The Reason

I planned to breastfeed Bono at least for 2 years. I sooo badly wanted it. But a plan is just that. A plan. Sometimes circumstances can get in the way and some tweaking had to be done. Worst come to worst, the plan had to be replaced. But it’s okay, because they say that behind every black cloud is a silver lining. Something good will come out of this. And that something good is a second child to be born in May. Yes, I’m pregnant. Almost 6 months now.

Before I knew that I was pregger, I thought that somehow I did or eat something wrong causing my supply to dwindle. I was so stressed out. And the guilt was so huge. I’m glad that it is cause by pregnancy. I did some research and I found out that most expecting mothers are still able to nurse in their 2^nd trimester and some until they deliver with just a little dip in the supply. A minor percentage of mothers found that their supply drastically lower even in the first few months of pregnancy. And I’m in that minor percentage.

But a plan can be tweak. So I plan to continue breastfeeding Bono after the baby is born. Not directly though. I’m afraid of his increasing number of teeth. Besides nowadays he likes to bite me! And sometimes I bite him back. Haha! Yes, I know I shouldn’t encourage him but I blame it on the hormone. To be honest, I miss nursing him. And I think he miss it too.

Right now, I'm at the awkward stage of dressing. My normal clothes don't fit me well anymore. I'm still able to wear my baju kurung to work but then my hubby said I look like nangka kena balut. And that really tickles me because at hubby's kampung, the nangka were wrap with old shirts. I can just imagine myself looking like that. My previous maternity clothes still look huge on me. So I just settle with looking like those nangka rather than looking like a dowdy tent. BTW, you don't necessarily show earlier during second pregnancy like what people like to say. Most days I look like someone who had one too many plate of rice. But we'll see if I'll be getting bigger this time.

A new daycare?

Wow, next week is school day already? Can't believe time flies by so quickly...or maybe I'm getting older? The thing that I dread the most going back to work is sending Bono to the daycare again. The centre is beginning to irritate me. There's the small issue with the security guard (minta puji dan bikin panas!). But that's nothing compare to nap time. I believe sleep is very important...as important as eating. Before this I have no problem because the previous caretakers of Bono share this view. Suddenly when Bono was 7 mo ++, they did a rotation and new caretakers are in charged of the babies (the previous one are now in charged of the toddler).

So the new one view were that the child should be left playing as long as they want to - they'll nap when they are ready. What the heck! So most of the time Bono end up with less than an hour of nap time. I tried telling them that Bono need to be settled down in order to fall asleep but the (lazy) caretaker give the reason "kesian, dia masih nangis2 mo main bah, nda sampai hati oh saya kak"...Grrrr...So I'm really thinking of finding a new daycare. The only reason I lasted for a year because it's the only daycare in Kinarut (that I know of). I wouldn't mind sending in KK area but I need a place that are able to take care of him from 6 am. Any later than that, than I'll be late for work! So, that's the problem I'm facing right now.

And tomorrow is work day again. I need to sleep.

HFMD and the allergy

They said hand-foot-mouth disease (HFMD) is a very common disease among children attending daycare. I was hoping that by breastfeeding, my son would not catch this contagious disease. But one day, his caregiver suddenly called at 9.30am to tell me that he have a fever and some rashes on both his knees. So I brought him to his paed and it was confirmed as HFMD. There were also blisters in his mouth. Poor baby. And the next day was his first birthday somemore. Luckily he still want to nurse. My mom came to take care of him at home.

And then there's my supply. It's been going down and down. The last time I pumped at work, I'd only managed to get 2 oz! It was so frustrating. I planned to fully bf Bono until he's 2 yo. But I failed!! And there's not much I can do because it's hormonal (this will be in another post). So we decide to introduce formula for his feed at the daycare.

Do you know that choosing a formula can be sooo overwhelming? We went to Servay on Friday night, after almost an hour at the formula aisle, we chose Mamex Gold Langkah 2. It was the same brand that he took almost a year ago at the clinic - while I was hook with the drips both left and right :(.

We tried to feed him 4 oz of the formula on Saturday afternoon. He took it but than vommited it all out after about 2.5 oz. We thought his guzzling down the milk causes this because after that he still wants what was left in the bottle. So we let him finished it. Within minutes, hives appear on his cheeks, neck, and behind his ears. It was terrifying!

We rushed to his paed again. And it was confirmed that my poor, poor baby is allergic to cow's milk. After about 2 hours, hives started to appear all over his body and he was so flushed that it scares the hell out of me. He screamed and tried to scratch everywhere until he fall asleep because of the Dexchloramine. I felt so sad and cannot help feeling guilty for not being able continue bf him fully.

The paed suggested we switch to goat's milk instead. And this is what he's been taking until now:

Very expensive formula (huhuhu). But yesterday we went to see the paed again for Bono's jab and he was concerned that Bono is not gaining weight. He's been at 8.75 kg since he was 9 mo. He kept reminding us to feed him well and to include both meat and eggs in his diet. Both of us were like, "Yes, doc he is eating all those" but he kept giving this funny look. Ciss, tak percaya ya? He should see Bono eat, this boy could REALLY eat and he want to eat everything that mummy is eating. So no more junk food for me (well, at least not in front of him hehe).

