Flashcards Family Project

After reading my previous blog entry and other mommies’ responses, my husband jadi bersemangat pulak nak buat flashcards! Before I know it dah siap our flashcards project. I sempat buat the numbers je, yg lain my husband dah siapkan. At lunchtime we took it to a printing shop to get them laminated. Skejap je dah siap, yay!

Adam's flash cards; ABC, 123, body parts and shapes

I couldn’t wait to show Adam the cards so in the car on our way back from the office I dah bagi preview kat dia. He seemed really interested and it also can calm him down when he gets bored sitting in his car seat.

Adam and his new homemade flashcards

So last night Adam had his first proper flashcard session. He was interested and paid attention. Once he showed signs that he’s had enough, I stopped and moved on to his next activity. Overall I’m satisfied with the session. Lepas ni boleh teruskan lagi flashcard session daily. Yahoo…

Adam having fun with his flashcard

Thank you Daddy for making Adam’s flashcards for him…

Colours

latest photo of our cute little baby

Recently Adam developed a strange and endearing habit. He loves to “read” the safety warning sticker at the side of his car seat. He does it so many times during any journey he has in the car. Sometimes even when he has started to cry (from boredom) he could suddenly become silent and preoccupied with reading the sticker. We both found it so funny. Look at this;

Adam reading his favourite sticker

I am puzzled as to why he is so attracted to the sticker. First I thought it might be because it has a bright yellow colour. But he also has many toys hanging over the top of his head (attached to the car seat handle). These toys are very colourful and interesting looking, with many bright yellow parts. If the colour is what is attracting him to the sticker, then how come he is not as interested in the toys as he is to the sticker? The toys can only hold his attention for a few minutes, after which he would start to get bored again unless Mommy/Daddy tells a story with the toys while moving them rapidly at the same time.

Adam's colourful car-seat buddies

Yesterday I read that the colours that is most attractive to babies and toddlers are RED, BLACK, and WHITE. These are the colours recommended for learning materials such as flash cards. The colours help babies to concentrate and focus, and can also calm them when they are bored. I didn’t know this. I’m under the impression that the more colours there are the more fascinating it is for the baby. But this had me thinking; is that why Adam is so attracted to the sticker? If you look carefully, the other colours in the sticker besides yellow are RED, BLACK, and WHITE. So I tried a little experiment yesterday in the car.

I took out a simple used paper from Daddy’s laptop bag. It was a map to some place that Daddy printed out on white A4 paper. Of course the colour combination in this used paper is plain BLACK, and WHITE. I presented it in front of Adam, and guess what? He was ENTRANCED! Just a simple A4 paper with a map of Shah Alam on it. He suddenly smiled as though I gave him a lovely little new toy.

That really got me to rethink. All this while, I thought I should get him fancy expensive toys, when something as simple as this could make him happy! I have a new project in mind; to make him homemade flashcards using RED, BLACK, and WHITE. Since these are very easily available colours, it should this project should be simple. Let’s hope it’s not “hangat-hangat taik ayam” only ok.

Other moms out there, pls give me your feedback, do you all experience the same thing with your babies? I mean with the colours. Is it true that babies are more attracted to these colours?

Mommy's Birthday

I had my first birthday as a Mommy last week. I had so much fun!

Daddy and Adam planned a surprise holiday get-away for Mommy’s birthday. All I knew was we were going somewhere, so we packed our bags but I had no clue where we were going. Coincidentally Adam’s babysitter also asked for a couple days off, so it was perfect timing for us to take a few days leave. Off we go in the morning, the day before my birthday. Guess where we went?

A Famosa Resort!

I was surprised to see there are so many interesting things to do there! It’s perfect for a family holiday. We were soo excited and couldn’t wait to get started. In the evening, all three of us jumped into the bathtub full of warm bubbles. Bestnye…After that cepat2 siap to go to Cowboy Town for the night.

3 of us at the Cowboy Town

The best part of the Cowboy Town was the shows! They had the Red Indian Show and Animal Parade. The show started around 8.30pm and ended at around 10pm which was way past Adam’s bedtime but he didn’t care. He watched in fascination and didn’t get cranky at all! The red Indians played with fire, eat fire and blew fire out of their mouths! So many animals paraded through; camels, horses, birds, chicken, tigers..i’ve lost count. Some of the animals tried to walk towards the audience including the tiger! Uwaa!! Dahla we were seated in the first row. In the end there was a huge fireworks display. It was really amazing to watch and also a tad scary for me..hehe.. but Adam enjoyed it so much. Mata dia ikut jer all the animals jln from right to left. He didn’t appear scared at all. If I let him he would’ve petted the tigers, I think.

tgkla mata Adam sibuk tgk show

At 12 am my husband woke me up to wish me happy birthday. He gave me roses and a cheese cake. Aww..so romantic =)

The next day we went to the Animal Safari. Ada byk shows gak. First we saw the Elephant Show. The elephants can play basketball and football, can draw, can give people massages, etc. Wah, these elephants are well trained.

