Mealtime & Mickey Mouse Clubhouse

I'm ashamed to say that at the tender age of 5 months old, I've successfully "conditioned" Penny to eat at least 80% of her meal before she is allowed to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. It started when I switch on the TV for her when I go clean and wash up the aftermath of her meal.

I tried a few other channels like CBeeBies, BabyTV and Cartoonito but I'm not very keen. Penny doesn't seem bothered with any of those channels either. Growing up with American TV, I guess I'm naturally biased towards American programming and TV shows. Back in Malaysia, when I was living with my friend Lynda  and her 2 children 2 & 4, I remember Carina the 2 year old loving Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. She used to rule the roost with her monopolising the TV remote control and her favourite channel is the Disney Junior channel. It used to drive me crazy watching those programmes repeatedly.

Anyway, I'm glad that Disney Junior channel is available on Sky 611 & 612. The first week of weaning Penny, I used to feed her once a day around 11:30am and by the time we finish, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse came up at 12noon. When I moved it to twice a day at 11:30 am and 3:00pm, again Mickey Mouse Clubhouse is available from 3:00pm to 4:00pm! Now that I'm feeding Penny 3 times a day roughly around 9am, 12noon & 3pm, I find that Mickey Mouse Clubhouse is on at all these times either on channel 611 or +1 at channel 612!

I noticed Penny getting very excited when Mickey Mouse Clubhouse comes on compared to The Hive, Handy Manny, Special Agent Oso, Curious George, etc. She kicks her feet, coo and gurgle in delight at that show! She seems to responds to that show a lot!

As part of the EAT Study requires me to feed Penny food that she isn't keen on like Weetabix & Tahini, I struggle to get her to open her mouth, eat it and not spit it all out. If I try to force her too much, she will only get very distressed and start crying. I don't want to force feed her and have her associate meal time with stress.

While trying to coax her to eat her food, from "Ahhh" to "yummy" to "yum yum" and making various different sounds, I tried to explain to her that if she eats her meal, she gets to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Imagine my surprise when she lit up and open her mouth for me in excitement! I slipped in a little food into her mouth and she surprised me by eating it! She seems to understand that she has to eat whatever I give her whether she like it or not and knows that she gets to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse when she finished her meal!

So, don't be surprised when say "Mickey Mouse" or "Oh Toodles" or "Mishka Muska Mickey Mouse" with a high pitched sing song voice to coax my daughter to eat her meal. It cuts down the feeding time from 30 mins to 15 mins for non favourite food. If I give her Petit Filous or some fruit custard or fruit puree which she loves, it takes her 5 - 10 mins to devour everything! 

The question now is, what do I do when we go visit my in-laws as they don't have Disney channel there? Get my hubby to feed Penny every meal or just give Penny her favourite food? Hmmm... What a dilemma...

The moon has a lot to answer for!

At least, that is what I think. I'm not 100% certain yet, but can you blame me for finding someone / anything to blame my woes on?

Last month during the Chinese Mid Autumn festival also known as the moon cake festival, I noticed changes in Penny's sleep pattern. She started sleeping about 7 hours a night since about 5-6 weeks old and by 12 weeks old, she was sleeping around 10-11 hours every night. However, during the last full moon, her sleep was interrupted 3 nights in a row which coincided with the eve, actual day and the day after the full moon. I wasn't 100% convinced last month and put the change in sleeping pattern down to weaning Penny twice a day.

I know it sounds bonkers but when you are exhausted, sleep deprived and suffering from a bad back & trapped nerve along your shoulder/neck, you tend to be cranky and in a foul mood. For some reason, Penny wouldn't settle last night. She went to bed at 8.30pm and woke up around 9pm, then around 11pm, and again around 3.30am followed by 5.45am and lastly at 8.20am. By then I was exhausted, moving around like a zombie and at 5.45am just as I was putting Penny back in to her bed after nursing her, I accidentally pulled a muscle / got the nerve near my shoulder/neck trapped! 

Went back to bed at 5.45am hoping that 1-2 hours sleep will help me sort it out but no such luck. It is absolutely agonising having to care for your baby and suffer through trapped nerve/strained muscle. I thought a baby and bad back was bad enough until this morning. After speaking to Lisa, I'm now toying with the idea of going to a chiropractor. Luckily or unluckily for me, the clinic is closed this afternoon. I'll just have to see if they are open tomorrow and see if they can fit me in if my neck/shoulder hasn't sorted itself out.

