Personalised Pacifier Clips

I bought a personalised pacifier clip recently for Raynen from Buniquestore.com. They have personalised clothings, pillow cases and bibs too. Well, I thought it might be over the top to have Raynen's name printed on every belonging so I chose just a simple pacifier clip. Whadaya say? Nice?

Sharp Shooter

Look at the splat of poo on my wall! I got a rude surprise this morning when I unfastened baby Cow's diapers to change him. A squirt of poo shot out and landed on my wall. I was dumb-founded. There were poo on his buttock, on the mattress, on the crib, on the floor. Everywhere! It was such a mess I didn't know where to start cleaning up. I decided I had to begin with non other than the culprit - Mr Raynen Bong.

Crime scene

Celebrating Full Month

To celebrate my release and Raynen's full month, we held a small scale party at our love nest on 18th June with a warm company of family members, relatives, close friends and some neighbours. Mummy had planned for this day by ordering a set of clothings specially printed, from familymall08.multiply.com. It was a pity I didn't get to take a photo of them dressed in these. Sister ran off to play with cousins and neighbours as soon as she was bathed and brother cranked to be put to bed after milk. Getting their group photo is this hard!

To be more appropriate, wordings should actually be 'Daddy's little tyrant' and 'Mummy's little urchin'. kekeke..

The spread. Full month cake from Prima Deli, food from Neo Garden Catering and DIY red eggs from my kitchen!

The star of the day - Mr Botak!

Full Month Tradition

Today is baby Cow's full month and according to Chinese traditions, he had his nails cut and womb hair shaved. I collected his hair into an ang bao to be saved as keepsake.

After his haircut, he was bathed in water mixed with pomelo leaves to wash off any unwanted and evil vibes.

Daddy calls him botak head now.

Ending Confinement

I'm pushing the end of my 1 month confinement and I'm filled with mixed feelings of joy and worrisome. Joy for obvious reasons that I can lead back a normal life - able to bathe (without herbs), able to go out (I'm developing cabin fever!) and able to eat normal food! The first 2 weeks of confinement were the worst days in my life. My scalp was itchy, my skin felt sticky, my episiotomy wound was hurting and my breasts felt so sore with plugged milk ducts! I was literally counting the seconds hoping that time will rocket pass!

Then again, now that I'm soon seeing light at the end of the tunnel, I'm also struck with anxiety and fear about the ability and energy to handle 2 kids. At times when I was nursing baby Raynen, Rynae would snuggle up to me to request to spend personal time with me or to ask me to attend to her. Those were the times I had to decline her requests as I couldn't split myself into 2! Not wanting her to bear a grudge towards her brother or to feel jealous, I'll always ask her for grace period and will always get back to her after I'm done with baby. She was so used to having my undivided attention these 4+ years so now that I have another little chap to take care of, she'll have to do a bit of adjustment.

I'm finding my air thinner and my time more precious. I reckon I'll be getting much sleep too as I'll have to do the graveyard shift - giving night feeds. Oh... Back to those panda-eyed days again!

New Life With 2 Children

Honestly, I've not fully immersed myself with life as a mother with 2 children because of the presence of a confinement nanny who faithfully helps me take care of baby Raynen. My mother-in-law is also present to help me see to Rynae's needs and to take care of miscellaneous housework. With 2 able helpers, I took a back seat, relax and recuperate.

I do, however, have one important role - to supply potent breast milk to my little urchin. Because of this indispensable task, I'm kept busy either milking myself or nursing my little calf. I was a little regretful for not persisting to breast feed Rynae beyond a month thus I am determined to breast feed for as long as I could for this birth.

I'm happy that Rynae is taking the arrival of his new baby brother in a good stride. She shows her love by caressing his soft skin and stroking his tiny head when he's drinking milk - an affectionate sight that made me forget all the years of irritations, frustrations and sleepless nights that accompanies motherhood. No words can describe this euphoric feeling. You really have to be a mother to experience it...

Labour of Love

Raynen was a strong baby when he was inside me. Whenever he stretch, I felt as though he is going to punch a hole through my tummy and simply get out from there. Because of his incredible strength, I had this intuition that my first sign of labour will be breakage of water bag. But I was wrong. Here's my full labour story:

On 16 June after a check up at my gynae's, I was told that I was already 2cm dilated. Panic. How? I'm going to bomb! When I had Rynae, I gave birth the day I was told I was 3cm dilated! I had a discussion with Doctor and we decided to do it calmly since I've no contraction pain and there's sufficient amniotic fluid in my amnion. He suggested that I go back, rest, pack and settle all outstandings and check into Mount Alvernia on 18 June midnight. Ok, set.

