Personal time for baby Sheri

Besides sleeping, eating, playing and disturbing mummy and daddy, baby Sheri also likes to have some personal time for herself. Her favourite pastime is to lick her thumb. We caught her doing that in one of the ultrasound scans when she was in mummy's womb. Old habits die hard and here she is, licking her delicious thumb even when she is out in a new world.

Baby Sheri's new sleeping habit

Coaxing baby Sheri to sleep is always a constant battle for mummy. For some unknown reason, baby Sheri is always more alert at night despite the fact that mummy tries to tire her out by playing with her in the afternoon. She is only willing to go to bed after twelve midnight. There is one thing which I do not know if it is only perculiar to baby Sheri. She needs to suck on a bottle to fall asleep. So, what mummy needs to do every night is to carry her in and out of the bedroom, giving her a bottle of milk each time she fusses. However, if she manages to fall asleep, she can sleep throughout the night without waking up. So, finally, mummy can have a good night sleep without any disruptions. Perhaps, it is due to some motherly instinct, I don't seem to be able to sleep for a long time unlike in the past . Usually, I will wake up at about 6 am to change baby Sheri's diaper and feed her since she must be feeling quite hungry after sleeping for the whole night. She will usually sleep througout the whole morning, waking up every 3 hours for feeding. I will try to freshen her up at noon and that marks the start of the day for baby Sheri.

A Cooing baby...

Beside the usual cries, we notice that Baby Sheri is beginning to make sounds like 'ooh, ah, er, umm'. According to some books that mummy has read, parents should try to reciprocate with similar sounds. When we do that, baby Sheri seems to respond to us by continuing to make such sounds as if she is communicating with us. Well, I suppose she is communicating with us in her own way even though we may not understand what she is trying to tell us. I do not know whether it is coincidental. Sometimes, she will utter the sound 'umm' when I ask her whether she wants milk. Anyway, I think it's good that she is learning to make these little sounds as I believe that these will form the basic framework of her language ability in the future.

Warmer weather

I wonder where daddy and mummy are bringing me to.

The weather is getting warmer nowadays. The snow that has been accumulated from the snowstorm is melting slowly. It's time to bring baby Sheri out. Unlike in Singapore, there are less cars and people here during the weekends, and the air is much fresher. Frankly speaking, we enjoy the tranquility of life here sometimes. Taking baby Sheri out for a walk on Saturday's afternoon after mummy comes back from grocery shopping is something that mummy and daddy enjoy the most.

See! I'm trying to sit like mummy and daddy, but sometimes, I may fall to the side like Humpty Dumpty. Fortunately, daddy and mummy are always there to rescue baby Sheri.

Mummy caught daddy dozing off while taking care of baby Sheri.

Daddy, can you share with baby Sheri what you are reading?

Baby Sheri is 2 months old!

Being a 2 months old baby, baby Sheri is more aware of her suroundings now. She can respond to our voices and the shake of a rattle by turning her head. She is pretty good at turning her head from left to right. She also has stronger kicking reflexes now. She can smile, frown and grimace. She likes to look at our faces intently when we hold her closely. I suppose she is trying to observe our facial expressions so that she can imitate it.

I can turn and kick. Who dares to bully me now?

We brought her to see the pediatrician today and she received five shots of immunization and one oral medication. Poor baby Sheri! No worries! Mummy is well equipped with Tylenol and cold pack for fear that baby Sheri may develop some adverse reaction to the shots.
I am 23 1/4 inch (56 cm) long and I weigh 11 pounds(5 kg) now. I'm as big as Winnie the Pooh now.

A White Valentine's day

Last year, we spent our Valentine's day in Canada. This year, we are in the States. More importantly, we have a new addition to the family. However, we could only cuddle each other with baby Sheri at home as there was a snowstorm on Valentine's day. Daddy was not able to go to work as it was impossible to drive in the snowstorm. It built up about 15 to 20 cm of snow on the ground. After the snowstorm had receded, daddy had to shovel the driveway to get the car out of the snow. Poor daddy! What a white Valentine's day!

I'm all dressed up. I'm waiting for mummy and daddy to bring me out to take some pictures.

