Reflux Medication:Omeprazole

Squirt has been given a month’s supply of Omeprazole for his acid reflux from our last visit to the pediatrician. They come in capsule form and for such a little infant, the stack of meds he got from the pharmacy looks kind of scary!

The thing is, with Omeprazole in Thailand, they do not have the medication in liquid format. Instruction from the pharmacist on how to give Squirt his medication was this:

• Open the capsule
• Pour out the contents into a little container
• Mix it with 8 ml of water
• Stir it, but do not crush or break the granules
• Use a syringe and extract only 2ml of water
• Discard the rest
• Must be fed 1 hour after a feed, and he has to wait for at least another half an hour before his next feed.

Apart from that, there was no specific instruction on how we should be mixing the granules with water. Or, if we should be paying more attention to the granules itself, or focus on the residual effect of the water from the dissolving granules. I thought “discarding the rest” was pretty wasteful. 

Strangely enough, I received a phone call from the hospital’s pharmacist the next day asking me if I encountered any problems when administering his meds. I was also asked if the granules “dissolved enough” in water, and if the syringe worked.  I did not think much of that phone call until I mentioned it to Silver Bullet later.  He thought it was a little disconcerting as he felt that a call would usually mean that they themselves did not know how the medication should be administered. 

It was worrying. Worrying enough that Silver Bullet spent a good time scouring the internet to find information on how Omeprazole should be administered.

We found out that the granules are the most important element for the meds to be effective as they act as a stabilizer to neutralize the acid in the stomach. The recommended way of administering it is by tipping the granules from the capsule into a tiny amount of pureed pears/apples (works if the baby is over 5 months) which acts like a flavouring and should not be considered as solids. Alternatively, the granules can washed down with water.

Knowing how Omeprazole needs to be administered for it to be effective, we have improvised by using a spoon to tip it into the sides of his cheeks and wash it down with just a little water. The annoying thing about the granules is that because Squirt needs only 5mg per dosage, we have to do some estimation and divide the granules of a 20 mg capsule into four.  They are also quite bouncy, and the chances of them falling all over the place when you break one capsule are pretty big! 

We both tried counting the granules one by one to give Squirt a more accurate dosage of 5mg, but after trying so hard for about 10 minutes and wasted a few capsules later, we eventually gave up.

It was an impossible task, and I don’t really have the patience to be counting these tiny little balls. 

No, thank you very much!

The other problem with this method of administering medication was that there was a tendency that the tiny granules would go into the wrong pipe - which had happened a couple of times with  Squirt. Not very funny when that happens!

The good thing is that it seems the meds are doing its job. Well, at least for now.

Life with Reflux

It sometimes is hard to make sense of things when your baby has the reflux. I don't even know where to begin.

How are we coping with Squirt’s reflux situation so far? We are hanging in there; some days are good, some days not so good. And as a mother, it is extremely frustrating to watch my baby scream in pain after a feed. 

More than 4 weeks on since the diagnosis, and we now have been prescribed another medication called Omeprazole after Air-X and Antacil. It apparently is the big gun of all reflux meds there is. It is a common medication prescribed for infants with severe reflux condition to treat symptoms of gastroesophageal reflux disease and other conditions caused by excess stomach acid.  It also is used to promote healing of any damage to the esophagus caused by stomach acid.

When our Pediatrician recommended Omeprazole to us, we were told that it would take at least 7-10 days before the medication takes effect. Squirt has now been on the new medication for about 2 weeks, and as much as we hate to medicate - especially an infant, I have to say that there has been some improvement to his behaviour after a feed. For a start, he does not retch, gag, cough and scream all day like he did before.

He still gets the reflux, though and they come in bouts. Sometimes, I could hear the swishing and swashing of the acid from his stomach to his throat. He still cries a lot when that happens or when he cannot get his burps out. He still spits up and then sometimes, swallows it all back in.

