Honeymoon?

My husband and I, believe it or not, haven't had our honeymoon yet.

As soon as we got married, we had to move into a new house. The house move took our time, energy and our entire saving. Then we went to KL, Johor and Singapore -with my whole family. Then I got pregnant and the whole vacation/traveling bug came to an abrupt halt.

Then recently, we went to Singapore for a little getaway but when you bring a baby who WAS TEETHING LOUDLY, one week felt like a million years. We came home and badly in need of another vacation from that vacation.

Our wedding anniversary is coming up and when I asked my husband what's the plan, he wistfully said he wanted to go somewhere with me, just the two of us. Aww... That's so sweet.

Wait. What? Just the two of us? What about our son?

Since Kaisan was born until now, I have not spent one night without him. Despite him being a handful, I cannot for the life of me imagine being away from him. How can I sleep at night knowing he's crying somewhere looking for me? Or worst... What if he can't remember me after being away from him for so long? ARGH!!!

This clingy mom also has another reason for not leaving her little bundle of terror -breastfeeding. I am not going to lug around a breast pump to a resort and spend most of my time pumping at the beach's changing room. And what am I going to do with all the milk I pump? Feed it to the sharks? Make mocktails?

I don't know, man. This is tougher than I thought...

But I admit, we do need a time out and badly in need of a TLC.

Hmmm? Hmmm...

The Big 9!

Now this time I got my son's age right. I know. I know. Go judge this poor mentally and physically tired mother who can fit in her size 24 jeans and rock her heels like a supermodel on a runway in Millan. YOU can?

Kaisan is 9 months old today and everyday he comes up with something new to surprise us with.

Few weeks ago he learned to clap his hands (finally!) At first it was OH GEE OH MY SHOOO CYOOOT then when he started to clap in his sleep, I was like; okay we need a switch off button for this clapping program and install a sleep button instead. He knows how to wave (with both hands -he wave like as if he's trying to get rid of something icky in his hands), going to walk very soon by the look of it (he's trying to stand on his own without assistance now), climbing, know how to say Mama, Papa, Nene (milk), Mamam (eat) and occasionally we caught him say YAY whenever he's happy.

When people see him, they tend to immediately point out that my son is a hyperactive baby. Even as a first time mother who is also not used to babies' development and such sometimes think that yeah, maaaaaaaaaaaybe he's a tad bit hyper.

He crawls EVERYWHERE; grab EVERYTHING, moving, standing, gnawing, bumping his heads and the longest he can keep still is in half a second. He tests his boundaries by going to places he's not supposed to go, grab anything we hold (TV remote, handphones, books etc) and get frustrated easily when his mobility is restrain by his development skills. It's like his brain is faster than his motor skills because all he wanted to do is to TAKE MY CAR KEYS AND DRIVE HIMSELF TO TOWN when he can't even walk yet.

Epic fail, son.

Since I'm a worrywart (what's new?), I seek some advice from experts (not from know-it-all-mothers-who-KNOWS-MORE-ABOUT-BABIES-BECAUSE-THEY-GIVE-BIRTH-TO-A-MILLION-ALREADY-SO-THAT-MAKES-THEM-AN-EXPERT-THAN-MY-DOCTORS) about his "hyper-activeness" and I found out that Kaisan's perfectly normal and healthy. Phew! What. A. Relief.

Doctors said he's just very inquisitive, curious and has a strong desire to explore.

I just need to control what he eats because some food tends to transform him into Sonic the Hedgehog injected with E. Since I don't add sugar or salt in his porridge, I have to monitor the fruits he eats instead. Most fruits are sweet and just a tad bit of it (like really, really small intake) can make Kaisan ricocheting all over the walls.

Other than that, he's a happy, strong and healthy baby!

Happy 9 months old, son! I love you ever so much!

My son, the friendliest baby in town.

Kaisan is one baby that I know who is never stingy with his smile. To him, smiling is like breathing. It is part of him and it comes naturally and effortlessly.

When he was few days old and gave us his wide smiles, we were like "Awww... so cute! But very common" because you know, we thought it's natural for babies to smile. We thought it was just a reflex or muscle twitch or just plain gas. We are parents with low expectations, see.

But the smiles never stop. It's his charm. It's warm, inviting, and friendly and not at all like Joker smile kinda creepy.

