me es officially on leave..

..since Thursday at 5pm! Yeap.. It has been 7 months since I have been back at the office after 2.5 months of maternity leave and I am on a much deserved break. Although the break is only 6 working days.. boo hoo!

Anjai, Shopaholic, Gamerholic and I, along with 9 of Shopaholic's friends headed to Kota Kinabalu yesterday. We departed Brunei at 8am and landed at 8.20am. Its been a while since either of Anjai and I have been to KK so the differences was significant. The new developments here and there and new tall buildings are mushrooming here and there! One thing remains the same tho, the blue green ocean! Beautiful!! Wish I could dip my feet in the sea but I guess thats one thing i'll look forward to the next time we go to KK. Note to self: better practice on your swimming and find a swimming class for the little princess! hahaha The Holics were our tour guide so they took us to Centerpoint and Wisma-something and then we headed to he highly raved 1Borneo! The shops are a huge difference compared to what we have here but since we will be heading for another holiday in a couple of days we restrained ourselves and by we i mean Anjai and I. The Holics and friends were going at it!!!! They came with one little bag and when we saw them at the airport, BASAR bags dorangg! hahahaha High five to all of you!! hahaha

One thing I would remember significantly about this trip would be the expressing of EBM!!! I sort of panicked thursday afternoon and then devised a plan. So what I did was pre-freeze my ice packs and right before leaving for the airport I wrapped them up in newspapers and place them in my cooler box. So we left with a huge bag! hahaha I didn't express until about 2pm when we got to 1borneo. Shopaholic advised me that there is an executive toilet so I headed there and paid RM1 for the entry and when I went it, the toilet was indeed better than the normal ones.. Each cubicle had a toilet (obviously),  a sink and also place to put your stuff. SO by this time I was dying to express!!! What a relief! I managed to pump 8oz, 1 oz short of my target. SO once I am done I wrapped the bottles filled with EBM in the ice packs and then wrapped them tightly in lots and lots of newspapers and then placed them in the coolbox. Why I use newspapers on top of the ice pack? well I figured it will help in keeping the cool longer. hehe 

Our flight took of at about 6pm and we arrived home around 730pm. Alhamdulilah EBM was in good condition. As Shopaholic said to me 'bekarih jua ah BF ani' and my answer is yes.. But then again its all individuals' efforts bah.. both Anjai and I choose to BF our daughter so for us it means that we will do all we can to continue to provide BF to her. We know we have a choice of giving FM to our baby but it is not something that we want to do YET. We know eventually we will probably introduce or rather re-introduce FM to her (since we had to give FM during the first 5 days of her life) but its just not something that we would like to do now. We have nothing against FM, its just something that we are not ready to do yet. Sementara my BM masih ada, i shall continue to BF Dia exclusively.. :) I think a few months ago I wrote that someone said 'payah jua tu' and I think I kept the reply to myself at that time but I think with all these things, it will be payah if you choose for it to be payah. 

Oh in case any of you are wondering and is unable to understand, I LOVE BFing my daughter.. I think it is such a privilage that only I can give that milk to my daughter, only ME! hehe and the fact that I can take breaks when I am at work to pump or get out of boring meetings to pump is the bomb!! hahaha (not that I always use pumping as an excuse to get out of meetings pulang.. honesstt! dududududu!) hehehe And I think because of my experience of not being able to BF Dia for the first 5 days atu tah makes me appreciate my BM more.. hehehe

Ok this is beginning to be an emotional post on BF and BM! hahaha So Happy weekend y'all. And in case I am unable to blog next week, don't worry, Anjai Dia and I are away on a short holiday.. Hopefully all will go well, Dia inda mengusut and fussy.. SO don't miss us to much, especially you Abang Ijan!!! 

tata~~~

When she turned 10 months

Do i really need to write an introduction for the strings of pictures below? I think after 9 months you all know the day or the next post after Dia turns a month older i will post up pics of her mini-celebrations right? hahahaha

I couldn't decide on a cake so decided to gaet various mini cakes instead.. hehe

Dia must be thinking 'Why is Kaka Anis crying??'

After blowing the candles and Kaka Caca patiently waiting to be given a cake! hehe

Daddy and Dia

Dia sat on the table while all of us enjoy the cakes.. hehe Sorry sayang, Daddy says no cake for you this time, takut your little tummy cannot take all the cream and fats! Even i got a scolding for eating cakess! haha

Can you see my tooth?

'No? What about this?'

'Hehe Dia malu eh! hehe'

Alhamdullilah after 10 months, I am still BFing my darling daughter exclusively.. Although I have to say I think its now harder as she is heavier and also the fact that she is more playful then ever. I think every night she would playfully peek under my shirt, try to BF and when I do give it to her she would laugh at me.. haha Or at times she would be feeding, then she would pull away and start playing with her Daddy and then mau tia lagi kn feeding.. Aiyayayyaaaa hahaha Which reminds me I need to do a stock check on my EBMs.. I think stocks are slowing to dwindle down as I am sometimes malas to expresss! *knocks on head*

Happy 10 months Dia!

Dear Dia,

How are you my little angel? When mummy left this morning you were deep in sleep next to your Daddy so I just planted a light kiss on your forehead.. You are 10 months today and in 2 months time we shall be celebrating your first birthday! Just like how we celebrated you Kaka Alya's first birthday. Don't worry, i'll make sure your cake will not melt like how Kaka Alya's first cake did.. hehe

We saw that your gums were bumpy 2 weeks ago and people were telling us that you tooth will soon make an appearance. I didn't think they will come out anytime soon so I was so surprised when I felt your teeth.. hahaha Daddy laughed his head off when I made a huge fuss and when he saw I started giving you the talk about not biting mummy! hahaha Mummy means every word. Please put your tiny teeth to good use and remember to brush your teeth!

