At home, at work

I’ve been working from home in the mornings for the past 3 days. Sidetrack, I think it’s a good idea to start work on Wednesdays; no Monday blues, and before you know it, the weekend’s here again! Anyway, it has been great & I love the time I have with Adam in the mornings. But of course, my work hasn’t kicked in full swing – my load is steadily building up. When full load kicks in, with baby in tow, I hope I’ll be able to carry on just as well.

So this is how my daily routine is like. Adam gets up early – around 7-ish, I bathe him & get him ready by 8 am or slightly later. Then I shower, then out of the door to my parents’ by 9 am. I start work, and do whatever I need to do with Adam. By around lunchtime, my mom comes home, and we change shift. I get ready & report to office.

The good thing about this is, I don’t suffer much separation anxiety with Adam, and I only have to express milk once at work. But of course, I believe, most moms whose babies are left in the care of their own or MILs wouldn’t really have to worry much.

It’s a fresh start. Looks like I’ll have to hold on to this job much longer… unless I can find another one with a similar arrangement.

Play@work

My happy ending

HR called me at the 11h hour to tell me the news I’ve been wanting to hear for the past 1 month.

My application to work from home in the mornings, 4 days a week, has been approved, alhamdulillah!

I start tomorrow.

What have I done to deserve this? Things fall into place & I got more than I asked for.

So, Adam, Ibu’ll be with ya in the mornings, except for 1 day in a week, where you’ll be in the good hands of yr Nen

And the prize goes to…

N/U/K !

Can you hear my huge sigh of relief?

Feeding him the bottle was toughest on Friday. He cried less on Saturday & had 2 feeds. On Sunday, he managed to get another 2 feeds on the N/U/K teats, and this morning, he managed to finish about 60 ml on the N/U/K teats again. Phew!

So N/U/K it shall be then.

Thanks God!

Teat-hunt

I’m going back to work next week.

This also means, Adam can’t latch onto me when I’m at work. It’s time for bottle-feeding.

Adam suckled on Avent teats pretty well when he was a newborn – I used to express milk & get my mom to feed him. He suckled well on them 3 weeks ago too, so I thought all was well, right?

Wrong

We (My mom & I) tried feeding him using Avent teats yesterday & he yelled his lungs out for a good 20 minutes. I know we got to be cruel to be kind, and time is running out, but we gave up. I latched him on. My mom told me to find a more natural & soft teat, so I did.

I bought the Pigeon one. At his next feed, Adam yelled quite a bit, but thank goodness he suckled!!! A good 75ml, phew~ Only God knows how relieved I felt. BUT…. he suckled when I fed, he didn’t when my mom did.

Today, it’s AH’s turn. Adam wouldn’t suckle the Pigeon teat when AH tried but he did when I fed him, though he looked at me with a slight frown, as though he was wondering why my teat tasted a bit different today.

That was when the hunt for the perfect teat began. We set out for the baby fair, and came back with 2 NUK bottles, a set of Gerber brown teats, and Medium-sized Pigeon teats. We bought a bumbo too, but that’s really not the point now.

Adam suckled on the N/U/K teats briefly, but again only when I fed him. Later we changed the teat to the Gerber one & AH fed him. He suckled!!!!! Though briefly, it’s really better than nothing…. He started yelling again later so I latched him on & immediately he suckled furiously, his big round eyes looking right at me, his little fingers on my chest. Really heart-breaking.

So AH came up with a plan. To trick Adam…or rather, to train Adam. The plan makes me feel a bit of pity for Adam…I can’t explain why though….

The plan is to get Adam to suckle on N/U/K pacifiers at bedtime, so he’d get used to it & hopefully he’ll suckle on the teats. Adam rejected the pacifier at first, preferring his tiny fingers, but we placed it back into his mouth & he suckled himself to sleep…..poor thing

I wondered if he’d prefer latex teats to me sometime soon… but I guess that won’t matter much as long as he gets the goodness of breastmilk.

3 more days till I return to work….3 more days to get Adam friendly with the bottle. I pray all goes well. Amin.

Before & after

Before the jab…

After the jab….

Apasal muka shedih, beb?

But we’re so proud of Adam! We were preparing ourselves for the yeowwwww!!! cry but alhamdulillah, all he did was let out a stunned cry, then OK already in less than a minute! Hooray for our hero!

Paedi M also said that Adam’s growing well, alhamdulillah. At 3 mths old as of today, Adam has doubled his birthweight; 6.2 kg now.  And he’s grown “taller” quite a bit too – our boy’s 60 cm now.

