Day 60 - Jan 31

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

First Ang Pow from Aunty Susan

Shane had his 2 Months doctors wellness visit today. He weighed in at 13lb 12oz (6.25kg) and measured 60cm. For his age, he's just over the 75th percentile for both his weight and height, as well as 75th percentile for his weight for length. I thought he was at the 95th percentile, given that the doctor said he looked like a 4 month old baby.

Lab results came back that indicated Shane has got G6PD. He's got to go through another of those test where they stick the tube things in his arms at month 9 to determine if he's got the G6PD or if he's just a carrier. I thought he would be fully deficient based on what I read on the internet (http://g6pddeficiency.org/wp/g6pd-deficiency-home/g6pd-deficiency-inheritance-chart/#.Uuxqj6Xph4M) Must they needle poke him again? My poor boy has been poked way too many times since birth.

So my little man had 3 vaccinations today.
1. Oral Vaccine (Rotavirus Oral Vaccine)
2. Prevnar (Pneumococcal#1)
3. Pentacel (DTaP#1, Hib#1, Polio#1)

The trooper cried… Heart breaking (yet funny) to see him wail so loud. But the pacifier calmed him down really quick.

Only Lionel the Lion could calm a crying Shane

Sleepy all day

The vaccines did make him sleep almost the entire day, and his feeds were of extended to a 4 hour period. Whoa! I even had time to get out to run errands in the city.

Day 59 - Jan 30

Baby had 30 long minutes of Tummy time today. He's getting better at this now. Yay:)

Chinese New Year's Eve tonight... And the daddy is flying to LA this evening and back on Saturday... Oh dear me... Missing baby's first Chinese New Year celebration. 

In fact we only realized 2 days back that this week was CNY. Absolutely no atmosphere at all... Bring on the dong dong chiangs

Anyhow, we still manages to get a family picture before he left.

Happy year of the horse to all!

Day 58 - Jan 29

Shane got back his pacifier and it feels like we have much more peace in the house (less crying!). Seems like the pacifier works better for us, but I guess we can only tell months / years down the line if it's good for the baby. Future issues associated with pacifiers could also have other causes. So well, let's take it one step at a time.

We find that this week, Shane has gotten so much more interactive during the day which is awesome. We get to play with him a lot more and that makes Grandma especially a happy person.

I have started looking for soft padding for the floor as we have been putting Shane on the cold hard floor. I recall seeing the foam A-B-C mats at play centers and I figured it'll be nice to have even when he's a bit older. So as usual, I started googling which brand to buy. What I ended up reading was a bunch of articles saying that foam mats were not safe, and there are no manufacturers that will produce test results on formamide emissions from EVA Manufacturing process. I only thought I had to look out for PVC free and formamide free. Aiks, turns out there's more. Sian. So here's the link if you wanna know more:

http://www.safbaby.com/the-latest-on-eva-foam-puzzle-mats-and-why-theyre-still-not-safe-for-your-baby

New toy! Though I'm pretty sure Shane will outgrow this really quickly.

Day 57 - Jan 28

Today we took Shane to see the lactation consultant. He's now 13lb 7 oz (6.1kg). Ahh... That's why my hand hurts. Way too heavy!

So it seems like he's been over fed considering that he feeds less than 2 hours interval (yes I feed on demand) and for a really short period. All his comfort feeding had also given him loads of gas. So he gets really uncomfy and does the whole constipated crouching tiger hidden dragon pose.

The LC said to try to carry him on the sling to soothe him and I said that I tried and he hates it. So apparently there's this shop just down the road from where I live that does sling advice. Probably warrants a trip there to see how right /wrong I'm using the sling.

Also, I was told by the LC that I could use the pacifier more when he's screaming at home. We have sort of stopped with the paci just because we're worried about all the orthodontics issues and speech issues that  comes along later in life. So I read this website that really made me think hard. (http://www.babycareadvice.com/babycare/general_help/article.php?id=79). No conclusion yet. As a stop gap measure from over feeding, i have decided to just give him the paci only if he screams before his feed. If he's really hungry he'll continue to scream. No more comfort feeding & over feeding

Day 58 - Jan 27

Play date today! So I took Shane out today on my own from 1130am and we got back at 6pm. Long day!

