The Magic Number "3"

"3" is a magic number. Read on to find out what this magical number and its multiple do:

1. Ian is 3 months old.
   
2. Ian weighs 6.36 kg.
3. Ian is 63 cm tall.

These are his vital statistics as of today (Hubby's hatching day too!). We took him back to Dr Ong's clinic to have his first vaccines: 5-in-1, pneumococcus, and rotarix. On the way to the clinic, I gave him a few sips of paosheng water. We reached the clinic before noon and waited until 1.30pm for our turn. Hubby is half-hearted to go back again for future vaccinations (even though Dr Ong is wonderful), because of the long queue and the expensive parking fees.

Dr Ong did some routine checks on Ian and told us that salivating at this stage is normal and not a sign of teething. It was incredible that he told us the answer before we even got to ask! He also mentioned that Ian has been growing well. His weight and height were above the 50th percentile. Normally, babies will only reach 6kg when they are four months old, and Ian is already there at just three months old. He also mentioned that normally, babies will be around 10kg when they are one year old, so we may notice Ian losing his appetite and his growth slowing down. He will also be more alert in the day, and sleeping at shorter intervals.

As his cradle cap was persistant, we were prescribed a Dentinox shampoo to treat his condition. And although there is only 5% chance that the vaccines will cause a fever, we were prescribed a bottle of syrup just for precaution. We will need to monitor his temperature: for an ear thermometer, the temperature is 38 degrees; for an underarm thermometer, the temperature is 37.5 degrees.

New Stuff For Our Babe

After hearing that the Lucky Baby Capella stroller is going for $49 at the JL Expo sale, we headed down to expo after hubby was off from work on Friday. Finally, hubby managed to find a stroller that pleased him - a Combi! We were looking for a one-hand folding stroller and there were 2 choices - a 4.9kg that felt a bit wobbly, and a 6.2kg that felt sturdier. We chose the latter. Notice that the wheels are bigger than a normal Combi?

"Look at my new ride!"

Not sure whether we got ripped off, but this toy came free with the stroller.

There was nothing much to buy from the sale, but we did grab some tidbits. Because of the purchase of the stroller, we redeemed three packs of 1kg New Moon rice.

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Mambo Float bought from bulk purchase @ $22.90

I'm A Shopaholic

I think it is a common ailment with new mummies - an addiction for shopping. Maybe because we are confined to home most of the time, we compensate for it by going online to shop! My loots - acquired and accumulated over the entire month of June - were delivered by the DHL courier guy this morning. I have just sent these items for shipping to SG on Tuesday morning and they are here today. Thumbs up for Borderlinx/DHL service!

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My parcels arrived in one humongous plastic bag - all eight of them...

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CDs for Ian! These two (hard-to-find) CDs supposedly contain classical pieces which are digitally engineered to contain low frequency sounds like heartbeats, and subliminal messages to teach phonics, alphabets, counting, etc. They sound just like ordinary classical music (but all are masterpieces by various composers). I'm not sure if it works, but I guess there's no harm in listening to classical music.

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My loots from Amazon - more bottles (I'm going for BPA-free this time round!), another Mozart Effects CD (which has rave reviews on its soothing effect to make babies sleepy), and a new toy for Ian - Baby Einstein Takealong Tunes, which is like a mini MP3 player that plays seven classical tunes from Mozart, Chopin, etc. Hopefully, it can entertain him a little when we are on-the-go!

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My LeapFrog books came in an oversized box, which is typical of LeapFrog's packaging style. These were bought during their sale and cost only USD$3.99 each! Local stores are selling at $29.90!


My (or rather, Ian's) Little Touch system came with 3 books - the standard One Bear In A Bedroom, Lulu the Letter Spinning Spider, and Animal World. After adding all the shipping charges (US domestic and international freight), it was not even S$50. What a steal!


I spent some time playing the system with Ian this afternoon. It seemed that I was the one who enjoyed the system more than my boy!

