who Jinc calls him granddad, and he is in his seventies. They are both the regular customers at Sugar's restaurant for the past few years, and have become good friends with us. When I gave birth to Jinc, the first few weeks were extremely difficult for me to cope, as a new mum, the sleep deprivation, the complete change of having a newborn was a very daunting experience. I have no family support, as our family is too far away in Malaysia. I was also experiencing difficulty in breastfeeding Jinc. Pauline suggested that I try to give Jinc some formula milk, and then she just rushed out to Tesco and got me the very FIRST tin of formula milk for Jinc.

Yes, she did a brilliant job. The formula milk was like a miracle milk indeed. Jinc had a small bottle and he could sleep so well. That was because he was filled up and able to sleep more, for longer hours. Me, happy mum, as I finally got some rest. I could not thank her more.

Today, Pauline is like a mother to me, I will go to her for advice, and this Christmas, we are going over to hers, it is like we are going home for Christmas! She is my English mom, Jinc's English nan!

Au-pair agency...

Need help and I am browsing the au-pair agency websites. I guess I really need a helper in the house. It is almost time for me to source this to prepare the arrival of our second baby.

.. and it is still snowing, and I hope it will stop on Christmas day. We are so going to visit friends and family here...

Snowed in

.. and the freezing weather continues..
we are all snowed in.
Not nice at all, but very pretty outside. All clean and white.
We are going to have a white christmas this year!

Update, 8-Month Old

My baby Jinc is eight months old now....how quick.

This is quite a fun stage, and I find it rather easy going for both mom and baby at this stage. Going out and about is a breeze and dining out seems to be a lot more easier, as Jinc is keen in trying new food. It is also hassle free as he will now sit on the high chair, and just by handling him some toys to play with, I can have a lovely meal without interruptions!

Oh boy, he is growing up too fast!

Baby2see.com

Baby2see.com.
It is very resourceful, and it is such a brilliant site for all mother-to-be.

A good weekend is...

..long lie-ins,
zero house chores,
easy going baby,
and lots of good food.

pic: spicy tom-yum kung (home made)

10

October the 10th, year 2010, so it is 101010...

Car seat and high chair...

I wanted to write about this shopping experience earlier, but keep forgetting about it. As Jinc is getting bigger in size, we think it is time to change his infant car seat. At the same time, as he can now sit unassisted and started weaning, so we get him a high chair. We want him to understand that having a meal on his own high chair next to us by our dining table would mean meal time. This will certainly help if we do bring him out for meals, he will get the idea of meal time.

We always like to shop locally, and we are very fond of shopping at the Next Generation.The service is superb and it carries a wide range of products that suit our needs. All products are reasonably priced as well. I would say, it is a very reliable and responsible retailer. We especially love its helpful, friendly and knowledgeable staff.

So, we got Jinc a Recaro car seat, which can be used for up to the child is about 36kg. Not bad I would say. Sugar is loving the car seat!

We bought a wooden high chair, it is foldable to save space, since we do not have enough room for large items. Very sturdy, and easy to clean. We added a cushion to the chair so that Jinc can sit comfortably during his meal time.

As Jinc is growing, the shopping list is growing too!

Pampers on sale....

Pampers in on sale at Morrisons, gotta go stock up some. Jinc is now wearing size 4! He is using the active fit range. How quick..

These days, my shopping list contains most of the things for baby. I have not bought a mascara since a long time ago! How pathetic.

I guess it is time to pamper myself again. It is time to put some fashion items to my shopping basket!

Sorted..

We have just sorted out our flight tickets to Kuala Lumpur on November. It is going to be exciting!
It will be Jinc's very first long haul flight.
I am so going to browse the internet to find out about tips on traveling with a baby by plane. Hope things go well for us.

As Jinc is under two years old, his ticket just costs £67. Brilliant!

So looking forward to this holiday!

Change of Season...

Autumn, can be beautiful, but it can also be melancholy...

Mid Autumn Festival

This year is Jinc's very first mid-autumn festival.

Unfortunately, we do not have lots to celebrate living in the UK. No lanterns, no candles and no Chinese family around to celebrate with us. We do have some moon cakes, and I let Jinc to try some. He loves them.

