About Kaelyn

Realised I have been really behind in my postings. There are so many things that I want to blog on - our Hokkaido trip,Kaelyn's first major illness, Kaelyn's developments since 10 months, our various outings etc. But now I am in the mood to write about Kaelyn's developments, her 'wits' and her antics.

Her first words
Her very first words when she was about 10 months old sounded very much like Papa'. We kept hearing 'papa papa papa....' all the time, but with different tones and pitches. David was obviously very happy that our daughter has started calling him first before 'Mama'.

Subsequently, she learnt to say 'ber' (bird), 'bor' (ball) 'ba ber ber' (butterfly) etc. Notice all the b-consonents? And of course she did learn to say 'mama' and I think sometimes it is overused. Not only does she calls be 'mama' all photos she sees are 'mama' as well. And sometimes, when she sees something new, that will become 'mama' too. It's like a joker card that can replace any item!

Now she is babbling non stop. Sometimes she really sounds like she's engaged in some serious conversation with you except that it is in a foreign language that no one could understand.

Her first steps
Kaelyn started to walk unsupported about 2 weeks after she turned 1, and right after she recovered from an entire week of virus infection (more about this in subsequent blogs). She is now waddling (yes, just like a duck with her butt sticking out and swaying side to side when she walks!) all over the place.

She's now good enough to climb up and down the stairs in my parents' place, and can climb off our bed by herself. My mum has taught her how to do it safely, by lying on her front and slowly moving backwards till her feet touch the ground. I thought that was rather smart.

Her wits and antics

(1) Catching attention

We were travelling in a car one day and Kaelyn suddenly pointed towards the warmer bag and babbled something. When I didnt really pay attention to her, she hit my arm and shouted louder. Realising she may be thirsty, I reached for the water in the bag and offered to her. But she pushed it away and continued pointing to the bag. This time I took out the milk bottle for her and she happily grabbed it and started drinking her milk. I really was impressed then that she could convey what she wants using her own way.

My Dad was pointing out to Kaelyn that the picture she had on her blouse one day was a Rabbit. And I think that was the first time she ever looked at the designs on her blouses so she was really quite fascinated. She walked to me and tried calling to me. When I didnt respond, she took my hand and placed it on the Rabbit picture on her blouse and said something which sounded like 'you see'. Then I realised that she was showing off her Rabbit blouse to me. She did the same thing to my Mum and when she too didnt respond, she almost cried! It was when she touched the rabbit then she gave a satisfied smile and walked off.

2) The 'little helper' around the house

Kids are really sharp. They are able to spot the tiniest speck of dust on the floor. Kaelyn likes to pick up any piece of tissue, paper, dirt, insect, whatever she thinks shouldnt be on the floor and offer them to us. Sometimes she will just stand by that spot and point and babble, as if she's asking someone to clean the floor. My helper says Kaelyn's her supervisor, checking on whether she has done her job properly!

I was going through a stack of unopened letters one day and asked Kaelyn to play by my side so I could watch over her. After I have opened a few letters, a small hand offered me my next letter to be opened.

(3) Mimicking

Kids love to mimic too. David and I brought Kaelyn to the supermarket today, and we sat her on the seat in front of the trolley. With the shopping list in my hand, we zoomed around to hunt for our purchase. At one point, David had to call our helper to check if we were running out of a certain foodstuff. Before I realised it, Kaelyn grabbed the shopping list from my hand and put it to her ear and said 'ah o ah o'. It took me a while to realise she was mimicking David making a phone call!


Her personality

Her personality didnt change from when we first assessed her in her first month. She's still one independent, stubborn and happy baby.

Independent - she likes to do things herself if she can. She doesnt like anyone to hold her while she was learning to walking, preferring to fall over and stand up on her own again. When we show her which button to push on her toy for the music to come on, she will push our hands away and explore on her own.

Stubborn - she wants everything HER way. If you tell her not to go to a particular area, or ask her to drink her milk or go for her nap when she doesnt want to, she'll really scream, wriggle, push, cry and even attempt to distract you so she can get her way.