Our nights are still broken, and he does wake-up more than three times a night when he has the reflux (usually at 4 am!). Just the other night, he woke up every hour again and spent most of his time in his cot coughing. In that sense, we are still in a bit of a roller-coaster ride.  However Squirt, does not appear to be in constant pain like he did before Omeprazole. Even at night, it usually takes us a much shorter time to settle him.  It still is not all a bed of roses, but there are now windows of moments where we would see a happy and a very, very smiley baby who seems so keen to interact! 

That being said and all things considered, in this case, I have no qualms about medicating my baby if it means that my child becomes a much happier baby. 

We are taking some measures in trying to make him as comfortable as we can. Apart from the Yoga Ball and making sure that we keep him upright for at least 15 minutes after a feed (They recommend 30 minutes, but this has become an impossible feat at night!), we also make sure that he does not lie flat on his back when sleeping or when being changed by elevating his cot with a wedge. 

I have yet to embark on the elimination diet (bleahhh! - which probably make me an irresponsible parent since I feed him breast milk), but I did cave in on giving him a soother (i.e. pacifier) - something which I have an unnatural hatred for.

We are crossing our fingers that whatever it is that we are doing, we hope to somehow ease up his pain and discomfort. We certainly do not want to medicate him on a long term basis and at this stage, really hoping that this is a phase in which Squirt will soon outgrow.

Squirt's cot bed with a wedge underneath the sheet

Smiley Squirt

As I lay in bed the other night, my mind started to do a playback on the day’s event just as I was about to close my eyes. While the day had been somewhat rough, mainly with Squirt acting up and crying his guts out, my mind zoomed in at one particular moment of the day when I caught him smiling his lovely smiles as I was interacting with him.

That thought prompted me to update my FB status before I doze off to dreamland: 

I thought I saw you smile…and now I’m sure you do…and that you are actually smiling at me when I look at you! What joy!

As I punched in those words, I had his smiley expressions still-framed in my mind…

It was pure, and it was heart-warming. It was oozing love. 

And, it was a fluke that it sounded a little poetic for I did not intend for it to be. But, it did (and I was surprised that such an innocent status update received more than 10 “likes”)

Squirt has got me hook, line and sinker. I thought that was worth a post.

Shame on you!

A few days ago, I had to tot Squirt around with me to get to the other side of town to run some errands. To get to my destination by 9.30 in the morning, I had to leave home at least an hour earlier and battled my way through a bunch of commuters taking the BTS train. I was wearing Squirt in a Mei-Tai.

It was a very crowded ride, and getting into the train itself at such peak hours can be quite a feat. As I got into the train, I consciously made my way towards the middle of the train where there might still be some room to stand so I don’t have to stand under anyone’s smelly armpit and breathing their garlic-smelling breath! 

I was not expecting anyone to give up their seats for me, but as I moved towards the area of occupied seats, a lady offered me her seat. Perhaps she felt sorry for me when she saw me carrying Squirt and a small bag pack, with nothing to hold on to. 

As she stood up, I noticed that she was pregnant! Not that I would have sat if anyone else would have offered as Squirt would rather have me stand, but I was pretty surprised that of all the able people in the train, it took a pregnant lady to offer me HER seat. I politely declined and really thought she being pregnant (bless her!) would need the seat more than I do. 

As soon as I declined though, her empty seat was promptly occupied by another well-dressed, very able lady in her late twenties, who sat her ass down and got busy reading her novel! How appalling!

I thought it would be kind to let the pregnant lady have her seat back. It seemed awfully wrong to steal the seat away from her. 

I should have said something, but I didn’t…. Perhaps, I just did not want to make a scene – and besides by the time I realized what happened, there were a few people standing in between me and the seat she took. 

People can be so shameless these day, and unfortunately incidences like this happen all the time. Is it so hard to be thoughtful of and kind to others?

Fancy French toast

Meal times with Spud can sometimes be such a drag, as no one meal time with her is ever the same. On good days, we manage to get Spud to chow down her food within 15 minutes. On other days, it sometimes takes us more than an hour for her to complete her meal because she keeps the food in her mouth and refuses to chew or swallow it.

