Monday 30 April 2012

They learnt too fast!

Babies ar truly remarkable. From a helpless infant they started to grow and observe the world around them. And they learn! Things we teach them, they learn; things we don't teach them, they also learn! Like this one.

Who taught my baby how to fold arms like this?

"Hey, what's the matter? I am taking a bus ride"

To Library, to Library to have a little fun

We bring Kah Yen to the library every two weeks to renew her books. It is a fun short trip that every family member likes because both Daddy and Mummy loves to read too, besides reading to Kah Yen.

Now that Kah Yen can walk independently. Library trip is much more exciting for her. She likes to walk and run about on the carpet floor, pull out books from the shelves, and play hide-and-seek with Daddy and Mummy using the book shelves.




Walking Walking, Walking Walking, Pa Pa Pa!
Running Running Running, Runing Running Running, now let's start!

Thank God she did not forget to check out the books at last.

Checking out baby books

Ok frankly if she only runs about in the library, I will get worried. Mumy's mission is to instill in her the love for books. My worry is totally not necessary. She has already loved picture books. Look, she is contented to sit there and flip through a book like a really big girl! 


Don't worry Mummy! I will read
As usual I brought back home about 5-6 picture books for Kah Yen. Everybody was happy after the library trip. And I was full of joy because I get to read Kah Yen new books again. Reading is the best thing we can ever give to our chilren. And for my family, the fornightly library trip is going to be one of the family traditions for a long long time.

Big Splash @ East Coast Park

Since Kah Yen enjoys walking outdoor now, we brought her to the East Coast Park last Saturday. The weather is so hot these days, Daddy and Mummy can't wait to escaping from the house to get some sea breeze too.

The park is definitely lovely to her. There are so many dogs. She happily greeted each of them with her animated "Woof Woof". Some dogs greeted her back, others ignored her, but it did not affect her passion at all. Then there are a lot of birds, she loved to point at them. And bikes! Yes bikes are the latest object that intrigued her curious little mind.

She is scared of the sea and the sand though. Maybe it is the waves, or the sound of it, we don't know. We hope after a few more trips she will be warmed up enough to have some fun on the beach.

Kah Yen and Daddy admiring the sea and the beach from a distance

We did not plan to go to Big Splash at all. I have only been to it once or twice for either using the toilet or getting a drink. It hardly left any impression on me. I heard it was a popular water theme park, but I have never seen it's glorious days. Anyway, we entered the park through Area C, since the Macdonalds and other restaurants at Area C are torn down, we decided to head to Big Splash to have our dinner.

We were at Carl's Junior. Since I have alreay fed Kah Yen before our order came. I passed her some french fries just to keep her occupied on her seat. I thought she probably will find it too hard to bite, but I was wrong! Check out how happy french fries made her!


Thank you for the french fries Mummy!

See how easily contented I am!
 I told the husband "Look, all human beings are naturally drawed to oily junk food, maybe it is our sinful nature." Husband said I am always overgeneralizing. :-(

On our way we saw some families taking the family bikes. It looks good for families with babies or toddlers, since there are small seats in the front. It looks more stable and safer than double bike for a start. It comes with 2 or 4 adults seats. I think we are definitely going to try it the next time, since Kah Yen loves bikes so much.


 
Family bikes at East Coast Park

There is also a indoor playhouse called " LilliPutt and Chiltern House", we did not go in but it looked fun from outside. The outdoor Playground @ Big Splash is quite big and young children can enjoy the rides. I think overall it is a lovely place for families. They have an event page here, you can check out if they have some special events.


THE BUBS' HUB

Playground @ Big Splash

Friday 27 April 2012

She taught me how to laugh

These few days there is a lot of stress and chaos in my workplace. I have multiple projects that divide my attention and make me less efficient. I left work everyday feel exhausted and defeated.

And for a few days I have to knock off late due to ad-hoc meetings. I have shared before my after work schedule and Kah Yen’s evening routine. Knocking off late means I have no time to bring Kah Yen to the pack and playground – a precious time for us to play and for me to unwind after a day’s work. I can still make it in time to put her to bed, but after all the rush and exhaustion I just felt that I may be physically there but my mind is not.

That makes me feel worse and I am becoming emotional and depressed.