So we were asked to switch to another brand of goat's milk formula. It's called 'Carina' and only available at pharmacy. I tried googling it and failed. Maybe it's Karihome?
Never mind lah, we'll visit the pharmacy next week. There is still one full tin of the Why Not? But why do people feel immediate concerned to see a smaller baby? It's like chubby is equal to healthy. Because as far as I can see Bono is healthy, happy, reaching all milestones and he's growing taller instead of gaining any weight.

Okay, this post is getting too long that I feel I'm writing a school essay. So before I stop here's some differences between food allergy and food intolerance, in this case cow's milk.

P/S: How do you make a post in a table form? I typed the above using Word and then copy it to Paint and saved it as image so that I can upload it here. And now it's sooo small. So click on it to make it larger.

First Birthday!

A very very delayed post. Almost 2 months late. But since the boy is taking his afternoon nap, I better upload some photos fast. Hey, better late than never.

Like I said, his birthday was celebrated at my hub's kampung (Papar). Here's a few of them photos:
The ugly (very blue) cake. I chose the flavour, shape and the colour. And the sample was so simple. White background with some blue at the edges and name written in blue( please excuse the improper baking terms). But I guess the baker got overexcited with the colour! It turns out messy. Or maybe she misspelled the name in the first place? Luckily it tasted yummy.

Some of the food. All catered. Oh yes, the second dish from the right is hinava. But I just tried a little bit only (cause it's raw!). We forgot to take photo of the compulsory red eggs. That was the only thing cooked by me and hub.

Look at his confused face! He was wondering why everyone is singing and clapping their hands. Haha. You can see someone else was feeling super excited with everything birthdays. His cousin. And yeah, I bought the superbaby costume especially for his party.

Cake cutting. But I guess a one year old is not very interested with this huh? Excuse the bad photo. I was trying to edit but terover and I got lazy editing a new one.

Even though it was a very simple party, lots of family and friends came. And as usual being a Kadazan the party went well into the night with some moginum session. Typical.

A very long hiatus

One would think that being on a veeery long break from work, one would have the time to blog. Apparently that's not the case here.

A list of things that I would have like to blog. (I might post more on it, we'll see):

1. Bono contracted HFMD (Hands, Foot & Mouth disease). I can not sent him to his nursery for a week. Luckily my mum was able to come and stay with us.
2. And there was the cow milk allergy. Due to my low supply, I tried supplementing him with the usual baby formula. The effect was immediate that we had to rushed him to the clinic. Boy, I'm definitely going to blog more on this because I was sooo irritated with certain individual who made light of this problem. She said all I have to do was change the brand of formula and when to say that her son have the same problem. When in fact it was milk intolerance. Talk about ignorance.
3. My low supply. Will blog more on this too.
4. Bono is 1 year old! Celebrated his birthday at Papar. Got some piccies but don't have the time.
   
5. We went for our first holiday as a family! And it was not in Malaysia. Some piccies to upload soon. Hope I can find the time.
6. And then we spent more than a week at Papar (hub's kampung). No internet. Thankfully I have my supply of books and mags.
   
7. I bought my third(!) handphone.
8. This weekend we are going for a weekend getaway.

That's all for now. I have to transfer some piccies from the camera first.

Sleeping on it...

I know that I should have upload piccies of the KK BW gathering by now. But I'm just plain lazy. Have not been transfer from the cam even. Anyway, it's in my to-do list. Later.

Now I'm busy comparing these 2 SSCs:
(both images taken from Tiny Tapir.)

1. Ergo

• I've been admiring the sporty look of this carrier for so long (but do not dare to buy without trying because it's quite pricey.) But after trying Kar's ergo, I fell in love with its comfort.
• The only draw back-a shorter body panel.
  

2. Angelpack LX

• I should have just concentrate on getting the Ergo but my itchy finger went clicking on the carrier. Naughty.
• The price difference is only RM20 at Tiny Tapir!
  

I wish I could buy both, but sadly I don't grow money for a living. The good news-I don't have the money now (eh, good news?). So I don't have to decide immediately...Hehe...Ergo...APLX...

Yikes!

Finally Aunt Flow is here. I was hoping to be free for a year. Never mind, 10 months is good enough. I hope it doesn't affect my supply though.

On a brighter note, I can start to shop for cloth pad. Yeah! Lets go green, girls!

(errr...after I finish my Susen stock. Another 2-3 months maybe).

Bono at 9 mo...

I know, the ticker said Bono is 10 mo. And he is. Just to post some piccies of Bono taken like a month before...suppose to post it ages ago but something or another get in the way. Feast your eyes!

After his fave activity - mandi! He got a patch of hair on top that is longer than the rest. This is his baby hair that didn't fall out.

Wrestling the giant hairy leg! He thinks all hair is funny. Maybe because he has so little on his head.

His geram face.

At this stage, he can entertain himself...

with an empty bottle of lotion.

He can play with it for hours. He prefer "grown up" stuff than his own toys. So the astro remote is given when the mum and dad need to do some chores. Hehe. Sometimes it would be the tupperware container and cup.

Posing for dad.

And another one.

He likes photo session. For now.

Like I said, these pics are not the latest one. The new ones still in the camera. Maybe I'll upload it this weekend. We'll see.