To be on our own

I had two florets of broccoli in the past week. Two. Florets.

Recall my bento lunches in Evanston? Example:



There must be some 12 florets in there! All for me! In one meal!

Actually, broccoli isn't the only thing I'm missing about Evanston. Another significant thing to add to the list is independence.

Just realised that we spent most of our married life so far in Evanston. And honestly, it's sometimes a little difficult bringing that life back here, I guess mostly because of the new addition to our family.

Sometimes I wonder what life would be like if we were to remain overseas in Chicago instead of Singapore. The first thing that comes to mind is that instead of eating out every lunch and dinner, I would have to cook for myself cos it's more expensive to eat out there. I was finding it a real challenge cooking in the beginning due to ZK's demands. But if we were overseas, well, I must do it somehow, and there's a way when there's a will or simply no other way!

Anyway, recently, he is able to play on his own. At this moment, he is actually taking his morning nap in his bed instead of on me! With an old tee of mine from yesterday next to him - for luck :p Took 90 min to get him to sleep though.. Let's hope it gets better..

Digression: Four minutes into his nap, he let out a little scream! But he went back to sleep, thankfully.. My dear ZK, did you have a nightmare so soon? Don't worry, Mama is only five steps away :)

So I'm harbouring hopes of cooking again. I really like cooking, and I want paninis and pasta to complement my daily cai fan! Oh yes, I like to have cai fan for at least one meal a day - it's the only thing that gives me two big servings of real vege by which I mean dark green leaves, not angmoh salad. Unfortunately, broccoli is not to be found in the cai fan stall downstairs... But if I cook, I can have any amount of broccoli!! Undoubtedly my fave vege, simply blanched... And if I cook one meal, I can have relatively vege-less stuff like yummy fishball noodles for my other meal!

So far, I've cooked twice since ZK entered our life, not counting the hardboiled eggs. The first time was a pasta lunch with frozen ingredients and the second time was instant noodles also with frozen ingredients just this Monday night after he had fallen asleep. I think I can't run away from frozen ingredients as I'm cooking for one and I may not cook every day. But I can at least fare better than sotong balls, crabsticks and dumplings..

Digression: Ok, ZK woke after only 30min! He first stirred, then stretched, looked and smiled at (I guess!) me a couple of times, and went back to sleep for a couple of minutes before finally waking up..

*lunch etc later*

Did foot reflexology after lunch! And I bought some frozen vege - it's as good as fresh but longer lasting! Also got some sausages to freeze. Next time, I'll get some meat that I can freeze in single portions, like minced beef - love to freeze bolognese sauce to stir into pasta :)

Anyway, cooking is just one thing. Living overseas without family support and the convenience of Singapore just means I need to do more on my own. Question is, is it possible? Of course! The angmohs have been doing it for generations! Just need to plan each day properly and man, I love planning! :p It's only here that we're lucky (?) enough to get help from family.

But well, family can be meddling too. Just the other day, Mother called and told me to use oil and brush on ZK's cradle cap. Hello, I did that already! That's not the first or only unsolicited advice. You can't keep pushing things and ideas on me even though you've had more kids than I do! What do I say? The collective knowledge of the internet has already taken over.

Family help in the form of an extra pair of hands is more useful but it's also very stressful if we do things differently. From the forums, this is very common and a source of conflict in the family! No good at all. I'd rather people just play with ZK and leave the upbringing to the parents. I actually like people to play with ZK so he can be more sociable - I just have to watch out for over-stimulation, especially nearer his bed time.

I guess if we were overseas, we can take care of ZK on our own but he will have fewer exposure to other people since our friends and family are in Singapore.

So, pros and cons. And some grass - like the grass of independence - always seems greener on the other side.. And it's not limited to what I've mentioned above too. I'm trying to plant some of that grass here and some are indeed thriving.. So no, I'm not going to be full of complaints about coming back here - I still prefer to be back in Singapore, although I'll be open to relocating if the destination doesn't snow :p

Anyway, life is good here!! I've got my calendar filled for the next two weeks, woohoo! Perhaps I should also get down to planning my meals too, like what I used to do back in Evanston :) We even had a meal calendar on google calendar!!

Some thoughts and stats

A conversation over brunch yesterday led me to dig out this old draft I started almost a year ago. I spent a few good hours on it, thinking and researching, but the beginning of the second year in Kellogg was hectic with gatherings and soon I found myself down with morning sickness so the draft remained unfinished..