My daughter, oblivious of my faint smile and my less enthusiastic voice, is still her cheerful self and also her mischievous self.

Monday night, as usual I brought in a pail of warm water to the room to wipe and change her (She already had her shower at Nanny’s place before coming back), after I took off her clothes I realized that we have forgotten to fit back the mattress protector and bed sheet which were taken out to wash, so I put her on the floor, start to fit the bed sheet with the husband. While our eyes are away from her, she moved to the pail, dip her hand inside the water, pat on her own round tummy and said ‘HOT HOT”, when we look at her, she burst out into laughter, and give us that “I KNOW I SHOULD NOT DO IT BUT IT IS SO FUNNY DADDY MUMMY” face. Before we can say anything, she did it again – wet her hand, pat her tummy, and shout “HOT HOT”, and laughed and laughed. On and on she goes till we can’t help laughing together with her because her action and expression are really cute!

Tuesday night, while I was laying her on our bed and changing her. She suddenly called “Mama”, to which I replied “Emm?” She called again “Mama”, I replied again “Emm?”. She laughed. She called again “Maaa…Ma”, I replied “Emmmm…m?” I was trying to imitate her sound effect. She laughed again. She called at the top of her lung “MaMaaaaaaaa……”, I replied “Emmmmmmmm……?” She was so amused at this game that she burst out into a loud laughter, and I soon joined her. Later I tickled her; we both rolled on our bed and had a good laugh before I put her on her cot.

Wednesday night, I gave her some water just before lights off. She drank too fast and choked herself. There was some strange sound from her throat when she coughed. She laughed at herself for making the silly sound. Then this playful girl decided to make some more of these silly sound. And every time she did it again, she laughed non-stop. I tried to be silly and imitated her action. She laughed at me too. So we each took turn to make that silly sound, and our laughter soon filled the entire room.

That’s my playful, mischievous and adorable little girl. She taught me how to laugh when I forgot how. These short moments with her just before she sleep are the moments that brighten up my day. They brought joy back to my heart. 

Monday 23 April 2012

Kah Yen turns 17-month old

Before babies turn one year old, we don't feel time goes very fast because we are always waiting for them to grow and anticipating new milestones they will reach. Each month passed, we can't wait for the next to come to see a new skill they will learn - grabbing aN object at two-month, sleeping through the night at three-month, pushing up at four-month, sitting up at five-month, eating solid food at six-month, crawling at seven-month, first word at eight-month, etc... We can't wait for time to go faster right? And of course there is the moment we declare "My baby is one!" for which we have been waited a whole year to come.

After the grand one year birthday celebration, they continue to grow and learn new things. However, the only milestone we are anticipating is probably walking, other than that we are just waiting for them to turn 18-month so we can officially call them a toddler oe enroll them in Childcare. You hardly think "Learning the word dog" or "Building a tower of 2 cubes" as a milestone right? Hence day by day it goes and before we know it we are using the phrase 'How time flies!" because our baby is 15 or 16 or 17-month old already.

That's what happened to me.

 I can't believe she is already 17-month old. It felt like yesterday we have just celebrated her one year birthday, and then she leaped a giant 5-month forward. 17-month is the last month I can still call her a baby. When she is 18-month she will be officially called a toddler and a little girl.

 She has grown so much in the last few months I just want to record as much as I can so that I can reminisce these moments later.


One of the areas she had been picking up really fast is talking. She was babbling and speaking a few words after one year old, recently she started to pick up words almost daily and even put words together. Here are some examples:

1. Chou Chou (Chinese for Smelly)
Every time we change diaper for her, she points at the wet diaper and says "Chou Chou", and she will do the smelling action - inhale loudly and squeeze her eyes, nose and month altogether. She looks really cute doing it. In the past when I changed her dirty diaper I always folded it once to support her backside so that her dirty backside does not touch the changing mat. Now I can't do it anymore because she insists it is smelly and must be thrown away immediately.

2. Poo Poo
This is a very useful word that I am glad she has picked up. Now whenever she pooed she will come to us, point at her backside and say "Poo Poo". We will then change her diaper right away. False alarm happens quite often though, I am yet to figure out what other meanings could "Poo Poo" possibly represent to her.

