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Emma

All about Emma

Emma at 2 Months

May 22, 2013 in Emma, Milestones | No comments

Scrap Credits
Birthday Minikit from Verena Designs
Fuzzy Felt Alpha from Misschifis
Treasured button from Debra Anderson Designs 

Weight

11 lbs 7 oz (5.188 kilos).  She is in the 50.28 percentile on the weight for age chart, having gained about 2 kilos since birth.

Height/Length

23.25″ (59.1 cm).  She’s a rather long baby, don’t you reckon?  It’s probably because Emma stretches so much! 🙂

Motor Skills

  • She’s gaining more strength in her neck, and can hold her head upright for longer periods when on her tummy now.
  • She sometimes likes to suck on her fist.
  • She likes to move her gaze towards objects which are red.
Communication and Social Skills
  • Emma seems to want to *communicate* with us, and she does so by cooing at us in response to what we say to her.  Her cooing is always right on cue and it’s endearing to communicate with her that way.
  • She has started smiling!  She’s mostly her “smiliest” in the mornings and also she appears to smile more when Daddy is talking to her.  She’s also showing great affection for Ethan and Hannah: all they need to do is smile at her and she will smile back.  Harder for Mommy to make her smile though…hmmmph..no fair!

Others

  • Emma is still being treated for Seborrhoeic Dermatitis, which looks a little like eczema on certain parts of her body, especially on her limbs.  We’re hoping it will clear up soon.
  • Still unable to fully sleep through the night, but thankfully there were a few nights where she has slept 4 hours straight!  Let’s hope she keeps it up and prolong those sleeping hours.

Food and Feeding
She is 100% on Mommy’s milk.

Emma Smiles!

May 10, 2013 in Emma, Growing Up, Milestones | 2 comments

Scrap Credits
Birthday Minikit from Verena Designs
Elegant word art (beautiful smile) from Bethany
Stamp cluster 8 (modified) from Lindsay Jane Designs

We’ve been waiting for Emma to flash us that precious smile ever since she was born.  As far as we can remember, her two elder siblings started smiling very early on, but it appeared that Emma was a tad serious.  She wasn’t fussy or anything, it just seemed as though she was always deep in thought.

We did catch her smiling to herself in her sleep off and on (displaying her cute little dimple on her right cheek), but the social smile still eluded us.  I tried talking, singing, laughing, tickling, …but nothing.  She would coo a lot and watch me intently though.

However, just last week or so, Emma decided to start SMILING! 😀

I’m not quite sure how it started, but I remember her Daddy got pretty excited when his little girl started smiling at him.

Here’s to more SMILEY days ahead.  I simply can’t wait to hear her first giggle 🙂

The One With The Cradle Cap

May 9, 2013 in Emma, Growing Up, Parenting | No comments

A couple of weeks back, we noticed that Emma was beginning to develop some red rashes on her scalp.  We’d thought it was just an extension of her baby acne on her face which we figured would heal itself by the 2nd month.

However, the rashes on her scalp began to take on a yellow-brownish look that was crusty and scabby.  It looked really dry.  After googling and calling her pediatrician, Emma was diagnosed as having cradle cap, also known as Seborrhoeic Dermatitis.  Apparently it is pretty common in newborn babies.

I also noticed that the rash had spread to behind her ears and it looked really uncomfortable for her, because it was red and raw.  Also, it was oozing some liquid. 🙁

Our pediatrician suggested we try some hydrocortisone 1% cream on the skin behind her ears.  It’s a steroid cream, so I used it sparingly.

Thankfully, this treatment cleared her up within 2 days. 🙂

That wasn’t the end of it though.  As soon as it cleared, I noticed Emma’s neck area was getting really red and sore.  The creases in between her folds had some creamy-like substance too.  Fearing an infection, I took her to her pediatrician, and the doctor thought it looked like a bacterial infection.  She prescribed bacitracin, an anti-bacterial ointment to be applied 2-3 times daily.