So here's what I learnt from play dates:

1. As an infant, play dates are babies lying on their back. They don't really do much, unless you put them on your tummy. So we had Luke , who is 6 weeks older than Shane, and Ethan who is 10 months old. Bigger babies tend to want to touch smaller babies. Cute.

Luke, Shane & Ethan

2. It's true that babies are competitive. So Shane had some encouragement from Luke during his Tummy Time. Shane kept looking at Luke (who could already lift his head), and tried to copy. He lasted on his tummy for more than 10 minutes, and pushed himself from one end of the mat to the other. Well done boy! Almost there...

3. Babies love touching each other. Luke happily stuck his fist out and Shane was suckling his fist. Shane was hitting Luke with his fist, but his friend did not flinch a bit, and continued sticking his fist out. 

My photo of the day

Happy Baby is always Great!

Day 57 - Jan 26

First week where Shane was quietly staring into space at church. Didn't have to feed him, didn't have to walk him around. All I did was sat at my seat and listened to the sermon. Hoorah!

I also managed to catch Shane and Z talking baby talk. Check this video out.

The Children CD started coming to good use. Managed to put Shane to sleep singing those songs (thought they would keep him awake with all the action packed songs).

Anyhow we had Brittany stopped by today with a hand me down baby swing for Shane. Haven't yet tested that out, but I hope it does wonders!

Photo of the Day

Shane Ah Being Lim - Check out my collar!

Day 56 - Jan 25

We had friends over today and spent the entire afternoon playing Settlers and Cluedo. Shane spent most of the afternoon in his bassinet (which is really rare) and in the mini monkey. It's not everyday that he sleeps 3 straight hours in the mini monkey while mummy and daddy plays board games. lol.

 And we have our multi tasked baby sitter looking after Baby Luke & Baby Shane.

3 cheers for grandma!

Day 55 - Jan 24

Shane slept almost all day today… Hmmm Is another growth spurt coming??

Photo of the Day

Day 54 - Jan 23

We have decided to stop giving the pacifier to Shane when we're home, and only use it as a back up "in case of emergency" measure when we're out. Why? We realized that Shane has been sucking in his sleep, thinking the pacifier is in his mouth. Then he starts yelling for 2 seconds (with his eyes still closed) and falls back asleep. He does this for quite a number of times until we wake him up. I blame it on the pacifier. Let's see if there's any improvements after the pacifier has been banned.

Photo of the Day

Praying after his meal

Day 53 - Jan 22

Somehow, Shane decided last night that he wanted to sleep on his side. He couldn't sleep on his side on the hard bed, and kept crying. He needed something cuddly to sleep. So I had to spend almost all night watching him, making sure he did not suffocate. 

I didn't think he could fall in a deep sleep when sleeping on his side. So he was pretty cranky the whole day. Which means I can't really do much!

Photo of the Day

Day 52 - Jan 21

Another day of freezing weather. Weather on the last 2 tuesdays have not been very cooperative. Just two weeks ago on Tuesday, it was -16 deg C when I left home, last week it was raining cats and dogs, and this week, it's snowing heavily with another cold day. Baby is just going to feel really cold today and it's tough stuffing a bear in the car seat.

So it's pretty bad today. Everything is shut. Public transport all cancelled. And we were still waiting for a cab after 2 hours. So Z came to rescue us. A 5 minute journey took 45 mins because it was just impossible to drive more than 5mph. Thankfully we reached home all safe and good, and the baby wasn't crying.

So the shut down happened at 11am which meant our parent & child class still went on because it was at 10am. Anyhow, todays class was interesting. At least now I have a few more ideas on how to entertain Shane during his awake time. Shane slept through most of the class, especially after he had his tummy time demonstration in class

Sleeping in class - literally

Exhausted. to be continued tomorrow...

Day 51 - Jan 20

It's really nice to have a student daddy who can be home most of the days. At least he gets to play with Shane so much and helps put him to bed when i'm totally exhausted.

The little man has been very active and alert lately. He's exploring the world quietly and loves looking over our shoulders when we carry him.

Who's that in the mirror?

Tummy time though isn't as fun for him because he cannot fully lift his head up yet. He's managed a 45 degree angle and plops back down. All it takes is 5 minutes to get him really upset when he can't see the world from front view.

