Asha 7+YO, Rana 4+YO

Asha

She is in 2nd grade of primary school now, despite the fact that she just turned 7 a few months back. My soft kind hearted girl. Often she complained her stuff are missing from her bag/pencil case. Pencil, pen, cards. Her friends took them and not giving it back. I tried to teach her that it's ok to say no if she doesn't want to lend it. Really, problematic. I hope she learns to say no when she really meant it.
She's growing well. I'm not worried about her performance in school. She learns fast by practice. Her English and Bahasa are good, I'm not worried. Math she needs more help to practice and her teacher included her in Math supplementary class. Longer school hours in some days but it does help her. Since I'm not home mostly to help her review her math.

On other notes, I am trying to slowly get her used to 5 times daily prayer. I got her to do Subuh and Magrib. Next I need to slowly introduce Isya, and at the end, Zuhur and Ashar. The last two are more difficult since I'm not home. I also need to teach her the tahiyat doa.

She sleeps by herself now. We don't need to cuddle her anymore. With her everything has to be slowly introduced and get used to and it'll take some time. She also showered, wear clothes by herself now.

Her eczema is getting better alhamdulillah thanks to TF 4life. It still itched time to time but not flaring anymore, just dry. We managed her itch at school by putting on a stocking sock under her school socks. There was one time that her eczema flared badly during holiday. It took around 2-3 months to get it back as it used to. While it only took 1 week to worsen. Horrible. I so wish it to go away soon. Sadly it has spread to her left leg which once was clear.

Rana

She is in K1 now. She is surprisingly more independent and more focused than her sister. A side note for me that even though she is so, she still needs my attention. She is still hot tempered. But her scratching attacks have lessened now. Previously whenever she's angry she'll scratch her sister. She is entering her sweet most adorable phase now. She takes off her own clothes, put them in the laundry bin, can do everything else by herself. Though sometimes she needs to be spoonfeed. Acted like grown ups most of the time.

Asha 6 YO, Rana 3YO

Time just flies so fast.

Asha will be entering P1 in just a few days, and Rana will be going to Zulfa for Nursery.

I'm more concerned with Asha going to a new school. Frankly, I am a bit nervous myself. This could be a different life for us. I need to be more focused with her studies. FYI, I am a LAZY mom. I'm no ambitious tiger mom. Realizing that P1 is the start to studying just stresses me out. I don't want to be a kiasu parent. But I don't want her to fail too. 

She needs to make new friends all over again, start in a much bigger school, I'm so worried whether she can buy her own food (she should, because nowadays I ask her to pay her own stuff). I just pray she'll like it and she can adapt nicely. 

Rana on the other hand is going to school with auntie school bus whom she already knows.. Has friends whom she already knows. So it should be easier for her right? :D. I want to be there to send them all off on their first day of school and I'm squeezing my brain in how do I do it. 


So anyway.. 

Milestones....

Asha
1. Really into drawing
2. Really into minecraft
3. Milk teeth still intact, wonder when it'll start to fall off
4. Still cranky and annoying when sleepy
5. Survived Starwars movie in the cinema 
6. Bathe by herself most of the time, eats by herself most of the time 
7. Her eczema comes and goes but it's there most of the time and aggravated by wrong soap and hot weather. Now I'm only using Fix it balm and coconut oil. I do use steroid sometimes, but I realized that it will always come back and it will only get bigger. Unless she has an infection I avoid its usage.
8. She's now attending art class, mandarin class (private), swimming class. All by her own request. 

Rana
1. Potty Trained (I'll post details on this in a separate post)
2. Needs to cut her hair
3. More singlish than Asha, better Indonesian spoken
4. Happy singing dancing toddler

My reminder. 
DO limit their ipad hours  slowly. They are quite balanced but just in case.
Asha is entering her 7th year. I have trained her slowly to pray Maghrib, but I need to prepare her for other times as well. My homework is how to make her understand that this is obligatory. I hope madrasah teaches the importance. 