Also, because her cradle cap scabs were still present, the pediatrician suggested the following steps to be done 3-4 times weekly:

  1. Using some baby oil/olive oil, massage gently into scalp to soften the crusts.  Leave on for 10 minutes.
  2. Loosen the crusts gently using either a soft baby toothbrush, soft comb or wash cloth.
  3. Shampoo off using an anti-dandruff shampoo, containing selenium sulfide.

We’re so pleased to note that we are seeing so much improvement after treatment.  Emma still has some rough patches on her skin which we are treating with the hydrocortisone, and hopefully her skin will clear up 100% soon.

 

Our First Visit to Six Flags New England

April 28, 2013 in Emma, Entertainment, Ethan, Hannah, Parenting, Vacation | No comments

We had planned on going to Six Flags New England after lunch, when the accident happened.  And when we were done in Urgent Care, it was already about 4:00p.m.  Pete and I were ready to go back home to rest, but then Ethan and Hannah asked, “Mommy, Daddy, are we going to see our surprise now?”

You see, we had told them both that we would be taking them for a surprise that day.  They remembered.

So I checked with the nurse and doctor and Hannah got the go-ahead, with the caveat to avoid getting the wound wet.  So we made the 1.5 hour drive to Agawam, MA for our first visit to Six Flags.

We had gotten season passes to the theme park, so we’ll definitely make a few more trips there before we leave for Malaysia.  Hannah took a quick power nap on the way there, but was all excitement as we arrived.  Unfortunately we had to queue up to change our printed season passes to photo-ID ones, and that took about 30 minutes or so, a LOOONG wait for people with kids, let me tell ya.

Here are some of our pictures.  Because Ethan and Hannah wanted to go on ride after ride, Pete had to take them on those rides when I had to breastfeed Emma or change her and then I would meet them at a later time somewhere.  On rides that the kids had to be accompanied by an adult, we had to make use of the parent swap, where either Pete or I would ride with one kid first and then subsequently, we can ride with the other kid without having to queue up again.

It was quite an experience being in a theme park with three kids now, especially also since Emma chose that period of time to poop a few times!

It got colder in the night, and I could not believe that we actually stayed up till park closure at 9:00p.m.  Well, we will definitely be back! 😀

The kids are already requesting to go back the next day itself! LOL

Hope to get more pictures during our next visit!

 

To The Big Apple And Back

April 22, 2013 in Celebrations, Emma, Entertainment, Ethan, Growing Up, Hannah, Vacation | No comments

Last week, we made a quick trip to New York and back.  The primary reason for this trip was to get Emma’s birth registration and Malaysian passport done at the Consulate General of Malaysia.  Previously for Hannah’s case when she was born in California, we did not need to make the trip to the Consulate General of Malaysia in LA, and we only needed to Fedex all the necessary documents.

However, now that Emma was born in the East Coast, the rules for birth registration at the Consulate General in New York were different.  Not only did the Consulate General require the baby to be physically present at the point of birth registration, submission could only be done from 9:30a.m. – 12:00noon.  Same-day collection would only be guaranteed if we submit the documentation at 9:30a.m. in the morning, so in order to comply with that and not have to wait to collect the stuff a day later, we decided to go to New York on Thursday, stay the night and then submit the registration early Friday morning.

We left a little later than planned on Thursday morning (what’s new?), and while Emma was wide awake when we drove off, she fell asleep a few minutes later.

Hannah and Ethan were as excited as ever about our trip.  Here’s Hannah showing you how happy she is…You would know by now who’s the one who’s ever willing to pose for the camera and who’s just the opposite. 😛

Emma was dozing away beautifully and only woke up after we had our lunch; we stopped at Subway in Rocky Hill, Connecticut before heading on towards The Big Apple.

Traffic was unbelievably heavy on a week day, and even heavier when we arrived in NYC.  We drove straight towards the Financial District and parked our car near the Staten Island Ferry Terminal.

There wasn’t a long wait thankfully, and we boarded the ferry not long after.  Emma was quite fidgety at that time, and we soon found out why: she pooped while we were on the ferry!

