Aston Growing Up Fast!!

Aston is now 4 months and 1 week old.  We've been bringing Aston out shopping for the last few weekends and I must say thankfully he enjoy going out with us.  He will either sleep or look around in his stroller while we walk in the mall.  However, we have yet to venture into not so baby friendly malls because for all our outings we usually will need to use the baby changing room once to change and feed him.  Still can't come to terms in changing him in the public toilet eventhough there's a changing station provided because mummy herself don't even dare to enter public toilet in certain malls let alone to change Aston in there!

Anyway, last Saturday we went to Gardens and I manage to buy some clothes for Aston.  Yes, Aston is growing out of his existing clothing and I spotted 70% off fisher price clothes in Robinson so I quickly grab a few.  Mind you I've bought some already the previous week.  Papa also went to Carrefour to grab mamypoko because they were on sale.  It's been a while since we last seen it went down to RM40.89 for the jumbo packs.  If you see the amount of mamypoko we have stock up it looks as if we are opening a shop soon! We left Gardens early because we had plans for dinner outside with our relatives so I wanted to let Aston rest at home and bath him before going out again.  He was so exhausted that he slept while we were having our dinner and only woke up just in time for us to go home.  He was drowsy in the car on the way home.  When we arrived home I quickly changed him into he's pyjamas and he fell asleep after less than 5 minutes of fuss.

Sunday, we went to Pavillion.  He slept on the way there and was very chatty while we were having our lunch.  After lunch we went to Toys R Us inside Parkson and papa bought him another toy! Papa spend quite some time showing Aston a few toys and cloth books to Aston to see his interest and it was quite clear that there are certain toys Aston showed excitement and will keep on starring at it and there are toys that just couldn't catch his attention.  Papa also asked should we buy him his feeding set and I told him is too early because we only start to introduce solid food when he is 6 months according to the doctor.  Anyhow, I still went to have a look and noticed not all are BPA free! So I told papa that we'll look for others and left Parkson.

We were strolling outside Parkson and went into a stand alone shop that sells majority Japanese brands.  We ended up getting stage 2 Pigeon feeding set and feeding dish which comes with stage 1 spoon and a section for grinding food.  Yes, we are one very anxious parents.  Aston is only 4 months old and we have started getting accessories for him to start his solid meals when he is 6 months old.

Stage 2 Feeding Set

Feeding Dish

Papa, next we need to check out his high chair :) Ikea next weekend? Oh no... is Aston jab day.  Oh well, no hurry! Thank you papa for buying so many things for Aston! Aston and mummy love you very much!! Muuaks

Thank You Grandmama!

Grandmama's Masterpiece

Grandmama comes over to visit once a week and bring me lunch.  Two weeks ago grandmama tried to get Aston's hand and foot print as a keepsake.  Grandmama thought it will be easy just stamp on to get some ink and stamp again on the art paper.  Unfortunately, it wasn't as easy as we thought it will be!  At the end of the day, Aston's hands and feet including the nails are blue.  I told papa that Aston's is turning into Avatar because we couldn't fully cleaned the ink especially those underneath his nails.  Oh yes! Aston did tasted some of the blue ink.  Thank goodness they are non toxic!

Anyway, looking at it now I think is worth going through the trouble! I hope Aston will appreciate what grandmama did for him when I show it to him when he's older.

Notti Aston!!

I'm beginning to think that the superstitious saying where babies are very "sensitive (siu hei)" are true.  It was just slightly less than one month ago that I blogged Aston been sleeping too much well..well..well... Aston showed me what he is capable of doing exactly the opposite!

