YH’s colleagues invited us for dinner in JB, saying that place served good Beggar’s Chicken. Sounds good but what about our Baby HW? We had a tough time deciding what to do – YH to go alone and I stay to look after HW? Bring HW along but it will dispute her sleeping schedule (or even my meal)? Leave her at Grandma’s or Aunt’s place and pick her up after dinner?

After all the contemplation, we decided to leave her somewhere and just enjoy our dinner. My sis gladly offered to look after her cos she didn’t have to work the other day. Great! So we decided that if HW managed to fall asleep before we returned, she would continue to sleepover. If not, we would bring her home.

With the heavy traffic during peak hours, we only managed to reach the dinnerplace after 8pm. That place was actually a house converted into a restaurant. Need to make reservation one day in advance cos the Beggar’s Chicken needs about 6 hours to bake. The other dishes were quite good as well. I can say that this trip was worth the heavy traffic which we went through.

A new message received while we were still having our dinner…. “HW is asleep”…. At about 9.15pm. Good! It’s the first day which I can sleep well without HW disturbing me since her birth…. Hahaha.

My sis reported that she’d been a good girl at her place. She didn’t have difficulties in making her sleep. HW tossed around for a while on her mattress and fell asleep, while I usually have to spend an hour with her in the bedroom. Okie, which means that I can go on my holiday in November peacefully cos I know she’ll be a good girl when Mummy is not around…. Yipee!

Was enjoying the after-lunch relaxing session while Baby Haiwen was busy flipping through her books, crawling her and there, and fidgeting with the fan on the ground (which she always do). But before I knew it, she had the 2-pin plug of the fan in her mouth. I told her to take it out of her mouth and to my horror, I saw that one of the pins was missing. Please, please tell Mummy that u didn’t swallow it. I put my finger into her mouth and tried to dig whatever-i-could-feel out from her mouth. Oh no, she coughed and vomited… with some blood strands in her puke…. Arrrggghhhhh!!! What to do?? Had she swallowed the pin and pin scratched her throat to cause the blood strands? Or was I too rough with her and scratched her throat? Calm down calm down…. I searched the floor and found nothing. I called Daddy to confirm whether the pin was there or was it gone long ago. Daddy said should be attached to the plug. OMG…. To the doctor was next on my mind.

The doctor at the Polyclinic could not offer much help and suggested we proceed straight to KKH A&E. Never ever had I thought that I would need to bring my girl to the A&E. She was crying badly for food but doctor said no food allowed cos it would cause the stomach to start digestion which would make things difficult for the doctor to remove the pin from the stomach if need be.

With the doctor’s reference letter, we were spared of the long waiting time at the KKH A&E. The doctor assured that it’s okay to swallow as long as baby doesn’t choke on it. "Swallow can still take it out." Thanks, that helped a lot. Getting baby to have the X-ray done was another feat. Had to hold her down strongly as she was struggling badly. The X-ray on the stomach showed nothing…. The doctor said he feared that it might have gone to the lungs. If that happened, Baby would have to be admitted to the hospital. He suggested another X-ray on the chest. Finally managed to get another X-ray after getting help from the nurse to hold down my struggling girl at her legs, while I held the arms. And the good news was that there’s no signs of the pin in the lungs…. Last check in the nose by the doctor also confirmed that it’s not in the nose. Phew!! So now, where’s the loose pin? Search for it later…. Had to feed my hungry baby who did not have any food for the past 5 hrs.

Daddy managed to find the loose pin stuck in the wall electrical socket…. That’s the place where I didn’t search before bringing baby to the doctor. Should have done that… :(

5 more days to Haiwen's 1st birthday.

Our family celebrated her birthday today at Forrest @ Orchidville.

Surprisingly, she took her first 2 steps today too.... So excited!!

Looking forward to her walking on her own.

Baby Haiwen likes to pull off her socks....

What to do if in future her teacher ask her to pull UP her socks?.... Sorry teacher, I don't wear socks.

Good table manners or go on empty stomach…. This is the value I’d been told to instill in my baby. No playing with toys, no reading of books and no snacking during mealtimes.

It’s easier said than done. I wonder which kid is so obedient to be sitting in the high chair just waiting to be fed, with no entertainment to keep them occupied. Baby Haiwen is a difficult baby when it comes to mealtimes. She can eat a few mouths and then start to point to her toys or books to beckon to you she wants that. If you refused to give it to her, she will refuse to open her mouth and will wail to want to get out of the high chair. So, should I give her that toy or should I just let her go on empty stomach? The elders will insist that I instill good manners in her. But if she goes on empty stomach, she will throw tantrums later…. This will be back to me to soothe her down.

So, I would rather that I coax her into eating by letting her play with toys, read a book or even eat some light snacks and fruits at the same time. I think it’s not a bad idea cos she can learn to use her fingers to pick up the snacks or fruits that she wants to eat. It may seems that I’m looking for excuses for myself, but letting kids play with toys shouldn’t be a bad thing as well. If it is, why are there companies selling expensive high chairs that comes with built-in toys? I strongly think that being able to keep my baby in her high chair during mealtimes is far better manners than going after her in a playground trying to feed her a few mouth of food.

No two babies are the same. We just have to accept this fact. So, please let me deal with her my way.

Baby Hai Wen has not gotten used to Grandma’s place as yet.

She still:
- cries when I waved goodbye to her in the morning
- doesn’t take her usual naps. She usually has her morning nap at around 10am and afternoon nap at around 3pm. But at Grandma’s place, she combined both into one nap (from 12noon to 2pm).
- doesn’t finish her usual milk intake. She will only take half of her usual.
- doesn’t finish her lunch and dinner. She will wait for me to come back to feed her during dinnertime.

Due to not taking in enough solids in the day, she’s not sleeping well at night. She will wake up crying a FEW times at night. I’ll need to nurse her back to sleep or give her a small bottle of formula milk. Poor baby and of cos.... Mummy. I’m not getting enough rest due to her waking ups at night. My school has students who are infected with the latest H1N1 virus. I’m worried that my immunity will decrease due to not enough rest and may be easily infected. It’s ok for me to be infected but i’m more worried if I pass it on to Baby. So, I’ve been a Dettol fan these few days as one of my preventive measures. I just hope that this H1N1 flu thingy will be over soon. And Baby, pls learn to adapt to changing environment. No choice; Mummy needs to work.

"Papa…Papa." Our girl is beginning to speak and she can recognize who is the Papa. Mummy is a little jealous as she always point to my wedding photo when I asked her where is Mummy. Why can’t she point to me instead?

But honestly, I’m proud of my little girl. She seems to be able to understand everything that we tried to tell her. As of today, she can:
- clap her hands when she managed to get her favourite snack into her mouth on her own or when she sees her favourite Barney show is about to start.
- respond by shaking her head or pushing the thing away with her hands if she doesn’t want something.
- point to things that she wants.
- crawl up the stairs unassisted (of cos with an adult following behind her).
- imitate us on the phone by grabbing our phones and trying to put it to her ear.
- wave goodbye and even give flying kisses.
- play peek-a-boo by covering her eyes with her hands or other things.
Oh, what are the other things? I can’t recall all the little little things that she did. I just know that those things really surprised us and brought a smile to our faces.