Say HI to him and he would flash his ten thousand megawatt smile at you. Tell him to look at a camera and he would smile without you having to yell "KAISAN! SMILE! SMILE, KAISAN! SMILE!" Call out his name and he would smile at you as if saying, "Wazzaaaaap, ladiezzzzz?"

I have friends who blushed and stammered shyly when Kaisan smile at them. I was like, "What is wrong with you? He's just a baby!" I have weird friends.

But no one can resist Kaisan's smiles. Be it people we meet at a park, in a restaurant, in the LRTs or the entire line of people waiting to pay for their groceries at a supermarket -they are all putty to my son's charms.

There was one time we were in a lift and a mean, hardened looking Chinese guy came in, shouting on his phone, threatening to murder someone with his bare hands. He then glanced over at Kaisan who immediately smile at him as if the guy didn't just glare at us with his throbbing vein on his forehead. The guy then lowered down his voice and smiled back at my son. It's not every day I get to see a rough; mean-ass guy went all gooey-like and started to baby-talk. It was my most uncomfortable lift experience ever.

However, the smile comes with a price. People tend to think that when he smiles, it's an invitation to take him and hug him and kiss him. I'm okay when friends and family do that to my son but not strangers. Call me extreme but I know I am the world most lunatic protective mothers out there.

When I see people coughing or sneezing, I would carry my son and sprint to the nearest exit while my hands frantically rummage my bag looking for hand sanitizer, wet tissues and insect repellent. I know it doesn't make sense but it makes perfect sense to me to protect my son the best way I know how.

The world is a dirty, dirty place. HFM is widely spread. Chicken pox is laying eggs everywhere. Mad cow disease in everyone's touch. And the news about child abductions- Gah! All these just make my spider senses go berserk.

So when you see us in town, flash a smile at my son but don't be alarmed by the scowl on my face. I'm meant to scare you away so you can admire my sweet son from afar. At least it's better than me putting a spacesuit on him with a homing device for protection. Right?

Right.

He's turning 9 months very, very soon!

GUEST POST: Just Passing Through...

Hi! Holla! And How ya'doin'?

You must be thinking how in the world The Mister (that's me by the way... her Husband...) ended up scribbling a short something in the Mrs's Blog? Don't worry, I didn't sneak into her Blogger or anything. The Mrs was the one who asked me to say a little something-something while she's currently recuperating from her mini-minor surgery to her wrist. Oh, don't worry, she'll be back sooner than you think with her colorful stories to entertain everyone before you can say Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice!

Now what can I talk about? We'll I guess everybody has been wondering how have I been handling parenthood lately since I haven't blogged in a while. Truthfully all I can say is its definitely a first-time-father would NEVER have expected! I mean you can plan, blueprint, DNA map, sketch out a schematic and what-ever-nots all you want... but the bottom line is, most of the time you just shoot form the hip and hope the shot shoots straight and true! (FYI, this is how I'M handling parenthood, and so far I'm breezing through with flying colors! ...with a few microscopic bumps along the way...) In other words, taking from a popular ad, I'M LOVING IT!

The midnight feeding, the cleaning of bottles, nappy change, tantrums, bath time, the cleaning afterwards, putting on his clothes, going through half a dozen formula's, making his baby food, drying his clothes from the washer... I can go on and on and on, and for the unmarried man, this would sound like a freaking nightmare! But I promise you guys, you'll be whistling a different tune once you hold him (or her) for the very first time and whisper a short prayers in both his ears, looking into his small face and swear to The All Mighty you'll beat up anybody who hurts him to a steaming puddle of slush! ...hmm, dejavu...

Spending time with my son and watching him grow up, I now understand when parents say that sometimes they think babies, toddlers, children, kids... they just grow up too fast! It's been a whirlwind 8 months and watching the Little Mister (the Mrs calls me The Mister remember?) and time just flies by too fast and I (and the Mrs) still haven't had enough of our Little Dragon. Why Dragon you might ask? Well he was born in the Year of The Dragon with the element of Water! Which pretty much answers why he loves his bath time and anything related to water! Have you seen the picture of the Little Mister at the beach yet? I look forward everyday to what the Little Mister is going to show me, everything and anything, and wishing quietly that he wouldn't grow up too fast...