Tummy Time

Shane has also been starting to lick everything that comes his way. Clothing, his paci-plushie and wubbanub, bedsheets, floor mats, sophie (the giraffe), etc. It's his way of discovering new things I suppose. So we're frantically sterilizing almost anything and everything that can be sterilize and washed.

Met up with Shawn, Andrea and little Luke for brunch today. Might not have my Dubai kampong, but I guess it's nice to have someone with babies of the same age (more to exchange tips and what to expect with baby's behavior). And oh, I just love the daddy-baby color combination. 

Photo of the Day

Day 50 - Jan 19

Today is the start of the 8th week!

Shane is starting to stare at his hanging toys on the rocker and is a lot more interactive recently. I read the little polar bear book to him and its the first time he actually stared at the book. I think he's absorbing the story and looked intrigued by the polar bear finger puppet.

Day 49 - Jan 18

Shane is 7 weeks old today! The little monkey is growing quickly and is now aware lily more of his surroundings. 

2:10 Woke Shane up for his first feed. His last session was at 9:30 last night and he was smacking his lips in his sleep, looking hungry. Nursing session lasted 5 mins. Walked about the room to burp him and attempt to get him to sleep.

2:25 Shane falls into a light sleep and I put him in his crib. Struggles with his eyes closed (yes I don't swaddle him to sleep). Watched over him for about 10 mins before heading to bed.

4:15 Baby struggles in crib and appears to try to poop. Diaper change! Z's turn. It was a poopy diaper

4:35 Feed the baby. Don't think he was hungry though. He fed for only 2-3 mins. Following that he was so restless. So daddy woke up to work his magic on the baby. It took him a whole hour to put the wide eyed baby to bed.

6:40 Another 3 mins of feeding before Shane got restless. This time it was really hard entertaining him esp since we are so tired. Then he got his diaper change again. It was a small poop and large pee diaper.

6:45 Pumped and froze a bag of milk.

7:00 Struggling baby still didn't want to sleep so I had to pick him up and put him on me to go to bed. We had a good 1.5 hours sleep together

8:45 I decided to put the baby on his back, but the moment I did that he woke up. So we changed his diapers (was a small poop and lots of pee diaper), and as usual he peed on himself. At least he's in a good mood cos he's got hiccups! (For some reason, he loves his hiccups).

9:00 Shane goes downstairs for his morning entertainment on the rocker with Sophie. Today, he happily played with Sophie and got really annoyed when Sophie's neck squeaked when it bends.

10:15 Feeding time again! When Shane rejects the pacifier, we know he's hungry. This morning's feed went for a whole long 15 minutes. It's been a while since he had such a long nursing session.

10:40 Ploop ploop ploop. Must be poop from the earlier nursing session. He was swimming in a puddle of fresh poo. It smelt so bad… Like sour milk. Still in a good mood though!

11:00 It's play time. So today's play session involved singing and dancing to the YMCA song and teaching him dry swimming with his arms and legs. I think that relieves his tummy and helps him poop.

11:50 It's been quite a while playing with him, and Shane gets bored. Starts crying. Don't know why / what to do. So tried Feeding. He fed for 5 minutes and started crying again. By process of elimination, the next thing I did was to burp. Still struggling and crying. Then changed diapers (it was full of pee). He stopped! Phew. I think the pee on the diapers was pressing against his pee pee, and he was feeling a little uncomfortable. 

12:45 Shane goes back to the rocker with his new lion wubbanub pacifier. He falls asleep while we have lunch. 

13:00 Shane gets transferred to his Bassinet for a nap. I fell asleep on the couch for 30 mins. Exhausted.

15:00 Hungry cries again. Another 10 mins feed. Struggles again. Could tell that he's trying to poop but can't poop. Helping him exercise a little does seem to do the trick but this time it was not enough. We had to walk him around the room and hold him vertical for another 10 mins before he farted. 

15:15 Shane lies next to papa in bed and entertains himself while papa works.

15:40 Diaper change with only pee.

16:00 Did some exercising and massaging with Shane. But he got bored very quickly this time. Restless baby = Daddy gotta carry. Restlessness lasted for a good half hour and he wanted to be carried vertically only.