Adam also had his first oral dose of the rotavirus immunisation. So how Adam? Did you like that more than Ibu’s milk?

The damage? Let’s just say, we’re now left with 75 % of his 1st instalment of the baby bonus. Oh well, as long as he’s healthy….

Now I’ll just have to monitor his temperature; hope he doesn’t get one. Last check a while ago was 36.5 deg. Phew~

On another note, can you believe it, Adam’s parents, the lazybums, didn’t even get a decent dinner on their 2nd anni! We just savoured Mak’s scrumptious asam pedas, then headed off for home. Dinner’ll come another day, prolly tomorrow.

But DH (heh, romantic sikit ah, kata anni) got me a bouquet of flowers.

Thanks dear, I love it!

My little grabber

The loveliest thing about staying at home is watching yr baby grow & develop those motor skills.

Adam has been reaching out & swiping whatever’s within his reach. His favourite for now? The self-made mobile we place on his playpen.

Swing it around

Keep grabbin’

and don’t let go!

Keep practising, my little botsy…amuse me with yr little tricks before I go back to work next week.

Btw, do you know that Ibu & Ayah’s been married for 2 years as of today? So glad to have you with us this time around. Let’s go somewhere tonight, shall we?

In mom’s mind

Adam’s turning 3 mths in 2 days’ time, insya-Allah. I intend to get his 5-in-1 immunisation done before I return to work next week (groans…).

Today we popped by the GP for the jab. You know how it’s like in clinics on Monday mornings. For some reason or another, flu bugs attack over the weekend, more so if there was a public holiday on the previous weekend (tsk, notty!). We were 7th in queue. We didn’t want to risk Adam catching the bug, so we hung around outside the clinic, where we were greeted with whiffs from the burning incense nearby.

So what did we do, as sensible parents? We decided we’d come back another time.

In the car, I calculated the cost difference if Adam was jabbed at the paedi instead. Not much difference, and we prolly would get a peace of mind going there. So, yes, finally, it’s been decided. We’re seeing Paedi Dr M this Wednesday! But don’t worry lah, we’re not so teruk, we called GP to cancel, so the dose can be given to another baby.

Cian AH, he said he’d get more white hair not from the stress of his studies, but from me, his fickle wife.

We’ve got 2 days to prepare Adam mentally for the jab. Wish us luck!

Anyway, here’s Adam, 2 days before turning 3 mths.

Bag him in!

Thought I’d upload this photo for memory purposes – taken last week when I bagged Adam in his ergo.

Though his neck seems relatively strong, I’d rather not take the risk. I still support his head a lot regardless of the carrier he’s in. So, ergo, in you go till perhaps mid next month!

These, were taken last week, before I sent my phone in for repair.

Wonder what a 2 month old baby can be inspired about?

The fierce look

Last last, tido..

And once again, today Adam has been my faithful companion. He went along with me for lunch with an ex-colleague, then he accompanied me to the service centre to pick up my phone. I rewarded him with a feed at Delifrance (or rather, IN, Delifrance), then off he went to slumber to Plaza Sing, and back..till now! Time for a quick shower, before yah…next feeding

Hair today, gone tomorrow

Remember how AH & I were still trying to find courage to shave off Adam’s hair? AH finally did it last Saturday, using a borrowed shaver, at night, around 10-ish when Adam was breastfeeding. Shave, shave shave… while Adam blisfully suckled his early night feed.

Spot Adam’s little fine hair before his real cukur rambut

He looked upwards curiously in the beginning, wondering what the buzz (literally) was all about but he figured, concentrating on his milk was a better option, so he ignored the shaver, much to AH & my relief.

He’s botak now, but his ayah refused to let Adam be called that. He suggested “Bots”. Huh?! Bots? How glam…

Our little Botsy…

Dunkin’ 2*th

I turned 2X on Monday.

AH asked if I wanted a stroller for a present. I told him, that was the most unromantic present ever! Not to mention besar & lepas dah habis pakai, nak sorong pergi ke mana?

I also joked that if he really wanted to surprise me, he could go queue at Donutfactory & get me a few, erm, donuts. That’d be nice.

On Monday evening, I got worried when he wasn’t home by around 7-ish & didn’t reply to my smses. I called, but there was a strange ringing tone, indicative that he was overseas… JB? Batam? Tsk.

Many missed calls & several smses later, he finally called & confessed he was in JB. He had gone there after work, to get me 3 boxes of Dunkin’ Donuts! Is that sweet or what?

He said he’d rather drive into JB than queue for hours at Donutfactory. OK, romantic points down a little when he said that, but still…thanks again for the donuts, I love them! And you too