Big Enough for the Stroller!

See - Mei Xi is getting bigger and her neck muscles are getting stronger, so she can go out for walks in the stroller now. And she can see more things this way too!

A Rotten Apple

Got a call from the Mac service center and was informed that the Logic Card on my iBook G4 is had to be replaced and its warranty had expired. That would mean approximately 900USD just for the repair. I was infuriated to say the least. We bought the iBook G4 in May 04for 2500SGD and now they are telling me that the CPU has crashed beyond repair. #*)&@. So much for my good impression of Apple products. Well at least the hard disk can still be salvaged. Alot of Mei Xi's photo in her first two months are in there and has not been backed up.

Now I am left with the following options:

1. Repair the iBook G4 for 900USD.
2. Get a new iBook G4 for 1000+USD.
3. Get a iMac Mini for 500USD (at least I can salvage the Airport Express) and transfer the hard disk info into the new iMac Mini.
4. Give up on Apple and get a Intel machine instead.

I am currently looking into option 3 and 4. 3 because it is still within budget and iMac Mini is quite cool. 4 because I am very disappointed with Apple and should never have migrated to them. But not sure if I can salvage the Apple hard disk which might not be compatible with PC hard disk. Still thinking about my options.......Grrrr.

Picture With Mummy

Ee Wan has been complaining that she does not have a nice picture with baby, so we spent sometime today trying to capture them together. We realise that her nicer pictures are inevitably taken with baby on the boppy.

This is a picture engaged in her favourite activity, eating her fingers and kicking. We have been trying to stop her from eating her fingers by giving her alternatives like a teether but she has not been accepting it. Apparently it is common for babies to eat their fingers, either to soothe themselves or because their gums are itching from teething. As far as pychomotor skills are concerned, she can kick pretty well now. Look at her kicking her toys in the picture. However, her hand-eye coordination can still be improved. She doesn't like playing with the rattle yet with her hands yet.

Progress

Mei Xi is getting more expressive every day. She said 'Her' and 'Hi' on Monday, as well as 'Ah Goo Ga', 'Ah Ne Gu' and 'Ah Bah' on Tuesday (and since then, I've been trying to teach her the 'm' sound... heh..). She is typically most vocal in the morning, after a good night's sleep and a hearty breakfast. And she seems to be trying to communicate with her entire face, and not just the sounds she makes. Even when she says 'Ah Goo', she can say it in different ways, with different emotions - 'Aaah Goo' (with a long drawn out ah), 'Ah Goo' (loudly and brightly, when she is happy) and 'Eh Gooo (in a pitiful manner when she is sad). When she sneezes, she often says 'Ah Woo' after that.

Now that she has gained mastery of moving her hands and kicking her legs while lying on her back, she has grown bored of being put in this position. Her current favourite position is to be put tummy down on the Boppy while she lifts up her head and looks at things around her. She can happily stay in this position for a long time - until her diaper is soaked through to the bedsheet underneath the Boppy. She also enjoys sitting upright, and is getting better at this every day. She used to topple to the right or left very easily, but she can now stay in an upright position for a longer time. Her eyesight has improved too and she is able to follow me as I move around the room. This afternoon, she even watched DVD - the 'Baby Bach' DVD. We borrowed this for her as she seems so easily bored with her toys unless we make them move for her. The colourful, moving images actually captured her interest and attention for quite some time. Over the last few days, we watched a couple of Vegetales DVD (a Christian-based series of stories for children, with singing and dancing vegetables) - I love the series and the catchy songs, but Mei Xi wasn't as keen on it =p I guess 'Baby Bach' is more age-appropriate.

There has also been progress on another front - after all the relactation efforts, my milk production has indeed increased, and Mei Xi is taking more breast milk (which we call 'mummy milk/mummy nai3) rather than formula (which we call 'daddy milk/ba3 ba2 nai3). Still, my supply is erratic, so some days, she enjoys almost all breast milk meals, while on other days, some formula supplementation is necessary. I am always worried that Mei Xi undereats, while Minhui worries that she overeats. At least we know that with breast milk, she can better regulate how much she consumes. And to our relief, she is gaining weight, gaining flesh, and growing well... and looking more and more like a little dumpling (xiao3 ba4 zhang3) actually. In fact, she has outgrown some of the newborn clothes and we will be upsizing her disposable diapers again once her current lot runs out. When we measured her earlier this week, she was 59cm tall/long, and 11.5lbs heavy - both of which were at the 50th percentile for a 3-month old baby. Not bad eh, considering that both Minhui and I are way below the 50th percentile ;p

Watching TV

Baby seems to get bored very easily. It can be good and bad. On the one hand, it shows that she is a curious little

She has distinct preferences too and is not shy to express her wishes and to protest when things are done against her will. For instance, she likes to have a view, so if we sit down on the sofa while carrying her and all she gets to see is the sofa back, she will protest. She also likes variety and gets bored easily, and when she is bored, she just starts to suck her fingers. Eek.

{wifey interjected me there} baby; on the other hand, it could be a sign of poor attention span. Of course, all these are untested hypotheses and behaviour at 3 months should not indicate any permanent personality trait. Look at her engrossed in the TV program "Baby Bach".