Hence, in my bid to speed up at least one of her meal times - particularly at breakfast, as well as to encourage her to self-feed, I thought I’ll make one of her morning meals more interesting. 

I made a bunch of French toasts which she always liked, and using an old-fashioned cookie cutter (I actually went out of my way to buy a few!), I transformed those boring looking bread into these:

Stars, hearts and flowers of all shapes and sizes – now, for a little tot, what is there about it not to like?

Although Spud pretty much rejected the heart shapes with a, “No! Don’t like this.”, she took to the rest like a fly takes to shit. She particularly loves the star-shaped ones. It did make breakfast a little bit more bearable and the bite size bread made it easier for her to self feed.

The only recurring frustration was that when she got distracted, she just refuses to chew and swallow that damn food in her mouth and kept it there for a good 30 minutes. I don't know why she did what she did, but aaarrrrrggggghhh!

The saying, "You can lead a horse to the water, but you cannot force it to drink" comes to mind...

Never Lego

This one is corny...

...but damn funny (to me!) nonetheless, as it is something so Singlishly Singaporean.

Lego = Let Go. Geddit?

Exotic fruits

This is a rarity...

Having all three Longans, Rambutans and Lychees at the same time is not quite a common occurrence here. And when I saw all three of them elegantly displayed  at the fruits' section of a supermarket, I just cannot help myself but get my hands on them. They were just begged to be bought!

They don't just looked good, they tasted oh-so -good too. One can't help but lust for such exotic beings in the name of gastronomical pleasures.

And, dare I say it: only in Thailand! (This time, in a good way)

On the ball

When a few random people once told me that a gym ball can be used to soothe a really fussy baby a couple of years ago, I thought that sounded awfully weird.  It went right over my head as I (silently) went, “Yeah. Right.”

In my mind, I was certain they were just doing a sales pitch and was trying to impose their holistic nonsense bullshit on me –I was, after all, in some yoga class when that conversation happened. I really thought they had gone over the cuckoo’s nest! 

I mean, what do you do with a gym ball? Or a birthing ball, or an exercise ball, a balance ball, or whatever it is that is being called, except using it as a prop when you exercise?  You know that big, round of a ball which is about 10x the size of your head and you can use it to bounce your butt around?  Yeah, this:

Source: Google Image

Turned out I was probably the weird, closed-minded one and those people knew what they were talking about. (Duh! I know…I know….)

Why am I even blogging about this? Apart from the fact that I have put myself in shame by exposing my ignorance about the uses of the ball, I also discovered the magic of the ball last week in my “Mommy and Me” Yoga class session with Spud.  

Ahh! Now it is making sense, right!

I have always enjoyed the “Mommy and Me” Yoga sessions for moms with new babies (min. 1 month till about crawling stage).  I figured, since I did a number of sessionswith Spud when I was on maternity leave, I thought going with Squirt now would be a good way to spend one-on-one time with him before I go back to work; which was what exactly I did last week.

Except that due to his reflux, that poor boy could not stop crying and was inconsolable. Nothing I tried worked, and looking at how helpless I was, the instructor offered to get me a gym ball. While I went “what”, “why” and almost rolling my eyeballs IN MY HEAD when I heard that, I accepted the offer graciously.

When she came back with the ball and suggested that I bounce on the ball while cradling Squirt, I did wonder if it will work. I even felt certain that it was a futile effort, and somewhat ridiculous. But I was too focused on trying to calm Squirt down, and at that time, I was game to try ANYTHING.

What do you know – the moment I sat on it and started bouncing up and down like a clown, Squirt calmed down immediately. I kid you not. He stopped crying in an instant!  I even tried it several times during that session for every single time he got inconsolably fussy.  I was so amazed that I immediately bought us a 65 cm ball home.

I am now endorsing that it indeed is a fabulous tool for soothing a fussy Squirt. Each time he gets into one of his crying fits, I get on the ball. And it worked every damn time; even putting Silver Bullet in amazement at how Squirt just shuts up!