Baby Sheri's first trip to babies'R"Us

Last Saturday, we brought baby Sheri to Babies"R"Us. Daddy and Mummy had a great time playing with babies' toys, but baby Sheri was sleeping most of the time. We met this caucasian boy in Babies"R"Us. He was very excited when he saw baby Sheri and he kept saying "It's a girl. It's girl" to his parents. We were pretty amazed by the fact that he could tell that baby Sheri is a girl because it can be quite difficult to tell the gender of the babies sometimes. Well, I suppose it's because baby Sheri has a girlish face. At the end of the day, we bought a 3 in 1 rocking gym for baby Sheri. It can be used as a floor gym, take-along xylophone and a rocker at different stages of development of the baby. Of course, daddy was entrusted with the task of assembling the toy for baby Sheri. Well, baby Sheri seems to enjoy playing with the floor gym.

Shared parenting

Time passes very quickly with baby Sheri around. Before you know it, she is due for feeding and diaper-changing. Even though baby Sheri is fed every 2 to 3 hours, there are a number of tasks that mummy needs to do during the interval between each feeding. Mummy has to sterilise the bottles to make sure that they are ready to be used for the next feeding. At the same time, mummy has to find time to rest, eat, express breast milk and play with baby Sheri so that she does not sleep too much in the day. It is not easy to keep baby Sheri awake in the day as she can even sleep while sitting down.

Fortunately, daddy has been a great help to mummy. He will help feed and change baby Sheri when he is back from work. During weekends, he will take care of baby Sheri single-handedly as mummy drives out to do grocery shopping. I guess this is what shared parenting is all about.

Sometimes, it can be difficult to decode baby's cries. So, daddy is trying to train baby Sheri to stick out her tongue if she is hungry when he says 'milk milk'to her. Daddy has also devised a new way to burp baby Sheri after feeding by bouncing her up and down his lap.

Baby Sheri's eating and sleeping habits

Baby Sheri has been home for 6 weeks. Every baby has their own eating and sleeping habits. As far as baby Sheri is concerned, she likes to drink milk. We feed her every 2 to 3 hours and she is drinking about 3 0zs of milk each time. I don't know if it is because of her huge appetite or the fact that Mummy is not producing enough breast milk that Mummy's breast milk is only sufficient to sustain her in the daytime. We have no choice but to supplement with formula milk during the night. She hates to drink water. Whenever we try to give her water between the feedings, she will give you a very skeptical look as she tries to decipher whether you are giving her water or milk. She will frown and spit out the water when she finds that you are giving her water instead of milk.

Baby Sheri sleeps better in the daytime and she seems to be more awake at night. Coaxing her to sleep can be a very challenging task. If she is kind to Mummy and Daddy, she will wake up every 2 to 3 hours for feeding and go back to sleep after each feeding. However, she can be very fussy and try to stay awake for the whole night, testing the patience of Mummy and Daddy. We are looking forward to the day when she can sleep throughout the whole night.

Looking at the way baby Sheri sleeps, I think she needs a huge bed to sleep on.

We had two medical appointments last week. One was a follow-up check up for me after the C-section while the other was an ultra-sound scan for baby Sheri. Thank God! Both of us were given a clean bill of health. At first, I was pretty worried for baby Sheri, as babies who are in a breech position in the womb for a long time may develop some problems with their hips. Fortunately, the ultra-sound results shows that baby Sheri's hip is normal.
So far, I have been quite satisfied with the health care in the States. I had follow-up examinations 2 weeks and 4 weeks after my C-section and will be having one more 6 months later. Well, I suppose you pay for what you get. My medical bill for the C-section amounts to about US$18 000. Fortunately, we have health insurance to help us defray part of the bill.

Auntie Jess and Uncle Jeff brought their son, Han, to visit baby Sheri on last Sunday. They bought some gifts for baby Sheri, but baby Sheri was sleeping so soundly when they came. When she woke up, she was delighted to find that she has new toys to add to her collection.

Thank you, Auntie Jess and Uncle Jeff. I love the toys that you bought.

This winter has been unusually warm. It snowed only on a couple of days. Even though I have experienced walking on a few inches of snow during my stay in Canada, I still feel very excited whenever I see snow flakes drizzling down. This is the Sheri's first winter in the States. I tried to bring her to look at the snow through the window, but I think she is too young to appreciate. Her daddy named her 'Xuehui' as her Chinese name where 'Xue' signifies snow in Chinese since she was born in winter.

Baby Sheri is one month old!

We bought a fruit tart for baby Sheri on Saturday to celebrate baby Sheri's first month. There were also some longevity buns that Gandma bought while she was here. Baby Sheri was sleeping very soundly earlier after disturbing Mummy and daddy the night before. We had a hard time waking baby Sheri up for the photo taking and that was the reason she looked a bit dazed in the photographs.

Do I look like one of them?

Baby Sheri 's favourite sleeping positions

God bless us!