In the meantime, I'm keeping my eyes on Penny like a hawk because tonight is the much dreaded full moon as yesterday was just the eve / prelude to nightmare on elm street, I mean my street.

More visitors round the house

Lisa & Thomas, her 23 weeks old baby came over for a visit yesterday. Thomas, due on May 13th decided to make an appearance 2 weeks early leaving his spot available and Penny decided to grab it by arriving 2 weeks early too! I wonder if the 2 babies plotted in cahoots when the mummies met in April during the NCT ante natal class.

I got the play mat out laid and Penny next to Thomas. Penny was lying on her back while Thomas was on his tummy, his favourite position! You can immediately see that Thomas has very good neck & head control and is a very active baby. He was moving & wriggling about, pulling at the play mat and very nearly grabbed Penny's hair too. In contrast, Penny was pretty chilled out on her back, gazing at the ceiling lights, looking around quietly, very subdued, probably still a little upset from her check up by the Health Visitor. 

I moved Penny onto her belly for some tummy time, propped her up with her little bendy pillow under her chest and got a toy out to encourage her to move around more. Again she wasn't very bothered with moving around and very content with just lying there on her bendy pillow.  In the meantime, Thomas has been wriggling, trashing around, and rolled over a few times! It won't surprise me if he started somersaulting or cartwheeling soon. LOL.

It was really hard not to compare both babies who are born 15 days apart, both 2 weeks early. Thomas is so active, looks so impatient, perhaps very eager to start crawling and looks like he ready to take on the world. Penny by comparison is laid back, can't be bothered about anything and looks content to let the world pass her by. They can't be more different, like chalk & cheese or yin and yang.

After 30 mins of play time, the babies got hungry and we started feeding them. Thomas had some milk while Penny had some petit filous! As usual, she love it so much she wolfed it down in 5 minutes and wanted more! I offered a Strawberry Petit Filous to Thomas and Lisa agreed to let Thomas try some too. While I spoon fed Penny every bite, Lisa scooped some Petit Filous onto a spoon and gave the spoon to Thomas to feed himself! He has excellent aim and managed to feed himself albeit a little sloppily. Thomas likes his Petit Filous too!

After Penny's feed, I turned on the TV for her to watch some Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, her favourite TV programme. It was time for the mummies to have late lunch. I went into the kitchen and started cooking Tom Yum fried rice. A quick and simple dish to make while Lisa stayed in the living room keeping both babies company watching TV. I can hear the babies gurgling / cooing away while I was cooking.

I started by scrambling some eggs, then setting it aside. Next, I put the diced frankfurters into wok followed by 2 tablespoon full of tom yum paste and tip in a bowl of frozen vegetables. I added some soya sauce, making sure everything is coated in the thick tom yum & soy sauce before adding the rice. I added the scrambled eggs and continue stirring, making sure that the rice is warm through. It was a really easy & quick meal and we had plenty of left overs for dinner or lunch the following day. That is what I call a no frills meal as it only takes 5 mins to prep, 10-15 mins to cook and still taste great!

After our meal, we sat around and continue chatting while I gave Penny more milk. Thomas also got some milk and shortly afterwards, both babies fell asleep! Synchronised nap time? Hmmm... I wonder.

Penny's 4 month check

Penny finally had her 4 months check today 3 days shy of turning 5 months old. It was long overdue as I forgot her initial appointment on 12th September and the Health Visitors couldn't fit her in till today. It was just a quick check to ensure that she is growing & progressing as she should.

Poor Penny didn't like to be prodded by a complete stranger and started screaming and crying her head off! I guess she was eager to show off how strong her lungs are as she screamed really loud for ages! I was absolutely mortified that Penny screamed & cried longer than when she had her jabs!

At 21 week + 3 days, Penny weighs exactly 7.2kg or 15lbs 13oz which means she has more than doubled her birth weight of 3.14kg or 6lbs 15oz! My baby is growing up so fast! According to the midwife, Penny looks healthy, alert, responsive and seems to be absolutely fine! Penny can hold her head up, sits up momentarily (aided), coos and absolutely beautiful! How proud am I?

