New food, new dishes

It has been really fun, introducing Jarrett to new food, taste and texture. Each time I feed him with something new, his first expression is always so priceless. He'll usually show us his "ewww.." face and then proceed to gobble up everything. Strange..I always thought eew...goes with pui!
Thus far, he has shown no real dislike for any food, except for avocado (maybe I should try again next week). If he doesn't like the food, there's no way to get him to eat it. He'll keep his mouth firmly shut no matter how hard you try to shove it in and even if you manage to get a teeny bit in, the next thing you know, you'll have food splattered all over your face and floor when he goes "Boooooooooo.....". If he loves it, you better be fast cos if you are abit slow, he'll start yelling at you!

Last Sat, I cooked him tofu with egg yolk and he seems to really like it. I tried abit of the food myself and can finally understand why mashed tofu with egg is often used to replace mayonaise in many healthy receipes. It's really quite good and creamy. I will be adding this to my receipe notebook and replace the Jap. mayo which I always use for my wraps/sandwiches.
Another of his favourite is Potatoe, carrot with brown rice. Tried mashed potatoe with brocoli & breastmilk and he likes it 3! He definitly takes after his pa & ma when it comes to food.
This weekend, I'll be cooking him millet & brown rice porridge and introduce him to golden kiwi.
Can't wait!

Oh btw, Jarrett's 2nd tooth is out!

Happy Birthday Ah B/Daddy! (backdated post)

Wx's first birthday as a daddy! With loads and loads of love from his double Js.

pool..........

We got Jarrett his first swimsuit and float and brought him to the pool. Honestly, I didn't know if the father or son was more excited. Wx had been so anxious about Jarrett's first swim since his last jab and he was going on and on about when to bring Jarrett for his 1st swim.

So last thurs, which was also Wx's birthday, I took the day off and together with the in laws, we headed off to the pool.
The little one wasn't too enthusiastic. The dad was though... Overall, Jarrett had not much problem with the water. He seemed abit bored at times, and at one point, excited...he was kicking and kicking and the float was jus turning round and round the same spot, so funny.
We brought him back again on Sun and he showed more signs of interest. I think we have some potential there.

The cute mushroom float was a hit at the pool. All the kids were drawn to it. I like it that it provides a shade for Jarrett. Can keep cool eh..but of cos not very macho like some of the submarine floats I saw. Maybe I should get him one of those arm floats soon.

@ the spa this evening

Got myself some "me" time this evening and pop over to the spa. When the masseuse was about to start the scrub:

Masseuse: Will you like your chest area to be done as well?
Me: No.
Masseuse: Oh..ok
Me: I'm still breastfeeding.
Masseuse: Oh....

30mins later when the massage just started and she was working out the knots in my shoulder and back:
Masseuse: So when I press like this (proceed to press down on my upper back), will the milk squirt out?
Me: erm...no...(DUH!!!)

Another 30mins later when she was massaging my arms:
Masseuse: so how come you can go around without feeding the baby the whole day and still no milk will leak out.
Me thinking "OMG KILL ME"
Me: Erm..I'll express the milk at work.
Masseur: Oh...........

A day of unfortunate happenings

Jarrett had a bad.......day. 1st he fell off the bed and then he had his thigh clipped by the high chair. It was no wonder the moment he saw me, he got all whinny. Poor baby...
In the morning, Wx got scolded by the folks for leaving Jarrett unattended on the bed, thus resulting in the fall. By night fall, Ah Mah was the one feeling darn gulity for clipping Jarrett's fat thigh.
See...ugly bruise. heart pain!

Happy Jarrett

Jarrett loves to play with us in our bed. He's generally happier when we are both with him over the weekends, or so I like to think. haha...



Jarrett having so much fun playing soccer with his dad. No prize for guessing right who was the ball.

Baby Jarrett met Baby Kayden (backdated post)

Jarrett with Aunty Brenda
With Uncle Mervyn & Aunty Brenda
To see if a man's taken, pass him a baby
Jarrett with Kayden!

Spinach Porridge

Jarrett had his last 6 in 1 jab on Wednesday and right aftert that, we brought him home, only to realise his cereal was at grandma's house. Since my trip, Jarrett has moved on to 2 cereal feeds a day, something which he really enjoys.
So with no cereal at home, I decided to give Jarrett his 1st home cooked porridge. This is actually something which I have been dying to do. I have been planning for weeks what to cook for him, how to do it, etc. People who know me will know I love to cook so cooking for my baby son is something which I am really looking forward to. I don't aspire to be the next gastronomy mummy, but I do hope to give Jarrett wholesome, healthy food.