Now with ZK in my arms and on my mind, I doubt I'll be able to finish it the way I wanted. But I want some thoughts to be captured so I've decided to make do with an imperfect piece.. Perhaps I'll review it some time down the road.. Perhaps..

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

Drafted 4Q 2011, completed 4Q 2012:

Took a long time to read this article a few days weeks year ago: "Can the Middle Class Be Saved?"

I must admit I didn't read the last two pages very carefully - it's so damn long! But parts of what I read inspired some thoughts.

The value of a uni degree

A university education is the aspiration of all parents and a great many kids. Apparently, some parents(-to-be) include university fees when considering how many children to have! But I wonder how much the uni grad of tomorrow could be worth in future..

2010

Based on the latest Census data for 2010, 22.8% of non-students aged 15 and over had uni education - public or private. But this figure includes older generations who are generally less educated. If we look at just age 30-34, and the figure becomes 47.2%. (See Table 1.)

* I chose 30-34 to include more men (since they have NS before uni) but there were still some 15,000 more women than men in this group in 2010. In fact, there were more women than men in many of the working age groups.

Given that the current cohort participation rate for publicly-funded uni is 26% and assuming that it's about there for the cohort aged 30-34, a good 20% or so of people aged 30-34 have degrees from overseas or private universities in Singapore.

Table 1: Resident non-students by highest education qualification attained, 2010

Age group	Total (#)	Uni	Prof qualification and other diploma	Poly	Post-sec (non-tertiary)
15 and over	2,779,524	22.8%	5.8%	9.0%	11.1%
30-34	289,314	47.2%	9.0%	14.1%	9.6%

Source: Census 2010 Statistical Release 1, Table 30
(I didn't key in secondary and below. And I don't know what the "professional qualification and other diploma" could be. Probably like my Montessori diploma?)

(Wa liao, this is like doing work!! Except that there's no vetting, haha!)

2015

We are targeting to reach 30% cohort participation in publicly-funded uni by 2015, which I think is probable. And including grads from overseas and private universities, perhaps half of people aged 30-34 could have a uni degree by 2015.

Beyond 2015

So, what next?

So, there was this new committee set up to look into expanding the uni sector for Singaporeans beyond 2015. During its online public consultation, based on what I saw online, people were typically calling for more public uni places and fewer foreign students or none at all.

Let's look at numbers first.

Sito taught me two terms - norm-referenced and criterion-referenced. Let's hope I understand correctly.. For example, "O" levels are norm-referenced - which school (JC, poly, ITE, which JC etc) you go to depends on how well you perform compared to another student. For a school, it means admitting only the top n applicants. On the other hand, "N" levels are criterion-referenced - you just need to get a certain grade to get to "O" levels, although I guess within a school, they can be norm-referenced if they are streamed into different "O" levels class according to how well they do for "N" levels. For a school, it means admitting everyone who meet the minimum admission criteria.

(Sito is busy now so I'm not asking him - can't find online too - but I think these national-level tests on their own should be criterion-referenced, as in you get an A if you score x marks or above. Else how come number of As can improve year by year right? Correct me if I'm wrong..)

Since there are a limited number of places, our universities probably use norm-referencing, i.e. only the top n applicants get in. If the current n is cutting off a significant number of qualified applicants to publicly-funded universities, I would say, yes, we should have more places in these universities because an overseas education is hardly affordable by the average family and private education in Singapore, though many are less prestigious, can be quite expensive as well. Publicly-funded uni places are the first thing degree-aspirants look at.

Now we get to the key question. How many qualified applicants are being denied entry? I would think that these would be no more than the 20% who got their degrees elsewhere. But surely we are unable to almost double our intake to 47%? Even if we can increase our intake, there is another question...

And this is where I put on the old hat of an ex-policy officer - when the government funds something, there must be good justification. In this case, if the government funds more public university places, these additional places must produce grads who can find suitable jobs when they graduate. The question is, do we have enough and suitable jobs for university grads? Well, I tried to find employment statistics but the MOM website was killing me slowly!

Anyway, Sito reminded me that education is more than economics; it's an aspiration. Yes, I agree, but I also think that a university education is not an end; it's a means to an end. If they graduate and are not suitably employed, I don't see the point. But then again, with Singapore so small, we probably will need to continue focusing on higher-value jobs for which we need more highly-educated people. I guess I'm for expanding the university sector but to a certain economically sustainable level.