Pete managed to take the kids up to the deck to get a closer look at the Statue of Liberty though.  It was rather cloudy that day but the kids just loved the ferry ride.

Upon arrival at Staten Island we took the next ferry back to Manhattan.  On the return ferry, and after changing Emma, I put her in a baby sling, and took her up to the deck for about a minute or two.  She was still really restless, even though I had fed her, and even when we put her in the stroller and pushed her out from the ferry.  In fact, Emma only settled down and fell asleep in the car, as we made our way to our hotel.

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Here, There and Everywhere

April 17, 2013 in Breastfeeding, Emma, Food & Feeding, Growing Up, Parenting | No comments

During the past one month where I have been learning about this new world I’m in, Daddy and Mommy has brought me to so many new places!  So many new things to see, I can safely assume I have been to more places than most of the newborns around! 🙂

  • I visited my pediatrician twice; once when I was 2 weeks’ old and one more time when I was a month old.  I didn’t like it when they undressed me and placed me on this weighing scale thing, but Daddy and Mommy sure seemed happy after they took my weight.  Also, I had a Hepatitis B jab during my 2nd visit.  Didn’t like that at all!  Hmmph.
  • I’ve followed Daddy, Mommy, Ethan and Hannah out on countless occasions to several restaurants for their meals.  Japanese food, Vietnamese food, fast food…they sure eat a LOT.  Me?  I’m just contented with Mommy’s breast milk – yummy!
  • One several occasions, they brought me along to this ice cream store called Coldstone Creamery where they bought their ice cream to go.  Daddy said something about me crying, so they had to get it to go.
  • I’ve also been to grocery stores, sometimes just Mommy and me.  It’s never too early to learn about shopping, they say.  Mommy pushed me around in a stroller and managed to get the groceries done.
  • Mommy has also brought me along to my brother Ethan’s school to drop him off, and she also takes me down with her when she drops my sister Hannah off at her school.  The cool weather is just right for me, but there were a couple of days when it was a little bit windy.  I heard Mommy saying that it’s much warmer now and that it was a good thing I was born a little later, after the unforgiving cold winter.

I’m looking forward to more exciting outings ahead…psst…I heard that they are planning some as we speak!  Well, I ain’t complaining as long as they keep me clean and dry and ensure that my supply of milk is readily available all the time! 😀

Emma at 1 Month

April 15, 2013 in Emma, Milestones | 3 comments

Scrap Credits
The Endless Love kit from K Designs
Cozy Alphas from retrodiva {designs}™

Amazing how this tiny little bundle of joy is totally dependent on me for everything!  And it’s equally amazing how much I love her so…

Weight

9 lbs 4.5 oz (4.21 kilos).  Suffice to say, the infant carrier Emma *travels around* in is getting heavier by the day!  Her weight gain is excellent, and she is right on track, gaining approximately 1 kilo since she was born a month ago.

Height/Length

22″ (55.9 cm)

Motor Skills

  • Emma can slightly lift her head for short periods of time during tummy time, and at times she will just end up sucking on her fist.
  • She is still not very interested in toys, preferring to look into the eyes of the people carrying her.  She also likes to look at pictures on the wall.
  • Emma has a very firm and strong grip, and apart from grabbing onto my finger, she will hold on tightly to my hair too!  I have had to ask Pete for help in breaking her grip sometimes!
  • Emma loves sleeping in the sleeping sack, just like her brother Ethan.  It gives her tremendous comfort and keeps her warm too. She has begun to sleep less during the day, but just as I was hoping she would sleep longer through the nights, she wakes up like every hour or so too.  I blame it on the occassional growth spurts she gets, but I’m praying I’ll get more and more sleep soon.
Communication and Social Skills
  • To date, Emma looks rather serious and does not smile “willingly” yet.  I’ve only seen her smile a couple of times to me, and on a few occasions when she is sleeping.  We’re hoping she will smile more readily in the next month.
  • I can more or less tell the difference between her cries for hunger, for comfort, for burping, to be changed, or simply just for a hug and cuddle.  Emma loves to be cuddled and held, and I can always see the comfort on her face when I hold her.
  • Emma can recognize the familiar faces around her pretty well now.  If she cries and I pick her up, she will stop crying immediately.  Sometimes, if she wants milk, and Daddy picks her up, she will continue crying up until she gets “transferred” into my arms, and she will stop crying, just like “magic”.  She will sometimes remain quietly in her rocker, and when she hears my voice or sees me walking past, she will let out a cry.
  • Emma loves going for rides in the car.  More often that not, the vibrating and soothing effect of the moving car will provide her the comfortable environment to sleep in.