Way to go Penny!

Weaning & Fenugreek Capsules

It has been 5 weeks since I started weaning Penny according to the chart provided by the EAT Study team. She started with fromage frais / cow's milk yoghurt on week 1, then peanut butter & cod on week 2, tahini & egg on week 3 and weetabix on week 4 as part of the early introduction group. So far so good as Penny isn't showing any signs of aversion or allergies.

As the weeks progressed and I'm obliged to give Penny more and more food in order to keep up with the chart, I find that I'm struggling to balance milk & solids. Although I'm weaning Penny early, I'm a firm believer that breast milk is best for babies and is sufficient to give Penny all the nutrients she needs. If I believe that, why am I weaning so early? If you've checked out the EAT Study, you'll know that I'm weaning early in hopes that it helps prevent Penny from developing allergies later in life.

I've moved on to feeding Penny 3 times a day this week to ensure that she eats the required weekly amount. Apart from the cow's milk yoghurt/fromage frais & cod, I have to mix the rest with something else as it isn't suitable to be given "neat". Imagine giving Penny 3 teaspoon of pure peanut butter or tahini. Yuck. Doubt Penny can chew & swallow hard boiled egg without gagging especially when she still haven't got a single tooth!

As I was saying, I am struggling with maintaining the balance between milk & solids. Making sure Penny eats the required amount of food or making sure Penny drinks more milk? With 3 meals a day, Penny isn't drinking as much milk during the last feed and waking up in the middle of the night! On top of that, my milk supply is dwindling as Penny hasn't been drinking as much milk as her little belly is full of yummy food! What a dilemma!

After some thoughts, I've decided to give Penny more milk than solids, trying to achieve at least a 65% milk, 35% solids ratio. Don't ask me where or how I came up with this ratio, I just made it up as I think it seems appropriate. I'll gradually move it to 50% milk & 50% solid when Penny turn 6 months and continue to tweak the ratio the older Penny gets. 

As for the dwindling milk supply and my worries that I'd dry up from feeding Penny too much solids and not enough milk, that is where the fenugreek capsules comes in. We went into Holland & Barratts yesterday while we were in town and picked up a bottle of 610mg fenugreek capsules. I took one last night and I'm happy to report that I started leaking this afternoon! I'm happy that my milk supply is improving as my breast has never felt so full / heavy in the past 2 weeks!

How sad is that? LOL.

Domestic Goddess? Not in a million years....

Being a Chinese girl from Malaysia, I grew up eating various types of food from Chinese, Indian, Malay to fusion food especially when eating out is generally cheaper than eating in. My mum wasn't much of a cook and has a pretty limited repertoire and my dad always said that my mum didn't even know how to do house work or boil/cook rice when he married her. 

Unfortunately, my older sisters and I didn't have that luxury. With both parents working, we learn how to do chores, buy groceries and cook from a very young age. As my parents were butchers in the local market, we used help out in the market from a very young age. We learn how to buy fresh fruits & vegetables, select the sweetest melon and get the freshest fish or prawns. Before I started primary school, I already know how to count money, give change and name all the different types of vegetables. It is not surprising that mathematics was my favourite subject and I took up home economics as part of my Malaysian Secondary School exams, the equivalent to GCSE.

Does that makes me a domestic goddess? I wish. I can cook a variety of dishes from local English pub grub (stews, pies, pasta, Sunday Roast) to Chinese / Malaysian dishes (stir fry, fried rice, noodles, curries, soups) but no where as good as my 3rd sister who is an excellent cook (thanks to my mother's fussy taste bud). Now that I've officially been promoted to a stay at home mum, I'm struggling to cook everyday either due to lack of time, feeling uninspired, too tired or simply lazy.

I live day in and day out trying to be as tidy as possible but with a small house, loads of junks and invasion of a little baby girl almost 5 months ago, my house is in a tip! It needs a good clean and dusting and if my mum were here, she would have twisted my ear and told me off for keeping such a dirty house! Luckily for me, she is more than 6000 miles away and wouldn't visit unless I buy her an air ticket. Unfortunately, the cost of raising a little baby is too much for us to invite her for a visit, though I secretly think Stephen is worried my mum won't leave when she gets here. Then again, I'd probably fall out with her if she criticise the way I keep my house. Am I the only one who thinks that I don't live up to my mother's expectations? I hope not...

