Happy Birthday Rachel

My little lamb turns 5 today! :)
We brought her to explorerkids at AMK Hub. It's an indoor playground which is fast gaining popularity amongst the parents and kids in Singapore. Many more new outlets have opened after GoGoBambini, Fidgets, Polliwogs etc. I think the indoor feature is a plus point for the almost certain daily afternoon showers here in sg and an air-conditioned playground is
a pull factor for a humid climate.

My little girl is growing up fast! She is an independent and cheeky girl, highly sensitive in nature and still demands alot of attention from us. She loves to draw and color; enjoys doing art and craft with me; likes to climb around the fitness corner and swing herself like a monkey on the bar. She loves to sit on the swing at the playground and thankfully there's one at the nearby Vista Park playground.
She likes Princess Ariel at the moment and dislikes anything to do with Hello Kitty.

I got her a Sylvianian Family playset this year. Daddy bought her a blue dolphin soft toy. Godma bought her a puppy hospital playhouse; Grandma got her a princess collection storybook; 外婆 got her a princess Ariel doll; 外公 got her a doggie piggybank and 阿姨舅舅 got her a hello kitty castle and toy dog cage. She was thrilled to open the many birthday presents.
I ordered a princess cake and cupcakes from Sweetest Moments. The cake turned out to be pretty disappointing (didn't look great and tasted awful) but Rachel liked it anyway. Kids are easy to please.

I really hope that she had an enjoyable birthday! Being the eldest among my 3 children, she in-evidently took on the 大姐大 role. Following the birth of Rae-anne, I cant spend as much time with her as before. Very often, she's left to do her own coloring and drawing by herself. We are also more firm and stern with her in hope that she will be a good role model to her siblings.

My birthday prayer for Rachel
I thank the Lord for you, Rachel, my sweetie cutie pie. You and I shared many firsts together and you will always have a special place in my heart. I wish for you a blessed year ahead; one that is filled with adventure, thanksgiving and greater harmony with 弟弟!! You are a precious gift from Heaven and I pray to God to keep you, protect you and nurture you! May you be surrounded with God's favor and goodness. Enjoy the best year ahead! Have a blast!!

Love,
Mummy



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Letting go

Feeling abit emo tonight...
Someone's gonna spend a day out with Rachel in view of her upcoming bday. Similar requests have surfaced in the past but none has been brought to fruition (either R's sick or there was last minute changes).
Although R is turning 5 in a few days time, I still feel hard to let go. Maybe I should learn to trust her to take care of R. Just for a day.
Is this queer of me? Am I being over protective?
Should I learn to let go even as R is only at such a tender age?
I guess no one can truly understand a mother's love unless you become one.
I love you Rachel. :)
I hope you will enjoy yourself this Thursday.





- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Woodlands Drive 16,,Singapore

Breastfeeding

With the birth of Baby Rae-anne, I thought that breastfeeding would be a breeze because I have successfully breastfed my two other children but it was not as smooth sailing as I thought it would be.

Rae-anne is the biggest baby at birth among my children. She weighed in at 3.93kg; Ariel at 2.835kg and Rachel at 3.655kg. (somehow mummies seemed to have super memory when it comes to remembering such figures!!)

She seemed to want to drink more and I placed her at my breast whenever she wants to suckle (feeding on demand). But that suckling need seemed to go on and on... In the day it was alright as I have my parents to stand in if I needed a toilet break or a rest from carrying her.... but comes night time, I am all alone. It was very tough the first night I got home from hospital. I didn't sleep a wink as she was very cranky and wanting to suckle. I couldn't place her in her cot to sleep as she will awake minutes later. I couldn't rest and was exhausted.

I know that lack of rest will affect my milk supply so I decided to top up with formula milk for the night feed. It went on alright for the next couple of days. I managed to rest and more milk came in. I stopped the topping up of formula milk for another two days and she started to be cranky again in the night. In the end, I thought to myself that I would top up the night feed with formula milk and get some rest.

The recommended feeding of formula milk is 120ml for a month old baby every 4 hourly. (That means you can feed her that amount of milk 6 times in a day). I fed Rae-anne 60ml at night. I thought that if that amount could last her 2 hours, it would be enough for me to catch some rest. That was what I did and so far, she managed to sleep for 3 hours with 60ml of formula milk. The rest of the feeds are all breast milk.

I am taking fenugreek supplement pills to help boost my milk supply. My mum also makes papaya fish soup for me (lunch & dinner) and I am downing that red date longan drink every day. 

I am looking forward to seeing Rae-anne getting more and more puffed up. Her two siblings can't wait for her to grow up so that she can join in the fun (or nonsense) with them. 

I can't wait for confinement to be over!! I need my cold shower! 

Day 7 (16 Sep 2011)

I am due for my one week check up with Dr Lai today.
We decided to make a trip to Mt Alvernia to register baby's birth prior to my appointment.
Somehow naming our children has been an uphill task after Rachel's birth. We took quite a while to name Ariel and we still couldn't decide on our third child's name on the day of the registration.