Adam and Daddy tak takut elephant

tgkla muka Adam tu..lawak je

Then we took the caged tour bus around the safari. The bus is caged because all the animals aren’t! They are all just lounging happily as if it’s Africa. We saw lions, crocodiles, rusa, kijang, giraffes, tigers, seladang, bears etc. Ada jugak areas for less terrifying animals like rabbits, tapir, ponies, emu. There’s animal food there so you can feed these animals. Then at the Bird Show I got another pleasant surprise. Couple of the bird can sing Happy Birthday so the MC asked who’s celebrating their birthday today. Turned out I was the only one. As a gift, they asked me to stand with my arms out and suddenly out of nowhere birds came and eat out of my hands! Waaa! It was incredible! Lps tu terus makcik2 taiwan who were there sang me happy birthday also when we passed them in the safari. Adam also attracted a lot of attention with his sunglasses.

Birds on my hands

selambe je Adam tido..

Adam panas dah bukak baju

The next day pegi waterpark pulak. Adam tak boleh mandi cos he hates cold water! So he just sleep under a shade while Mommy and Daddy run around like kids.

at the waterpark

Finally, a kiss for Daddy for making Mommy's birthday the best one ever!

Muahs!

My Medela Swing

I bought a new breastpump – Medela Swing!

I considered the idea of a double pump, but…seeing as I’m hardly the master of multitasking ( weirdly though, my husband is) I figured I wouldn’t be able to handle 2 pumps, the on off/ letdown buttons all at the same time. I could barely manage a single pump without getting my clothes a little wet.

So, feedback on my new Swing;

Let’s start with the negative comments dulula. I have to stretch a little because I’m really fond of this pump. Hmm..

Ok, I did have some milk backing into the tubing and into the main motor. I’m not sure what caused it but I suspect it had something to do with not pressing the letdown button once letdown has occurred. As long as I remember to press the letdown button it should be fine. I also discovered that trouble-shooting the pump once milk got into it was easy, it didn’t break the pump.

The pump isn’t really quiet. I mean, I read that it was supposed to be quiet in comparison to other pumps which may be true, I guess, but I don’t know because I’ve never seen other pumps in action. If you use a low suction it could be silent but as you increase the suction the noise gets louder. I wouldn’t use the pump at a workstation, especially mine because my office is so senyap you could hear a pin drop. But I’m ok with this because luckily I have a little store room that I could use for pumping and praying.

Tu je cons I could think of. Ok, bear with me now as I sing praises after praises about this pump.

The 2-phase Expression is not just marketing bullsh*t. It actually works. The first phase is short and rapid, the second is long and deep – can read about it at Medela’s website. To me it feels just like my own baby nursing. After I tried the pump, I paid close attention to my baby suckling and memang sama - first phase rapid and short, and then second phase long and deep.

Because it’s similar to my own baby, it’s very easy to get let-downs. Within few seconds I can get a let-down. Most of the time I can even get a second let-down once I place the pump on the other breast (which never happened with my Avent. In fact I rarely get another letdown if I had an accidental letdown before my pumping session).

The pump doesn’t have petal massager like the Avent but it’s just as comfortable to use.

Immediately after I started using the pump, I found that I’m pumping more milk than I used to. I know milk supply depends on the demand and not what type of pump you use but somehow the Swing empties my breast better, I guess. Nowadays I can get 4 – 5 oz easy each pumping session. Sometimes I even get 6oz. I don’t even need to massage the breast or keep repositioning to get most milk. No more stress about pumping enough for Adam.

There are very few parts to wash/sterilise. I know this may not seem like such an advantage to some…but to me, this is great! My Avent had soo many parts ; hard to keep track and makes me resent my washing/sterilizing sessions, and takes longer to dry so many parts.

I like the fact that I can adjust the suction as I like (without straining my hand as I used to with my Avent).

I used to dread my pumping sessions because I’m worried each time whether I’ll be able to pump as much milk as I need. Plus I knew my hand akan jadi lenguh and even my neck will be strained from bending in every position to try and get optimum yield. See, I made pumping feel like exercise. Nowadays I’m actually looking forward to my pumping sessions. I’m confident that I’ll get a let down, I know I’ll get to relax, close my eyes and have a little break. I can think of my baby or a favourite vacation, and just de-stress. It’s my way to connect with the baby when I’m away from him.

The size of the pump is really convenient. Kecik je and can even fit easily in your handbag. The motor itself besar hamburger. Mmgcompact. So, great things do come in little packages, huh?

Conclusion, I love my Medela Swing!

Adam @ 3 months

Happy 3 month birthday Adam...

Mommy loves you three times over!

Daddy dah update on your achievements so no need for me to repeat here..
however my favourite;

Adam suka sembang2..mcm paham jer ape mommy tanya..Adam report ape activity Adam kat rumah ibu..kadang kalau org kacau Adam tido and Adam tak suka Adam bebel2 kat mommy...ehehe...

Adam suka main fly-fly...alaa..yg boh dia kat kaki sambil kite baring pastu terbangkan dia..ala..korg tau la kan..happy je muka dia...

oklah the rest boleh baca kat blog daddy...