A couple of weeks ago, we finally decided to go ahead and book a trip to Bangkok I haven't been out of Singapore ever since I was pregnant, ok technically ever since I knew I was pregnant! The last trip was probably when I was about 4weeks into the pregnancy.

HW wanted a break and we were both itching for good tom yum. This will be Keston's maiden trip as well so it took us alot of courage to decide that we were ready to bring him out of the country.

Yesterday, an innocent comment from the pils drove us into a frenzy. See we booked with our usual agent so there was no need for us to submit our passports and we'd sort of forgotten that passports have an expiry date. So yesterday afternoon, fil casually asked if our passports have got a 6mths validity. We were stunned but figured should be lah! Later at night, HW checked his passport and realised his passport expires next month!!! His panic button was depressed and he went slightly insane. Who on earth has a holiday booked on Monday morning only to find his passport will not work on Friday night!? The ICA webby said that it'd take 3 working days for them to re-issue a new passport. He rushed to ICA early this morning and luckily they were able to do an extension of 9mths, printed on a document, all for a cost of $15. I'm already dreading the immigration at Thailand cos they will probably take an hour to peruse the document! While over at ICA, HW also took new photos to make his new passport. The photographer insisted that his glasses were reflective and made him wear ah pek glasses! HAHAHAHAHA!

Today I am supposed to get started (and probably finish) packing Keston's things. I have a long list of must-brings. So small yet so troublesome!

Fussy Eater

Despite my best efforts, Keston hates pumpkin! (That reminds me, I still have that Avocado in the fridge) I gave him a tiny bit mixed into his cereal yesterday and he was alright with it. So this morning, I got a tad adventurous and mixed 50ml into his cereal-- there was more pumpkin than cereal. Keston sniffed at it when the spoon came near his mouth, wrinkled his nose and gave a look of utter disgust. I stuffed it in his mouth and he pooi straight out. Tried a few times with the same result and I surrendered. After I came back from washing the bowl and spoon, I caught Keston using his bib to rub off all the pumpkin bits from his tongue. So cute! Haha

I hope Keston doesn't grow to be a fussy eater like me. I hate vege, I don't take chilis, I don't like Chinese food. There you go.

Becoming hands-on

Since Keston's now alright with his cereal and commercial puree, I'm starting to think about giving him healthier choices (ie. homemade concoctions). I mean he can't be eating cereal forever right? So I've been reading about how to make puree, how to cook porridge....On Sunday, I finally bought my first piece of pumpkin and avocado! It took me a while to find the avocado since I have absolutely no idea what it looks like!

And then the procrastinating took me till this morning to steam the pumpkin. I hope most of the nutrients are still there since it's been in the fridge for a couple of days now. I followed Cat's instructions, but I must have not steamed enough cos the inner part of the pumpkin was still vvv hard! Took me forever to scoop out whatever I could. Dump the flesh into the Pigeon foodmaker to grind. I got v restless during the mashing process and nearly gave up but HW would laugh at me, so I perservered. The too-hard parts I threw away cos I couldn't be bothered to steam again. So now I've got like 160ml of pumpkin puree sitting in the babycubes. Hooray for small miracles! But I suspect I wasn't v thorough with the mashing so there may still be chunky bits. Sorry my boy, I tried my best already :(

Porridge? Maybe after we're back from the trip!! I need a big rest from my little kitchen adventure!

Keston pontangs school!

Remember this post? I seriously think Keston wakes up in the middle of the night, logs on the internet and reads this blog! And this is not the first time he's done this lor! See this!

The Sunday right after I posted, he napped for just 30mins and no power on earth could make him go back to sleep again. So he was awake since 11.15ish and by the time his classes started at 2pm, he was getting cranky! Sigh...and it happened the following week again!!! Every other day of the week, he takes a 3 hr nap in the morning...all except for Sundays!

Yesterday we had a surprise when we saw a new teacher at BJG. Our usual teacher had gone on holiday (without informing us!). Before the class started, Jacinta, SL and Keston laid on the floor while the relief teacher came to introduce herself. Keston was still relatively happy. But once the class started, Keston seemed to realise: Correct place, wrong person! And immediately wailed out loud! SO MALU!! I quickly left the room and brought him to the gym. He quietened down immediately. HW came from parking the car and asked me what's wrong. I kept telling Keston don't be afraid and all and made HW bring him back to the class. The moment he entered the class, Keston took one look at the relief teacher and wailed out loud again! We scampered out and he calmed down....this time I took a long time to muster up enough courage to try again. This time, even the teacher was wary. She gave a sheepish look and didn't make a sound, but the moment she spoke, Keston wailed! Aiyoh!!! This boy ah...