After much deliberation, we narrowed our selection to a few names and we finally decided on naming our third baby:

Lee Yen Rae-anne 李嫣

Rae (Hebrew origin) is a short form of Rachel which means "ewe" (female sheep).
Anne (Hebrew origin) is a short form of Hannah which means "grace; favor".

I wanted a name that sound similar to Rachel, hence Rae-anne.

The chinese name 嫣 means "captivating".

Rae-anne's umbilical cord dropped out today (Day 7); the quickest among the three of them.
Rachel dropped hers on Day 12 while Ariel on Day 10.

Day 6 (15 Sep 2011)

The past two nights have been manageable. I am feeding baby with the best milk ever, my MILK!!
It's bye bye to Formula Milk and I am so thankful that baby is able to sleep an average of 2 hours in between each feed. That allows me to gain some rest and hence produce more milk.

Here's a shot of her on Day 6.

Confinement

11 Sep 2011
I was discharged from Mount Alvernia Hospital and it marks the beginning of a one month confinement period for mothers who have just given birth.
This first night at home with my new baby is something that I was totally not prepared for.
Baby fussed at my breast and cried the whole night through. She could barely fall asleep and at the very most only slept for half an hour in my arms or my mother's arms.
My mother and I took turns to pacify her as I was totally exhausted.
(at this point, I think I am still having colostrum and my baby's growing appetite is not met.)

12 Sep 2011
I decided to buy a can of formula milk (FM) to stand by in case she fussed at my breast again tonight. I will top up the night feed with FM. My milk came in a little bit more but my baby is still not satisfied.
I fed her 60ml of FM at 1045pm and she gave me a very puzzling look.
The top up feed made her sleep for 3 hours and it gave me much needed rest.
I nursed her for the rest of the night and she managed to sleep for another 2 hours.

13 Sep 2011
I was wondering if I should give her FM tonight. My gut feel is not to as I find her getting increasingly impatient at the breast and seemed to be waiting for the bottle teat. Amazingly smart babies.. as I only fed her once at night and another time in the day. If I give in to FM tonight, I would jeopardize my breastfeeding endeavor so once again, I go to my Lord Jesus Christ. I cast all my cares on Him and I asked Him to supply all the milk that my baby needs.

My milk came in much more and baby could nurse less impatiently and she ended up sleeping about 2 hours after each feed. She also enjoyed my mother's cradle and would fall asleep rather quickly when my mother carried her. I am so thankful for my mum's help.

My Third & Possibly Final Birth

I finally gave birth today.
After having endured a mild slipped disc at 32nd week, a false labour at 36th week, celebrated my 35th birthday with family at 38th week, stood 2 hours in queue at the Borders Expo Book Sale at 39th week, ate my favourite Peony Jade Yam mooncakes, Raffles Hotel snow skin cognac truffle, watched Cars 2 at 40th week with Rachel & Ling...

My baby was induced on 9 Sep 2011 at 917pm. Dr Lai ruptured my water bag to bring on the labour and 1.5hrs later, my baby was born (au natural) at 1047pm.

She weighed a hefty 3.93kg (the biggest among my three children), measured 52cm long with a head circumference of 35cm.

I sighed a great relief after intense bearing down. Halfway through pushing, I thought that I was not able to make it. I was on the verge of giving up. How could labour be so unbearable?
It was at that moment that my focus was on the Lord.
This is your labour Lord... not mine. You give me the strength to see this through. Within seconds, I found renewed courage and strength and kept saying, "i can do this... i can do this...." until my baby's head emerged and the rest was history.

Ling massaged my back the whole time I was in labour and he proudly caught the baby and cut the umbilical cord in a much reassuring manner as compared to Ariel's unexpected home birth back in 2009.

This is a miraculous labour. Great glory to our Lord.
The nurses were all very impressed with the peaceful manner in which I gave birth. They said I didn't scream and everything happened so calmly and neatly. I didn't soil much of the delivery suite. (and i can tell that the cleaner auntie was glad.) One of the nurses thanked me for giving her the privilege to witness such a birth and asked me to have more babies. I told her this is probably the last one.
Back in the ward, the nurses who attended to me and baby commented that usually such babies ended up in a emergency c-sect.

All credit goes to my Lord Jesus Christ. I prayed for a safe, fast and pain free labour. This birth could not have ended this way without His divine intervention.

35 weeks and counting....

Being pregnant the third time has its challenges...
My challenge is the increasing kilos that I've put on (16kgs to date) and taking care of two young active children while having that big buldging tummy.
Thank God I did not experience any form of morning sickness nor sufffer any complication. All three pregnancies are a breeze. (Maybe that explains why I put on so much weight!! I just ate whenever and whatever I like!)
This could be the my last pregnancy and I am savoring the experience; especially when I feel the baby kicking. I always marvel at this sensation and His wonderful plan of women conceiving and laboring.