I don’t know why that is, but it works brilliantly and I.AM.SOLD.

It is so effective that even Silver Bullet and our Nanny have both started to use it to bounce and rock him gently whenever he has one of those manic crying bouts. 

This has gotta be one of the weirdest, but the best 640 baht I have spent in a long, long while.

A very nice Sunday

Although mornings tend to be a little bit more stressful as we try to get everyone in the household ready for the day before we head out to town, it has been a while since we have had a nice weekend. By “nice”, I mean:

• No (major) drama
• No temper-tantrums
• No (major) episodes of rejection
• No flying off the handle (i.e. me)
• No inconsolable crying

In fact, we had a relatively peaceful Sunday for us as a family in a very long, long, long time!

We kept our day loose, and decided that we’ll head out for brunch at our all-time favourite haunt, Crepes & Co located at Sukhumvit Soi 12. Usually, midway through our breakfast or brunch session at Crepes & Co, we all will be feeling a little frenzied in trying to complete our meals and chasing after a hyper- active toddler.

This time round, our brunch session was actually pleasant. Very pleasant. I could even describe the entire session as being…wait for it… RELAXED! 

We all had our meals in peace -  Spud was eating really well, mostly feeding herself  at the table, and Squirt sat in the stroller quietly (awake!) as BOTH parents enjoyed their meals together at the same time without drawing too much attention to ourselves. Spud, when not eating with us, got busy by helping herself to the small-ish play area near us or, trying to make friends with other diners.

We have always loved the food and atmosphere there, and we have spent many a morning for breakfast or for brunch, but none of our experience has been quite as nice and relaxing as what we had last Sunday.  It felt surreal. (Even using the word “relaxing” sounds so surreal to me!)

We all had an unexpectedly nice Sunday.

What makes it even extra monumental for us is, that was likely to be the last time we set foot in there as the restaurant will be moving to a different venue by the end of this month. 

It also occurred to me that I have never really taken a picture while we dined in the restaurant. So, here are a few nice parting shot of this place, accompanied with a heart-warming picture of my little family. We’ll miss this place, for sure.

Naming Squirt

One of the more trivial, but important things we struggled with when I was pregnant was choosing and agreeing on a boy’s name for Squirt.

When  I was pregnant with Spud (and not knowing her gender then), I remember that we managed to come up with several girl’s name and only a couple of boys name. We actually settled on one name for each gender well within the early 2nd trimester of my pregnancy.

When our dear Dr. Ah-Chai boo-booed it for us by accidentally letting us know Squirt’s gender after my amnio results, technically, that knowledge should have made our lives easier; given that we need to only think of a boy’s name. 

Technically, we could also have made our lives simpler by just using the boy’s name which we had picked earlier had Spud turned out to be a boy.

But we didn’t. 

Somehow both Silver Bullet and I agreed that the name we had earlier for a boy was just “doable” and not exactly “it”. I don’t know why that was, and with Squirt’s(real)  name, it took us months upon months right into the later weeks into my 3^rd trimester before we finally agreed on one name .

I came to realize that looking for names especially that of a boy, not only is much more difficult to think of (and agree on), it was also one of the most irritating thing I have ever done.  I don’t know how many times I have looked through the list of names on several websites and only to come to a conclusion that they are all the same. Even after going through them over and over again, there was no real  “Aha! That’s IT!” moment

We wanted simple, we wanted easy and we wanted a name that is neutral enough that has no negative connotation when the name is being translated to Dutch or Malay. Nothing fancy, nothing weird and nothing unique-sounding.  Most important of all, it should be easy to spell and pronounce. Given the criteria we had, coming up with a name was not the easiest task – for a boy, it was hideous!

It made the whole process much more challenging than it already was, as what I liked, Silver Bullet (mostly vehemently) didn’t. And what he suggested did not move my mojo. Some of the names we agreed to shortlist were just lukewarm. By the end of a few weeks of rigorous search as I was already nearing the due date, I was getting impatient and slightly more than annoyed because he did not agree to one name which I really, really liked.  I don’t think we have more than 3 and we were not even close to come to an agreement of one name which we both like!