Anyway, by now, the committee has completed its work - and I'm still writing this!! Bah! Read the media release here and the full report here. I took a quick look. There's a part that says that the resident (i.e. citizen and PR) labour market is already accommodating a higher proportion of graduates than current cohort participation rates, presumably including overseas, private and foreign(-turned-PRs) graduates. So providing more publicly funded uni places would shift some potential overseas and private grads to local grads. The target cohort participation rate is 40% by 2020.

So we can expect the streets to be full of uni grads. This raises competition for jobs; only the best among them will get the better jobs. In fact, it may become such that anything short of a master degree and above won't bring you anywhere! Now that's a scary thought. I am lucky to have been sponsored for my master. Sito's MBA is costing us a combined 12 years (!) of savings *.*

Do we really need a uni degree?

Even if the labour market can sustain a high proportion of uni grads, I have another thought. While it may be too far fetched to say that an uni education is over-rated, I think it's not unreasonable to say that poly and ITE education are under-rated in Singapore.

The best poly grads will probably get a job they want, or find their way to university. The worst uni grads, well, they may have been better off going to a poly in the first place! I've interviewed people from local, private and overseas unis who just didn't sound that educated! On the other hand, I personally know many poly grads who are doing very well. So, study all you want but in the end, you do need to be able to work.

I believe that 天生我才必有用 - not everyone needs to have a uni degree to do well.

Was chatting with a friend the other day, about students who were not able to apply what they learnt in class, and he made a funny yet thought-provoking comment: mf, I think we will never understand students of that ability.

I recall an incident when I was in uni and my brother was in secondary school. He asked me something about cross multiplication and I explained it to him. Then he went on to do something completely wrong. I couldn't understand why then, but now I understand that some people just cannot understand anything more than simple maths. Cross multiplication is not simple to some people, but they could fare better than me in other areas, like speaking well, IT, athletics etc. I considered my brother hopeless but now I think he was just hopeless in maths. He's working now, in some IT thing, nothing to do with numbers, thankfully..

So yes, I agree we'll never understand students of that ability but I think we can agree that they may be good in non-academic areas.

Of marriageable age ≠ marriageable

Another thought pertains to the new gender divide. So the report has a line on "men continuing to seek work in a dwindling number of manual jobs, and women 'crowding into nonmanual occupations that, on average, confer more pay and prestige'" in the US.

Now, let's look at Singapore...

2010

Among non-students in 2010, more men than women had university education. However, that's for people aged 15 and over, i.e. including our grandparents who are less educated, especially the grandmas. If we look at those aged 30-34, more women than men had university education.

Table 2: Resident non-students with university qualification by gender, 2010

Age group	Total	Males	Females
15 and over	634,098	326,446 (51.5%)	307,652 (48.5%)
30-34	136,504	64,395 (47.2%)	72,109 (52.8%)

Source: Census 2010 Statistical Release 1, Table 30

But because there were more women than men aged 30-34 anyway, regardless of education level - 152,552 or 52.7% out of 289,314 - I looked at other qualifications too. Turned out that the greatest gender differential is at the professional qualification and other diploma.

Table 3: Resident non-students with professional qualification and other diploma by gender, 2010

Age group	Total	Males	Females
15 and over	161,144	67,190 (41.7%)	93,954 (58.3%)
30-34	25,992	9,323 (35.9%)	16,669 (64.1%)

Source: Census 2010 Statistical Release 1, Table 30

Well, it seems that females may be more inclined to take up further learning? Not sure, since I'm not too sure what this category refers to!

However, if we look at this weird thing called economic status, fewer higher-educated females actually stayed on in the workforce. Higher chance of becoming tai-tais stay-at-home-mums?

Table 4: Economic status of resident non-students with university qualification, 2010

	Total	Males	Females
15 and over	634,098	326,446 (51.5%)	307,652 (48.5%)
Economically active	554,796	305,935 (55.1%)	248,861 (44.9%)

Source: Census 2010 Statistical Release 1, Table 33

(Saw citizen data after typing out the above - too lazy to change!)

Anyway, the prospects of less-skilled men aren't restricted in only the economic aspect. A few months ago, I read an article on WSJ, how, among black Americans, more women than men remained single; black women tended to marry black men of lower social-economic or educational status. I was then lazy to do more research but now I'm looking through Sg stats. I guess for Sg, our key manifest is in the singlehood front!