Having said that, I like entertaining and cooking which is why I always invite family & friends over for a meal. Just before my friends or family arrives, I'll do a frantic round of tidying / cleaning up and rope my poor husband in too. At the end of the day, if the house is messy, I'd just blame it on the fact that I have a little baby to care for and she demands all my attention and it has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that I'm busy scrabbling on Facebook, chatting with my friends, watching TV or blogging. LOL

Visitors round the house...

Yesterday, my friend Adele & Max her 13 month old baby boy came over for a visit. We were just sitting around in the living room, chatting and the conversation naturally turned to our babies. Penny is still ll pretty mellow and quiet compared to Max, a lively, curious and boisterous little boy. I couldn't help but compare the difference between Penny and Max. Only 8 months separated them but it seems massive at this tender age.

Max who can walk, crawl, sit up, move around with ease is at a very inquisitive age. He is curious about the house, loves having a little look around, trying to grab anything and everything at arms' length for further inspection only to discard it or have it taken away. He likes checking out Penny's rocker, likes to climb onto it, sit and rock for a bit before getting off, crawl/walk to get some food, eats it then goes sit in the rocker again.

Penny on the other hand still can't sit unaided and prefers to lounge rather than sit upright. She can roll over from her back to front only for her arm to get caught beneath her but can't do it on a hard surface yet. She is not keen on tummy time and couldn't be bothered to roll onto her back. She plays with the toys in front of her and if it falls out of sight, she just move on to another. She never seems to bore of the same toy! But most importantly, she likes me to play with her!

Looking at Max playing happily alone, I can't help but wonder when and how I'd feel when Penny can start to sit up unaided, crawl, walk, talk, plays alone but at the same time, comes to me and stop what I'm doing just to get my attention. I'll have to be honest to say I don't know if I'd love it or dread it. I'm worried that Penny will fall and hurt herself, wreck the house, pulling everything off the shelves and starts the endless games of treasure hunts!

Oh, the joy of motherhood...

Sausage Casserole

It is that time of the day again where you wonder for the umpteen time, "What should I cook for lunch/dinner today?" As Stephen won't be back from Barcelona (away for work) till very late tonight, I'm only cooking for myself. As usual, I'm very lazy when it comes to feeding myself and will generally eat anything.

After much consideration, I decided to make a quick & simple Sausage Casserole to use up the celery & potatoes I got on offer from co-op yesterday. Nothing can go wrong with a nice hearty meal on a cold windy day like today. I guess the weather finally got the memo that it is Autumn and not Summer.

To make a quick & simple casserole on the cheat, I use my trusty & beloved rice cooker. First, I sauteed some onions, then add the pork sausages, cover with red wine & throw in some fresh rosemary & thyme. Cover & let it simmer for 10 mins before putting in some new potatoes, carrots & chopped celery then top it up with a tin of Oxtail Soup. Cover and let it boil / cook for about 1-1.5 hour before seasoning with salt & pepper. After that, I can either turn it off or let it keep warm which means it will get even softer & yummier! This should keep me going all day and if I'm lucky, have some left over for my lunch tomorrow!

Told you I'm lazy when it comes to feeding myself. I just bang something together and let it cook in my rice cooker which is a lot faster than a slow cooker and the good thing is, it doesn't dry up / burn unlike cooking on the hob. You never know when your 4.5 month old baby might fall asleep on your lap and you can't go turn off the hob. :)

Cod pieces & Carrot

Had some left over ABC Soup from yesterday and heated it up for my lunch today. I also took some soup out onto a shallow pan and use the soup/stock to cook a small piece of cod for Penny.

I'm glad I didn't blend/mash up the cod and mix it with other food as suggested by the EAT Study as Penny hated the texture of overcooked / blended fish. Give her a nice piece of cod and she will eat it! I think Penny's taste bud is very much like her mummy's. She seems to hate Weetabix, love Cod and not keen of Tahini.