3. Ah Pooh
She finally gave her best friend an identity. "Ah Pooh" actually refers to "Baby Pooh". We have always called it "Baby Pooh", I really don't know where she got "Ah Pooh" from. She always points when she wants Baby Pooh then out of sudden one day she decided to call it "Ah Pooh". I am trying to imagine this in her head "Baby Pooh, your name is too difficult. From this day, you shall be called Ah Pooh." Hmm...at 17-month old she already knows how to give nicknames, her schoolmates are going to have a hard time.
Even since she started to call "Ah Pooh", we will hear it at least 20 times a day. Every time we are going out, she will look around in the house for Ah Pooh. One evening we pushed her out too fast we forgot to take Ah Pooh, when we were in the playground she suddenly called "Ah Pooh, Ah Pooh Ah Pooh..." at leave five times, which translate to "WHERE IS MY AH POOH?", "I MISS MY AH POOH.", " I WANT MY AH POOH!", "AH POOH! AH POOH! WHERE ARE YOU?" respectively.

4. Bubble
This is the first real two-syllable english word she speaks. She likes us to play soup bubble game with her. Every time she wants to play, she will call "Bubble bubble" non-stop.

 5. Xi Shou (Chinese for Wash Hands)
One of her favorite activities. I hope it will not be just a game for her but a habit to last.

6. Da Qiu (Chinese for Play Ball)
Also one of her recent favorite activities. I did not teach her the word "Da" (Chinese for Hit) though. To me "Da" is a negative action so I won't mind if she picks up late. Her grandma, taught her the word by accident though. One day she was standing on her bed and tripped, her head bumped on the bed railing. She was crying. In order to comfort her her grandma hit the railing and said "Da" a few times. She even grabbed Kah Yen's hand to hit the railing. That's how she learnt the word "Da". To be frank I was a bit furious about this especially when one day Kah Yen suddenly hit my head and said "Da"! To her maybe it is just a word and an action, but to me that's a bad behavior we should have avoided teaching her.

 Other than these words she is also trying to put three words together such as Qiao Qiao Ban (Chinese for See-Saw) and Zi Xing Che (Chinese for Bike).

 All in all she is speaking about 20-30 words now, a bit achievement in the last few months. She speaks Chinese more than English, since I have decided to talk her mainly in Chinese. I found Chinese is much easier for babies to learn, because there is a lot more single syllable words, and many names can be called by repeating one syllable. For example for animals like MaoMao, GouGou, NiaoNiao, TuTu, they are easier to say than their counterpart Cat, Dog, Bird and Rabbit.

...

Other than languages, she has also learnt to work independently;

She has kissed goodbye to her morning nap and is settling well to one nap a day.

She started to scribble on paper and magnetic board.

She is building blocks instead of knocking them down.

She starts to show interest in shape sorter but insists everything should go in from the round hole.

She can sit through one whole story book like "It's the Bear", "The very hungry Caterpillar"..and likes to point at objects she knows.

...

She is going to be a big girl soon!



Kah Yen enjoys playing with ball

Kah Yen reads on her own while waiting for Daddy to take a bath

Kah Yen focuses on her picnic shape sorter

Kah Yen learns to draw
Kah Yen builds a tower

Thursday 19 April 2012

Days I feel really bad being a working mum

Yes we have worked out a good arrangement when I went back to work after 3 months of maternity leave. We have found her an experienced and loving nanny who looks after her needs and follows her routine. We divide the morning routine so both of us can attend to Kah Yen and at the same time goes to work on time. We are able to pick Kah Yen up on time most of the days. She goes to bed right after 8pm and her evening routine works nearly perfect. We are fine with packing dinner everyday – it is convenient and cheap. But, there are days I feel really bad being a working mum.

Yesterday was one of those days.

I left work on time at 730am, reached the shuttle bus pick-up point at 8am, only to find a queue that it is so long I can’t find where it ends. The bus was late again. I managed to squeeze in the 3rd bus without a seat at 830am and only reached office at 9am. I was half an hour late for work.

I need to call a kick-off meeting with various departments for a new project that is coming in. After making several calls to different people the only time that is suitable is 4pm. There are people coming in late, and the meeting turned into a discussion at some point and it only ended at 6pm. Rushed to the bus stop, called the husband to hurry up to pick up Kah Yen, I finally got on the bus only to reach home at 720pm thanks to traffic jam. That’s almost an hour late than usual. I couldn’t spend anytime with Kah Yen except changing her and putting her to bed after rushing my dinner.

