April 22nd, 2009 | Babies, Children, Parenting | No comments
Ever since Clarisse was born, I always wondered whether she has enough sleep. Or is she sleeping too much. Here’s some rough guidelines I’ve gathered of what to expect, but of course these may differs from baby to baby. Even if you’ve had children before, each baby will be different. So don’t expect them to follow a strict pattern.
Newborns generally sleep approximately 16-17 hours in a 24-hour period. Most babies will not sleep through the night until they’re at least 3 months old. There are several reasons why. First of all, their stomachs are very small and they will easily get hungry, especially if you’re breastfeeding your baby. Breast milk is much more easily digested than formula, and your baby will need to feed more often, especially in the beginning.
Click Here To Continue Reading
April 22nd, 2009 | Uncategorized | No comments
While at my mom’s house a few days ago, my cousin sister and her family came to visit. The moment she steps through the door, I noticed two patches of slightly red skin on her face. She knew what I was staring and said she went to a dermatologist seeking treatment for acne scars. My mom recall she used to have terrible acne throughout her teenage years. Anyway, she did laser dermabrasion and now patches of her skin looks lightly red. Its one of the side effects of the procedure which takes about 2-3 months to subside. It’s not cheap though according to her but the promise of smoother facial skin is too tempting I guess.
April 22nd, 2009 | Uncategorized | No comments
I’ve switched to brisk walking lately. It’s not as tiring and physically demanding as jogging. I try to squeeze an hour every alternate days, head over to the local running track and do twenty laps. That equates to a distance of 4kms in as quick as I can but carefully refraining myself from getting too exhaustive. At the same time, my husband would do 25 laps around the track. No matter how busy we are, we can’t tolerate not exercising. Perhaps it’s our feeling of guilt. Feeling that we owe our bodies the much deserved workout every now and then. I’ll gladly admit to vanity being part of the reason as well. We believe that in order to be slim and fit, there’s no escaping physical exercises. No amount of dieting or the best diet pills can help if one remains immobile all the time.
April 22nd, 2009 | Personal | No comments
This post is about your perception when you see toddlers leashed by parents. Do you find it disturbing? Would you give a negative and disapproving look at them?
I was reading the newspaper today. Seems like another missing toddler every other month. Every parent’s nightmare. Worst nightmare that is scarier than dying I would say.
As Clarisse approaches terrible two, she is getting harder to handle out in public places. She would stay in the trolley or stroller for at most 10 minutes. After that she’d get very restless and insists to be on her feet. Once on her feet I can hold her hand for no more than a minute. She’d start to wriggle and twist her hand to loosen my grip. If I insist on not letting go, she would scream, stop walking, switch to noodle legs mode, squat down, kneel down and finally lay down on the disgusting floor. All the while screaming and kicking. That’s quite a scene, you bet.
Click Here To Continue Reading
April 22nd, 2009 | Uncategorized | No comments
My parents will be going on a 2 nights 3 days holiday at Genting Highlands this weekend. They invited us to join them for the trip as they received two free stay at hotel vouchers. That means it can be redeemed for 2 nights of hotel room stay for free. Too bad my husband is currently rushing a project for next week’s deadline. And I don’t wish to go on holidays without him helping me to care of little Clarisse. So reluctantly, I had to pass so now the vouchers are given to my aunt instead. I could really use a holiday to unwind. My husband and I is planning on a holiday break next month as soon as his work is done. Well, I guess I’ll have to wait a few more weeks.
April 22nd, 2009 | Uncategorized | No comments
As I was browsing the baby bedding section at the local shopping centre this morning, I bumped into my friend and classmate Sara. Its been so long since we met. Must have been nearly 5 years. Seeing she’s wandering about the baby section, my first question was “Are you pregnant?”. Turns out she’s 3 months pregnant with her second baby. We stood there chatting for 30 minutes. Catching up on so many things. We exchanged contact numbers and urged her to give me a call whenever she’s back in town. Clarisse who is now very shy towards strangers stayed away from me for the whole half an hour. Luckily my husband was around and took her to the toys section. Or else, I wouldn’t be able to chat with her.
April 22nd, 2009 | Personal | No comments
That new pair of Tom & Jerry shoes we bought for little Clarisse just before this year’s Chinese New Year in January is starting to get tight. A little to snug for comfort. It’s been barely 3 months and her feet has noticeably grown. I purposely bought a pair of shoes that has ample amount of extra space at the tip for her growing feet but what I didn’t expect was her outgrowing it in such a short time. If I had bought a bigger pair, she would have had trouble walking stably. I just had her pair of shoes washed today and it looks as new as the day I bought it. I’ll be shopping for a new pair of bigger shoes for new this week but I’m keeping the current pair as the condition is too good to be given away.
April 15th, 2009 | Uncategorized | No comments
It is common knowledge that prolonged sun exposure accellerates the signs of premature aging, especially the skin. My neighbour’s husband used to work in an office for as long as we’ve known him. A year ago, he quit his comfy office job and ventured into agriculture. It was good business and although he is making more money than he used to, I was told it’s bloody hard work. Eventhough he hired workers, he had to spend a lot of time outdoors on the field. In less than a year, the grind of everyday work shows on his face. He became a lot darker obviously. But wrinkles too are becoming more apparent. You can spend hundreds of dollars buying the best wrinkle cream or skin treatments but ultimately our skin’s biggest enemy is the sun.
April 15th, 2009 | Uncategorized | No comments
My aunt will be going on a 3 days / 2 nights vacation to Las Vegas next week. Her family lives in LA and they have been on Vegas vacations twice since migrating to the US a year ago. She is fond of casinos and she often invite my parents to go along with her to Genting Highlands. That was when she still lives in Malaysia. Every now and then, she would call my mum telling her to come to the US for a vacation. Stay at her house and not worry about accommodation or food. She even told her that if I want to plan a US holiday trip, feel free to stay at her house. Well, we’ll see. I don’t foresee plans of oversea vacations in the near future yet.
April 15th, 2009 | Personal | No comments
Little Clarisse is becoming a handful these days. Even that is an understatement. She can drive me nuts sometimes.
In about a month’s time, she will be two years old. We’ve all heard how toddlers gets hyper naughty and rebelious at roughly two. Little Clarisse seems to be showing us a full preview of whats to come in the months ahead.
We dread taking her shopping centres these days. We even dread driving along roads that passes by shopping centres. She is able to see the building far away and when she does, she’ll point and shout with delight. As if we’re about to take her there. A minute later, when the sight of the shopping centre slowly passes by, she’d whine and fuss. She would even cry when she’s really in a bad mood.
Once inside shopping centres or public places, she wants to be on her feet. Most of the time she wouldn’t want to hold our hands. When we try to grab her hands, she’d kick up a big fuss. There are times when she struggled and wailed so loudly, I could hear her shout a few aisles away half way across the grocery.
Everything is a struggle with little Clarisse lately. Sleeping time, bathing time, clothing time, diaper time and most of all: feeding time! She has never been a milk drinker. I struggle to feed her one spoon at a time. Three times a day – morning, noon, night. She takes roughly 20-30 mins to finish three quarters of a cup of milk while watching her favourite cartoons. Mealtimes though, especially when we’re eat out, is another struggle. She would keep turning her head away from the spoon. Pushes my hand away. Refuses to swallow. No less than 40 minutes is required when we feed her away from home. Luckily, she is less reluctant to eat her meals at home where we eat together at the dining table.
Little Clarisse is also going against what I say all the time. Especially when papa is around. She is especially active, noisy and naughty when she sees her father. Perhaps he scolds her a lot than I do.