But like all other things, it all sorts itself out in the end. I suggested something which Silver Bullet was open to, he suggested a variation of it, and we both decided that we liked the name after mulling over it for a few days. 

If it was up to me, it could have been Eddie. But it was not my decision, and that was the one name which Silver Bullet has the most objections to because it reminded him of a boy he really did not like very much. And so, we mutually agreed on Squirt. 

Okay. Obviously, that is not his real name, and for the purpose of privacy protection, only pseudonyms will be used in this blog. 

What’s funny though, while most people would be aware that Squirt is his nick name or his belly-name, and we use it more as a term of endearment as we do with Spud, there are actually people who actually believed that Squirt is his real name!

In fact, wishes were even addressed with “Squirt” spelt out on a formal-sounding congratulatory notes sent out to me.I literally smacked my forehead when I read the note, thinking that this person could not possibly think that I would name my child "Squirt" in real life. (Turned out he really did!)

How bizarrely funny is that?!

To do list

This one makes me laugh - a quick destressor on an otherwise manic, crazy day at home. It would be so brilliant to give #2 and #4 a go.

Oh! What a night!

We haven’t been able to catch a break yet, struggling to function as humanly as possible with less than a combined 5 hours sleep over a 24-hour day period  for several weeks now.

This one particular day earlier this week appeared to be the day when Murphy hits town.

The day started off when Spud continues to push my buttons by taking more than 1.5 hours to finish off her breakfast. It was not that she wasn’t eating – she was; except that she was not chewing her food and swallowing it! By the time she managed to finish off her ONE slice of bread, Squirt has already woken up from his  nap – which means, the precious window of opportunity of me getting a half an hour shut-eye to re-charge my batteries from broken sleep were gone! 

Getting naps for the rest of the day after that was pretty much gone as we had to be at the hospital in the afternoon for Squirt’s reflux check-up; and so I turned into a (grumpy)  zombie personified once again for the rest of the day.

The joke was on us this time – we not only had to wait for more than half an hour waiting for the pharmacy to dispense his meds, but on seemed to be a day with rather light traffic, we got royally stuck for another half hour or so when we were just less than 200 metres away from our home – with a wailing infant to boot nonetheless. There is nothing like Bangkok traffic testing our patience. 

For some reason, on top of the above, this was one evening when:

• Squirt did not go down at 7pm like he usually does.
• For the first time in a long time, we had to leave our half-eaten dinner and tended to Squirt as he fussed  for another hour or so before he was sound asleep
• While Squirt fusses, Spud then  started wailing her guts out – it turned out that she had vomited out her dinner and dirtied herself, her toys as well as her bed sheets
• After settling them both, 2 really weary parents continued having their dinner.
• This temporary respite lasted for a short moment as we got interrupted again by Spud’s wail – she had puked for the 2^nd time.

So, off we went to clean her up for the 2^nd time round.  By the time we were done with the kids and wondering if Spud was down with something, we were completely drained. I'm sure it doesn't sound as bad as other people might have it worse than us, but when we have been on a continuous nights of broken sleep,even the smallest inconvenience seems rough.

The irony of it all was that when I finally managed to sit my ass on the couch and checked my email after all that hoolabaloos, I actually received an email with a subject that read. “5 reasons why your baby is night waking and won’t sleep.”

Right.

   

It was 9pm and it was bedtime; and a promise of many more broken nights ahead. 

Oh! What a night...

Mini Chocolate Rice Cupcakes

Cupcakes or muffin-like stuff are not really my thing, but if there is one cupcake which I quite like is the one which my Mom (but of course!) used to make for Hari Raya.

This one is so simple to do and, using my Mom's recipe, I was practically done within an hour.