Cauliflower and Cheese...

Jinc loves his organic cauliflower and cheese jar food, by Hipp. He is still using stage 1 jar food, and I am quite happy as the way it is.

Jinc still has no teeth. Health visitor said that it is nothing to worry about, as long as he is eating and trying new food. I am not worry about when he is going to have his first tooth to cut through. It is just that I hate seeing him having sore gum and he can be quite unsettled in the evening.

Actually, I love Jinc's gummy smiles...so cute!

Endless nappy-changing...

It is so scary, Jinc made so much poo today. It is like I am a nappy-change machine for the day!

The agony of teething...

Jinc is nearly seven months old now. Most babies will have their very first tooth to push through at this stage, but Jinc is still showing all the signs of teething pain. I wonder when this will stop and finally let me see his very first white tooth...

He turns to be quite grumpy in the evening, and the situation worsens when he is about to go to bed. I cant do much to help, but to apply some Bonjela teething gel on his gum. I hope this thing will be over soon, my poor baby!

Good day, bad day

For me, I think today is such a good day...
Jinc is so bubbly, he makes me laugh so much, and Sugar is helpful.
If ever every day is this easy, I do not mind at all!

Easy job!

Six months on, I am a not-so-new mom.

It is quite fortunate to say that Jinc is such a straight forward baby. He is a very easy going baby. He eats well and sleeps well too. During the day, I will try to play as much with him as possible. Sometimes, he will watch me do some of the housework such as ironing. I talk to him as much as I could because I want him to know that he has my attention all the time.

I am also quite an easy going mum. I will only prepare his pureed food from scratch when I have the inspirations. Other days, I use baby jar food which can be easily purchase from the supermarket. Jinc loves every thing so far. There are days I will spend some time in the kitchen preparing his porridge. At the moment, he does not eat lots, just a small bowl on each meal. Good enough, he is happy and he is also having normal poo every day.

Overall, I am a happy mum!

opps, we did it again!

It's positive, pregnant again!
Jinc is only six months old now, a bit too quick, but we are all very excited!

A Good Weekend

It's weekend. The whole week has been lovely, I feel quite relaxed every day, because Jinc is such an easy going baby. We both now sleep so much, and for the past two days, Jinc woke up at about 6am for his milk, then we continue to sleep until 12pm. I am not sure whether this is good, but I do love the opportunity to lie on my bed for as long as I want. I have never thought I would have this sort of luxury when I have Jinc. Things are going quite good these days, and oh, how I love to be a stay-at-home mom!

House-bound!

Jinc is getting very demanding these days, and he needs constant attention.

Some days, I do feel exhausted, and hoping to have a helper around the house. The trouble is, hiring a domestic maid is not as easy as in Kuala Lumpur, where almost every household with young children can afford a domestic maid. It is a totally different situation here in the UK.

Well, never mind...

What a busy day...

Lots of washing up, lots of tidying up..
Lots of cooking, and lots of ironing...
A typical day for a house wife can get really busy, thus a short post!

A&E

A lazy Sunday turned out to be a not-too-peaceful Sunday.

Sugar came home early from work, yes he normally works on a Sunday. The weather was so good and we wanted to walk to the park, and spend some time out door.

I was only downstairs getting things ready for the little one while Sugar played with Jinc on our bed. Minutes later, I heard a loud bang, it was like a 10kg rice bag fell to the floor, followed was a hysterical cry! Jinc fell from the bed, I thought, and ran upstairs. Sugar had picked him up from the floor but he was bleeding, and crying.

I panicked, while Sugar told me to grab the car keys and drove to the A&E. It was only about 10minutes drive from our house. Arrived and checked in, and within minutes, Jinc was being looked at. He had stopped bleeding and he seemed so normal and back to his bubbly self. Yet, we were told to wait for the pediatrician to get a thorough check before we could go home.

So, our Sunday afternoon was spent at the A&E, everything was fine, except Jinc has a small tear on the inner part of his upper lip. No big deal, but this incident is bad enough to make me feel guilty, and Sugar is equally guilty too.