You were feeling a bit under the weather and it gave mummy and daddy a bit of a scare yesterday. Take your meds ok sayang and get well soon.. Especially since we will be traveling next week.. Are you ready to go on your first trip on board a plane? Both Mummy and Daddy si very excited and we do hope you will be able to cope well.

Ok Mummy has to go back to work now.. I love you my little angel and misses you very much. And get well soon.

xoxo
Mummy

11 of 2010

Dia has been having her sniffles and coughs for the past week or so and as a baby she hasn't figured out the art of removing her mucus (dahak) as we adults do. So for the past week occasionally she would cough and vomit the mucus out. And this usually happens early in the morning or at midnight.. People say its good that she knows how to vomit it out as some babies doesn't and some mothers would stick their fingers down the baby's throat so that all the mucus comes out..

She woke up at 5 today like normal, cheerful and then she started to cough. We thought it would be her normal ones and then she did it again.. and sometimes she sounded like she couldn't breathe.. huhu So we took her to A&E in Tutong Hospital. Dr asked the normal questions and she did her her check up. The good thing was that Dia was not dehydrated and she has good level of Oxygen in her body. The bad was that her throat is congested. She sent us away with Paracetamol, saline drops and also antibiotics to help clear her throat out. And a promise from us that should her coughs persist, we need to take her back..

She was extra manja to me and as I walked away this morning (at 10!!) to go to work I felt a slight guilt for leaving her behind. I asked myself What kind of mother am I for leaving her baby when she needs her.. Then I say I am a Working Mother. This feeling of guilt will always be around and I can only pray that god protects my little girl and that my little girl understands that Mummy has to go to work and is only doing this for her. I hope Dia gets well soon.. especially before the weekend..

Other than Dia, Anjai is also at home, in bed, nursing a slight food poisoning.. Then I ask myself what kind of wife I am? my answer is a working wife and the kind that loves her husband very much.. Hope you get well soon my dear. And if you are wondering why I am not calling and asking how you are, its because I do not want to disturb your rest and sleep.

Oh I forgot to mention that Dia went to MCH for a check up and she is now 7.25kg! She finally hit the 7kg mark! hahaha The nurse was saying that her weight gain is not as good as she wants it to be but as soon as I answered her question on what milk she is taking and I answered BM, she said 'Don't worry about it, breastfed babies are usually smaller in size' SO I am back to smiling.. hehehe

Dia has lost a bit of her appetite the past 2 days and maybe her not feeling well contributes to it but we have changed her diet a little bit. I have (finally) introduced sweet potatoes in her diet. She took it well although my dad is insistent that we give her porridge at least twice daily.. Think my parents is worried about her size.. hahaha As for snacks, we have always tried to avoid processed food only introducing Baby Bites to her as snacks and also fruits like bananas, grapes, pears, oranges. But yesterday Anjai and I decided to introduce other types of biscuits for her to snack on.. With all these new food in her diet I hope she takes it all in well.. hehehe

Taking things for granted

Anjai,Dia and I went for our usual sleepover at Anjai's place last night. And when we came home this morning I found out big brother no3 came over for dinner last night. Was a bit sad cause I didn't get to see them and hang out with them huhu I guess it's true when pol say u take things for granted cause i think I have taken the fact that i could see them anytime dulu atu for granted!

This also means that we need to be better coordinated interns of scheduling when to go back to anjai's place and stuff..

So to Abg Ijan: hiiii.. Lain kali bagitau mama n babah bagitau babu bila Jan balik Tutong ah. Boring babu nda jumpa abg Ijam sma momoi..:( love u and missssssss u!!

breakfast at hasbollah

dia woke up at 530 this morning so off we go for an early breakfast

Co-sleeping

I wrote a couple of months ago about Dia insisting on sleeping in our bed instead of hers.. I have been trying to encourage her to sleep in her own bed but to no avail and just a few nights ago the husband an I were talking about how long our bed will have 3 occupants instead of 2.. Then early this morning I stumbled upon an article on Twitter that says :Co-Sleeping benefits breastfeeding mothers.

Basically 5 reasons why Mummies choose to Co-sleeping with their babies:

1. Its easier - For me it is easier as I do not have to get up and comfort or breastfeed Dia.

2. Encourages Breastfeeding - For me, with the whole deed being easier (look at no 1) it encourages me to BF my Dia more.

3. Lets your baby fall back to sleep easier - I think this is true cause Dia will feed on me and then when she is done she just rolls over. Unlike dulu when she was sleeping in her cot, she would fall asleep in my arms and sometimes when i move her into her cot she would wake up and then i would have to start the whole cycles of comforting her back to sleep, again. This I think contributes to my being less cranky as i now get enough sleep compared to dulu.
4. Helps mummy & baby to get into the same sleeping cycle - Banar kali ah cause it seems like Dia wakes up whenever I'm up. haha
5. Helps working mothers feel close to her baby after being away for the whole day - YES! I Love having her next to me!! hehehe And I think Anjai does tooo! This is probably silly but sometimes we would both just look at Dia sleeping HAHA

Here's the link if any of you wants to find out more:
http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/1jtiV5/www.breastfeeding-magazine.com/co-sleeping.html/r:t