Happy - she's always smiling, laughing, babbling happily, except when she's being forced to do something against her will. Then she'll go into the stubborn mode. But generally, I think she's very cheerful and smiles easily. She's on good terms with anyone who plays with her, offering them entertainment and drawing comments like 'she's soo cute', 'she's so happy' etc.

Kaelyn turns ONE!

It's been a long time since I blogged.. Too busy, too many things happening these 2 months. We were busy preparing for Kaelyn's first birthday celebration and our trip to Hokkaido. Now that these 2 events have passed, and I am clearing my block leave, I am able to come back here again amidst unpacking and watching the Olympics!

We celebrated Kaelyn's first birthday on 27 July (her actual birthday was on 30 July), before David and I went on our 2nd honeymoon = P.. It wasnt a big bash type of celebration, just close family and some friends.

As Kaelyn turns 1, I think back (again) on our journey over the past year. It's just passed by in a flash. I really cant describe how happy, relieved, consoled etc that I am watching my girl grow..

Anyway, here are some of the shots taken that day. Kaelyn looks grouchy in front of her cake because we dragged her out from her nap so we can all sing Happy Birthday for her. She's a little overwhelmed..

Lunch before guests arrive - very patriotically waving the Singapore flag at the same time

Princess making her appearance

The guests

The cake
The proud parents
The presents!

Breastfeeding revived

I remember my first few posts after delivering Kaelyn have been revolving around 1 topic - breastfeeding. Kaelyn's going to turn 1 in another month's time. And I am very very proud to say that I am still breastfeeding her, although she started on formula for the afternoon feed at around 9+ months. I intend to stop breastfeeding altogether right after she turns 1, as I intend to go for a 1 week trip with David then... without Kaelyn.. More about this another time.

So when I look back at my breastfeeding journey over the past 11 months, I think I am going to 'miss' expressing milk for Kaelyn.

I will remember:

- how in the first month I struggled to get breastfeeding started - dealing with bleeding nipple, extreme pain, low volume, waking up every 2 - 3 hours in the night to feed, getting Kaelyn in the correct feeding position, having to rely on some formula to keep up with her demands...

- how I got the hang of it after 2 - 3 months and could latch her on every 3 hourly and stop formula altogether.

- when she turned 4 months, she refused to latch on. I had to pump every 3 hours to keep the supply going and bottle feed her the breast milk. From then on, she will just latch on only when she's in the mood and soon after, I stopped latching her on altogether.

- this posed a problem because each time we bring Kaelyn out, we would have to bring the pump machine, mini freezer to store the milk, hot water to defrost and heat the frozen milk, and milk bottles... actually I dont know of any mother who does this and I am proud of myself for persevering even when my baby refused to latch on..

- My supply started to build up in the fridge at first, as I was expressing more than she required. Then the bottles got 'promoted' up into the freezer.

- Then Kaelyn went through a difficult teething period at 6months that she was drinking very very little. At that point, the milk inventory in the freezer grew so rapidly that I soon ran out of space and had to cut down on the frozen meat we buy. At the peak, I had over 100 bottles in the freezer.

- David had to keep going back to TMC to 'beg' for more bottles to store the milk in. Thanks hubby! Luckily Kaelyn recovered soon after and started to drink more so we didnt have to buy an extra freezer.

- My pumping sessions stretched from 3 hourly to 4, 5 and then 6 hourly when I first went back to work. All the time I spent on expressing was also spent on watching VV dramas. The SCV box accompanied me through my milk expressing moments.

- At work, there was no nursing room or a suitable room for me to express milk. I had to do it in the handicapped toilet. I really really hated the idea, plus I didnt have time to keep up with the 6 hourly routine. So soon I was expressing every 8 hours, and then 12 hours (once in the morning and when I go back).

- When Kaelyn was around 8 months, I had severe food poisoning and had to be on antbiotics. My milk supply dropped to an all time low and never really picked up thereafter. The milk which I expressed then would also have to be discarded. This freed up space in the freezer.