We'll I guess that enough of my thought for today, I purposely meant to waste a few minutes of your time just for the fun of sharing :-D

Nuf' Said. Laterz!

New Pet

"Ma, can I keep it? Please?"

"Sure, son. Go ahead. But it would eat your face at night."

How I Failed As A Mother

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Rookie Daddy and Mommy Mistake!!!!

I just don't know where to start. Part of me wanted to claw my face in despair. Another part of me just wanted to laugh and cry at the same time.

I blame OUR LACK OF SLEEP THIS YEAR!

Internet, brace yourself for idiocy beyond infinity: My son is actually JUST TURNED 8 MONTHS.

Just last night I told my husband Kaisan will turn 9 months this week and we were like oh no wonder he's starting to shift his butt to the side whenever he crawls -he's learning to sit.

But today, my baby development app suddenly bleeps telling me "YOUR BABY IS 8 MONTHS OLD TODAY!" and I was like, huh? Is this thing broken or what? Kaisan is turning 9 not 8, idiot. Then I looked at the calendar and count and OOOOO MAAAAAAAAAI GAAAAAAWD HE IS TURNING 8 MONTHS! WHAT KIND OF MOTHER AM I? I DON'T EVEN KNOW HOW OLD MY SON IS!

I know it's not a big deal to most. I mean, it's just one month different right? Wrong. What about all the jabs he has been given all these while, huh? Wrongly calculated age means Kaisan has been receiving jabs that are meant for babies one month older than his actual age.

Be right back. I'm going to crawl underneath a rock and cry until Kaisan come and fetch me with a decent sandwich.

The OMG Moment of Parenthood

Remember I once said that Kaisan knows how to pull himself up into a standing position? Yes. Well, few nights ago he was standing while holding on a sofa and next thing we know, he leaned forward and STANDING ON HIS OWN UNASSISTED ERMAHGERD MY SON IS STANDING ON HIS OWN ALREADY FUCK YEAH I WAS SCREAMING MY HEAD OFF.

I hesitated at first to put this on Youtube because I like to remain anonymous (Pfft. Right now I bet there are more than a dozen people in the office who are reading my blog) but I decided to just go with it. So here's the short clip on what we managed to capture that night.



Why yes, that crazy lady screaming is totally NOT me. Check out her floral pants.

You totally should ask her for fashion advice.

The outdoorsy one

Clearly, he didn't get this love for outdoor from me.

Meh.

Hello Internet, I am now officially a mother to a Godzilla baby.

See that? Yes.

THOSE. TEETH.

There are four on that gum. FOUR. F. O. U. R. Growing side by side.

8 months and 6 teeth.

12 months and 60 million teeth?

I told my husband last night that I'm thinking of weaning Kaisan as early as NOW THIS VERY SECOND THIS VERY MOMENT WHEN HE'S ON MY CHEST, GNAWING ON MY BREAST THIS HURRRRRRTS SO BAD!

Husband said it's up to me even though I know he wanted me to keep going until Kaisan is 12 months and I agreed but that was before my sweet adorable munchkin turn into a ferocious cannibal.

I am clueless about weaning but based on what I've read on the Internet (world most reliable source of information even though people tend to exaggerate way too much *kofflikemekoff**) it seems like a painful ordeal for me and Kaisan, physically and emotionally.

I don't know whether I'm ready for that yet. The emotional part I mean.

Would I be strong enough to say no to my crying baby? And Kaisan have this really sad cry that he tends to use when he wanted to breastfeed at night. It's so sad and mournful that I. Just. Cannot.

Would I be able to fight the feeling of him not depending on me anymore? I heard the separation anxiety is worst than getting hit by a meteorite (so I heard)

Would I be diligent enough to use the breast pump which I hate so much because it makes me feel like a cow whenever I use it?

I don't know. What do you think?

Welcome to Crazy Town: Population Me.