Well, I guess, as we go along this journey of parenthood, we will encounter some accidents at some point of time. Just that, this very first came as a shock, and ruined our Sunday!

What an eventful Sunday!

Sittin' up!

Jinc will be exactly six months old in two days time.

He is able to sit on his own, without tumbling over for more than five minutes. This new discovery surprises me. Today, for the very first time, he is able to sit properly unassisted. He sits and grabs his toys, then continue to play with them, so cute!

I am so grateful that I am always beside him, and able to see and discover his development first hand.

Now, I just can't wait to tell Sugar about this when he gets home from work!

A meal out...

As Jinc can now sit up on his own, bringing him out for a meal is such a breeze, as I can now sit him on the high chair (harnessed and cushioned his back), while I can enjoy my food.

The trick is, hand him some toys to play with and he can be such a darling while I enjoy my meal.

Pictures shown my little darling, sitting comfortably on a highchair. This was when I went out for a meal with Man and Yanny who came for a visit all the way from London, and we even ordered crabs on that night. My hands were busy and dirty cracking up those crab shells, yummy.... and Jinc was watching us eating good food!

It won't be long until he sits next to me and enjoys Chinese meals using chopsticks perfectly!

This is interesting...

This infant stool guide is very useful for first time mum like me.
Click here to see pictures of types of stools....
How interesting!

Is this teething pain...

Jinc is grumpy, and he cries a lot before his bed time. He is constantly wanting a cuddle, and most of the time, he only falls asleep on my chest when I hold him.

Is he having teething pain? He dribbles a lot and puts almost anything into his mouth and starts 'biting' them. Is he teething? I am not too sure, I am only a first timer....All I do is apply some Bonjela teething gel on to his gum to soothe him. I think that helps a bit!

Many told me that Jinc is having teething pain, as he is approaching six months old. I am not too sure, we shall see.....

I just can't wait to see his first tooth!

We celebrate...

When Jinc has gone to bed, the house is a little quiet, and quiet time like this is much appreciated, especially Sugar and I hardly have a quiet evening like this. We sit and chat and for a moment, we do not talk about parenting. We talk about us, us, us...

Sugar thinks we deserve a celebration, so, Sugar took out a bottle a champagne, which sits in our fridge for ages waiting for the right occasion to 'pop'!

We do not need special occasion to drink a glass of champagne. I love this sort of spontaneity, which Sugar and I used to do this when we were a couple.

Tonight, it is just so ordinarily special, and this Moet Grand Vintage comes in handy!

Some good news...

Sugar and I are hunting around for a bigger property for our 'expanding' family. Before we make any offers to the property that we like, we sorted our mortgage application. That way, we will be able to select the property based on the price range that we could afford. We just do not want to burden ourselves, because paying a mortgage is a long term commitment.

Today, our broker called us and confirmed that we have got our mortgage approved. The application is valid for the next six months only. Things sound good at the moment. We have looked at a few properties around our area, and still, we cannot seem to find the ideal place that we want.

I got a feeling, this might take a bit longer than I expected...For the time being, I still love our current two-beds. Although I really fancy to move to a bigger house, but, it has got to be the right one. I believe, we will be able to find 'the one' when we least expect it!

Banana as first food...

I have read so much about giving babies banana as their first food to see whether they are ready to start on solids.

Today, I made some pureed banana, and Jinc loves it. It made me very happy.

I used those leftover puree to make myself a banana smoothie. Blissful!

1st spoonful...

I feel that Jinc is ready to try solids. He stared at me when I had my meal, and he even moved his mouth when he saw me eating!

Today, I decided to give Jinc's very first spoonful of baby cereal, mixed with his usual milk. He took it quite OK and he only had about 4-5 spoonful. I would say, this is a good start.

I will be getting busy preparing baby meal. Weaning is an exciting stage, and I hope Jinc would love food as much as I do, and be as adventurous as possible when it comes to trying new tastes and flavours.

I shop online to save time!

These days, I love shopping online to save time. It is so easy and safe. Most importantly, it saves time.

To date, I have shopped for baby products, computer peripherals, some skincare products, and I have yet to try grocery shopping online. I have read in some forums that online grocery shopping is easy too.