Finally we made the decision to skip class this week and do a make up next time. Just as we stepped out the door, Keston smiled. My naughty boy is learning to play truant and he's not even 7mths old yet!!!

Time to bring out the red pen

Whisper is back in business. Sigh~

Weaning Keston

Keston's weaning process was not as smooth as I'd expected. He hated the Healthy Times cereal at first and refused to open his mouth after tasting it. We had to add it into his milk just to ensure he's getting some iron.

And then we weren't sure if he was rejecting the cereal or the spoon itself and took forever to buy a small bottle of Heinz puree to try.(It tastes disgusting by the way). Turns out he's fine with the spoon, he just doesn't like the taste of HT brown rice cereal.

Let me try some of that cereal

Ee-yer!

More Puree! More Puree!yummy!

Valentine's Day with Keston

I know, I know..long time never post pictures already. Too lazy to upload photos into my laptop..

My Valentine's Day this year was spent alone with baby Keston. Whenever I'm home alone, I start thinking of bringing him out alone (which I've never done, at least not without HW chaperoning me to and from the venue and also I'm never alone!). But I usually procrastinate until it's night time :P
On Saturday, I was seriously planning to take him to Bukit Panjang Plaza, cos that's the nearest shopping mall around and I wasn't confident in bringing him out any further alone. Besides, by the time I get him ready and myself ready, it would probably be time for his next feed.

The little boy slept from 2pm till 4.45pm. Good long nap. That's a nice start. I gave him his milk and started with my 'should I, should I not?' nonsense. Then Keston pooped! It's like he gave me the shove cos we've gotten the feed and poo out of the way. Bo pian, no more reason to hesitate so I bundled him up in my sling, threw a diaper (just in case), wet wipes, wallet and keys into a recyclable bag and off we went.

BPP is the nearest mall, but it's not near. It's like 4 bus stops away!! It's linked via a walkway from our estate so it's an easy walk. I set off with the mentality that I'm just bringing keston out for a walk. If we make it to BPP, so be it. If not, we went for a nice walk! Why didn't I take the bus? Cos' I'm afraid I'll get up the wrong bus, or stop at the wrong station.

So anyway, we reached BPP in like 20mins? I went to the library to borrow some books so I now had to carry a baby plus 3 books. Then went to Macs to dabao dinner for HW and myself. Walked around abit, then armed with a nearly 8kg baby, 3 books and 2 Macs Bag, I started on my journey back. This time, we took 25mins and halfway through I was dying! I'd just thrown on a pair of lousy flipflops and my toes were blistering under the weight. And Keston? He was happily asleep, so I couldn't just stop and sit by the canal. It would look damn weird anyway! I persisted and finally reached home. Threw everything down and jumped into the shower.

Despite being exhausted, I had a truly nice time. Keston was v cooperative and did not make a single sound throughout the 2hrs adventure, he just concentrated on looking cute! And I now know I can bring him out alone....the next time, i will try the bus!!!

Rashes

Since Keston's turned 6mths old, we've introduced Healthy Times brown rice cereal. Also, we've changed his FM which we use for supplementary feeds to stage 2. Keston is now willing to take the cereal, but only minute amounts. I'm not sure if its cos he doesn't like the taste or he just isn't hungry.....and I haven't had time to buy something else for him to try. Cereal is supposed to be v heaty so it's recommended that babies drink more water. BUT (yes, that's a big but) Keston absolutely refuses to drink water. Give him water in a bottle, he'd greedily take a couple of sucks and when his tongue registers it's tasteless water, he refuses to swallow and all the water will flow out. After which he gives us a disgusted face and simply refuses to open his mouth! We've only managed to feed him a couple of ml of water only by spoonfeeding (more like wetting his lips) or by syringing.

