Sara's update

Sara is now 9 months! She can now officially sit unassisted. So much so, the first thing she did when she wakes up is sit down and slap the wall, that gave us the fright of the day ;p

We haven't been to the clinic for check-up so I don't know her current weight, but I think she's around 9ish kgs. Maybe she dropped a few pounds due to the food poisoning. All in all, she remains a happy baby. She's showing signs of crawling. She can get down to all fours but haven't quite grasp the moving concept yet. She'll remain on her hand and knees for 5 minutes than back to sitting down.

Her hair got sooooo long, I've had people suggested that we cut 'em short. It hasn't reach the masuk mata stage yet, so I guess I'll leave it at that for the time being.

She has learned lots of other things such as:

"flying kiss" - she'll pucker her mouth (kiss) and put her hand on her mouth but haven't quite got the concept of "flying" yet.
"clean yourself" - she'll rub her hands all over her body as if she's soaping herself ;p
"who's the champion??" - she'll raise her hand (sometimes right hand, sometimes left)

Now, we're teaching her twinkle-twinkle-little-star. I'll try to capture her video once she can do that. I know I always said this, but that little bum is growing up sooo rapidly. I'm so gonna miss cradling her like a baby.

The chronicle of food poisoning

Thursday (15 October 2009) - Hubby text me saying that he has severe diarrhea coupled with nausea and light-headedness. I was worried, but he's a big boy, I'm sure he can take care of himself.

Friday (16 October 2009) - My little angel began to develop such symptoms. Her body felt warm, I thought she was feverish due to a little tooth that is beginning to show. However, during midnight, she began to puke her milk. Twice. I'm beginning to worry.

Saturday (17 October 2009) - I brought Sara to the clinic and it's confirmed that she also has food poisoning. On top of that, she also has a fever and a very bloated tummy. She pukes during breakfast, lunch and dinner. Her big round eyes lost their usual sparkle and I felt soooo powerless, I couldn't make her feel better.

Sunday (18 October 2009) - Hubby is better. Sara is still puking, we've tried every remedy to help alleviate her bloating tummy but nothing gives. But, she begins to feel better as evening comes. HOWEVER, my dad and I begin to develop severe stomach ache. I feel like the pain is worse than contraction. Ha! We had diarrhea all night long and the pain was excruciating.

Monday (19 October 2009) - Despite the pain, I still have to go to work since I have a few pending task. Tsk. Sara is getting better. Alhamdulillah.

The doctor at the clinic told us that this food poisoning does not necessary means that the source is from the food Sara consume. It may also come from her bathe water (I suspect this is true, last week the water quality in Selangor was sooooo bad), her contact with person with same symptom (in my case, most probably from hubby ;p) or the toys and other things that she puts in her mouth (I very much doubt this, she seldom put things in her mouth).

It's really heartbreaking to see my lil angel who loves to eat becomes somewhat afraid to eat, because if she eats, she'll just puke it back out. We really hope that this episode will never happen again in the future.

Baby Food Intake Guide

Disclaimer : The below post is excerpt from "Panduan Pemakanan Sihat Untuk Bayi" prepared by Unit Pemakanan, Bahagian Kesihatan Awam, Jabatan Kesihatan Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur. I'm merely putting it in my blog for mu future reference. God knows I'm a complete mess when it comes to keeping and organizing hard copies ;)

As a reminder, the guide also states that if you are breastfeeding, BM should be given first before each meal to encourange prolong breastfeeding. Other important facts in the guide are:

1. A balance meal for babies should include four categories of food :- CARBS (cereal, rice), PROTEIN (fish, meat, chicken), FIBER (veggies, fruits) and FAT (butter, oil)

2. You have to add oil, butter or any form of fat in your babies' food to increase the energy content in each food intake.

3. Food texture has to be prepared according to the baby growth :- 6 months (blended food), 7-9 months (mashed food), 10-12 months (finely chopped food)

4. The most important advice is "Make meal time = fun time for your baby". Do not force the baby to eat if he/she is not ready and doesn't want to.