Everything went well this morning so I thought it would be a good day for both of us...I was so wrong! He woke up at 8.15am this morning still yawning away but was not very cranky just making a lot of goos and giiisss.  I tried to put him back to sleep but judging from his response it was very unlikely.  So I decided to bring him out for his morning walk.  After the walk, I lay him back on his crib and he managed to dooze off after a few eeees and ahhhs.  He woke up 30 minutes later and I fed him his milk.  He only manage to drink 2oz! The day went on fine until about 45 minutes later he started to fuss again.  I fed him the remaining milk but he refused to drink.  15 minutes later I tried again and he drank another 2oz and fell asleep.  30 minutes later he woke up again and was in a very cranky mood.

I tried feeding, burping, walking around the house nothing works! He refuse to play or even chat! He just lie there making noise as if complaining about something which I wish I could understand because he's been making the same sound so many times.  I've been feeding him every hour and tried to calm him down but nothing works not even his pacifier until I blew my steam.

Yes... it was unbearable anymore.  I remember clearly it was almost 5pm I raised my voice at him and he was silent looking at me as if he understood.  Then he fuss then I said NO MORE CRYING with a stern voice then he stopped and looked at me.  5 seconds later just when he was about to start he's complain I repeated with a stern and loud voice NO MORE CRYING and he stopped.  Finally, after a few rounds he couldn't care and just continue fussing and complaining I raised my voice again and told him he's a naughty boy and mummy don't like naughty boys and I teared! I couldn't stand the look on his face.  Eyes wide open looking at me innocently.  I continue telling him no more crying while tearing! I even gave him a light spank on his thighs which shooked him.  I felt so guilty for hitting him so I continue to tear even more! I just repeated to him that he's a naughty boy today and I don't like it.  Then I walked away to clean his bottle and when I returned to the room I saw him already asleep!

Anyway, he only slept for half an hour.  He woke up and I quickly get ready for his bath.  After his bath we went downstairs to say hello to yeh yeh and then he started fussing.  I fed him and he fell asleep.  I hope he will sleep till midnight for his last feed and then sleep all the way till next morning.  Fingers cross!

Short of Supply........

Recently I noticed that I can't express as much breastmilk as before.  Previously, I manage to yield close to 4 oz each pump.  Lately, I'm struggling to even get 3oz! I can't figure out what went wrong because I did not change anything.  Perhaps is the food? or perhaps because I never nurse Aston direct?

Anyway, Aston will be turning 4 months on Monday.  I sure hope that I can continue to provide Aston with breastmilk until he start taking solid food but judging from what I've yield for the past week it has been very demotivating.  Even though I do not feed Aston breastmilk exclusively but at least some is better than none I suppose?

I heard fenugreek helps to boost supply.  Will try to get some over the weekend and try it out.  Fingers cross hopefully I can still continue for another 2 more months!

A Family Day Out

It was a fruitful day yesterday.  That's how papa always puts it if we come back with at least a shopping bag.  Anyway, we left home at about noon and we started of by delivering some durians to grandpapa in Tropicana.  We then head to Taman Desa to drop off Russ for his weekly grooming sessions and the three of us head to Pavillion.  Aston was sleeping not long after we left home because he was up very early yesterday.

Aston was wide awake when we arrived Pavillion.  Papa and I agreed to have lunch at Din Tai Fung because we found this is the only Din Tai Fung that is baby friendly.  We noticed the other branches are so crowded that even without stroller we already need to squeeze through in between chairs and tables to get to our seats.  So we quickly agreed to have our lunch here since we can bring in our stroller and both of us were craving for xiao long bao.  Yes, xiao long bao been at the back of our head for weeks now but because all the outlets that we know request us to park our strollers outside we thought we had to wait till Aston is able to seat before we can have our xiao long bao!

We already planned ahead that we need to go one floor down to the children's floor to get Aston's toys and I planned to buy him a crib mobile.  So we took a stroll first before going down one floor and we were quite pleased so far with the lift as compared to those in mid valley which we had to wait for at least 10 minutes before we could squeeze in!  Anyway, we went into Parkson and realised that the toys department is actually the same floor with Din Tai Fung! We thought oh no we need to walk in and out of Parkson to go the toys department.  Anyway, papa bought a baby book by Lamaze from the children's department and as we walked to the cashier we found a lift inside Parkson! Yay...Pavillion baby friendliness +2points.