A handful of "new" rice, a small bunch of organic spinach and I had the porridge done within 15mins or so. By right, one should cook the porridge longer to achieve the really smooth, congee like texture, but I had to be fast. It was already 7pm and Jarrett needed to eat soon. So I used another method - puree.
I pureed the porridge and added breastmilk to make it more creamy and to help Jarrett get used to new texture and taste.
Jarrett's first taste of home cooked porridge.

Response: Lukewarm, didn't help that halfway through his meal, he had to break for a poo poo. Btw, Jarrett has been "toilet trained". He sort of know how to indicate to us when he wants to poo. He'll make this cute "urgh..." face and wait for us to bring him to the potty. Of cos, if we are too slow, the little one still can't hold for too long. Credit goes to my MIL who has been most diligent in helping Jarrett.

Back to the porridge, I think Jarrett will need time to get used to the coarser texture but I don't see any major problem here. He did seem eager to have more after a few spoonful. If he's anyway like his pa and ma, he'll soon be eating faster than I can cook.

On the menu for this weekend - brown rice porridge with tofu and veg. Not sure what yet, have to go grocery shopping tonight!

doink...doink...doink...

The jumperoo is one of our best investment so far. The first time we put Jarrett in it, he loved it so much that when we tried to take him out, he screamed with so much anger. Though a tad expensive, the moment the little one squealed with laughter, I thought it was all well spent. Strange how parents figure out the justification in expenditure when it comes to their babies..or maybe it's just me. ha..

Well, Jarrett didn't look too happy in this pic cos I was sitting right in front of him and he was still pissed off with me for going off to Italy without him. Took me two days to pacify him and he is now finally back to his smiley face when he sees me. Phew..for a moment or two, I thought I was going to be totally rejected FOREVER, which got me pretty upset. Due for another trip end of the month (short one), and the Mr. laughed and said this time when I return, Jarrett will not want me anymore! Boo.....

Coffee date with the little one

looking so serious and grown up
I'm big enough for coffee now...
i'll have the latte...and a slice of cake to go with it?

I survived!

and I am so proud of myself. Seriously. It's not easy to go on a long trip as a nursing mum, especially when you are with a tour which cannot accomodate your needs. The first day was the toughest, on my 2nd pump on the plane, I felt really sorry for myself and I was plagued with worries on how to survive the rest of the trip when I got into Rome. So the first day was a bumper, jet lagged and stressed out. I even felt like going home, didn't help that I was missing Jarrett.

Surprisingly, it got easier from the 2nd day onwards, I just got into the swing, and had no problem expressing on the coach or anywhere else. It helped that the tour pace was relatively ok, sometimes with breaks in the day where I could hop back to the room for an hour or so. It also helped that my travelling companion, aka my sis was very supportive. She even helped me to time when would be the next pump and was very accomodating when I said I would need to return to the hotel every 4-5hours when we were on our own in Florence/Rome. The huge problem I had was when we got into Venice. There was some screwed up with the schedule and I had to go without a pump for 7 hrs. You can imagine how sulky I was and I went around whinning (ya..again). Poor sis had to endure with my black face. Apart from that, all went relatively well. I got a few weird looks now and then from the people sitting around and near us, and the tour director looked really curious when she came round our seats when I was in the mist of expressing, and the air steward who looked really shocked when he saw my bottles of milk (with no baby?!?) when I went to the gallery, asking where I could wash my bottles.

The tough part about the trip was missing Jarrett and worrying whether he was okay. Wx said he was really fussy the whole time I was away and drank so little milk. When I got back, the 1st time he saw me, he broke into a smile and then he got really angry and started shoving me away but at the same time holding on to me (does it make sense?) and wailing. The little one was showing me he was really angry I was away for so long, leaving him behind. I felt so gulity! While a part of me feel good knowing that my baby missed me when I was away, another part of me feel so bad that he had a really tough time and wasn't eating and sleeping well. For the rest of the day, Jarrett would follow me with his eyes whenever we were in the same room. This morning when I left him for work, he showed me his pissed off face again. Argh............I don't think there's going to be another long trip anytime soon! If there is, he's going to have to come with me.