Our Open House

First of all, thank you to those who came to our open house last week. Second of all, sorry for those who came late and only have mee goreng and nasi himpit to eat. Third of all, sorry for those who didn't receive my invitation. Honestly, I'm quite forgetful these days and I forgot to post the invite on my facebook. Sorry guys.

Anyways, our open house was a blast. I mean, what's not to love? Good food + good company is always welcomed in my book. This year, we serve nasi minyak with ayam masak merah, acar and kuah dhal, nasi himpit with kuah kacang, konnyaku jelly, cupcakes (as picture above - made these myself), fruits and Grenadine Neanderthal (sirap la!)

This year is also the first time our main dish is finished (tak cukup!) and not enough for all the guests. Just for my own personal record, there were 8X4 (32 cups) of rice, 7X14 (98 pieces) of chicken, 7 cucumber and 2 pineapple for the acar, 4X5 (20 packs of nasi himpit), 2 kgs of sugar (for the sirap), 150 cupcakes and konnyaku jellies. So, next year, if we plan to do the same, we should add at least for another 20 guests or so.

It was d*mn tiring not only because of all the home made cooking but because my beloved dad has this so-called policy regarding open house.

1. "Kalau nak buat open house, masak sendiri. Kalau nak panggil katering, baik ajak kawan pegi makan kat kedai"
2. "Jangan nak guna pinggan polisterin. Buat apa beli pinggan mahal-mahal, banyak-banyak tu kalau tak nak guna"

Since we don't have any helpers (maid/bibik) to clean the dishes, we end up doing everything ourselves. Which is why my little angel and dear hubby slept like a log ;)

Penat gile, okeh...

Still standing

See Mommy, I can stand...bluekkk

I can even let go of my hands...

Okay, my legs are getting wobbly now...

Mommy, I'm falling...catch me!!

Yeah, she STILL can't stand on her own ;)

Mashed Potato with carrots

Recently, I read a guide book by the Ministry of Health Malaysia on how to start feeding your baby and various baby food recipes. I tried one the other day and it was yummy (even Mommy likes it). Here's the recipe :

1 medium-size potato
1 small-size carrot
1 table spoon of butter
1 egg yolk (boiled)
A teenie weenie bit of salt
Milk or hot water

Just boil the potato and carrot (skin the potato after boiling, helps preserve the nutrition in it). Add everything else and mash with fork. In my case, I'm too lazy to mash everything so I just blend everything together (I did try to mash them but the mashed version comes off too grainy)

As for eggs, I know that some medical opinion said that you shouldn't be feeding eggs to babies below 1 year old. HOWEVER, the doctor at the clinic told me that it actually would be wise to start feeding your baby egg yolk at 8 months old. This is because at 1 year old, the baby will receive an injection which consists of egg yolk to determine whether the baby is allergic to eggs. However, at one year old, the baby could be eating lots of other stuffs so it would be hard to know whether the baby is actually allergic to eggs or other stuff that he/she has eaten.

For me, I'm inclined to believe that explanation. I have been slowly putting egg yolks in Sara's porridge and so far, she appears okay with it. Alhamdulillah.

My current TV addiction

I am so into True Blood right now. I just love the whole complexity and manipulation of each and every character. For those close to me, they know that I can watch TV like nobody's business. I can watch soap dramas, Korean and Japanese series, cartoons, anime, reality tv series and the list just goes on and on...

My favourite TV series are Grey's Anatomy, The Amazing Race and True Blood. I don't foresee any major problems with Grey's and TAR, but True Blood is somewhat a heavy drama with lots of gory scenes (something that I doubt any good parents will approve)

Its true what they say, becoming a mommy comes with certain sacrifies. I mean, I will gladly trade watching True Blood with The Wiggles if it means I never have to answer questions like "Mommy, why is that man biting into that woman's neck" from my little angel's mouth ;p