Last week when Kaisan was still having diarrhea (he's 100% cured already and I'm grateful no one can see me dancing naked with my breast towel swinging over my head when he stop all flu, cough, fever and lastly diarrhea few days ago. Woohoo!) I decided to bring him out to get some fresh air since he has been cooped up in the house for close to 3 weeks due to all the illness a baby gets when teething (Remember that single ladies. When you have a baby, teething is worst than waking up in the morning with a huge zit suddenly appear on your nose who introduce himself as Gandalf the Gray)

I brought him to local deli to have our lunch. We were having a good time together. He was eating his mash potatoes while I had my usual beef lasagna. Then halfway through, he showed me his poop face. Poop face is when he pressed his lips together and frowns and grunts. Son, you better pray your mom never take a photo of you with that look. Pray really, really hard.

Immediately I brought him to my car since the deli does not have a baby changing room and while struggling to hold a wriggly squirmy uncomfortable baby and a diaper bag and me trying to get the car keys from my pocket, I suddenly felt something warm and squishy on my blouse and lo behold! Kaisan's poop was all over me!

WHAT. IN. THE. WHOLE. WIDE. WORLD!

My mind went blank. Like, literally. There was nothing in my head except a loud screaming AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRHHHHHHHHHHHHHGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!

I held him up farther away from me and continue to scream in my head for few more seconds.

I was, in the middle of a car park, far away from home, with a dirty smelly baby with poop all over himself and all over myself and once I stop screaming, I was like, "Where can I go and get a refund for this baby?" and another part of me went, "You idiot! This is not defect electronic goods that you can just ask for exchange! This is YOUR SON FOR FUCK SAKE"

Then I quickly open up my car and dumped everything in while still holding a smiling baby, happy to see that he just send an explosive nuclear waste on his mother and on himself. AY YAY YAY YAY YAY.

Turns out his diaper was not fastened properly so when he poops, it blasted everywhere! (I am notoriously known with my exaggeration) I peeled off his clothes, his diaper and his socks and threw it on the ground. By ground, I mean road. By road, I mean just few inches away from my car BECAUSE HOOOMAAAHHHGAAADDD ICKY DIRTY STINKY POOOOOP EVERRRYYYYWHEEREE!!!!

Then I took out his water bottle and washed his naked self BY THE SIDE OF THE ROAD IN FRONT OF PEOPLE WHO PASSES BY! They must be thinking, "Look at the poor homeless lady cleaning his son. TSK" GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

Once done, I put his diaper on, THANKS TO ALL THAT IS HOLY I BROUGHT AN EXTRA ONESIE, put that on him, and fasten him on his car seat. Then, me. Hoooboy. There was poop on my arms up to my elbows, all over my front blouse, my jeans and IN MY HAIR HOW THE HELL DID IT GET THERE? I tried to wash myself down by using whatever water that was left in the bottle and quenched the need to strip myself naked.

I then picked up all his dirty clothes on the road and put it in a plastic bag and dumped it in the bonnet. Then we drove home in silence. It was a traumatic experience for me and an embarrassing one for my son.

We promised we will never talk of it ever again.

You know what? I always thought I would make an excellent example of a mother who is always level headed, calm and reasonable when face with crisis.

Well, so I thought.



P/s If you think you're one lucky monkey, go join my first giveaway contest HERE! Closing date is this Sunday 30th September!

Sweet merciful hobos! My ragamuffin is 8 months old already!

At this age, Kaisan is:

1. Very demanding. He would show extreme dissatisfaction when things don't get his way. Like when he's watching his Sesame Street on his iPad, NEVER EVER DISTURB HIM. It is like poking a sleeping dragon with a flaming triton. We started to limit his iPad brain-deadness-moment to 10 minutes a day so when we said, "ENOUGH, SON! TIME TO NAP/EAT/SMELL THE ROSES OUTSIDE" and switch off the iPad, he would throw his body on the ground, feet up in the air and waaaaaaaaaaaaaail. But it's only for few minutes and then his attention easily diverted to other things like his toys or books or my boobs.

This is the reason why we started to discipline him as early as 6-7 months old. I think by now, he's very familiar with the word NO, WHAT IS THAT IN YOUR HAND, KAISAN STOP PULLING MAMA'S HAIR and the ever so commonly heard in our house, PLEASE TAKE YOUR MEDICINE LIKE NORMAL PEOPLE MY GOD STAY STILL PLEASE.

2. Which bring us to the topic of him and his medicines! I can give a wild African lion its vitamin pills blindfolded but with Kaisan, I almost resorted to the idea of chaining him on the fridge with a metal clamps around his mouth JUST SO I CAN GIVE HIM HIS MEDICINES. As soon as he sees the syringe with medicines for his flu/fever/diarrhea the other day, he start to throw his hands up in the air and sing heeeeeeeellll nooooooooo!