After paying we took the lift up one floor to the toys department but the moment we went up Aston got cranky.  I told papa that he's hungry and we went to look for the baby changing room which is just outside Parkson.  Pavillion baby friendliness +2points!  Then papa reminded me that the breastmilk is cold.  Oh noooo!  I totally forgotten about heating up the milk when we were at Din Tai Fung! You see for the past few outings, we will bring one bottle of breastmilk out and we will heat up Aston's milk by requesting for a bowl of hot water where we have our lunch.  I asked papa that is it really cold and he said yes! I could tell that Aston is hungry because we fed him before we left which is about 11.30am and at that time is already 2pm.  So papa did what he hope will work by warming the milk using a hand dryer.  Thankfully, the baby changing room was equipped with a hand dryer.  Yay...+2points! I will give a +5points if it also comes with a WC like the one in Gardens.  Anyway, papa heated as much as he could and I took a deep breath and gave Aston cold milk and he rejected the first round.  Papa heated it more which I think a tinge below room temperature and we tried again and he finally took it but he didn't finish it.  It was good enough for us to continue our shopping.  So to all dads' out there hand dryer can also be served as bottle warmer in emergency cases!

Papa bought a crib mobile and not long after we left Parkson Aston is sound asleep in the stroller.  We took a slow stroll around Pavillion until the pet shop called to inform us that Russ is ready to be picked up.  I know papa was very tired yesterday because he woke up at 7am! So I told papa let's pick up Russ and go home.  Papa fixed up the crib mobile and gave Aston a bath.  Aston was crying for his milk after his bath and fell asleep after drinking his milk.  Papa also slept together until dinner time and Aston continued his sleep until this morning.  Mummy also was drained out by the end of the day.  Overall a successful family day out.  

Being Hormonal??

To my galfriends whom I used to spend so much time together that people started to think we are lesbos oh yes you know who you are! I'm not having a mid life crisis ok unlike someone whom we used to know!? When I meant "being hormonal" I literally meant it...because I'm feeling the effects of post pregnancy eventhough it's now coming to 4 months since I delivered.

Effect No 1 --- Sensitive Skin

I've been popping zits like nobody's business lately and it's all around my chin area and occasionally between my mouth and nose.  If it's a mole I will look like Cindy Crawford but unfortunately it's a huge pimple! I have red patches all over my cheeks and 'T' zone.  My skin felt like sandpaper everytime I washed my face.  It used to be smooth! I hope this will all go away soon.  Feeling very down everytime I looked into the mirror.

Effect No 2 --- Hair Fall

Hubby agreed that my hair fall is outright SCARRY! Yes! That's how he puts it.  The amount of hair loss everytime I washed my hair is so bad that I felt like I must be balding somewhere! Everytime after my shower I looked at the drain cover it scares the s**t out of me because is full with my hair! In addition, everywhere I step my foot in there are strands of my hair on the floor.  Aaarghh!! I think I'm shedding like my dog! I hope this will end soon because I'm very worried that I will get bald patches at such young age! What's going to happen when I have my second child! ?

Effect No 3 --- Heavy Bottom

I've been repeatedly trying on my pre-pregnancy clothes and sad to say it looks like I'm not getting back my body.  A simple Baby-T and jeans somehow doesn't flatter me anymore.  Simply because my tummy is oozing out of my jeans that I had to hold my breath to button up.  I'm not requesting to have a flat tummy because it was never flat before but at least not a muffin top! I bought a pair of gap jeans that's suppose to be bootleg but because I had to accommodate my huge hips it looked like a mum's jeans when I put it on! How long more do I have to wait or is this permanent?? I still want to look good in cargo pants!! 

Let's hope and pray that all this will end and I'm back to being myself and a cool mama to Aston.