Table 5: Resident non-students aged 45-49 by highest qualification attained, 2010

	Total males	Single males	Total females	Single females
All levels	159,287	21,069 (13.2%)	160,337	20,538 (12.8%)
Below sec	51,150	9,778 (19.1%)	54,345	4,939 (9.1%)
Uni	36,005	2,931 (8.1%)	24,387	4,473 (18.3%)

Source: Census 2010 Statistical Release 1, Table 14

Very often, Sg men complain that Sg women are materialistic and demanding, and Sg women complain that Sg men are, well, "very slack" seems to be apt here - tees and flip flops all the time, "you went home yourself for 25 years and now you suddenly need me to send you home?" type. Put it another way, if the women have higher standards that men cannot meet, there will be some women at the top and some men at the bottom who cannot find partners.

Actually hor, I don't need all these stats to say that Sg men at the bottom rung of the education and economic ladder cannot find Sg wives *.*

Also see this occasional paper - from my old haunt no doubt - on Marriages between Citizens and Non-Citizens 1998-2008, which shows the following:

• Three quarters of the SC/non-SC marriages over the past decade were between SC grooms and non-SC brides.
• SC grooms who married a non-SC bride mostly did not have uni education while SC brides who married a non-SC groom mostly had uni education.

New style, new look

Actually, it should be Style with a capital S - keep scrolling :p

ZK punches the air!



Looking at his fave mobile..



And he's doing the Gangnam Style!! :p With an sweet "girl" and a "girl" in leopard prints beside him!! :p



I put Xiong Xiong and Hu Hu on either side of him in case he decides to reach out for something. But the first time he grabbed XX was when I put it on the baby gym next to him! Actually, he grabbed it accidentally...



"恭喜发财，红包拿来！"



Jiejie took this picture - somehow I like it very much... So serious, almost like one for the CV!



Today, he had a full haircut. Sighs.. I was resisting it for a long time; his hair was so nice!! But it was getting too hot for him; the hair on the back was usually sweaty, and he was grabbing and swiping at his hair too. But we didn't want him botak now cos he will be botak in 18 years' time! So we went for half an inch...

"What's this robe you put on me? What's that funny feeling on my head?"



"Ok, what are you doing to me?? It's getting cold..."



"What have you done to me...?!"



"Turned me into a small beng beng!"



But he looks like a little monk when asleep :)



Had a lot of fun at the baby spa today. He could kick very high now. We even moved him to the big pool! But it was quite early so he was the only kid there; big pool could take a few babies. And he enjoyed it so much that he protested when he was brought out of the pool!



Oh, and we weighed him at the baby spa today - he's now a hefty 6kg!

ZK's first swim!

And he loved it!

First, we got rid of his poopy diaper and put on a swim diaper. It's worn like pants.



Then it's warm-up time!



He wasn't too impressed at first... "Eh, what are you doing to me??"



Then... "I think I like it!"



"What's that on my head...?"



"Oops, it dropped!"



Towards the end, they took off the diaper - can see his BCG site.



He could kick and turn a lot! He swims better than Mama! So proud of him :) And here's a video to show Papa:



I got the trial which included a massage so he had that after the swim. But he got cranky halfway *.* But all's good - yesterday, he slept the most in two months! Since he likes it, Mum got him a gold card valid for unlimited swims in a year - thanks, Ah-Ma! We'll probably go every week :)

Hands free!

Yup, I'm not carrying ZK now even though he's wide awake. He's at the baby gym, totally absorbed in the four mobiles above him, and every so often, I hear one of them ringing when he took a conscious or accidental swipe at it.

These days he is able to entertain himself for a while, be it at the baby gym, in his bassinet or on some bed. He could be looking at mobiles, or he could be looking at his right fist.

This right fist thing is quite cute. So after learning that he can open up his fist, he doesn't really do much with it *.* Though he once grabbed his 熊熊 with his right hand but I think that was a fluke..

I made the mistake of asking him to touch my face again yesterday. It used to be just the harmless fist. Yesterday, it was outstretched hand - with sharp nails!! It was so painful.. I'm surprised he doesn't cry out whenever he scratches his face!

Another development is that he has found his index finger! So instead of sucking his entire fist, he is now sucking on the knuckle of his index finger. The thumb is usually safely covered by the fingers. Wondering when he'll find it..