3. Despite that, he is VERY lovable. He would hug me and put his head on the crook of my shoulders and kiss me on my lips (I BLAME HIS FATHER FOR LEADING A BAD EXAMPLE) and sucking on my chin as a form of affection. He smiles and grins when he see people that he recognize and lift both arms asking to be picked up. When I come back from work and he sees me, he would crawl excitedly towards me and that's when all wariness from all day working, gone. Poof. Like magic.

4. Very daring. Few times when he's in his crib, I caught him pulling himself up using the railing and almost topple outside the crib and nearly give me a heart attack then and there. Then he has this tendency to crawl to the end of my bed and throw himself down. For the record, his dad is always there to catch him. THANK GOD.

5. Very stingy with his words. The only time you can hear him called out "MAMA" is at night between 2am-4am, asking for me to breastfeed him. Other time, fat chance. Few times I caught him mumble "NENE" for milk but that could just be me imagining him saying it. To him his dad is always "EH"


4 more months and he'll be one year old. AH. MAH. GAH.

The kind of wisdom that parents should know about before having a baby

Me and my sister went to KL recently with the intention to shop until our wallets vomit slugs. We brought along the babies and a nanny and we were so excited to FINALLY. GET. THE. CHANCE. TO. BUY. NEW. CLOTHES. NO. MORE. SHABBY. OLD. SHIRTS. GOODBYE. MATERNITY. PANTS.

But oh how naive we were when it comes to traveling and shopping with babies.

We woke up at 8am. We fed the babies, gave them a bath, put on nice clothes on them and play a bit and ALL THAT TOOK 3 FREAKING HOURS BY GOD. Then the mothers took shower, get ready, make-up and all which TOOK ONLY 15 MINUTES OR LESS.

By the time we're ready to go for our so called BREAKFAST, it was already noon. We hailed a cab - reached our destination -went looking for a place to eat -oh wait a minute- Kaisan need to change diaper -detour to the nearest baby changing room - done? Okay, let's go have our brunch- oh wait a minute -Alina is fussing for milk - detour to the nearest nursing room and spend half an hour there -done? Okay, let's go have our FOOD BECAUSE I'M SO HUNGRY SINCE IT'S ALREADY 3PM WHERE DID THE TIME GO? By the time we finish eating, it was already 6PM and we need to go back to the hotel to put the cranky babies to sleep.

Mission to shop till we drop -accomplished. Well, not exactly. We dropped dead exhausted by evening. When we reached Miri, we brought nothing back except lots and lots of dirty clothes and extra stress wrinkles on our face.

Single ladies; enjoy your freedom to shop while you can. Once you have a baby, online shopping is there for a reason.

Syukur Alhamdulillah...

Much better now. Even the red dots have pack their bags and went looking for other hosts.

The most ridiculous way to express my love

By now I bet people are sick and tired of me writing nonstop about my son especially about his oh-so-normal-what's-the-big-deal fever (I'm not going to defend the damn fever so you can go ahead and call it normal, boring, turd, puke face, bin Laden, mutated slug). And guess what? Today I'm going to write about my son again! And his well-being again! Because I can. Again!

As of today, we can safely bid adieu to the damn fever. Kaisan is back to his old self and eating and drinking his bottle again. "Could this be the moment where we can celebrate? LET'S PARTY BUIH TONIGHT!!!!" I whispered to my husband but before we can take out the detergent, Kaisan grimly showed us the meanest most badass heat rash on his body.

Whoa there, son. Could you like give us a break? Like, can the rashes come next month or next year? We really like, tired and all you know.

Like, whatever, said the damn rash and stayed there glaring at us menacingly and angry.

The doctor said Kaisan could be allergic with the antibiotic that he took but my sister said, "I bet it's all the durians you ate the other night" OOOOOOOOH NOOOOOOOOOOO. Crap. I think so too. Because Kaisan is breast feeding and durian is heaty, man... I should NOT be a mother.

The damn fake measles (as what the doctor called it) is getting worst today and seeing my son's face blotchy with red nasty dots just made me want to take a swim with sharks and piranhas out in the open sea.

