For the first time...

Last weekend, there were many firsts in Norelle’s life:

On last Saturday, we brought Norelle to Putrajaya Marriott for HY’s friend’s wedding. Initially we wanted to put her at my MIL’s place (as usual when we are going for a wedding dinners) but not this time as MIL also had an event that night. Looking at the venue of the dinner and the distance, we decided to book ourselves into a room for a-night stay. It marked the first time for Norelle to be away from home – a mini holiday.

We arrived at Putrajaya Marriott at 5pm and we checked in straight away. The weather was breezy and nice. A vast land and greens surrounded the resort – we truly felt that we were somewhere far far away . No noises from cars, only sounds of trees swaying and wind blowing.
The room was spacious enough. We have 2 twin beds and I decided to get Norelle a baby crib for her. Then HY wanted to bring Norelle for a swim – her 1st swim. I changed her into her swimsuit and off we went to the pool. She was so excited upon seeing the pool – to her it’s like a GIANT bathtub! Once HY placed her at the edge of the pool, she wandered off straight away. She was happily crawling at the edge of the pool while patting the water! She was having so much fun. I was surprised to see her taking the pool so well – since it’s the 1st time for her. Halfway through, she got chocked by the water and she puke! Luckily, HY managed to whisk her away from the pool.

So we brought her up to the room and bathed her. Then she took her milk and dozed off. While HY and I prepared ourselves for the dinner. It’s so nice to be able to take our time and no need to worry about the traffic, parking or the weather. Then I changed Norelle into her dress and put her into the pram – she was still in her la la land.

The dinner was fine and Norelle woke up when the newly weds marched in – from all the hands clapping. She was quite well behaved throughout the dinner. Just an occasional whining as she wanted to climb out from the high chair. She didn’t sleep well that night. She kept waking up and cried. I guess it’s because of her blocked nose. In the end, I just scooped her up from the crib and let her on my bed.

All in all, we did have a nice weekend despite the fact that Norelle is now sick – Arrgghhh!! Cough and cold. Can’t wait to bring her for another swim.

Busy checking-out the BIG bed - can't leave home without ALL her toys!

Testing the 'water' - no pun intended

Ok, time for a pose with the Zebra

Splish! splash! and all wet

Norelle is 9 months old...

My baby girl is 9 months old today. Time flies. And I am glad to announce that she is all well now. No more fever, blocked nose, cough, or what-so-ever. She is now one-happy-active baby. She is getting more and more mobile for now and we all have the same belief that she will walk before she's 1. She had her 2nd dose pneumococcal jab today (what a pressie!) and she weighs 7.75kg (I know, I know...she's a light baby)

She did her first sign the other day. Well, apart from the usual 'bye-bye' and 'fly-kiss', Norelle did her first real Baby Sign. One morning she woke up being very cheerful and she was just 'talking' to herself and playing with her toes on the bed. We had the fan on and suddenly she looked up towards the fan and did the 'fan' sign - hand up in the air 'swirling' gesturing the movement of the fan. I was estatic and couldn't believe my eyes and asked her to do it again. True enough, this time it's real. She's responding to what I say - FAN! Hahahhaa...so all the hard work paid off after all.

I began signing' with her when she was around 4 months old. Having read about Baby Signs when I was still pregnant, I was interested in trying this method with my own baby. I went and bought a book titled 'Baby Signs: How to Talk to Your Baby Before Your Baby Can Talk' . When Norelle was about 4 months, I started some simple signs with her like 'milk, fan (as she's very much amazed with it) and 'bath'.

I am still doing the signs with her and have been adding on some new signs whenever the needs/situations arise. But she more or less getting the 'idea' of it when I do the 'milk' sign, she knows that it's time for her milk feed. And she will show me her widest grin when I show the 'bath' sign. Which means, she gets to play woth the water.

I am thankful to Jamie from Baby Signs for bringing in the program into Malaysia and would definitely encourage mothers to take up the signs. But I do know that many people will be hesistant or having doubts in 'signing' with their babies. Most often associate signing to people with hearing diabilities or mute. But we are teaching our babies about signs everyday without us knowing/realising it. For instance, we will 'shake' our head when we say 'No' or 'nod' our head when we say 'Yes'. Those are signs. Or, we teach our baby to wave their hands when we say 'Bye-bye' . That is a sign too. So, signing is actually a very natural way of us trying to communicate with our babies. And babies are way smarter than we think. They actually understand what we are trying to tell them and by seeing them 'communicating' with us using signs, it's the most rewarding feeling.

Mummy, faster take my picture, I don't know how long I can hold on to this post.

First time sitting in a swing - and loving it!

A bunny in a sack

Sleeping time is one of Norelle's many 'work-out' rountines. She does the rolls-turns-tosses-flips routine in her sleep. We practice co-sleeping which means she sleeps with us in the same room and is sharing the bed (not exactly - she practically owns the whole King-sized bed by herself) with me. HY has been kicked out from the bed and he has been sleeping on the floor since then. We have the air-con on most of the time, and with Norelle's acrobatic moves in the bed, it's very hard for the blanket to stay in place. She was kicking off her covers every night and we were going bonkers with sleep deprivation.

