Chloe

Chloe at 12th day

Daddy thinks Chloe can sit but seconds later.....

she slumps

my cute pose - more like Daddy is testing my neck strength

See how Lucas is keeping the distant from his sister

Like Father Like Son

When I tried to get Lucas to eat sweet peas, this is what his creative mind has....


Turn the sweet pea into 'green moustache'


And Daddy joined suit..

Lucas's Progress Report

Lucas's school gave us his first semester progress report. We were so impressed with the levels of details in the report. In short, his teacher said Lucas is quite a loner. He does not initiate conversion easily with his peers and does not join them much in the activities. He preferred to do things on his own,on his speed and his own terms. This is quite true. We observed the same too. The teacher suggested that we create opportunities for him to socialize with others but do not interfere. Example would be take him to the playground and sit down and watch. Let him try to make friends on his own.

His speech is way ahead of his age. He does not talk like a child his age. That might be because we talk to him like an adult. When the teacher asks him to do something, Lucas will try to talk his way out by giving all kinds of reasons and excuses. The teacher understands his character will in the end tell him, you still have to do it. He will do as told. Luckily, he is not rebellious or that stubborn.

He is a perfectionist, and feels very embarrassed when he makes mistakes. When he makes a mistake, he will cover his face with his hand hoping nobody will see his mistakes and the mistake will just go away. A good example would be when he accidentally pee on the floor, he will cover his face with both his hands. The teacher suggested that we should ignore him or change the topic when he makes mistake. This will send him a message that making mistake is ok and nothing to be embarrassed about.

There were loads of other comments on his motor skills, colours, numbers, apparatus etc but the social comments got us really interested. Oh....then we took a look at his artwork and my gosh.....he is so neat and organized! Very soon, he will be nagging at us on being untidy at home!!

First Week with 2 Kids

I survived the first week with 2 kids very well. That is because I have plenty of help. Dominic is on leave and is taking care of Lucas most of the time, the confinement lady is taking care of Chloe and the family's meals, the maid is doing the housework and cleaning. That leaves me time for breastfeeding and rest. The real challenge will be when Dominic has to return to work and the confinement lady is no longer around. I can imagine myself trying to breastfeed Chloe and putting Lucas to sleep at the same time - won't be easy until I established a routine and both kids cooperate.

Chloe escaped the photo-therapy for jaundice. We had to take her to the hospital twice to check her jaundice level. Her jaundice is not serious enough to be admitted and she should have passed the peak point which is the third day to the eighth day. Apparently, if the either the mother or baby has blood type 0 positive, the chances of jaundice is very high. Blood type O positive is not compatible with any blood type except itself. Otherwise, she is doing very well. Sleeping all the time and have to wake her up for feeding.

Breastfeeding is more successful this time round. Chloe can latch and suck well. The only problem is she barely can keep herself awake during the feeding. So, she suck for 10 mins and fall asleep. 10 mins later, when she is awake, she will cry for milk. This will go on for 2 hours!! After the second hour, I have enough myself. I will just expressed the milk and feed her from the bottle. She will gulp the milk down and happily go to sleep for the next few hours. I am telling myself that feeding from bottle will have to stop after she recovers from her jaundice. She has to work for her food. My back also hurts after 2 hours for each meal. I will need to check this breastfeeding pillow which is highly recommended by a few friends.

Meanwhile, Lucas is starting to feel the attention split. He started to become whinny since Saturday. If I said no or raised my voice a little bit, he will start to frown and wanted to cry. I guess the baby sister's presence finally sinked in. Dominic and myself are trying very hard to make sure he is not left behind. He is so bored at home and always asked, 'What are we going to do now?'. We get him busy by asking him to help the maid to wash the car and water the plant. On top of that, he has his cycling later in the afternoon. We have to come out with more ideas on how to keep him occupied.

Dominic is on leave until this month-end. It is nice to have him around after he has been weekend husband/father for almost a year. I think he enjoys spending more time at home too.

Introducing Chloe

I'm now a proud mother of Chloe Lim Kai Rou. She was born on July 10, weighing 2.87 kg (6.32 lbs - the tiniest baby in the maternity ward) and length is 47.5 cm (18.7 in). Chloe is doing well, spending most of her time sleeping, eating and poo-ing and I am not complaining. Lucas accepted her arrival very well. So far, there is no sign of jealousy and sibling rivalry. Lucas chose his sister's name, Chloe. We were toying with the name of Livia, Leia and Chloe. When we asked Lucas several times over several different occasions, he was very consistent and said he wanted Chloe. The decision was made when he actually said 'Chloe is nice'.

The surgery wound seems harder to heal this time round. Maybe the age is a factor. Also, Chloe is on the border line in jaundice. She is going for another blood test tomorrow - hope it is not serious enough to be admitted to the hospital. Keeping my fingers crossed.

I have a confinement lady this time, and I am glad I have her. She does give good tips on breastfeeding and helped me to get Chloe latch on properly. I actually can can breastfeed direct now (without pumping) and milk supply seems to be better than Lucas's time! She also does my grocery shopping and cook for the whole family. Save me the headache thinking what to cook for lunch and dinner. If anyone of you need a confinement lady, I can give a recommendation.

To Do's

Today I am officially unemployed or a full time home-maker - whichever you want to call it. I have a full plan on to-do's!
1. Get a haircut and pedicure - done
2. Get a new pair of glasses - done
3. Get a facial - KIV cause I don't think I can lie on my back for so long but my facial lady gave me very nice massage in the last facial.
4. Get the baby stuff ready (clothes, changing table, baby cot) - almost there
5. Get gifts for the kids to exchange in the hospital as get-to-know-each-other gift - done
6. Stock up my fridge for the first 2 weeks of my delivery - in progress
7. Pack my hospital bag / Lucas bag (who will be staying with the grandparents) - yet to start

Counting Down to D-Day

The D-Day is very near....unless the baby decides to come out earlier, her birthday should be July 10th. I am again bought the suggestion of c-sect. In my last checkup, the gynae again recommended that I go for c-sect. He said 9 out of 10 babies are born early. Only 1 baby is born on the due date and past due date. If I wait for the c-sect to be on the due date, he is very sure I will end up with an emergency c-sect. And of course, he reminded me of my age. With all the discomfort I have lately, I am also looking forward to have the baby early. Sleeping is difficult, walking/standing up is difficult and the constipation is making it even worse. On the bright side, I do get preferred service whenever I go. When I go for grocery, the supermarket will send me a 'chaperon' to unload the grocery to the cashier counter and then load the grocery into my car. When I go to the bank, I get priority service (i.e. get to jump queue) and the teller will come to me instead of me going to the teller's counter.

My tummy is so so low that everywhere I go, strangers will come to me and said 'Your baby is down' or 'It is a boy?' I will just smiled and nod my head on the first question. As for the second question, a number of them were surprised to hear that it is a girl. Another question I get quite often is 'You can still drive?'. I am surprised with that question. There is still plenty of space between my tummy and the steering wheel.