 

Others

  • Emma’s umbilical cord stump dropped off on day 6 after she was born.  I was definitely surprised because I had expected it to fall off around the 10th day or so.
  • “Baby acne” still prevalent on her face and head, similar to those seen on Ethan and Hannah when they were wee babes.  Doctor says the acne will run its course over the next month.
  • Emma’s eyelashes are growing beautiful and long, just like her siblings’.  They frame her beautiful deep-set brown eyes so well too!
  • Emma loves to fall asleep in my arms, and more so if she has bare skin to skin contact.  I believe this must be due to the fact that she was exposed to the skin to skin concept immediately after birth.  She just seems so contented that way.

Food and Feeding
She is 100% on Mommy’s milk.  Occasionally I give her 1 ml (400IU) of Vitamin D drops (as prescribed by doctor) because babies who are exclusively breastfed and who live in the higher latitudes are advised to be supplemented this way.

I Am Truly Thankful…

April 1, 2013 in Breastfeeding, Emma, Growing Up, Milestones, Parenting | 4 comments

I am truly thankful that Emma has been a relatively calm baby.  She cries gently, except when she needs to be changed IMMEDIATELY or if she is unbelievably HUNGRY, but other than that, she cries only when she needs to.  I believe this might be due to the immediate skin-to-skin contact after she was born.  We had a one-hour bonding session right after she was born, and that could possibly be the reason why she is a calm baby.

I am truly thankful that Emma has been taking a few naps in the daytime, which allows me time to cook and clean and do the essentials around the house.  Unfortunately the popular adage, “A mom needs to sleep when the baby sleeps” does not hold true here, because only when the baby sleeps, do I find the time to do the important things that need to be done.

I am truly thankful every day because even though Emma keeps me up throughout the night, waking up every 1-1.5 hours for the past few days because she is currently in one of her growth spurts and hence cluster-feeds all the time, I would not be as sleep-deprived as I would be had I not chosen to breastfeed.  I cannot imagine how zombie-fied I would be if I had to wake up and mix up a bottle of formula or even wake up to sterilize my breast pump to express milk.  So even though I am sleep-deprived, I am still thankful.

I am truly thankful that on the several occasions we have taken Emma out, she has been behaving really well.  She wanted to be fed a few times, but it was nothing this Moo-mie could not handle.  Hey, I make milk, remember? 🙂

I am truly thankful that Emma has gained a good amount of weight, taken at her 2-week checkup.  She was a healthy 7lb 4 oz at 2 weeks and we shall see how much she weighs soon, at her 1-month checkup.  For the record (and also from our observation), she definitely looks more BULAT now. 🙂

Can’t wait for her to grow up and play with Ethan and Hannah! 😀

Big Brother and Big Sister

March 27, 2013 in Emma, Ethan, Growing Up, Hannah, Parenting | 1 comment

Ever since Emma came into our lives, I can tell that in a way, it has brought Ethan and Hannah closer together.  It’s not like they weren’t playing together before, but I kind of feel like they look happier together now.  It’s as if they now have something special in common, i.e. a little sister they can call their own.

It’s truly a blessing Ethan and Hannah have each other because it sort of distracts Hannah (especially) from jealousy and inevitable sibling rivalry.  On the contrary, both Ethan and Hannah adore their little sister Emma.  They witnessed her being born and that in itself is the most precious thing in the world.

Hannah, especially is very fond of stroking Emma’s hair and head and has, on many occasions, asked to hold and carry Emma (under adult supervision, of course).