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Old Navy loots again! They were giving free shipping for any amount purchased, and so I grabbed this chance to buy some socks for baby and clothes for myself. Really like the quality (and pricing) of their goods.

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My first purchase from Target.com - sleepsuits, rompers and BabyLegs for Ian. The sleepsuits are of very good quality!

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Duh... hubby says Ian has enough toys already. *Hint hint*

A Traditional Toy

Last week, while I grabbed a quick dinner at my Mom's place with her keeping an eye on Ian, I didn't know that she would bring Ian over to a relative's shop and return with this toy! (And my little nephew Ken Ken returned with two toy cars with which he eagerly played when he came back!) It was a gift from this relative, a toy which I was surprised to see, because I have not seen it for over 10 years since my eldest niece's generation! Although we do not have a cot or sarong on which we could hang this, Ian seems to be attracted by it when we hold it over him.

Traditional toys are still good!

ZZzzz...

Last night, Ian was fed at around 12am and he slept until almost 7am this morning. Is this considered as sleeping through the night? We certainly hope that he will continue to sleep at longer stretches in the night!

That's It

My 12 weeks of Maternity Leave ended (sadly) yesterday. It has been a joyous period for me. I'll be starting to clear my annual leave for the next 22 (business) days.

It's true that when you're happy, time seems to fly past you within the blink of an eye. Maybe, Singapore should follow some other countries and encourage six months of maternity leave! More couples will be very enticed into having more children!

I can't imagine when the time comes (going back to workforce), and I have to leave Ian with a nanny. *Sob*

TOTO! Please strike me! Hahaha...

Little Emperor's New Clothes

Last Friday, I received an email from JShoppers that they were having a free shipping campaign with any purchase. And so I bought this cute little jinbei suit for Ian, size 80cm. It arrived promptly at my doorstep this morning. I love JShoppers!

We are going to keep this for Chinese New Year. *Grin*

Tortoise, I'm Not

This morning, I witnessed Ian turning from his back to his side and stayed there! And, he did it for a few times, turning from back to side, side to back, back to side, side to back, and etc. In the past, the most he could do was to turn from his side to his back and become stuck to that position, like an overturned tortoise. Hubby has seen him performing the semi-flips some time ago, but I finally see it today! How come Ian always demonstrates his firsts to his Daddy?

And, we are very puzzled on one thing. When we put Ian parallel and in between us in bed, he would always end up sleeping slanted, by the next morning. And the amazing thing is, his legs will always be pointing to hubby, and happily kicking him away. No matter which side hubby sleeps, Ian will end up with his legs on his Daddy's chest. This morning, he has shifted himself such that the three of us have formed a letter "H". I wonder whether he has a magnet on his legs?

A sleeping baby...

Recently, we also discover that Ian is finally starting to respond to our 'tactics'. When he's contented after a feed, his Daddy will play with him and he will be goo-ing back with a happy look. It is such a joy to see him responding to us with his "ang-goos".

Because Ian likes to be carried to sleep, I find it very tiring to be carrying a 6kg baby for so long in order to pacify him. The wrap which I have is not very practical for an easy popping in and out around the house, so after a long consideration, finally got a sling!

Can this save my sanity?

A Fruitful Weekend

Friday
This day marks the first time that I took a public transport, alone with baby. In his sleepy wrap, together we took a taxi to the NTUC hq to collect the baby goodie bag. For an $8 taxi ride, look what we received in return! The bag contains a full-sized Kiri Kiri handwash, a tin of Mamil formula stage 2, 3 sample bottles of Kodomo body wash and laundry detergent, 2 packets of Anmum milk powder, samples of Mamy Poko, Drypantz, Huggies, and Drypers, Welch body wash in travel size, and a pack of mint sweets.


After the collection, we met up with hubby to go for dinner in town. After dinner, we dropped by Robinsons to look see look see since they were having sale. Grabbed some toiletries for ourselves and baby, and also bought 2 new rompers (size 12m) at $12.90 (before discount) to stock up.