Thankfully the husband knocked off early so he brought her to the playground, made me feel slightly better. However, I was so shocked to find there are 2 minor bruises on Kah Yen’s face and the big one is right below her left eye. Our nanny said she fell and knocked on the edge of a chair. My heart felt so painful. I looked at our little angel without her angelic smile. I knew accident is unavoidable but I blamed this on me for not being with her.

By the end of the day I felt really bad.

I spend almost 3 hours on the road everyday when I only spend less than 2 hours with my daughter. I could have done so many more things with her using those 3 hours! I left her for 11 hours a day to a job that I am not even satisfied with, but I need the income. There are days my work is so busy and hectic that I totally forget about her, I am not even missing her. I read so much on baby nutrition and recipes but I am not even there to cook her meals, our Nanny only knows how to cook rice porridge. And I do hope my husband can come back to home cooked dinner.

I felt awfully guilty. Maybe I should really start looking for another job that is nearer to my place, although I dread the job hunting and interview process. Maybe I should talk to my HR about a flexible work arrangement, instead of telling myself it is not possible in Singapore context. Maybe I should come out with a rigid meal planner and force my nanny to follow it. Maybe I should just do the sums and see if we can survive with one less income… Maybe I should start telling myself "It is possible”.

But for now, I know what I should really tell myself is "I am not a superwoman".

Wednesday 18 April 2012

From the little destroyer to the little builder

We first introduced Kah Yen to wooden blocks after her first birthday. Ever since then we jokingly gave her the nickname 'The little destroyer" between ourselves.

Mostly Daddy will be the one building blocks with her since he has more creative genes than Mummy. Kah Yen loves to knock them down instantly, followed by an exaggerated "Ai Yahhhhh" and an unstoppable laughter. Glad that this game makes her so happy! Sometimes Daddy will try to protect his tower by blocking her and she will try to get through him, they can laugh and play this non-stop.

This photo is to prove it.

Knock, Knock...Knock the tower that Daddy has built

But, book says blocks are supposed to encourage their innate creativity and improve fine and gross motor skills. How come I do not see any of these happening?

Then out of a sudden, yesterday, after knocking down Daddy's tower, she grabbed the wooden blocks and started to stack up one by one. She did it so fast it almost looks like she is already an expert on this. We were completely surprised. Look at her expression, she looked so serious and focus!

Here are the towers Kah Yen has built.





Then as we clapped and cheered her on she built it taller and taller! This is the tallest she built so far. 11 blocks! Big Horay.



Tuesday 17 April 2012

A few things about our Malaysia Trip

It is not exactly a holiday because we went back to my husband’s parents’ place, but to me it still felt like one because I do not need to work and do not have to do the usual cooking, laundry and house cleaning. Yes even I am surprised that my definition of holiday has changed so much after becoming a mother.

It is definitely a holiday for Kah Yen. She got to spend so much time with Daddy & Mummy. And suddenly there are so many people doting on her – her grandparents and great grandma. And we had so many outings, something we can’t even do it once a week in Singapore.

We took a night bus back. Our bus left at 1030pm and reached Ipoh at 630am. We really don’t want her to sleep too late so we put her to bed at 8pm at home, hoping that when we set off to the bus station at 9pm, she will be in deep sleep and I can carry her to sleep in my arms without waking her up. That’s just our wish. We should have known our daughter better. The moment I carried her out of the house, she jumped up and looked around her. She became wide-awake and was happily pointing at cars, buses and lights outside the taxi. This was the first time she was out in the evening so it was understandable she was so excited. Since there was nothing much I can do I decided to cut her some snack, hoping she will be exhausted and collapse right into my arms the moment we got on the bus. I was wrong again. She did not fall asleep until we passed Malaysia custom; it was almost midnight by then. Thank God the bus ride was smooth. The chair was wide and can recline to nearly 180 degree. She could lie flat and sleep, at the expense of Mummy of course. I could only lie on my side and had to keep the same position for almost the entire trip.