I am eagerly waiting for the arrival of our little darling girl.
This gift of love is yet again the goodness of God and a testament of His love for us.
I am praying for a smooth, short and painfree labor.
And I know that the baby will come in good timing.

Pregnancy

This is the year that is crowned with His goodness and our paths drip with abundance.

We claimed this blessing upon our household for the year 2011 in Jesus' name.

Never did I expect His goodness to be manifested in the form of a baby number 3.

:)

I took the pregnancy test kit on 20 Jan 2011 and it confirmed my guess.

I must have been about 6-7 weeks pregnant.

This took me by surprise and I dare say that our God works in interesting ways and forms.

Praise the Lord for He is good.

NZ South Island Campervan Vacation Day 04

14 Nov 2010

Set off at 1130am.
Wanted to let the kids play on the beach near Marahau but the sand there was too hard. They wont be able to build sandcastle with their brand new sandcastle kits that I brought from sg. We decided to head for Motueka for our much needed dump station.

Bought a takeaway at KFC for lunch today before we set off for our long drive to Greymouth Top 10.
By dusk, we only made it to Punakaiki where the infamous Pancake Rocks stood. We took a leisurely stroll to view the rocks just the evening sky envelopes us and by the time we made our way back to the campervan, it was already dark.

We decided to camp out tonight.
Found a spot close to the beach and camped out under a night sky filled with twinkling stars and the sound of the crashing waves just behind our campervan.

What an awesome experience!

Dinner : Pasta with minced pork (Jamie Oliver's Hearty Italian Flavour)
Pork Porridge for the kids

NZ South Island Campervan Vacation Day 03

13 Nov 2010

Head up to Abel Tasman NP today.
DL did his hang-gliding with Tasman Air Adventures.
GP and I were contemplating if we should do it too.
But the weather decided it for us.
The wind condition was too harsh that DL's ride was cut short and they had to cancel the rest of the hang-gliding rides for the day.

We stocked up on food at NW Motueka and had lunch at McDonald's.
Arrived at Old MacDonald Farm in the late afternoon and took camp spot #8.
Dinner : Chicken Porridge for the kids; Noodles with chicken and mushrooms for us.

Decided to check out the bath area. The tap was designed such that the water was either very very cold or very very hot. It was impossible to bath the kids under such condition. So I gave them a dry bath with wet wipes and powder.

We spent the night in the tent for a change and had some privacy as a family. DL made a lovely bed for our tent. :)

Sweet!

NZ South Island Campervan Vacation Day 02

12 Nov 2010

Rise & Shine at 10am.
I really had a good night's rest. A much needed rest indeed...
The kids slept well too. Rachel didnt need to wake up for a pee which is quite unusual.
The bed was also comfortable for our backs. Sturdy and comfy at the same time. I think the leather bed base helped.

We had bread and hard boiled eggs for breakfast.
The kids were very excited to check out the surroundings since they did not get to see much of it last night. The weather was great too. Blue skies with long white clouds.

We were running short of time as we needed to be at the Whale Watching Centre at 1pm and we only managed to leave at 1230pm. (We need to drive about 20mins to reach the centre). That leaves us with insufficient time for dumping so we decided to skip it till the next stop.

Sensing some hesitation from GM to take the helicopter as well as who's gonna sit with who.. (we need to split up as one heli can only take 3 adults; they are 4 of us! Kids get to go on the heli for free...), I suggested that DL will join 2 other strangers who had signed up for the ride and the 3 of us (GM, GP and me) will take the ride together with the kids. We finally got a consensus and it was good. We could move ahead with our schedule.

Indecision brings about nothing but a waste of time. Sometimes someone has to step up to make the decision and very often, I find myself in this role. :P

Our pilot of the day was Lee Armstrong. He gave a briefing before we set off to catch whales. (The other two strangers backed out from the ride and that left us, DL, GM, me and the kids on one heli. GP chose not to take the ride as he had enough of heli rides in his younger days while working in the States.)

We managed to catch two sperm whales. Saw one just before it did a backflip into the water and the other one taking its own sweet time at the surface refilling oxygen and probably fell asleep while doing so. We didnt have time to wait till it does a backflip into the water and had to head back to shore. It was a fruitful ride nonetheless.

Bought takeaway from a nearby cafe for our late lunch before we head north to Old MacDonald's Farm, Abel Tasman NP.
(Tarts/Quiche/Lasagna/Salad/Carrot Cake)

Make a quick stop at Ohau Stream where seal pups can be sighted but we didnt catch any. Winter would probably be a better season to sight them.

It was a long drive and we decided that we had to pull over at a public carpark to spend our night instead of pushing on to Old MacDonald's Farm. Had a late dinner at Relish Restaurant in Nelson.