Saturday
Ian has enjoyed his first swim at Punggol Plaza. Swimming at an early age is supposedly helpful to an infant in his brain development, while exercising the lungs and also stamina.

Our young master waiting to be undressed for the dip

Ian enjoying himself, kicking away in the water

We were persuaded to sign up a package at $188 which consists of 5 sessions of swim + massage

Enjoying the back massage

Enjoy a short clip of Ian swimming!

Sunday
The once-a-year affair - Motherhood fair at Expo! We found it better than the previous fair in March and came home with our boot full!

Pampers had a booth there and the comfort range was going at a discount. We grabbed supplies that could probably last us another 6 months? However, we did not have a pleasant experience there because the salesguy told us that Braun thermometer was one of the prizes in the instant spin. And, when I spinned, I hit the jackpot indeed! However, it was already fully redeemed and they asked me to do another spin. As expected, I ended up with a Downy detergent that I got rid of in the same day. They should have replaced the thermometer with something of equal value, or else, the salesperson should not have tried to entice us with that prize into buying more cartons to qualify for the draw! Hmm, can I bring this up to CASE?

Huggies - apparently, this brand came up with an improved version of their diapers that is supposed to prevent nappy rash. We bought only 2 packets for night use, because we have only tried their sample once. The sample worked great though.

Other goodies from the fair included the free magazine, soft toys from Pampers and Great Eastern, a tin of Frisomum, Huggies shopping bag, and an EQ diaper sample.

We looked around for a stroller because our current one appears to be ready to break apart, but there was nothing that managed to catch hubby's eyes. We spent some time talking to the GD booth person, and found out something new about their program - it is valid for one family, and not limited to 1 child. That means, once another new child arrives, they will start the program with you all over again, from the first home visit, through the follow-up assessments until your kid can read. (Definition of reading is to see with understanding.) The winner of the wallet-emptier must go to the GD booth. Haha...

Smile, You Are On Camera

At last, his elusive smile has been captured!

Ian has been trying to communicate with us with sounds other than wailing and "ah". When he's in a happy and contented mood, he can say "uh-goo". And I say he's a true Hokkien, because when he wants milk, he will say "ai". LOL

Medallion

Finally, yesterday afternoon, while Ian was peacefully taking a nap in his sleepy wrap, I grabbed the good chance to visit the bank and opened an account for him. See what I got as a gift...

I Have Joined The League of Babywearers!

I have tried to put Ian into the Infantino carrier which we have bought some time ago, but he was struggling inside. Hubby feels that he is still too young for this carrier and his neck is not well-supported. To get away from hussle of using a stroller, I did some online research on slings and found out about baby-wearing. There are raves about using a wrap carrier over slings. I was between a Moby or a Sleepy wrap, and decided to go for the sleepy one in the end, since some reviews say that this is better for our warm climate and also more sturdy.

My sleepy wrap has arrived straight from the States last week. So far, I have "worn" Ian for short trips to my Mom's place and also to shopping centres, and also eaten my lunch with him inside. It's definitely less hassle without a stroller, and not to mention that he behaves better when "worn". And, Ian seems to enjoy being inside because he gets to see the world at a higher angle and it's a cozy place for sleeping. During a grocery trip when he refused to sleep, he was looking around with great curiosity. For my own benefits, I have gotten my hands back! Yeah!

Ian Is 2 Months Old!

Two months of my maternity leave has passed in the blink of an eye, and Ian is already 2 months old. I have been enjoying being at home and taking care of Ian, though it has been a physically exhaustive task. He is becoming a light-sleeper in the day, and he loves to be carried to sleep. My arms are forming more and more muscles because of this little boy. :(

Ian has outgrown his newborn clothings and is fitting well into 3-6m clothings. Below are pictures of him in his beloved pajamas, to which he'll be saying "sayoonara". His little feet are getting pretty restrictive inside, especially when he performs his Bruce Lee kicks.