Getting her to take her nap on the first day was a real challenge. Without a baby cot, we placed a single mattress on the floor sandwiched between our bed and the wardrobe. We also put Sofa cushion on both end of the mattress to prevent her from coming out. It was all in vain. She was so excited seeing such a big mattress and big cushions that she turned the whole area into her play gym. She climbed up to our bed, dived down to the cushions and rolled on the mattress. She also easily crossed the cushions to come out to the rest of the room. The more I tried to put her down, the more excited she became. In the end I just put her down for the last time, said my goodbye, and came out of the room. Good that she did not cry and chase after me. I spent the next 10 minutes lying on the floor outside the room and peeped from under the door. I saw she happily walked around, climbed up and down for a few more times, talked to her self all the while. And to my surprise and great delight, after a while she decided she was really tired so she climbed back to the mattress and cuddled her Baby Pooh and slept! Too cute, I should have placed a video camera inside the room.

The following days were much easier because she got the idea that the area is for her to sleep, not to play. Also since she is coming to 17-month old, I think it is a good time to stretch her morning nap to after lunch so she takes only one nap a day. It worked perfectly well. We can bring her out in the morning and come back early for lunch. After lunch and shower she would knock out completely for at least 2 hrs. I have dreamed for this day to come for a long time. When she needs to take 2 naps it is so difficult to plan for outing!

We brought her out to 3 different parks during our 1-week stay there. One of the highlights of the park trip is fish feeding. We have never brought her to feed fish before. And guess what? When we first passed her a small piece of the bread, instead of throwing it to the fish, she put it right into her own mouth! Luckily I was fast enough to stop her. We got the bread from a family who was also there with the kids, I am pretty sure it is expired bread. We can’t blame her though! We did not teach her how to feed the fish before passing her the bread; being a baby of course it is only logical she thought that’s for herself. I still can’t help laughing when I think of this incident. Thankfully after a few times of demonstration she finally got the idea, she learnt how to feed the fish and she loved it.

She also saw waterfall for the first time in her life. The waterfall is at least 10-meter high. She was completely thrilled. She pointed at it all the time and signaled us to go nearer and nearer.  I was so eager to explain to her what waterfall is. First I told her that’s “Shower” – hoping she can associate it with water coming out from shower cap, but I think she got confused because she only sees shower water inside our toilet. Then I tried to tell her it was “Rain” – water dripping out from sky. But I think it is best I just told her it is called “Waterfall”, instead of depriving her a new word in her vocabulary.

I also brought her to a kid’s café at a shopping center nearby my in-law’s place. I never had a chance to bring her to any in Singapore because I basically don’t know where they are. I have been hearing other parents visiting those places so I wanted to check out. The place is called Kids Zone. The ticket is RM 10 and you can stay for as long as you wish. At first I was very excited seeing so many things inside, but after staying for a while, I realized that most toys or play stations are not for her age. We only tried the free rides, the kitchen station and the supermarket station. Frankly I don’t think I will bring her back to any of these kids café again before she is at least 2 yrs old. Firstly it is not age appropriate. Another reason is I don’t want her to pick up bad manners. While I was there, kids pushed me to get their way through; they knocked on me without saying ‘Sorry”; and more than once older kids just came and snatched toys away from Kah Yen. I believe at as young as 2 years old kids should be taught manners – saying ‘Please”, ‘Thank you”, “Excuse me” and “Sorry”. It is the parents’ responsibility to teach them.

We took a morning bus back to Singapore. It took us 10 hrs to reach home. I am so glad that Kah Yen was not cranky at all throughout the entire ride. She took her meals and milk and slept, and was contented to just play with the curtains and look outside the window when she was awake. That’s very good job for a 16-month old!


Kah Yen and her Ah Zhou (Great Grandma)

Kah Yen's playdate with her cousin

Kah Yen and her Ah Ma (Grandma) at the park

Kah Yen on her first big swing

Kah Yen and Daddy admiring the waterfall

Kah Yen enjoying her free ride

Kah Yen on merry-go-round with other kids


Thursday 5 April 2012

If you like it and you know it ...... Kiss it

Ever since I taught Kah Yen to kiss Mummy at 6-month old, she has learnt to extend this passionate way of expressing love to everything she likes.