Then I read about 'sleeping bag' for babies. The sleeping bag is not like what we use in camping trips. Sleeping bag for the babies is soft, mostly made out of cotton and which, as it turns out, was the norm for babies in many parts of Europe. So I decided to try it on Norelle. Now, at least I can rest assured that she is properly covered and the sleeping bag also tends to minimized her 'acrobatic moves'. All these equal to longer and better sleep for all of us.

Norelle in her sleeping bag - do you like her just-out-of-bed look?

Christmas comes early?

Last Saturday, I received a nice surprise. Crystal came over in the afternoon and I went out to open the door gate for her. Then I saw it. In the postbox, I saw the handle of a paper bag sticking out from it. So, I opened the post box and a small paper bag was in it. I took it out from the post box and inside there's white cloth being rolled up and tied with a nice golden ribbon.

I imediately untied the ribbon and the cloth unfolded to a white Ralph Lauren Polo shirt. It's very obviously that the shirt is for Norelle as the size indicated for 18months. And I searched around in the paper bag but couldn't find a single card, paper or a note. So I do not know who sent it. I phoned HY and asked him but he was as puzzled as I am. HY went out in the morning and he said he didnt noticed the paper bag in the post box. So 'the sender' must have put the pressie in the post box after he left.

I felt suspicious and at the same time intrigued by this mysterious 'sender'. It's like Santa just delivered a Christmas pressie down the chimney but left unnoticed. I did asked around but to no avail. It was a nice surprise but on another note, this whole incident is a bit creepy. Hahaha...I don't mean it in the bad way, just that I only thought this will only happens in the movie.

So, whoever the 'Santa' is.....THANK YOU....

An early Christmas pressie

A stroll in the park

HY suggested that we should expose Norelle to other things instead of shopping malls (hehe...:P). So a few months ago, we started taking her to the park at TTDI. We usually go on a Sunday morning as the weather is still cooling and the air is fresher. The first time, we brought Norelle to the park, she didnt quite warmed up to the idea (too many greens..hahahha) and she started crying after a while.

We tried again the following Sunday, and it was better. Now she is getting used to the idea. She started paying attention to the trees, greens, people running around, etc. We let her touched the tree leaves and even dipped her legs into the stream (man-made stream). The TTDI park is nicely landscaped. And it provides good jogging/walking tracks so that you can get a good workout surrounded by litterally trees and the sounds of the birds chirping.

It's a good idea after all to take a stroll in the park once in a while. As cliche as it sounds, try to go back to nature and take a step back and enjoy those beauty that GOD has created. It definitely will do you and the world some good.

It's obvious that I'm not a morning person

Mummy and daddy, stop dancing around the tress. You two sure cheered me up with your 'Bolloywood' act.

Updates...

OK. A little updates on Norelle. Seems like she is (really) on her way to recovery this time. She had diarrhoea for about a week. Brought her to Paed and was sent home with some ORS (Oral Rehydration Salt). Her appetite was low (again) and she couldn't held any food in her. Once she had cereal/milk it came right out again. Despite this, amazingly, she was still her usual self - actively crawling, climbing up and down. And all my hard work of training her to sleep through is haywired. Since she only took smaller amount of milk each feed, she started crying for milk in the middle of the night.

When her diarrhoea persist, we changed her milk powder to lactose-free milk powder (advised by Paed). YUCCKKKSS!!! when I first smell the lactose-free milk. It smells like soya sauce. How on earth Norelle going to take that???? True enough, she rejected it. She rather go hungry than drinking the milk. In the end, we have no choice but to gave her the usual milk powder.

Thankfully, the diarrhoea has stop (fingers crossed) and she is getting better and eating more. HY and I on the other end, were totally shacked from all the endless nights. I can just collapse anytime soon (hopefully I won't).

Anyway, I know all these will only make her stronger and bring us closer as we understand and realised that we all need each other so much especially when one of us is sick. That's what FAMILY is all about. Without one or the other, it will never be WHOLE.

Good night and GOD bless.

Hmmm...is mummy going to make me drink the yucky milk again??

Norelle is 8 months old

Hi all. Norelle is 8 months old today. My baby is a big girl now. But not in terms of her size though...she looks smaller than other babies at her age. Or rather, she is a petite baby. Not underweight, just petite. Small bones I guess, like me.

She is on her way to full recovery after her 1-month stint of endless sickness (fever, baby measles, running nose and cough) Her appetite is up again which means I will be occupied during night times making purees for her. I am not complaining, in fact, I enjoy doing so.

She is quite clingy to me now. Having her 'velcro' to me once she sees me is no fun - AT ALL! Just hope that this phase will pass soon. Other than that, she is fine. Always flashing her BIGGEST smile (no teeth yet) to everyone and displaying her endless energy.