The new FM he's now taking is Similac Follow-on. Prior to that, he was on Enfalac but since we had a sample can of Similac, just take lor. However, shortly after the introduction of Similac, we found many pimply spots on his forehead...so ugly! So I thought must be heaty lah....and applied Lucas PawPaw Ointment on the spots. It didn't help and he even got abit of spots on his chest. So I itchy fingers, decided to moisturise him by applying Hazeline Snow. The very next day when I was wiping him down before bedtime, I was horrified to find the area from his chest to his stomache full of angry red spots! Wah liao! There were like 5 spots the day before, and it multiplied to like 100!! So heart pain even though he didn't seem to feel anything.

The doc says it looks like an allergy, possibly to the milk powder or cereal. He says it doesn't look like it's cream related. He also said it could be due to the weather or heatiness. Ermmm basically abit inconclusive lah.

Anyway, we're just applying Calamine lotion to cool him down now. And we've stopped Similac for the moment. We're trying out Isomil 2, which is soy-based and supposed to help with allergies. Ironically, Keston seems allergic to Isomil! Right after drinking Isomil, he'll excrete a very smelly watery poo! Haiyoh! So mafan!

Anyways, at 6mths 2wks, Keston weighs 7.85kg. Still very lightweight although he looks big!

Keston's Sunday

Keston seems to know he has classes on Sundays and he takes the longest nap ever, ONLY on Sunday mornings. Every other day, he takes a nap around 10.30am and usually self-awakes around 12noon. But every sunday, he sleeps at 10.30am and sleeps and sleeps until we sort of wake him up for a feed at slightly past 1pm. He knows he needs lots of energy for his BJG class.

Yesterday was our 3rd session at BJG and the first time I noticed signs saying 'No Photography'. Geez! Whoever saw us taking photos on the 1st session must have thought we were illiterate idiots! Honestly, I can read just fine. I just didn't notice the sign!!!

Anyway, Keston woke up a little earlier, 12.50pm I think. Before the class started, while waiting at the lobby..he was a bundle of energy, jumping up and down my lap. There was another little boy with his family at another sofa who kept coming over to attract Keston's attention. Then the boy went back to his mummy and ask 'Mummy, is the baby cute?' hahaha...then he says 'Mummy, he looks like Timothy!' and proceeds to wave at Keston saying 'Hi Timothy!' Quite hilarious and the mum was a little embarrassed. All the energy seemed to have been sapped up in that little encounter and come lesson time, Keston was tired and cranky. Bah! Cry cry when teacher was trying to get him to crawl and he gave a massive push to thrust himself forward. It's all the pent up frustration I tell you!

After lesson, as usual..he fell asleep in the car when I tried to give him water. I suspect he just doesn't want to drink the water and pretends to sleep instead...during which he really falls asleep! Such a silly boy.

Keston's finally started taking his cereals. He doesn't really like it but at least he's not pushing it out of his mouth. He's still taking only 1 tablespoon of Healthy Times cereal. And because he's not drinking much/any water, he's getting pimply spots on his forehead! So ugly, how??

Keston flips back

Keston did his first flip from tummy to back this morning...and no one witnessed it! All I know is, on my way to the kitchen, he was sprawled on his tummy...and when I came back to the living room, he was on his back! He refuses to do it again though...

BJG

After 2 weeks break, Keston attended his 2nd class at BabyJumperGym today. We had babies Jacinta and Talon, who were present at the last class...and 3 newcomers. Keston was in a much calmer mood today and was not the crankiest this time! *cue silent hoorays* The last time, Keston refused to lie on the mattress but this week, he happily laid down and let us do whatever we wanted. When another baby refused to lie on the mattress, the teacher even commented to the mum 'Pick him up cos sometimes they don't like to lie on the mattress..unless they're calm like Keston!' Hehe, make me feel so proud cos the last lesson he was super cranky on the mattress. Guess it's just a matter of getting used to :) When he was hanging on the monkeybar, he did not whine within the count of 1-10 and so we let him hang for twice or thrice the normal time. The last session, he was whining by the count of 3 :P

We had to buy a BJG polo-tee for his uniform...but I think he's not required to wear it...so I also dunno why must buy!?

We also got to take home some words flashcards homework, which I'm honestly not sure if I'll be able to slot in between my dots flashcards. Anyways, today was fun, let's have a good session next week as well!