However, on 17 June around 5am, I was woken up by 'cramps'. I tried to ignore it but it kept coming back in regular intervals of 5 mins. My instinct told me I was having contractions. I couldn't get back to sleep so I got up to visit the washroom. Gosh! I had show! That's it.. that's it.. I'm into labour! The contractions grew stronger and I woke Daddy up. I had a quick shower, grabbed my bag and rushed off to the hospital. The contractions grew more intense as the minute passed. I could hardly walk when we reached the delivery suit.

After an internal examination, nurse told me that I was 4cm dilated. I was asked to clear my bowel while she went off to inform my gynae. I was in pain but I tried not to think about it. Soon, I was straped with fetal heartbeat monitor onto the delivery bed. And not long after, my wrist was poked with a drip to induce my labour. Yikes! More intense pain! Help!!!! I tried not to go against the pain and to concentrate on my breathing. It worked. "It'll be over soon... It's not going to kill me... I'm going to have my baby in my arms soon..." I cheered myself on.

Doctor came around 7am. (He was on leave that day and that explains why he didn't suggest to me to give birth on the 17th!) He did a check, broke my water bag and reported, "Ok, Cassandra, you're 5cm dilated. Now, I need you to push." I did and gave it all I can. "Great. 9cm now. Nurses please get ready". They took me by the legs and I was positioned in an 'expose-all pose'. Urgh... in addition to the contraction pains, I felt an immediate urge to pop. It felt like the biggest poo I've ever had! After 2 gigantic pushes, I heard Raynen's thundering wail. My boy was out...

He was thrown onto my tummy and my first reaction was to check if he was ok. Thank god he was. I was happy, fulfilled and relieved. 9 months of pregnancy. 9 months of carrying him - all passed in a twinkle of an eye. My tummy suddenly felt empty and I'm beginning to miss his kicks in me.... My family is complete now and we're all looking forward to life with the addition of this new family member.

Dealing WIth Jaundice

After 3D2N's stay at Mount Alvernia Hospital, Mummy was discharged on Friday but poor baby Raynen had to be warded for jaundice treatment for 2 extra days. It was heart wrenching to see my boy striped, blind-folded and placed under phototherapy. It felt awful coming home without your new born.

Luckily, baby Raynen was discharged yesterday after his jaundice was sucessfully brought down to acceptable level. We were told to continue hydrating him and putting him under morning and evening sun. Well, we did this morning as told and here's our precious, sun bathing in his sister's passed-down pram.

He looks shiok huh?

Welcome Baby Raynen

Everybody meet Raynen Bong. He was welcomed into this world on 17th June at 7.20am, weighing 3540g. Mummy Cow will post my birth story as soon as I am able to..

Count Down 2 Weeks

Everyone has been telling me that 2nd borns usually will arrive earlier and faster than 1st borns. Rynae was born 3 days before my expected due date hence now that I am into my 38th week of gestation, I could be expecting Cowboy's arrival anytime! I felt like I am carrying a time bomb.

Pregnancy is getting uncomfortable during this third trimester. My feet are swollen because of water retention due to my uterus and baby's pressure on my veins. Occassionally, I experience sharp stabbing pain in my groin when I get up from a sitting position. And not forgetting to mention about my bulkiness, clumsiness and edginess. Inspite of all these common discomforts, I am enjoying every moment of my pregnancy - of having Cowboy rolling, poking and stretching inside me. Once he is out, the 'party' is over and I am so gonna miss his company within my body.

At 38th week, my gynae suggested doing a CTG (cardiotocography) scan for me to check fetal heartbeat and signs of contractions. It was a relieve that Cowboy's heart beat is normal. There were no contractions and neither had I dilated. So off I went to spend another few 'peaceful' days waiting at home...

Cord Blood Banking

I mentioned in one of my earlier entry that I would do a cord blood banking post once I've gathered enough information. Above is a packshot of Cowboy's cord blood collection kit and obviously, I've decided to bank it privately with Cord Life mainly because it is the only private cord blood bank in Southeast Asia to be AABB accredited (though I heard stemcord is in the process of getting accreditation) and it has friendly and professional sales consultant. Being AABB accredited means that the company has to meet some of the highest standards in the cord blood banking industry and this gives great assurance to me.