Now she is starting to respond to me when I talk to her or ask her some questions. When I ask do the 'milk' sign, she will go and pick up her milk bottle and she will look at the aquarium when I ask her, "Where's the fish?". She will look for her rubber duckie when I ask her to. Well I know all these seem easy/small compared to other babies at her age but nevertheless, I am so proud of her achievements. The fact that she understands what I am saying is already a great feeling and having her responding to me is a bonus! I am looking forward to have more interactions with her.

The 'shy' look (only for 0.05 milisec)

At 8-Month Old - doing what she does best - SMILE :)

An eventful day

This gonna be a looong post…

I was on leave yesterday as my parents-in-law went for their routine check-up at the hospital. I started the day at about 8.30am (which considered later than usual) as Norelle slept in longer. The reason for that? The night before yesterday, she slept in about 9+pm and I was dead tired so I slept earlier as well. At about 12+am, I was woken up by her cry - usual. And she fell asleep again after I stuffed the pacifier into her mouth. And I did the most natural thing, sleep and man I did sleep like a baby. You know why? Because while I was in La La land, I was woken up by a loud THUD! And the next thing I know - Norelle was screaming on top of lung. I turned to her side and to my horror, she's not there!!! Yup, you guessed it right - SHE FELL OFF THE BED!!!!!! I jumped off the bed and found her face-down lying on the floor. I carried her up and pacified her. She cried for a while more and fell asleep again. Then I looked at the clock, it showed 6.40am...which meant I had a straight 6 hours of slumber. It felt so good but on the other hand I felt bad as I couldn’t prevent Norelle from falling. So for tonight, I placed a mattress at the side of the bed – for that ‘Just in case it happens again’ scenario which I hope it won’t.

So we slept in a bit later and started our day as usual. Changed her diaper and brought her down to the living hall and let her play by herself as I went and prepare her breakfast. Fed her cereal with 2 cubes of peach and broccoli mixed with sweet potato. Not too bad. She finished most of them except a little left over for the broccoli. Too thick I think. Then she poop so I prepared her bath. After her bath, she took her morning nap at 11am. She woke up an hour later (she morning nap is usually 2hours) and she refused to sleep again. Then I dressed her as I was meeting my girlfriend for lunch. It was my first time driving with her being all alone in her car seat at the back.

I went to pick up my friend at Phileo Damansara 2. She was OK as the distance was quite near. Then we headed to Decanter at Setiabakti for lunch. The place was nice and cosy and the food was great. Norelle was at her best behavior where she did not fuss when seated at the high chair and was extremely smiley. I ordered escargot and steak pie for me and some toasted bread for Norelle. She enjoyed her bread so I managed to have my lunch in peace.

Then we headed to The Curve as I wanted to get some small microwaveable containers for heating up her purees. I managed to find the microwaveable snack cups by Nûby at Anakku. A good buy at least I am now able to store some cereal/purees in them when going out. I also bought a pair of shoes for her and also a new teether and a pair of pants (on sales, ok) and a pack of Healthy Times Apple Cinnamon Puffs!!! Hehe...I am a happy Mommy. But I was not able to get the Baby Yogurt as apparently Cold Storage had run out of stock??? Both Baby Heinz AND Baby Yoplait!!! There you see..I did not buy the whole departmental store back, ok.

She slept in her pram at about 4+pm, as I did not want to wake her up from her nap..I walked around for about 2+hours then we headed home. She was still tired and continued sleeping in her car seat and we when reached home at about 7pm, I woke her up as I do not want her bedtime to be interrupted. Then MIL came and delivered my dinner – I love my MIL and about 9pm, I wanted to prepare Norelle for her bedtime and she gave me a good night work-out – she pooped. I had to washed her and ‘fighting’ to dress her up (our usual routine before sleeping) and fed her milk and then she’s off to her La la land – leaving me with sweaty body and a good soiled diaper to be washed…..

So there you go. Quite an eventful day huh? Miss HY terribly (another 22 hours to go before he comes back from Bangkok)

Good night.

Twinkle twinkle little Moon

On Tuesday we celebrated the 'Lantern Festival' a.k.a. 'Moon Cake Festival'. The nite was bright where the moon was big and round and shone brightly thus literally like a star. The weather was fine too. Not too hot, a bit breezy - just the perfect day for this ocassion. As usual, dinner with my in-laws where my MIL (mother-in-law) whipped up a good 9-course dinner leaving us all like the smiling buddha - the smile on the face as well as the tummy too :P

Did the most natural thing - 'played' with lanterns and candles. More like me carrying Norelle looking at her cousins, uncles and aunties lighting up the candles and lanterns. Took some photos of Norelle where she tried to crush the lanterns everytime we went near them.

Snapshots of Norelle

Just a simple slide show that captures Norelle's milestone so far. Enjoy. Oh, please turn on your speaker when viewing. Thank you.