As we live so close to Tesco, grocery shopping is my way of motivation to walk to the park and to get some fresh air! A bit of exercise, at least!

Favourite place to shop online is Amazon.

It's another month.....

It is now August....

How quickly...

Time passes especially quick when every day is full of things to do. Where have all the time gone? Jinc is now a little mischievous, but he still melts my heart every time he smiles!

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.

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!

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.

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!

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!

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....

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!

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...

The smile...

I was busy typing on my laptop and Jinc was only just beside me, he sat quietly and when I turned to look at him, he turned to me and gave me the sweetest smile in the world...

Aww, my baby.. he has the most beautiful smile.. and yes, this is the smile that brings me great joy. Isn't motherhood the most wonderful thing for a new mum?

It rains....

Typical housewife day, and it is raining...

Before I became a mother, I would certainly dread a typical housewife day like this, but today, I feel so content to be a stay-at-home mum. I guess as a woman of the twenty first century, I have got to have good adaptability to find the sort of life balance element, and happiness is about simplicity, I suppose....

Update, 4-Month Old

Jinc is four months old!

He weighs 6.8kg (14Ibs150z). He is not a very heavy baby boy at the moment, but he is perfectly healthy. His weight gain is perfect for his weight chart at four months old. I am totally happy.

He used to have small patches of cradle cap since he was about six weeks old, and the cradle cap is completely gone now. We did not use a special shampoo for cradle cap too. However, the dry skin on his wrist is still there, and we still use Doublebase cream as prescribed by our GP religiously. The skin condition did improve over time..

His development includes rolling over( rolls better from his right), reaching out for rattles and toys, grabbing toys and he is able to play alone now. He loves to put objects into his mouth. He is dribbling more than last month, and I suspect he is reaching the very early stage of teething. He also loves to suck his fingers, all five of his fingers on both his left hand and right hand.

These days, he still loves his milk. However, he is not feeding as frequently, which is good news for me. He sleeps so well during the night, and literally sleeps through the night. What a relieve for me. His sleeping position is still the same, he sleeps soundly and uninterruptedly when he is sleeping on his tummy. He seems very uncomfortable to sleep on its back. So I let him sleep on his tummy every day, ever since he was about 10 weeks old!

He laughs a lot, and he loves all sorts of game. He loves to look at himself in the mirror and smile, how cute! He also loves to be on his feet, and he loves to bounce up and down when I supported under his arms. This is a very tiring job for me, but Jinc loves it! We are considering buying a doorway bouncer for him before getting him a walker.

I still do not think he can call 'mummy' or 'daddy', but occasionally, I would hear him making the vocal sounds, such as boo-boo, ma-ma. When I brought him his bottle and said 'milk-milk', he will copy me said mma-mma.. How amazing....

At four months, he is Ok and happy to have anyone to carry or cuddle him. In fact, he is happy just to have someone to carry him.

At four months old, it is a very exciting stage as he starts to communicate, and I began to see his personality, a big personality, my boy!!

The Weaning Game...

Jinc is nearly four months old. It is about time to start to think about weaning. The health visitor came over the other day and spoke to me about weaning. Most baby clubs that I joined have since sent me lots of weaning information packs, full of goodies, such as weaning guide booklets,samples of weaning food, rubber spoons, recipes and fridge magnets.

I have no rush for this, and I just want to make sure Jinc is completely ready. It is recommended by health care experts that to start solids when a baby is six month old. Every baby is different, and I guess I will have to look for signs when Jinc is ready, I would know, I am sure...

Jinc is completely happy with milk at the moment!

It's a family thing...

Mum and sis arrived on Monday.....

My house is so full of noises, and Jinc is very happy to get all the attention from his grandma and aunt. Jinc loves to look at us when all of us chat endlessly, he seems to understand. For a moment, I just cannot wait for him to learn to talk and start talking to me.

Sugar and I are delighted too!

Life is simply wonderful when close family members come to stay with us!

It's very exciting!

My mum and sis are coming for a visit. They will arrive in a few days time, and I am getting all very excited. I am sure Jinc is as excited too.