Anyway, I've resorted to stuffing a pacifier into his little mouth when he fusses after a feed. It helps him sleep but I notice that whenever it falls out as he dozes off a little, he'll wake a little to look for it. I have to help stuff it back. And when he has fallen asleep, he'll continue sucking for a few more minutes before letting it go, primarily because he sleeps with his mouth wide open :p

So now I'm quite torn - should I let him suck his thumb (when he finds it) or the pacifier? I'm worried that he'll want the pacifier to sleep and scream when it drops; he should be able to find his thumb easily! But I think it's easier to wean him off the pacifier than the thumb so...

Oh well, my 30 min of peace is coming to an end - just heard the first whine. Going to put him on his tummy for a while before feeding him - he hates tummy time and will fuss after a while so nursing is perfect for soothing him! And he's overdue for his breakfast actually - almost three hours since his last feed!

Dream everything!

Others dream-feed. I dream-shampoo *.*

ZK really hates having his hair washed. He screams and struggles until I have no choice but to put him on the kitchen counter cos I don't have enough strength to hold him in place for the shampoo!

Today, he fell into an unexpectedly deep sleep after his evening feed. So I shampoo-ed the top/front part of his hair while he was in my sling! Shampoo-ed the rest while he was awake and peacefully sitting in his bath. Ahhh, no screaming :)

I'm nursing now. Hope he sleeps after this.. Last night, I didn't swaddle him and it took almost four hours to get him to sleep and stay that way!! But he didn't scare himself awake. Tonight, no swaddle again - getting small and I should really wean him off it.. Keeping fingers crossed...

I don't mind waking to feed so I don't dream-feed. But how I wish I could do a dream-change of diapers!! No screaming and no soiled laundry in the morning!

In search of greenery

Well, I'm not one for the greens unless they can be eaten... But with ZK, it's nice to stroll through gardens and parks if only for the fresh air!

Here's us at the Botanic Gardens on 13 September - I've been dying for a pic in front of these gates since I first saw them on bus 106! (I look fat here but let me redeem myself in another pic further below...)



And this was taken at the Swan Lake - ZK with Ah Ma.



This morning, LS and I brought our babies to Gardens by the Bay. We got an annual pass for $68 each so we'll be back!

See? Not so fat right? :p I'm 4kg away from pre-pregnancy weight, have been since some six weeks ago... Anyway, we started with the Flower Dome.



My fave has to be the cactuses and their stony friends! Some fish here..



Some horsemen here...



And here you can play "spot the 龟"! (Don't think the block of white is a cactus..)



Then we're off to the Cloud Forest. The falls! Note: There's water everywhere! Cover babies!



Saw this cute boat in the Lost World on level 7 :)



We went behind and next to the falls on level 6 - misty and wet so nothing for babies! :p



After toilet breaks for all four of us, we settled down at Cafe Crema for some lunch. I thought the sandwich would be tiny but it wasn't!



Too late - already ordered soup. I'm still very full!



We sat there and chatted for a while more after finishing our food. The babies had their share as well :) So nice to be out on a weekday! So lucky that so many of us are having babies around the same time too! Especially ZK - so many jiejies around him, lucky boy!! :p

I enjoy baby every day, but not every minute :p

Whenever I see toddlers running about, I wish that ZK would reach that stage soon cos toddlers are easier to care for and more interactive. But then I'd feel guilty for thinking so - I should really enjoy this brief stage of his life! And this is a stage of such constant change that if I were slightly distracted, I'd miss something and never see it in him again..

Physically, ZK is growing so fast. I put mittens on him almost all the time since he drew blood when he scratched his face a few weeks ago. In the past week, I removed his mittens more often for him to feel things around him. And I found that his hands are so much bigger and meatier now! His "chicken wings" are also chubbier..

This is his left "chicken wing" :p



He's also developing quickly. In the past week, he went from 招财猫...


Source: Google image search

.. to Astro Boy..


Source: Google image search

.. to staring intently at his right fist, as if first becoming aware of it, to releasing his clenched fist sometimes.

And he is babbling so much, sometimes to himself, sometimes to us and sometimes in response to our words. The downside? His cries have also become louder - guess linguistic abilities grow simultaneously in all areas??

But caring for a child is not just marveling at his growth and development. Honestly, there are times when I'm at a complete loss of what to do. I still don't know why he cries sometimes, I can't get him to sleep, why does he wake so easily, why does the diaper keep leaking, and why does he always like to pee into his morning bath?!