Then & Now

Baby at -5 months old then.

Baby at 3 months old now. See the resemblance. How she has grown in the 8 months. :)

Flipping Over

Baby can now flip over from her front to back. This is her lying down on her front with her usual curious look. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to capture the full sequence of movement as she flipped around. Ain't she adorable?

Sunday with Baby

Here is one of those rare occasions when Mei Xi is looking coy and demure! Doesn't she look like a little china doll?



And here is Mei Xi sleeping on her Boppy in a carefree manner.

Baby In Motion

Another milestone. Mei Xi can perform some purposeful and decisive movement now. Hee.

Looking pensively at the task ahead.....On your mark, Get Set, GO!


Heave, Ho, Heave, Ho...


Mission Accomplished! Phew! Pant pant....

Ah Goo Ger

Mei Xi seems to be babbling loudly and confidently these days. She tends to be most sociable after a good night's sleep and after her morning feed, and that's when she babbles the most, sometimes not even waiting for my response before she continues on her own. She's very good at saying 'Ah Goo' now, and has declared proudly 'Ah Goo' when asked what's her name. But 'Ah Goo' can also refer to many other things, such as Mummy or tree. She is now fond saying 'Ah Woo' too. And she can say, 'Ah Ger', 'Ah Boo' and 'Dor'. This morning, I asked her if she thinks Mona's baby will be a boy or girl, and after a long pause, she exlaims 'Ah Ger' - I wonder if she's right! On a few occasions, she strings together more sounds, such as 'Ah Goo Ger' (to indicate that she is a 'good girl'?), 'Ah Woo Goo' or other sounds that's quite now as distinct. It's so fun to listen to her chatter =)

Stupid Apple iBook

The orignal title of this entry ought to have been "Baby Sleeping" or "Baby Bathtime" or something to that effect. But our iBook is not working properly!!!! The screen is garbled and I cant see what I am doing on the Mac. The harddisk should be ok though and I am going to try to use a VGA cable to salvage the harddisk. Arggh. All the latest baby photos and video are inside!

But, I shall not let the incompetency of Apple Inc to spoil my day. Woe betide Steve Job, Pixar, Apple Inc, Mac OS X, .... after I salvage my hard disk. Grrr....

Today is a hot lazy Saturday. Woke up early to visit a couple of yard sales in the area in the morning. Baby became so tired that she fell asleep after feeding. Look up at the way she is sprawled on the boppy. Haha.

Her facial expression changes with intent, a sure sign of growth.

This is her curious look.

And this is her delightful look.

Ah Poo!

One of the joy in parenting is to witness the growth and development of your baby, including every single innocent new actions that she learns. Baby say "Ah Poo!" today. Might sound trivial but the innocence with which she said it send us into fits of laugther. See her smile today after learning to say something new. Btw, it is not easy to take a picture of her smile as her face always turn when we aim the camera at her. She is still a bit camera shy....hee

We have been worrying about her not gettting enough stimulation cos she looks bored alot of times, so we decide to give the Walmart play gym toys which was meant to be her full month present anyway.

She was delighted! Her face was fascinated by the mirror, the rattler and the musical toy. Look at her sleep with her new toys:).

Mummy Fell Sick

Ee Wan was down with flu today and I took urgent leave to take care of both mummy and baby. As Ee Wan was in a state of "quarantine" today I spent alot of time playing with baby.

Mei Xi is in a much better mood today as we finally got our air con repaired and she abhors hot weather. With the air con blowing at full blast, she was actually cheery today in the hot Savannah Summer Day!

Mei Xi did a couple of new things today as well, she can flip from her front to back almost by herself now. She spit up less and can hold her head up for some time while lying on her back now. Hee Hee. And how can I forget that she can sit up quite confidently now.

Daniel Under the Big Top

Mei Xi had a big adventure today - she attended a children's event at a church. How this came about was that Vivian has been scouting for playgroups/nurseries for Chloe and found out about this church near the Henderson Golf Community, at the Gateway area, and she learnt about this event. The fairly new church looked nothing like a traditional church. Instead, its exterior architecture as well as interior furnishings (lush carpets, nice and clean toilets, spacious layout, signages etc) resembled a posh office building. The event was for children from birth up, but Mei Xi, at 2 1/2 months old, was among the youngest (and cutest!) baby there. The morning started with a mingling session for mothers and kids, followed by a musical put up by the church. A big marquee was set up in the hall for the musical, with the kids sitting in a semicircle all round the designated stage. The theme of the performance was 'trust in God', so there was lots of singing and dancing about this, with the kids being encouraged to sing and dance along. And the performers acted out the story of Daniel, who was thrown into a lion's den but survived unscathed because of his faith in the Lord. (The furry lion in the musical was really cute, like a big soft toy.) The performers tried to get the kids involved in the show, by such simple but effective ways as getting them to wear lion masks to simulate the presence of more lions in the den. Mei Xi had fallen asleep by the time the musical started, but she was woken up by all the noise, and she actually watched the entire musical, entranced. After the show, she even gave me a big smile, as though saying that she had enjoyed it! And I had been worried that she's too young to enjoy the show. I think it would probably be fun for her to go for more of such age-appropriate events - more mental stimulation that what we can reasonably provide at home.