First and the worst victim is none other than her best friend Baby Pooh. She has kissed it from top to toe thousands times. Baby Pooh always smells of her generous saliva. Every few days the husband and I will discuss whether it is time to wash her Baby Pooh, because we are afraid that it will grow fungus. To wash her Baby Pooh we have to wait for her to fall asleep first then carefully take it away from under her arms, and make sure it will be dry by the early morning.

Baby and animals on her board books are also her lovers. When I read her "Peek-A-Boo Baby Faces", every page I turn, she will lower her head to kiss the baby. Same goes for "Farm Animals". In "Good Night Moon" the two lucky kittens always get her kisses, and in '"Where's my Teddy?" the giant big bear, despite my using an old man voice to make him sound scary, still get her True Love's kiss.

Of course she also likes her pretty, cute and adorable self so it is not a surprise that she has been kissing herself from the mirror. I forgot it started from which month, but she must have already recognized herself inside the mirror. Each time I carried her to the front of the mirror, her face turns into a happy smile, and she will lean towards the mirror and give herself a kiss. The two bear stickers I pasted on the mirror also get one each. I have learnt to make use of this golden opportunity to request one for myself, and my wish is always granted because our High Princess is in a good mood.

Okay I hope her passion stops right here and save her sweet kisses for her future brothers and sisters, and eventually the man of her life. I am wrong. When I brought her to the playground, I realized that her love is like a flood, covers every place it reaches. I was shocked when she gave the horse a kiss before she went for her horse ride, and also the tiny chiken, rabbit and horse on the animal race board. 'Don't kiss, these are dirty!' these words are already at the tip of my tongue but I swallowed it back. I guess to her is, if I like it and I know it, I will kiss it. Simple as that.



Tuesday 3 April 2012

Baby on board

We are bringing Kah Yen to Ipoh, Malaysia this Thursday night to spend a long weekend with my husband’s family. Husband will be back on Sunday night for work while I will continue stay with Kah Yen for one more week.

I am not a big fan of bringing babies to travel, frankly. This is the 4th time we are bringing Kah Yen to travel overseas. For the first three times, while I enjoyed the most part of the stay, the changes and adjustments also stressed me out. I heard some parents bring their babies to backpack through Europe, while I admire their courage; I certainly won’t recommend it or try it myself.

So what are the things that bothered me so much while traveling with baby? Well, pumping milk, solid food and sleep. These are the things we mothers put a lot of effort, sometimes through blood and sweat, to have the best routine established for both mum and baby at home. They were like wild lions that we have spent countless hours to tame in the cage, but once we are on the road, they secretly rub their paws hoping to come back to full power again.


An extra piece of luggage (Photo source: Newyorkstay.com)


Baby on board 1st time, at 2-month old

The first time we traveled with Kah Yen was back to my husband’s hometown – Ipoh, Malaysia for Chinese New Year. She was just 2 months old. Going back was not so much a hassle because we took flight and the journey was barely 4 hours including the time at both airports. I direct fed her at the airport before taking off, and she slept through the whole journey, without any fuss during taking off and landing. Pumping milk during our stay there was quite troublesome because Kah Yen slept in the same room with us. (Although I have not gone back to work, I pump most the time instead of direct feeding her) With so many people in the house there was no spare room for me to pump milk so I had to pump in the same room. This was not so ideal for early morning and midnight because she was sleeping and the sound of the motor and my movement surely have disturber her.

Sleep wise luckily her grandmother has kept a very old baby cot so she did not need to share bed with us. With the mosquito net put on it does look like a very cozy corner for her. However, maintaining her bedtime routine was not so easy because during Chinese New Year period there were a lot of guests. I tried to be firm as much as I can but sometimes dinner was late or guests arrived late so her bedtime would be affected.

Baby on board 2nd time, at 12-month old
The second time we brought her for a 2D1N trip to Bintan, Indonesia. We booked for one night only because we really don't know how it will turn out to be. The journey was a short 2 hours including ferry and land transport. It was rather smooth. This time again we brought all the pumping equipments and feeding bottles. I was able to pump per my usual schedule but I had to pump in the toilet when Kah Yen was sleeping. Yes I literally sat on the toilet bowl and pump. Luckily there was fridge in the resort room so storing milk and bottles were not an issue. I put used bottles in the fridge so I can re-use without having to sterilize it.
The main challenge this round was solid food. As it is not possible to cook anything during our trip, we bought bottles of HEINZ baby jar food and her baby cereal for backup. We never gave her jar food before; her food is always freshly prepared and served warm. So not surprisingly she did not take the jar food very well, even I disgust at the taste to be frank. It is nothing compared to freshly prepared home food. In the end, I forced her to eat about half jar for each meal, and then topped up with her baby cereal. I am glad that we only booked for 2D1N because I certainly did not want her to eat plain cereal all the time.