At times like these, I can only 苦笑 or 苦中作乐 or step away for a short while before coming back to deal with him. Despite all these, my little boy always brings a smile to my face, even at the end of a tiring night feed cos he's just so cute! Sito is right that baby cuteness is a survival mechanism - parents always find their babies irresistibly cute and lovable!

Smiley baby!

So happy! ZK smiled so widely at me! I think he was playing with me and having fun! :) I almost couldn't bear to rock him to sleep, sighs..

Now, it seems that his babbling is no longer limited to poop time. But it's ok cos he has other poop signs, and more importantly, it's more fun!

Update 21 Sep 2012 - just uploaded a video of papa and son chatting happily :) With poop at the end :p



Yesterday afternoon, we fell asleep after a nursing session on the sofa. When he woke and woke me, I put him down in his bassinet so I could pee. He started crying of course but within a few seconds, he turned sleepy, and for a few more seconds, he looked like he was nodding off! But he didn't :( But he didn't cry too; he continued to entertain himself by looking around and waving his covered paws. I ran around doing stuff yeah! :p

Later, as our part-time helper C had to clean that area, I moved him to our bed. We had some fun babbling and stroking faces :) Then he got hungry again, oh well.. I took a quick nap while he nursed and then did his usual look-around before waking me.

We installed window grilles yesterday. Took less than an hour. They are of a different shade of silver from our windows but it isn't too obvious. It's just very different feeling with the grilles in place - last night, I turned towards the window while in bed and felt like I was in jail *.*



Wonder if ZK felt the same way, cos he woke quite a lot last night - 11 plus, 1 plus, 4 plus, 6 am... But strangely I didn't feel too tired when I got up eventually at 7 am.

Anyway, the installation generated quite a bit of dust! Mum helped to hoover up the debris and mop a bit. Despite that, C took an extra hour that afternoon. The worst was in the utility room where the guy helped us remove some brackets holding up a curtain rod. So glad those ugly things are gone! Just need to patch up the holes now.

ZK woke halfway through this post but promptly became sleepy again, showing his super cute smile as he drifted off to slumberland. Can't wait for another couple of hours when he wakes so that we can play again! :)

Update two hours later...

ZK seemed calm so I set him down in the bassinet, reclined, and made lunch for the first time since his arrival. I kept going back to talk to him and once, he gave me a lovely smile - besides the corners of his mouth, his eyes were also upturned! :)

Routine but..

It was an eventful weekend. We had Taiwan porridge with Mum at Liang Court on Saturday, with ZK not sleeping but feeding almost through the lunch! Then that evening, we went for a BBQ with the Nottingham group - yes, the all-parents group of friends. We meant to stay only for a short while so that ZK could go back to sleep but we* enjoyed ourselves so much that we stayed until close to 10 pm. Thankfully, ZK was asleep most of the time, waking only to nurse, and, he continued to sleep that night!

* That should include ZK - he was kissed by pretty Mia-jiejie!

Yesterday was Grams' second death anniversary gathering. Almost everyone was telling me to put ZK down, out of the sling! I tried but he woke *.* Tried to nap unsuccessfully after that. We sent Sito to the airport and brought ZK along so no late afternoon nap too. He cried almost all the way back - where's Papa?! Actually he was just hungry and sleepy... But again, thankfully, he slept by 8 plus.

I tried to introduce some kind of routine last week and in the weekdays, he largely followed this, with some switches between adjacent events:

• Wake at about 6 am to nurse
• Poop - his very obvious and consistent poop time; I'll put him down to sleep but he'll wake in minutes to poop!
• Bathe
• Light activity - mobile time while I have breakfast :p
• Story time if he's not hungry yet
• Nurse and pump
• Morning nap by 9-10 am
• (my lunch)
• Nurse
• Afternoon nap by 12-1 pm
• Nurse
• Moderate activity on the baby gym
• Late afternoon nap by 4-5 pm
• (my dinner)
• Nurse
• Light activity - "chatting" or mobile
• Bathe between 6.30 pm and 8 pm
• Massage
• Nurse
• Sleep by 8-9.30 pm, waking between 1.30 am and 3 am to nurse
• Wake to nurse 1.30-2 hours later
• Wake at about 6 am to nurse

Seems good right? But, two problems: he can only nap in my arms or a sling, and he can only sleep by nursing. I don't ming nursing him to sleep at night but it's not sustainable to nap on me all the time!