It took me and Daddy a few months to decide if we should fork out money to bank it privately, donate to Singapore Cord Blood Bank or to discard it and pray that no misfortune will befall, in view of our family tree's clean bill of health. We just couldn't make up our mind.

At one point, we were almost decided on donating it to SCBB because there were claims that a person's own cord blood might not be the best source of stem cells for the treatment of many genetic disorders like metabolic diseases and leukaemia. That means, on top of money spent (futilely) banking it privately, we need to spend another bomb buying suitable cells from SCBB for transplants. Now, that sounds silly and totally unwise. As SCBB is a national reserve, so once we've made a donation, my bb's stem cells will belong to SCBB and available for public access, which means it might not be available to us in times of need! Urgh! This is a caught between tough situation.

My gynae recommended that if we are financially able, we really should consider banking it privately as there could be wider uses of stem cells for treatment of more diseases in the future once there are breakthrough in researches.

We procastinated till an advertisement in ST by cordlife came out, offering a HP mini laptop (SP. S$599) upon sign up. Of course, there were strings attached so after much haggling with the sales consultant, we committed a 10-year plan for $3100 (excl GST) using CDA account. It was a $650 direct discount.

We felt relieved and a load off our mind after this decision is made. Like many others, there is always a doubtful side of us on the uncertainty of what could happen in the future hence, to keep our mind at ease, we felt we should embark on this biological assurance least we regret in the future.

Visit to Singapore Flyer

It has been a while since we ventured into town with Rynae, so on this wonderful Saturday, our family decided to keep cool in the shopping centres in the bay area. GSS has kicked in but we haven't a shopping list in mind. Daddy suggested visiting Marina Barrage but the walking distance is unimaginable! So, we changed plan to visit the Singapore Flyer instead. Well, not to take a ride but to enjoy the breeze and scenery. It was rather relaxing and our gal loves strolling on the rocks and throwing leaves into the water.

Tennis Session

World no. 1 toddler tennis player (with some kungfu skills)

Mummy saw a set of toy tennis rackets that came with a rubber ball in Kiddy Palace and grabbed it at a 15% discount. From now onwards, besides bicycle riding in the evening, Rynae can also sweat it out in a game of tennis!

Vesak Day Holiday

In lieu of the Saturday Vesak Day PH, school was closed on Monday - a jolly good weekday for an outing to the zoo. It was my first attempt in bringing Rynae to the zoo by myself and I told her to give me her greatest cooperation. And she did! She was well-behaved and I was particularly proud of her when she patiently waited alone for my return when I queued up to buy food at KFC.

We caught the (boring) Elephants of Asia show at 11.30am and thereafter, I forked out $5 for a basket of bananas and carrots for our friend to feed the animals. We took 2 rounds of free ride on the tram before bidding farewell. We truly enjoyed each other's company today.

Pail Walkers

I came across a website (http://www.kydzedu.com/) sometime ago that claims to be a provider of high quality educational toys and learning resources to schools, preschools and learning facilities throughout Singapore. After looking through their catalogue, I do find some items interesting and therefore dropped them an email to find out about their pricing. Their response and customer service attitude was excellent and that gave me a positive impression of them.

As I hardly trust online product shots, I decided to make a trip to their outlet.The shop was choked with merchandises and there was hardly any walking space. Spotting me looking around aimlessly, the pronto boss came forth to offer help and showed me what I wanted. Thank god I came because some of these items looked so far-fetched from the pictures I saw online!

I shortlisted some montessori and some fun time toys, amongst them, a pail walker which I've been wanting to make/get for Rynae. I had this instinct that she'll like it and she really did! Seeing her playing with this walker brings back memory of my childhood cus I used to play with DIY condensed milk tin walkers when I was young too! What a nostalgia...

Free Swenson Ice-cream!

Remember the FREE Swensen's Kids' Club membership I applied for about a month ago? We received a letter addressed to Rynae a few days ago and it was her very own membership card! Mummy was still skeptical about the free ice-cream and decided to try redeem one for month of April. Without any questions asked and with much politeness, I was ushered to the counter inside the restaurant to choose my ice-cream flavour. I handed the treat to Rynae who happily start feasting on spot. So from now on, we'll pop into Swensen's for our free dessert every month! That's too good to be true!