- Now I am still on the 12 hourly routine, still spending the time in front of my beloved TV watching VV dramas. Thanks to David again for subscribing to it during my maternity. I have watched more series in these 11 months than I have over the past 30 years!

- And now, I dont carry the freezer, pump machine and expressed milk around anymore. We just bring the formula powder when we go out and feed her breast milk in the morning and before she goes to bed.

Having read the above, I think it is enough to scare any mother-to-be away from breastfeeding. But surprisingly, I have never once seriously thought of stopping breastfeeding when I was going through that stage. I did complain and thought it was troublesome and joked about stopping but in my heart I wanted to carry on for my baby.

Just 2 weeks ago, I bought my very first tin of formula for Kaelyn and I realise that baby milk is VERY EXPENSIVE! We have been using free samples before this. Another motivation to carry on breastfeeding for as long as possible.. !

'I want Mama'

For the first time yesterday, I felt that Kaelyn really knows that I am her Mama. Usually, when David and I leave for work and we wave goodbye to her, she will just give us a quick glance and turn back to her toys, oblivious to the fact that she is not going to see us for another 10 hours or so. I thought she just doesnt know who we are and can be ok with anyone who's friendly with her..

Yesterday, during dinner, the girl is making a big fuss again, not wanting to finish her pasta. So David carried her out from the high chair. She refused to be appeased... until she saw me. The moment I walked towards her, she leaned towards me with outstretched arms and cried 'mama...mama...'! That was such a sweet and heartwarming moment. Of course I immediately took her from David's arms and she stopped whining and crying!! Awwww......

Photos

David's a photo taking fanatic. He has 3 cameras to date, and the latest addition (which we got more than a year back) is a digital SLR. It's bulky, it's heavy, it's troublesome to lug around... but all these do not bother him at all. He never fails to bring this camera wherever he goes with baby. He wants snap every precious moment of Kaelyn growing up. Looking back at our photo folder, I realise we have taken more than 1500 photos of Kaelyn to date - and she's only 10 months old.

I am actually glad that David has such an interest. The photos we took of Kaelyn really show how she has grown over the months, from a tiny wailing newborn, to an active mischievous and still wailing big baby.

The many faces of Kaelyn:

Wailing KaelynMischievous Kaelyn

Cheeky Kaelyn

Happy Kaelyn

Active Kaelyn

KPO Kaelyn (digging into my handbag..)

It's never easy to take photos of an active, moving baby. Needless to say, it's almost impossible to take a decent shot of 2 babies together..

Hello, look here at the camera!

Cousin Gaven: I want to take the photo alone, not with Kaelyn mei mei.
Kaelyn: Hey dont push me or I'll bite you!

Kaelyn: Hey, that's my garfield.
Cousin Gavn: I dont care, I want it!Kaelyn: Keep your hands off my garfield.
Cousin Gaven: Hey.

Finally they resolve their differences...

ET's finger

Since a month back, I realise Kaelyn's favourite action is to stick her left index finger out in the air. She's not exactly pointing to anything most of the time. It's just an action that she picked up from I dont know where. Although it may look really cute now, we're kind of worried this would stick with her when she grows up. At that time, I wouldnt label that as 'cute' anymore.

By the way, I call this action of hers - ET's finger.

A pose for the camera.

Errmmmm, let me think...

Hey, look there!

Dont you mess with me!

Happy Mother's Day

Today's my first Mother's Day as a mother!

How are we celebrating it? Ermmm.... we are not having any celebrations, only went out for dinner at Spaggedies last night. But it's just like any other dinner out.

Do I feel special? Ermm... I dont feel anything different or special. It's just like any other Sunday, playing with Kaelyn, going to Supermarket, checking emails etc.

It's just a day to remind myself that I am a mother of a 9 month old already (as if I have ever forgotten), and to be proud of myself for giving birth to her and caring for her. I hope my 2nd Mother's Day will be more memorable in that she is able to call me 'Mama' and plant a real kiss on my cheek instead of trying to bite me as if I am one of her toys.

To my Mother and all mothers out there: Happy Mother's Day.