When Emma cries, Ethan and Hannah will ask that I check on the baby immediately to see if she’s all right.  Hannah will sometimes say, “Mommy, I think Emma wants breast milk!”

So I think this sibling relationship between the three have gotten off to a good start. 🙂

Of course, we did give it a push in the right direction by doing a couple of things on our part too.  When I had Hannah, I brought along a photo of Ethan with me to the hospital, and similarly, this time, I had with me photos of Ethan and Hannah.

They were certainly happy to see it when they visited me. 🙂

(The purple bag beside the picture frame is a gift bag from the hospital.  It contains a lavender spray, a few bars of lavender oatmeal soap and some lavender cream.  Heavenly!!)

We also did the gift gesture from Emma to Ethan and Hannah when we got home.

 

Hannah asked, “But Mommy, how did Emma buy the presents for us?”

And Ethan answered, “Of COURSE she didn’t!  Mommy and Daddy bought them!”

They were happy with the gifts all the same though. 🙂

When I had to stay in hospital for 2 nights, Pete had to single-handedly manage both kids, and I was primarily concerned about Hannah.  Ethan is quite independent and matured enough to understand most things, but Hannah would be away from me for the first time ever, so I expected a certain amount of insecurity.  Pete said it was harder dropping her off at school (and still is, sometimes), so I really hope Hannah will overcome her insecurity soon.  That being said, Pete did an excellent job in caring for them both in my absence, and for that I am truly thankful. 🙂

So yeah, both Ethan and Hannah adore little Emma and they can’t wait for her to grow up so they can play with her, especially Hannah, I think.  Ethan’s gonna be a terrific big brother and Hannah’s gonna be an awesome big sister. 🙂

Hannah says, “Mommy, now there are THREE girls in our family!”

And Ethan continued, “Yes, and now there are also THREE kids!”

The girls outnumber the boys BUT now the KIDS outnumber the grown-ups.   This is gonna be interesting. 😛

The Wondrous Birth of Sweet Little Baby Emma

March 20, 2013 in Breastfeeding, Celebrations, Emma, Ethan, Hannah, Parenting | 14 comments

It has been a little more than a week now that we have been blessed with Little Baby Emma in our lives, and sometimes I still can’t believe that she’s here! 🙂

We had been waiting for her arrival since I hit the 38th week, and every day since then had been anxiety-filled and putting what-ifs into question.  I had also gone for several rounds of prenatal fetal non-stress tests before Emma’s arrival, and every time I had been told, “Your baby looks perfect!  This baby’s beautiful!”

Apart from the regular Braxton-Hicks contractions I had been feeling, there was no other indication that Emma was gonna come soon.  Week 39 came and there was obvious stress on my bladder and pubic bone.  I was finding it increasingly hard to move around, but I still did my regular stuff: cooking, cleaning, grocery shopping, and even some yoga and light cardio on the elliptical.  Her movements in my belly were more prominent at night.  I tried to keep my mind off the waiting by doing laundry, cleaning the bathroom, vacuuming, rewashing Emma’s crib linens, whatever I could think of, but nothing happened.

I drank a lot of labor prep tea (containing red raspberry leaf) and also had yogurt with pineapple in it, in the hope of starting off labor, but guess what, nothing happened.

Initially I had predicted Emma would be born on February 28th, but that day came and went without incident.  Then Pete predicted she would be born on the same date as her sister Hannah’s birthday, but March 2nd came to pass too.  Then we thought it would be March 5th, and I thought for sure it would be March 8th.  But nothing happened.

Incidentally, we had a blizzard on March 8th, which lasted till March 9th, so had she decided to make her entrance that day, it would be hard for us to make our way to the hospital too.  Clever girl. 🙂

On Saturday, March 9th, I felt stronger contractions, or rather they felt like the urge for a bowel movement.  Nothing happened then though, except that I *thought* my mucus plug was dislodged that day.  On Sunday March 10th, at about 11:00a.m. I definitely had “the show”, and I excitedly told Pete about it.

“This is it,” I said. “Emma will be here in a day or so.”

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