So today, I thought I should try to wean him off the sling.. And? I failed spectacularly! He ended up catnapping in the morning cos he woke whenever I put him down! Scored two naps in the afternoon - just woke him to nurse before going for my dinner.. Guess I'll just have to make him sleep this way for now..

Shall end this post with some pictures :)

His fine brown hair - no, I didn't sin! My hair is kind of brown too!



I was tired so I took a risk and put him down in the sling. Miraculously, he continued to sleep for quite a while!



On 5 Sep, his eighth week mark, I left his side for a pedicure.. First time I went so far away from him! But he must have grown - that night, he seemed to see the gym mobiles for the first time! He just took a swipe at the bell. (He likes to do the 招财猫 thing with his right hand!)



And yesterday, he saw his reflection for the first time! But I doubt he knew that was him :p



So cute, lifting his head off the floor :)



Oops, he collapsed on his face!



Not happy already!



Taken at the airport yesterday... "Eh, I thought I'm a little dragon?"



In the past week or two, he could also look at us and give us his wide toothless smile! Haven't been able to capture that on camera yet.. He's also talking a lot more these days. Last Saturday morning, he was babbling with Papa - will upload videos at some point..

And finally, the man we're missing now - 奶爸 Sito! Can't wait for Friday!

Our number

7963

Sito said or wrote this random number in my old (and very dead) Pinky one day some years ago :p

Home alone with baby

Sito has started work =/ And he's in KL now after rolling off directly from office =/

This morning, he said bye bye to ZK who was lying in the bassinet; ZK didn't seem to understand as he was too focused on pooping :p But he fussed quite a bit this morning - usually he fusses more in the afternoon. Maybe he did understand that Sito wouldn't be with him 24/7 from today?

And maybe he got sad - he pooped A LOT into his tub during his morning bath! O_O What a mess! Had to scramble for another towel to wrap him while I changed the water. Made a note to myself that I should always have two towels on the ready during bath time..

He continued to fuss after his next feed. When he finally calmed down (he started "talking"; ready to poop again!), I thought he smiled at me - the really cute and wide toothless smile that was hitherto seen only in his sleep :) I then slumped down next to him and dozed off, face down. Woke in a mini pool of drool *.* And he was still happily looking around! :)

After changing him, I had time for only a bread roll before foot reflexology. But I wasn't hungry anyway, strangely.. Perhaps I was too looking forward to the foot reflexology? :p The shiok-ness must have gone into my milk cos after nursing there, he napped for over two hours! :) Managed to do little things here and there. Even replenished my hardboiled eggs for breakfast.

But quite siong too - I had him in my new sling all the time as I was afraid that I would wake him if I set him down. It was like carrying a sack of rice on my shoulder lor *.* But good la, he's putting on weight - and visibly too!

Things kind of went downhill when he woke. After nursing, he fussed until he found a comfy position on my chest to nap. I dozed off too. When I woke and he was still asleep, both of us drenched in sweat despite the fan, I quickly slipped him into the sling (yeah, didn't wake him!) and grabbed dinner before waking him to feed. After that? Crying again, sighs.. He cried a lot, all the way until after his bath. But he managed to fall asleep after nursing. And for the first time in a long time, I took a shower without him waking up suddenly. I even managed to apply a mask after checking in on him - first time in seven weeks! Not too bad for a day without Sito around!

Now I'm just resting and waiting to hear from Sito. Want to nap a little before ZK wakes to feed. He's stirring a little due to the sound from the dryer but I'm hopeful that he can sleep for another hour..

Good luck to me in the days ahead!

My little vampire

ZK just slept for 6 hours and 40 minutes straight! Yay!

But I woke up at 5 hours plus to check on him - yep, still breathing! Well, paranoid Mama.. Then I started worrying about his diapers cos he was wearing Drypers which tend to give him diaper rash; Huggies leak for him so I quit using that at night even though it's better for his skin.

Anyway, I finally heard some rustling through the baby monitor and he started whining as I walked into his room. Stuffed a swollen boob into his mouth quickly and immediately, he went gulp gulp gulp! Could have been a hungry vampire sucking blood hoho! But of course it's our hungry boy :)

He dropped off after 15 min, drunk, which gave me a great opportunity to change his diaper. But as usual, he woke and stretched when I removed his swaddle, and started crying at the changing table. Luckily not much poop, but I was surprised there wasn't much pee too.. Worked quickly to avoid being peed on!

Now he has been at it for 40min. Still gulping a moment ago but should be getting drunk soon. Let me get a few more minutes of drama in :p