Ingredients:

• 250g butter
• 250g castor sugar
• 200g self-raising flour
• 5 eggs
• 180g chocolate rice (or otherwise known as sprinklers)
• 1 tspn vanilla essence (I used 2 strips of fresh vanilla pods)

Method:

1. Sieve the flour. Add in the chocolate rice into the sieved flour and set aside
2. In a mixer, put in butter, sugar and vanilla essence and beat them together till fluffy
3. Add in the eggs into the mixture in the mixture, one by one
4. When all are nicely mixed in together, add in the set aside sieved flour with chocolate rice into the mixture
5. Lastly, prepare papercups. Carefully drop about 1 teaspoon of the mixture into the papercups and bake at 170 degrees celcius for 20 minutes

A mixture of butter, sugar and vanilla essence

Sieved flour with chocolate rice (sprinklers)

Baking them up in the oven

The final result is not meant to be really soft like the regular cupcakes one is used to, rather these yummies tend to be a little bit on the crispier side. I kind of like it better that way too, as somehow, it makes it that little bit more addictive.

And because they are minis, once you pop, you can't really quite stop.

Crying over spilt milk

While I have heard of other mothers telling me of their child having the reflux in the past, I don’t think I realize how much pain in the butt this reflux thing can be.  I mean, before Squirt, at least 2 in 3 mothers I met told me that their child has some form of reflux. I try to be understandingly sympathetic at their predicament, but I heard about it so much that it was so easy then to think that reflux is such a common occurrence and it is almost seen as ‘normal’, perhaps even insignificant.

I don’t think I actually understood the full extent of having a child with reflux and the way it can consume your life – not until we have been blessed with Squirt (and his on-going acid reflux condition). 

As cliché as it sounds, the truth is, only those who have experienced it for themselves could really understand how it impacts the child’s eating, sleeping, behaviour or quality of life; not to mention the parents  -  in this case, us – as well  as on the overall family’s relationship and well-being.  

Citing from one of the many sites which I came across, reflux is not just “a bit of vomiting” or “baby is just being fussy” issue or “just gas and it will pass”. If only it is THAT simple. Rather, there are more serious side to reflux in infants where it can cause complications or long-term problems otherwise labeled as a Gastro-Oesophageal Reflux DISEASE (GORD/GERD) and different from a Gastro-Oesophagael Reflux (GOR/GER).

Definition of the 2 are as follows:

• Gastro-oesophageal reflux (GOR) occurs normally in all infants, children and adults during and immediately after meals. GOR refers to the contents of the stomach washing back up from the stomach into the oesophagus. It can wash up to the throat, and even be ejected out of the mouth; in otherwise healthy infants, this can be normal occurrence for a period of time 

•  Gasto-oesophageal reflux (GORD) is present when there are symptoms or signs that are troublesome, or severe, or chronic, or when complications are present. The most common complication is damage to the oesophagus (oesphagitis).

 

Original source here

 

As it stands, reflux in infants is known to be hereditary. While Squirt’s reflux condition is certainly not as severe and how much worse it could have been based on what I have read on the Internet, it is bad enough to warrant medical intervention. Left untreated at such a tender age, it could lead to a serious medical problem with dire consequences. 

Overall, Squirt just ain’t a very happy baby – which makes my job as a mother even harder than it already is. When not sleeping, he is most of the time screaming his guts off. Squirt seems to be in constant pain for most of his waking hours; especially during and after a feed, even in spite of the Air-X medication we got earlier. If you are a heart-burn sufferer, you would have an idea what an acid reflux is – and imagine that happening to an infant. 

Some of the signs which Squirt has been showing that is typical of a GORD are:

• Irritability/Piercing cries/Screaming
• Regurgitating
• Appearing to be in pain
• Repeated hiccups
• Lousy, lousy burper
• Retching, Re-swallowing while feeding
• Comfort feed (used to be every half hourly, now on a strict 2-our schedule)
• Pulling away and arching back while feeding
• Gagging
• Gurgling
• Wheezing
• Coughing
• Frequent night waking (Every 2 hours, sometimes less)
• Snuffling as if nose is stuffed up
• Sounding phlegmy

[More info on GORD can be found here on Dr. Sear's website)   

These last few weeks have been a really steep learning curve for us. My only consolation at this point in time is that Squirt is still gaining weight and from the onset, his reflux seems to be a rather uncomplicated one. It is also reassuring to know that most infants will outgrow GOR by one year of age – albeit a very long time from now! 