Let's hope she doesn't become a chunky monkey at the rate she is eating. She devoured some tahini & petit filous and apple & blackberry puree for breakfast, followed by loads of carrots & cod for lunch and a whole pot of petit filous  chocolate dessert for tea! Luckily for me, she still love mummy's milk best :)

ABC soup

Last week, Stephen reminded me that he will be flying off to Spain for work today and won't be back till late Thursday night. As I'm pretty lazy when it comes to feeding myself, I thought I'd make some really simple, ABC soup & rice for the next two days.

He came home last night to let me know that he moved some plans around so he could come home to have lunch with me today before setting off. He offered to pick up some ribs of fire from Morrissons (my favourite) as he isn't too keen on the ABC soup. I love the nice simple delicate flavour from it but he says it is too bland. To each his own...

Anyway, while we were having lunch, Penny started making noise indicating that she is also hungry. As I didn't season the soup, we fished a piece of carrot out of the soup and gave some to Penny. It took a few tries, but Penny loved it! She love the natural sweetness of the carrot & and even drank some of the soup.

Seeing that she enjoyed it so much, I ended up given her a few more chunks of carrots and a little more soup (more down her shirt than her throat) for her lunch. Can't blame her for preferring the carrot & ABC soup for lunch as she was probably starving after turning down more Weetabix & apple + blackberry puree. Who can blame her? LOL

For those curious about ABC soup, it is a soup that my mum used to make for me when I was younger. It is rich in Vitamin A, B & C as it contains pork(meat/bones/ribs),  potatoes, carrots, red onions & tomatoes. I added some red dates & black dates to it to sweeten it naturally :).

A clingy baby

A clingy baby is what you get when your baby is not well. I suppose it is part of being ill that you want to be mothered and pampered. Penny is a lot better today compared to Saturday night & Sunday, but she is still a little unsettled, whingy and fussy with her food.

All she wants today is me! She wants to play with me, suck my finger, babble at me and be by my side all day long. Leave her out of sight for more than 2-3 minutes and she will cry her head off. She is just my little baby who wants me to spend every minute with her. 

I suppose I should try to savour it for as long as possible, because in a few month time, she will start crawling, walking, running etc and she won't want me any more! Sigh...

My poorly baby

My poor baby is unwell and has been so for the past 2 days. She slept poorly on Friday night after her jabs, but seems fine yesterday then for some reason started screaming her head off last night! She refused to go to sleep and when she fell asleep, she slept fitfully and kept waking up screaming. 

Tried everything from Calpol which she threw up to alleviating her head to cradling her, but  nothing seem to really work. The only way I could get her to settle is by holding her upright against my chest but that means I couldn't get any sleep until she is deep asleep. I can say last night was the worst night so far since having Penny. She has never screamed that much ever! 

My poor little  is tired & sleepy but congested & super clingy. To make things worse, she is fighting sleep and doesn't want to be left alone. My poor back isn't going to get any better at tihs rate. 

Oh, the joy of motherhood....

Tired & bad back

I feel like I've aged 50 years overnight. Lack of sleep due to an unsettled baby and being forced to sleep in one fixed position all night long isn't fun. I should have wise up when Penny woke up twice last night and wouldn't settle unless I breast feed her. Instead, I though it was all OK and went to bed.

At 2am, after treading down the stairs for the 3rd time trying not to break my neck in the dark, I realised that Penny is struggling to sleep as she couldn't breath because her nose was blocked! Her bedroom is not too warm or cold, so I couldn't understand why she had difficulty breathing. It suddenly dawn on me that she might have had a stuffy nose due to her jabs earlier. 

In my extreme tiredness, I decided to take Penny to bed with me in the spare bedroom. We climbed into a double bed, loads of cushions behind her to prevent her from falling not that she can roll in her sleeping bag or to her left yet, and I slept on my side forming the protective C around her. Was I worried that I'd fall so deeply asleep that I'd crush her? Not really. I've always been a very light sleeper and Penny whimpering in her sleep kept me up almost all night long, not to forget the crying when dummy fell out.

So, being curled up in the same position for 5 hours sleeping fitfully and having no room to turn means a very tired & cranky me and very bad back. I believe my back is more painful now compared to when I was 9 months pregnant. 

Who said being a mother is easy? Sigh.