It will be the very first time for Jinc to meet his grandma, and it is the very first time for my mum to meet my baby boy, her very first grandchild. As for my sis, she is getting very excited to meet her first nephew. Every one in the house is feeling very excited, as it is the first time to see the baby in person, to hold the baby and to feel his soft skin.

I am sure Jinc will love a house full of noises as every one is making a fuss over this cute little baby boy we adore so much!!!

We can't wait!

My laughing baby...

Jinc is such a happy baby,which makes me a very happy mum.

Today, for the first time, I made him laugh! He laughs when I tickle his chest, he laughs out loud, so cute! He squeals when he is happy too! This is very cute too.

I totally enjoy magical moment like this, therefore, I am starting to video Jinc..

Happy nut...

Jinc is my happy nut, he makes me laugh every day and my love for him grows deeper each day.

I just can't stop telling myself how lucky I am to have him at this stage of my life. I want him to know I love him so much, and he is my world now. My love for him is unconditional, and I would do anything for him to make him happy living in this world. I will try to give him the best life I could ever create, just for him... I wonder, when he grows up, will he love me as much as I love him?

I am thinking, when I was a baby, I got all the love from my parents, and I believe they love me so much that I was the world for them. Now that I have grown up, and a mother myself, I just feel that I do not love my parents enough. I know I can never repay what they have done for me. I guess the best that I could do to show them I love them very much is to live happily and healthily.

Jinc is such a happy baby and he makes me a happy mum too!

Photographs..

I have been tidying up picture folders and sort out all the photographs of Jinc taken since he was born. Oh dear, I have thousands and thousands of his photographs.

Looking at all the photographs, I could see how quickly he has grown and the weekly changes of his features and shapes. It is amazing and I just can't stop telling myself how lucky I am to have such a wonderful baby!

I am considering getting a DSLR, but my current compact digital camera is as good as gold too. Still can't make up my mind... I am not sure whether I will bring a bulky DSLR when I am going out with Jinc. Now, I have always need to bring a big changing bag when I am out and about, not too sure how if I would carry a DSLR...

Growing baby...

Jinc is now 3.5-month old, he is the love of my life!

A book of love...

Received the photobook which I created for Jinc this morning. It is beautiful!The quality is really good and I am so going to show it to friends and family.

The photobook is a collection of Jinc's newborn and 1-month old photographs. Now, I am going to create a second photobook for him, and I will continue to do this for him for a very long time, I reckon.

See Jinc's photobook here...

JInc loves the great outdoor..

Sitting on the grass, enjoying the sun!

The weather has been very very good recently, and I have been out a lot with Jinc. He loves it. He absolutely loves the fresh air and the sunshine. I guess he feels kinda bored to be at home, with me when daddy goes to work!

I have become very confident to bring Jinc out all by myself. It is always fun and I love it too. Sometimes, I really dread the preparations before any of our outings, and making sure I bring the correct items with my changing bag can be a pain too. I need at least two hours to prepare before we can step out the door. I remember when I was not having a baby, time for me to change and make up hardly takes up to two hours!

Motherhood has certainly change my lifestyle. Yet, I still think being a mother is the best thing that ever happen to me!

1st picnic..

I brought Jinc out picnic at the park with some friends, and we had a wonderful time!

Whenever I bring Jinc out, he behaves wonderfully and every one told me how bless I am with such easy going baby! Yes, indeed. I guess he is enjoying himself too when we are out and about!

Now, I just can't wait to go picnic again when my mum is here. Picnic with the grandma sounds fun for Jinc too!

"I did it with a photobook"

A photobook is the modern way to organise photos.

I have created a few photobooks in the past, and I kinda love them. However, it is quite a long process and can get quite tiring.

This time, I use BootsPhoto to create a photobook. It is easy to use and the price is affordable too. Besides, I get to collect Boots Advantage Card points too. As a stay-at-home mum, I create photobook during my free time, and it has become one of my favourite pastimes these days. With just a click, I get to order the book and hassle free, it delivers to my door within a few days.

I have just created the first photobook for Jinc, and I plan to create a month-by-month series to document his growing-up moments. Now, I just can't wait for the book to arrive!