Because of Kaisan's illness, me and my husband have been having sleepless night, exhaustion, and have not been eating properly for the past 2 weeks plus. All our attention and well being is devoted to taking care and looking after our son. That's where I realized how much I really, really love and appreciate my husband. I know how rare it is to have a husband who would go out of his way to make his wife's life easy and I must have done something good to deserve such good fate. My husband takes all the responsibilities of the household and taking care of Kaisan when I'm dead tired to do anything. At night, he would wake up more often than me to check up on our son so I can sleep more.

It's funny that most of our friends tend to ask us whether we're happy together. Like, huh? Why wouldn't we? Turns out it's our super grim facial expression that makes people wonder are we planning to murder each other in our sleeps. My dears, despite our serious face (mine especially), we are not contemplating your demise I know I'm tempting fate by declaring this out loud here but we are so happy. There are challenges here and there but my husband is always there, willing to sacrifice and do anything to support me, our marriage and our little family no matter what.

And so, today's post is not entirely about my son. It's my way of saying thank you and that I love you, Joe. In my humble opinion, you are the most awesomeness, coolest most caring and loving and bestest and sexy husband ever.



P/s We really SHOULD take an outdoor photography of us because God, this is ridiculous. We don't have a single photo together in bloody ages!

Let's not be pretentious, shall we?

"Erm... Mom? What are you doing?"

"Seriously? You REALLY want to do this?"

"MOOOOOOOOOM! Come on! This is so lame"

"Oh for crying out loud. Fine. Go ahead. Show the world my tits. You are so gonna grow old alone"

For future reference, this is not measles. Doctor said it's FAKE MEASLES. Meaning, there are a bunch of red spots going around human's skin, PRETENDING to be measles because these red spots are so pretentious my God. They are merely heat rash, a very lower level spots which are not as glamourous as measles and chicken pox.

What a relief.

The Teething Drama -Weekend Special

I just wasted two minutes of my life trying to use an upside down mouse to navigate my Mac. I like to clarify here that I didn’t know it was upside down but who am I kidding? Yes, I DO like to challenge myself once in a while and using an upside down mouse is one thrilling adventure.

Anyway, just to give myself a short update on what has been going on…

If my life this week is a reality TV shows, I bet it is called “THIS IS THE EXACT REASON WHY SCIENTIST SHOULD STUDY ABOUT BABIES WHO CAN TURN THEIR PARENTS INTO FLESH EATING ZOMBIES” I agree it is a long title but Megan Fox will play my role so you gotta watch it.

Kaisan’s fever turned from bad to worst last night. His diarrhea didn’t help to make us do the cartwheel either. We even had to bring him to the hospital twice because his body temperature went from 37.5C to 38.5C.

He also had flu and coughs and still refused to be bottle-fed. Doctor advised us to try feeding his formula by spoon and yes it worked. He took it though was a slow process. I told myself it’s okay. At least there’s liquid down his throat. His cough was so bad that last night his voice was coarse. It's like he has been drinking gravel.

We slept at 3am last night. He was restless and I couldn’t keep my eyes off the thermometer I stuck underneath his armpit. I had to keep watch on his body tempreture in case it shoot up high again.

The doctor did say that if his temp were up to 38.5C again, I would have to shoot up a bullet up his ass. OK that sounds so wrong. But mothers out there know what I’m talking about. It’s the medicine that looks like a white bullet you put in a feverish child’s butthole.

Don’t look at me. The tasks were mutually and understandably agree to be taken by the husband. I am not going to shove anything up my son’s butthole however dire the circumstances are. Okay if push comes to shove, yes, yes, I will do it. Though I might do it with my eyes shut close and teeth grinding on a piece of metal.

Today after his afternoon nap, Kaisan seems to be back to his old smiling self. He quietly read his books and played with his toys and smiled at me when I cuddle him.

I sure pray the worst it over. Amin.

Sanity is now below the normal level.

This post-vacation mood at home is really depressing. Add with a super duper cranky baby who is having fever, diarrhea and flu, the atmosphere at home is like a wet dirty dark cave with bats that screams earth shattering, “HOLY GUANOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO” before they eat your face. I choose to sleep as early as 8pm just to run away from the heavy gloomy feeling at home.