I’m hoping and wishing and praying that it stays that way (i.e uncomplicated). Right now, Squirt’s on another medication called Antacil, which helps calm him down right after he takes it. The effect, however, seems to be only temporary before the screaming starts all over again. 

The nights are still rough and I’m trying to find the strength to psyche myself up that this is going to continue for the next 11 months of our lives. Every day is a battle, and it pains me to hear his inconsolable cries after every feeding and each burping session which could take up to half an hour!  Until we get the doctor to prescribe him something that has a longer effect. It makes me want to feed him the Antacil at every feeding (right now, the recommended dosage is 1 mil every 6 hours) 

You know, when I said in my previous post that I would rather Squirt have Silver Bullet’s (personality) traits rather mine, I did not mean for him to inherit his father’s heartburn condition as well!

Such is the story of our life. I'll post more stories on how we are coping/managing our reflux baby situation.

23 months

What do you know – Spud is now only a month away from being a 2 year old. And, by now, we know too well that the Terrible Two Stage has been well, well underway!

When she’s not throwing her grand temper-tantrums however, Spud is actually quite a pleasant child to be with. Her megawatt smile is contagious and her hearty laughter warms the heart. 

These days, she’s into helping. She’d want to help vacuum the house when she sees the Nanny vacuuming, and she’d want to help sweep the floor whenever she sees the cleaners at our lobby working with their broom and dustpan. She loves to run little errands when we ask her to and would willingly obliged to turning on/off the fan or the lamps, fetching me my glasses, tidying up her toys (this one with a little bit more encouragement!) and even helping out to change her little brother’s nappy. 

She’s quite the little copycat, and I’ve actually caught her copying my actions – one of which is picking stuff up with my feet! She also plays pretend, and after seeing me cradling her little brother in my bid to comfort him when he’s crying, she also mimics my gestures of cradling, comforting and ssssshhhhhhhh-ing  her little Koala as she walks about the house and pretend to comfort her little toy. Spud even pretends to change nappy for the Koala, taking the new, clean tissues after tissues from our precious tissue box! 

Spud should, by now, be able to feed herself seamlessly during meal times, but for some reason, while she is completely capable of doing so in school (or so we have been told by her teachers), she still refuses to do it at home. (And if we let her, she’ll take 4 hours to finish one meal and creating one hell of a big mess!)

So, honestly, we are in no hurry and we are taking the easy (and lazy) way out – we’ll wait till she’s really ready to feed herself at a more reasonable pace with minimal mess. The same goes with potty training. 

And then there’s the transitioning to the “big bed”.

I guess that can wait too – or at least till she is showing a strong inclination that she is almost capable in climbing out of her cot which could pose a hazard for her own safety. 

At this stage, Spud continues to surprise us on what she retains and how much she remembers things! She’s also beginning to say funny things these days – something I need to remember and journalise just so that I can read back over these comical comments in the years to come! 

Therapy in baking

This Friday marks the end of the semester for Spud. To celebrate the occasion, the school will be organising a "Fun Day" for those in Nursery and so, has kindly requested for parents to allow their kids to bring a dish for the kids.

They did not really specify what "dish" means, so I took the liberty to translate that it will include cookies and cakes...

And so, I rounded up some butter, chocolate sprinklers, sugar and flour and created a batch of these from my oven...

Freshly baked Mini Chocolate Rice Cupcakes

It is not like I have so much time on my hands or anything, but the request from the school was such a perfect excuse for me to de-stress, take a little bit time off from a crying baby, and get lost in my own little baking world.