The most thankful part of the trip is that our room is at the first floor with an open balcony right in front of the beach! It could not have been better in the night. Kah Yen's bedtime is around 8pm (Yes we make sure she follows her bedtime routine even on holiday, especially more so because she did not take good naps in the day due to traveling), imaging if we just have a normal hotel room, that means after she sleeps, we can’t on the light, we can't watch TV, we can't talk, we can't both go out, we have to either sleep early or have one person go out. That totally defeats the purpose of staying in a beach resort right? Our balcony has two chairs and one coffee table, so we sat there and chatted till mid night, we even bought supper to enjoy, and later we shifted our chairs to sit on the beach and enjoyed the beach night to the fullest. Oh yes the resort also provided us with a baby cot so we did not have to worry at all that she may fall off the bed.

Baby on board 3rd time, at 14-month old

The third time is the most challenging of all because we brought her back to my hometown in China. And it took us more than 24 hours to reach home. Yes it included a 6-hour flight to Beijing, 3-hour waiting time at transit, 2-hour domestic flight to Wuhan, one night hotel stay, and 4-hour bus ride to my hometown! And it is winter. The weather was below 5 degree and it just snowed 2 days back. I forgot to bring backup batteries for my pump. We did not think it would be that bad because we certainly can buy battery or find a nursing room at Beijing International Airport. To my disbelief, we walked the airport up and down three times and could not find any shop selling C size battery. We did find a nursing room but there is no outlet to plug in my pump. In the end it’s time to board the plane so I gave up pumping. After reaching Wuhan and checking in hotel, it was almost mid-night. The hotel room did not have a 3-pin power point and they did not have any multi-plug to lend to us. Most shops were closed by then since it was Chinese New Year and midnight. The husband went out to walk for a good 30 minutes but can't find any shop selling battery. I would never forget that night, after a whole day of engorgement, I sat on the toilet bowl, wept and wept, holding my breast pump, totally didn't know what else I could do. My husband sat beside me, holding my hands and lost in words. In the end with his help I managed to express out the milk manually, with tears running down at the same time Later I went to bed with inconsolable weeping. I have never felt so despair and tired for a long time.

The next day we dropped the backpack and the motor fell on the floor and broke. And after failing to fix it back at home, I had to give up pumping completely. Yes I sounded matte-of-factly right now but I would never forget the days of despair and helplessness that eventually led to the ending of 14-month pumping. I have to write a separate post just for that.

Solid food is not a big issue because my mum was able to help cook porridge everyday. The varieties of vegetables were limited though because of winter season, so she had minced pork with carrot and cabbage for most of the days.

While we were on the road she had very little sleep, she fell sick by the time we reached the hotel so the night was a nightmare for all of us. The next day I remembered sitting at Macdonald for nearly 2 hours while waiting for our afternoon bus just so that she could finally have an uninterrupted nap.


I am on the road again. (Picture source: Momlot.com)

This time round there is no more milk pumping so I guess it will make the trip a whole lot easier. However, the new challenge is we have decided to take an 8-hour bus ride home. Going there we will take the 10pm bus, maintaining a good night sleep for her will definitely not be easy. Coming back we will take the morning bus, so we won’t worry about the sleep but again what solid food to give her on the road? Back at Ipoh there is no more baby cot suitable for her size, so she will have to co-sleep with us, and with so many people in the house am I still able to put her down at 8pm?

Thinking back, I could have given up pumping the first time we traveled, it is so much easier to bring just warm water and milk powder. I could have fed her on demand. I could have given her any food we can find along the way or simply stuffed her with snacks. I could have dragged her bedtime and put her down after she was totally exhausted, it is much easier for me. But will I do that? No, I won’t. I won’t have done it any differently.

So this time, I will still do all I can to keep the lions in the cage.