My fever broke the night after we reached Miri but Kaisan only get his fever on Tuesday. He has been OH MY GRACIOUS so cranky throughout our trip in Singapore and Johor Bahru that I was contemplating on the best way to auction him on Ebay without getting arrested.

At first I thought he was just uncomfortable with the changes of environment or unhappy because we messed up his nap schedule. I told myself that he’ll be back to his cheery self when we’re back in Miri.

But after 2 days at home, he still is a baby banshee, screaming and crying and refused to take his bottles. Oh it is sooooooo stressful! He refused his formula in the bottle and only wanted to be breastfed. I thought he developed a new dislike towards his formula and dreading the fact that we have to go on a crazy rollercoaster ride finding him a new formula again like before.

So I told myself, screw the formula. Let’s give him water. But he STILL FREAKING REFUSE TO PUT ANYTHING IN HIS MOUTH EXCEPT MY NIPPLES! THERE. I SAID IT. I’M CRINGING INWARD KNOWING MANY PEOPLE I KNOW WILL READ THE N WORD AND IMAGINING IT GROWING ON MY FOREHEAD WHEN THEY SEE ME. WHATEVER.

Since Kaisan is also having really bad diarrhea, we had to find any means whatsoever to get water down his throat. We even tried to feed him milk via syringe! That didn’t work much because he THREW A HUMONGUOUS TANTRUM THAT SHOOK THE WORLD AND AWAKEN THE MIGHTY KRAKEN.

So, no water. Food, no problem. He loves his porridge that I made and from there at least I know he’s not starving. As for water, I just breastfeed him as much as I can and occasionally I give him ice Popsicle that I made with just water and let him suck on it. He enjoys it and for once, he’s quiet and for me, it’s a big relieve because at least there’s water in his body.

Then last night, while trying to feed him his medicines, guess what? I FOUND TWO TOOTH PEEKING OUT FROM HIS UPPER GUM! No wonder he has been a ferocious man-eating bear. He’s teething! And, wait. TWO? I am so going to have a pair of bleeding nipples…

That pretty much explains why he refuses his bottles. Maybe the tits are giving his gum pain. I don’t know. That’s just my rough guess. I’m willing to take any explanation right now because I’m super exhausted. Lack of sleep. Helpless in trying to make it easy for Kaisan. Tired. Bla. Bla. Bla. Wait. This is not about me.

So anyway... He lost a lot of weight and it breaks my heart to see him whimpering for me whenever I come home. My poor baby… I don't like it that he’s sick but I love that he’s super clingy with me, wanting to be hugged and cuddled all the time. I miss my giggly, sunny son.

Get well, my sweet. Kaisan’s Tooth, GROW FASTER AND STOP GIVING MY SON PAIN.

My 7 months old champ!

Good news: My son is already eating solid food, loves to stand up (assisted), recognized familiar faces more, apparently not afraid of fire crackers, moving around the house by rolling his body instead of crawling, crawls a bit but prefer standing up more, still smiles a lot, not a fussy eater, still breastfeeding, imitating certain noises like birds chirping and me coughing, imitating actions like kissing me smack at my lips because monkey see Daddy do it monkey do too, love watching Sesame Streets and an immediate stress reliever as and when hugged.

Greater news: I become an expert in baby’s poop.

Ever since Kaisan was born, I was told by the doctor to always monitor his poops. Watery runny poo means diarrhea. One piece of hard goat’s pellet-like stool means constipation. Green colored is a MAY-DAY! MAY-DAY! Yellowish with slight green means whatever he’s eating/drinking does not goes well with his digest system. Golden means PURRRRRRRRFECTO!

I find it handy to have this knowledge especially when I’m introducing him to solid food. Like, when I gave him baby cereal, he pooped greenish yellowish colored poop. Green poop means too much lactose or allergy towards the food. So I threw his cereal out the window, hoping it’ll hit my noisy neighbor’s nose.

He has been eating solid food for a month now (I started to feed him when he’s 6 months old) and I applied the four days wait rules –to see whether he’s allergic to the food or not. From there, I found out the hard way that he cannot eat yam, spinach, citrus fruits and pumpkin. All the listed either gives him diarrhea, gas or constipation.

Another month. Another milestone!

Enjoying his first swing!