16:15 We put Shane in his crib... He's not sleeping yet. But lays there happily and went to sleep on his own. He had a loud hiccup and woke himself up. I picked him up and he started crying non-stop. whoops. So, I had to walk him around the room and tried to soothe him. Not working. Suddenly stopped crying when I laid him on the changing table (but did not change him)

16:45 Tried to feed the baby. But he does not want to be fed.

17:00 Chinese Education time! Z plays chinese children song (世上只有妈妈好) for Shane. It's pretty soothing, but he got bored again.

17:15 Pumped a 4oz bottle. 

18:25 Diaper change. Pee only,

18:45 We all head downstairs for dinner. Shane fell asleep in the bassinet but woke up and was moved to the rocker while we had our meal & watched TV

19:15 Shane got bored of his pacifier. So we figured its meal time for him. We warmed up the pumped milk a little, and added d'iv sol (Vitamin D) to his milk. Grandma fed Shane, and he finished the whole bottle in 10 mins.

19:30 Shane goes back to sleep in the rocker with Lisa the Lion.

21:00 Took Shane back to the room for a diaper change. Pee only. After he was done, he protested loudly for food,,, but mummy was in the toilet showering. So the cries just got louder and louder.

21:15 Shane feeds for 3 minutes (after all that crying??) but happily lies in his crib after his feed,

21:40 Pumps another bottle for feeding during tomorrow's church service,

22:00 All of us goes to bed. What a long day.

Day 48 - Jan 17

First time that Shane pooped in the bath. So… we're not sure if we should just ignore the poop (it was only like a tiny winy bit) or re-boil the water, refill the tub and dunk him in for the second time. Well, on the safe side, he had his second bath. But was it absolutely necessary? No idea. It's infant poop, but I suppose they're equally toxic.

So I started googling what to do, and of all the different sites, I thought the advise on google site was fairly accurate on what you can do (for future reference when Shane is a little older) -  it's pretty logical anyway.

This is a summary of what to do when baby poops in the tub:

1. Close the bathroom door
2. Do a finger sweep of the mouth
3. Lay a towel on the floor, lift the baby and dry the baby
4. Quarantine bath toys
5. Grab cup to scoop poop
6. Curse (ok, can omit this part)
7. Remember you love your baby
8. Refill tub
9. Congratulate yourself on being done bathing the baby
10. Return to wash the toys and tub

Read more on the website http://www.bubblelush.com/2011/07/what-to-do-when-your-baby-poops-in-tub.html

Though a second bath immediately knocked him out and he slept for a long long time, and nursing in his sleep with his eyes shut. Bliss. 

Day 47 - Jan 16

After another long night with Shane, today we had a good run with a happy baby. So I think I figured the reason for his fussy-ness. He is just trying to fart / poop, and is having a lot of difficulty with letting the gas out. Once he let his one big time fart out and did a whole big poopy diaper (never seen so much poop in the last 47 days), he was fine.

He was smiling and laying quietly on the bed entertaining himself (yes it means swinging his arms and legs in the air and playing with himself). Everyone recommends that we should swaddle him. No, he hates being swaddled. So yea, we let him have his flying hands and legs.

So the gas started building up again this afternoon and he got cranky again. And again he let out a big fart, and then self soothed himself to sleep on the bed.

The question now is… how do I control the gas. Something that I haven't yet figured out yet.

Photo of the Day

Laying quietly next to Papa. No screams and yells today! Woo hoo!!

Day 46 - Jan 15

Just received one part of the hospital bill - for room and board. This is why everyone needs insurance in the USA!

Nearly fainted when I saw the cost. How can anything get so expensive. It's cheaper to stay at the burj al arab than at Penn Hospital.

Over the last day or so, we have been having problems feeding the little baby. He feeds for only about 2-3 minutes and does that every hour, then starts kicking about and crying until he falls asleep on the boppy. Not sure what's going on. The next available appointment with the lactation consultant is only next Tuesday - that's 6 long days away!! I hope he doesn't starve by then. Google doesn't really help, because it's not a forceful letdown issue.

Throughout the day, Shane has been so cranky. It could be the lack of food. He still has got wet and poopy (but not a lot) diapers. So I'm assuming that it's still not a huge issue.

I feel like i'm spending my entire day tricking him into sleeping or eating.