Helpful Decorator

Rynae likes to doodle especially when she feels bored so Mummy makes sure she has ample stationaries that any inspired artist will have. There're crayons, colour pencils, magic pens, sketch books, note books and blank papers on her writing table, waiting for her pampering. Sometimes, she'll draw abstracts, sometimes she draw things as close as real life (well, almost!). I let her loose with regards to the things she wanna make or draw so as not to restrict creativity and emotional expression.

However, she wasn't satisfied keeping her work binded in books or chucked away as loose sheets of papers. She wanted to exhibit them! Her excuse? To help me decorate the house. Yeah, thanks for the much-needed decoration. My living room now looks like a low-budgeted child care centre. I wonder if things are the same in every family with little tods.

Below are some art pieces taken from her personal exhibition. Bidding starts from S$50 each. All keepings will go towards Rynae Bong's educational fund.

Beat The Heat

What's up with the weather these few days? The heat is unbearable! Mummy had wanted to bring Rynae out for a weekend shopping spree but the heat was such a deterrent. We dilly-dallied till half a day was gone before deciding to bring our gal for a dip in the pool instead. Excellent choice to beat the heat.

29 Weeks Antenatal Check-Up

In a twinkle of an eye, Cowboy is now 29 weeks weighing in at 1.35kg. I haven't a nice ultrasound scan of him to share because he was in the downward position, facing my spine. I did however, see a 3D picture of him during last month's antenatal check up. The chap was happily sucking his fist then! I regretted not asking my gynae to print out that picture because I reckon I'll get a good 3D shot of him from now onwards.

So far, we've brought Rynae to every antenatal check-up to keep her involved in the waiting process and also kept aware of her akan datang new sibling. I try to pre-empt her where matters of his arrival is concerned. She's well aware that didi's coming out in June and I would be giving birth in a hospital and that I would not be able to step out of the house during my confinement, which means I cannot bring her to school then. Goodness gracious me. It was a good intention gone bad. She became hysterical when she heard that I cannot bring her to school! For some unknowing reason, she has been fearful of speaking up to her teacher that she doesn't need the school toilet as she has gone to the toilet at home. In order to make her attend school, I made a pact with her that I will help her to tell her teacher EVERYTIME. Even till today, she never forgets to remind me (like a broken record) to tell her teacher.

Hence, when I told her I couldn't do this for 1 whole month, her tiny world seem to come crushing down and she became insecure, disturbed and depressed. She begged not to be sent to school during my confinement! It occured to me that it would be the school holidays then so as a matter-of-fact, I told her she really doesn't need to attend school then! It took me a few days to repair the mayhem. My! I should have been more tactful... and less truthful. After that episode, I made an effort not to highlight the negativity and disturbance of our lives after Cowboy's arrival. Instead, we joked about letting him wear her passed-down dresses, playing with her used toys and sleeping in her yesteryears' baby cot.

I am glad to know that she loves her baby brother afterall...

Good Friday @ Zoo

It is Good Friday today - a public holiday. How should we spend it? We decided at the eleventh hour to visit the Singapore Zoo. Somehow expected, there was a hugh holiday crowd at the zoo entrance. We're in for the big squeeze! This is our 3rd visit this year and zoo's getting a little bored for Dad and Mum. The only and forever excited person is... Rynae.

We took a different route to visit the kangaroos in Australian Outback. Coincidentally and unknowingly, we ran into their kangaroo feeding time. Our friend requested to feed the pouched animals so Mummy paid $5 for a cup of animal feed. The zookeeper showed us the correct way to feed them - pour the feed onto our palms for the animals to pick up. We did as told and poured some onto Rynae's tiny palm. But god knows what.. the kangaroos were salivating all over her hand when they ate! Mum knew trouble's brewing because Rynae hates getting her hands dirty! Next moment I knew, I heard her screaming and calling it quit. Daddy had to come in and finish up the job.

A usual pitstop in the zoo is the Kidzworld but remember Rynae's cousin's fall there? It cuts such a deep impression in her that she refused to step into the pool. We allowed her to ride the carousel instead. Weather that day was unbearably hot so we made an exit soon after lunch.