Afterall, there is so much joy in baking, and for me, baking is therapy.

And ohhhhh....! That aroma of freshly baked goodies filling the entire apartment and hallway is just unbeatable.

Some were a little over-baked as I was distracted to do a little bit of multi-tasking (oops!), but I made sure that I separated those from the bunch which I carefully set aside for Spud to bring for her mates.

I realised that it is not the healthiest of "dish" to bring for a bunch of toddlers and parents would likely be scorning away of such sweets ...but I guess, for kids at that age, stuff like this can be quite a treat.

I hope the kids love it! (I know for certain that Spud does as she kept asking for "more cookie")

Baby Bouncer in Review

When it comes to baby bouncers, I am, most of the time clueless as to what a good baby bouncer should be. More often that not, I think the baby bouncers that are available in the market can be a complete rip-off in terms of prices and I cannot believe that people will pay such exhorbitant amount of money for it.

With the arrival of Squirt, however, we were presented with Bright Starts Ingenuity Automotic Baby Bouncer as a gift, courtesy of my team-mates from the office. While I thought it could be a useful gift, I did not think that we would have any use of it given that we already have 2 other bouncers at home - and so, did not really think much about it and had this bouncy thing tucked away. 

For some reason though, the other 2 bouncers we had did not seem to work very well for Squirt, and Silver Bullet had it in him to assemble the Ingenuity and gave it a go.

After using it for more than 3 weeks now, I have to say though, that it is a pretty darn good bouncer!

There is something about this bouncer that I like - mainly the snugly soft fabric that cushions the baby, simple as well as the fact that it is automatic and seems to bounce ever so gently! Most importantly, Squirt seems to like it and he has, many a time, despite his silent refluxy condition, been able to sleep in it for a few hours straight.

Coming from a bunch of my direct subordinates, I thought the baby bouncer they bought for us was a little too extravagant; especially after I found out that it is retailing at almost 6000 THB here in Thailand!

The features of this bouncer are as follows:

• Automatic bounce with 2 bounce speeds: low and moderate
• Removable toy bar which pivots back and forth for easy acces to baby
• Melodies and nature sounds to soothe baby
• Removable head rest
• Cushioned bolster system for comfort
• Integrated, cushioned foot rest
• Machine washable seat pad, bolster system and head rest
• 3 point harness
• Non-slip feet
• Light & portable

It really is a cool gift this - something which I would never have expected from my colleagues. In fact, I think it is a much superior make than the other 2 which we have - The Baby Bjorn Portable Bouncer as well as the Fisher & Price Bouncer-cum-Rocker Chair (review for another time) - that I just have to write a review about it.

The only downside about the Ingenuity for me is that the baby could outgrow this bouncer pretty quickly. Although the maximum recommended weight is at 11.4 kg (25 pounds), I reckon there is a high chance that Squirt would outgrow it within the next few months already.

But, I could be wrong!

Here's Squirt enjoying his little automatic bouncee.

Quote of the Day

"I don't have a temper. I just have quick reactions to bullshits and mediocrity."

One of those quotes I came across that I just have to repost. 

Spoilt Rotten

It has just been a day since my parents left our residence, and already, we can tell that something is missing…

We have been spoilt in the last 2 weeks, I tell you! Not only that they made our lives easier providing that extra pair of hands to help out with minding the kids, one thing which we’ll be missing is the home-cooked meals painstakingly prepared by our beloved Guest Chef (aka my mother!).

In fact, we have been spoilt rotten with not only the Nasi Lemak dish we had, but also dishes like this…

Roti Jala with Chicken Curry

And like this…

Nasi Briyani with Vegetable Dalca,  Beef Rendang and Chicken in Red Sauce

Oh! How fabulous it was to have the apartment filled with the aroma of fine dishes waiting to be devoured!

My only contribution in the 15 days to these dishes was eating it. And yes! I am the luckiest bitch on this planet - even if it was only a 2 week's worth of pampering of my mom's cooking.

Thank you Mom!