After two weeks of crash course on taking care of newborn babies, my parents left on last Friday and we are now left on our own to take care of baby Sheri. Sleep is very much deprived nowadays with baby Sheri waking up every 2 to 3 hours for feeding. Usually, we wouldn't have much problems with her if she sleeps after each feeding. The problem arises only when she does not want to sleep. This usually happens when she is wide awake after changing her diaper. So, we have to change her diapers at appropriate times. Fortunately, she does not fuss too much with poopy diapers.

Celebration of my dad's birthday in the States

My dad's birthday is in January. Since it is the first time that he is in States, we decided to hold a mini birthday celebration for him. We bought a cake and some pizza(his favourite food) for him. Baby Sheri also made it in time to celebrate her grandpa's birthday.

Baby Sheri is sleeping so soundly after drinking mummy's milk. This cow outfit is a gift from her mummy's sister. It fits her very nicely now. Her mummy has a hard time satisfying the appetite of this little cow. Poor mummy!

Baby Sheri is one week old!

We brought baby Sheri to her pediatrician, Dr Toff, for her first check up on the day after she was discharged from the hospital. She has her first vaccination for hepatitis B. Her physical examination results are normal. What amazes me is some of the reflexes that newborn baby has. One of them is called 'stepping'. With the help of Dr Toff, baby Sheri is able to place one foot in front of the other and'walk'. According to Dr Toff, this reflex will disappear after 2 months and then it will recur as the learned voluntary behaviour of walking towards the end of the first year.




Time passes very quickly. Baby Sheri has been home for a week. She has very good appettite, drinking about 2 to 3 oz of breast milk at each feeding. Mummy has difficulties trying to keep up with her demand for breast milk. She seems to sleep better in the daytime, but she can be quite fussy at night. Fortunately, the grandmother is around to deal with this little terror so that mummy and daddy can get some sleep.

Happy Birthday to Baby Sheri!

Hi everyone, baby Sheri has finally made her grand debut into this world on 22nd Dec 2006 at St Lukes hospital in Allentown. Thank God! Everything went on smoothly as planned. Her weight was 8 lbs 7oz when she was born. She has very rosy cheeks which I could not resist pinching her. The medical staff told me that it was a blessing in disguise that she was in a breech presentation which warrants a C-section, as I might not be able to deliver her naturally given her size. I stayed in the hospital for 4 days and was discharged on Christmas day. The hospital staff was very supportive and the meals were excellent. I'm still recovering from my incision at home. Fortunately, my parents and brother arrived the day after my surgery to take care of me and little baby Sheri. Little Sheri has been quite well-behaved so far and she has very good appetite. Even though she lost 7 oz during the first few days after she was born, she was able to regain her lost weight in 3 days after she was discharged from the hospital. We are quite happy with her progress so far. I shall keep you updated as she grows. Once again, thank you for all your concern and prayers.

39th week of pregnancy

This is my 39th week of pregnancy. We have scheduled a C-section on this coming friday 22nd December. Knowing that the last weekend was our last weekend of peace, we spent some quiet moments together. In appreciation of all the discomforts that I have been through for the past 9 months and 3 weeks, my hubby took me out for dinner on Saturday night. The food was excellent. It was one of the best American meals that we have tasted so far. The grilled ribs was tender and succulent, and the grilled chicken was crispy and tasty. When we went out, everyone seemed to notice my big tummy. Some of them stopped by to ask for my due date while others could not wait to touch my big tummy.
We spent the whole Sunday cleaning the house and the car to get ready to welcome the new member of the family, as well as my parents and brother who will be arriving on this coming Saturday. I feel so clumsy to move around the house with a big tummy. Maw Lin did most of the house work until he was totally worn out at the end of the day. Well, I suppose that is just the beginning of fatherhood for him.

37th week of pregnancy

I'm feeling the contractions more frequently now as I approach 37th week of pregnancy this week. The OBGYN did an ultrasound last week to determine the position of the baby. To our dismay, the baby is still not in the head down position, so my OBGYN suggested scheduling a C-section in my 39th week of pregnancy. The reason he wanted to get the baby out in the 39th week is because he does not want the baby to be too big in my tummy as baby now weighs about 7.1 pounds which is about 3.175 kg. I was feeling quite sad for the whole week because I have always wanted to deliver the baby naturally just like all my friends here. Delivering the baby through C-section makes me feel a sense of failure in my first step to motherhood. I'm also pretty worried about the slow recovery process from C-section as we may not be able to receive much help from our family members here unlike in Singapore. All we can do now is to hope that everything will turn out well and the baby Sheri will be delivered in a way that is in her best interest.