The only time when Shane is happy was after his bath

Day 45 - Jan 14

Had a second session at Penn Hospital Parent and child development program. Today we talked about breast feeding and sleeping.

So we co-sleep with Shane and I am jus so embarrass to tell anyone that we co sleep. Yes I did get funny disapproving stares when I say we sleep with Shane. Then I keep hearing the same line "it could cause SIDS". Yes yes I know! But it's our way of doing things and putting him to bed! Well, so I didn't even dare tell anyone that our co-sleeping was not just sleeping on the same bed - Shane sleeps on us! That would be 10x worse.

This is norm every night

I am convinced that we are ok doing what we have been doing, and sleep training should only begin after Month 4.

At least one bit that we did right to reduce SIDS is to introduce the pacifier.

Looking forward to next week's class on talking about stimulating baby's brains.

Photo of the Day

Shane's new outfit

Day 44 - Jan 13

Weather was great today and we met up with Andrea and Shoko (and their babies) for morning coffee at Rittenhouse Square park.

So we were looking for a restaurant that could park 3 strollers and ended at Cosi at 17th and Walnut. And the boys joined in later.

Boys in uniform

Day 43 - Jan 12

Daddy's home…

and totally jet lagged

Day 42 - Jan 11

Getting ready for Daddy's return, and his first task is to cut the little boy's fingernails and toe nails. Shane's been scratching faces and pulling hair.

This morning I starting measuring the length of some of the clothing against Shane's skinny little body. The stack of clothes we retired - way too many clothes worn too little times. My little man is not so little any longer. he's gone on to wearing 3-6 months clothing, and he's only 6 weeks old.

Retired Clothing

Photo of the Day

Shane & Ella the Elephant

Day 41 - Jan 10

Shane and I had a pretty good run last night. He had his fill and went to bed (still on me - yes I belong to the camp of co-sleeping, not the cry-it-out-loud camp). If only all nights could be like this one. 

Uncle Jeremy left this afternoon… Bye bye… and see you in 4 months!

Photo of the Day

Day 40 - Jan 9

We took a 1.5 hr long walk with Uncle Jeremy in the cold today and popo. Half of which, baby Shane was awake and looking around quietly. In the evening, we all went to Chinamoto for dinner. That's enough outings for Shane for the week! Home bounded till Daddy returns!

Photo of the Day

One foot broke loose, then fell asleep on the boppy

Day 39 - Jan 8

I survived a week without the Daddy! Woo hoo!! Another 4 more days before he get home. Shane has gained quite a fair bit of weight since he left (having gone through his growth spurt - duh)

Our attempt today was to take Shane out to the mall with Uncle Jeremy who wasn't done with his shopping list. So we were out for a good 8+ hours with the little man.

Breast feeding in public is something I  not comfortable with yet, and don't think will ever be super comfortable with. So I had my shot at it again... This time with my new bebe au liat nursing cover. Shane absolute hates anything touching his head ur covering his face while nursing, and needs eye contact. This cover has a rigid neck line that let's him watch me watch him from the top. So I don't have to blindly feed him! It's a tad expensive at $27 ish from amazon (but 240dhs in Dubai), but totally worth every cent.

Today for the first time, Shane kept the pacifier in his mouth for the entire journey home from the mall (which is about a 30 mins drive). He's getting the hang of the pacifier! Wheee!!!

Shane got his bath (again) this evening after peeing all over himself during his diaper change. So he got really wide eyed before going to bed. Uh oh... A long night ahead!!!

Photo of the Day

Pacifier from Aunty Joy

Day 38 - Jan 7

Today at 9am, the temperature was 8 deg F (-13.3 deg C), with actual temperature feeling another 10 deg F colder. We were pretty much bounded indoors almost the entire day.

But we still headed out to Hall Mercer Child & Parent Center for our first baby development class! It was interesting to hear the birth stories of others… At least I know I didn't have it that bad. So today's class was pretty much an introduction of ourselves, current issues faced, and plans for the future. Looking forward to the next class.

All bundled up

Today we introduced the pacifier for the first time. Shane didn't quite like it at first, but I kept sticking the pacifier to his mouth, and he got the hang of sucking. Still couldn't keep it in his mouth for long and it keeps falling out.

Photo of the Day

Thanks Aunty Joy for the awesome gift