Asha 4 yrs 10mos, Rana 23mos

Since September eczema attack everything was more or less under control for  Asha. When she eats something which has dairy contents her eczema would itch and flare red a bit. If this happens it will take about a week to recover. Sometimes it just flares up and I don't know why. Maybe something she ate from school.

We found 3 new stuff that helps:
1. Emu oil. This is good to help fix broken skin underneath. Unlike aveeno which kind of like protect the skin from outside.
2. Shea butter cream. This is a cheap and pretty good moisturiser. It's easily absorbed too.
3. Tea tree oil. Now I know essential oils are not so much recommended due to its dangers if used not in proper dosage.. But it really helps the irritated skin and reduce the itch. I usually give it night time when she tends to get itchy due to aircon.
Asha's Milestone

Despite her eczema she is progressing well. Nowadays she takes more interest in trying to read everything that she can read. And it has improved as well. Even though we still need 2 days to complete a thin book but I'm sure it'll improve. She is as usual such an active outdoor kid. Actually both of them are. That's why I like bringing them outside to parks where they can roam free.
She lost 1.5kg since her eczema attack in September. I hope all those food goes into fixing her gut so she'll get better soon. She will be a K2 student next year! I'm so excited!! But it's still very difficult to wake her up in the morning. All the whinings and cryings sometimes gets in my nerves.

Rana's Milestones

Her vocabs increased a lot. I can communicate with her easier even tho sometimes I still don't understand what she wants. She's very expressive tho. She's a very active, brave, and carefree girl. Got a slight problem sometimes with her bowels. I'm still trying to figure out what to do best. Always fight with her sis, likes to disturb the sis, picking up fights, high sense of competition with her sis. I think this sharing concept sink in real slow. Cos I remember me and my sis always fight over things til we were big hahahaa.

My (and Asha's) Eczema Fight

It has been a few months since the first allergy attack. To tell you thr truth since that day her right foot skin was never the same.. And truthfully the eczema actually spread. But since it wasn't flaring nor  very itchy I only put some creams daily. So everywhere she goes she wears socks.

Until last month end of August. We went back from a Hari Raya visit and my friend gave her a box of cow milk! Otw home her face started to swell and she had a worst round of allergy attack. This time it really spread. And the skin became so inflamed it hurt when it went under the water.

I finally resorted to a 3 days dose of steroid when the doctor said her skin was infected.. Not done with that, a week after that she got hfmd which makes it worst and she even got allergy hives at the end of hfmd.

Me and asha was really at the end of our wits. She kept on crying and scratching and i kept on yelling and pinching. I went back to see the doctor and she gv me desowan for the hives.

You see i was never a fan of steroid creams. But I believe that using it for 2-3days will be less harmful.

Since start I started browsing for ways to improve her eczema. I tried soaking her in epsom salt. Give her high dose of Probiotics. But this time round i was so determined to try everything.

Turns out that the high dose of lacto gg from the start was not a very good choice. I read somewhere that it's better to start off in small doses for the body to adapt before moving on to higher dosage gradually. Before the 2nd allergy flare up it was showing improvement but then after the flare ups we were back to square one.

I tried a few things but during my absence from work I noticed that even with all the recommended supplements and her skin even under constant Moisturizing is still so dry and flaky and it didn't show any improvement at all. Something must be wrong from the inside. So i watched her diet and decided to take out soy milk from her diet and watch and see. I searched for the milk replacement and decided to try on rice milk or air tajin in Indonesian.

Alhamdulillah several days after that it wss showing tremendous improvement. I believe in the leaky gut theory which i believe it is better to heal her insides first before the skin could get better.

So in short what worked for her 2nd allergy management is:
1. Take supplements which boosts her immune system. I bought the oceankids supplement since it was no gelatine. And contains zinc and echinachea.
2. Take omega 3 supplements or give salmon once in a while to boost regeneration process
3. Take Probiotic. She took 100mil dosage per day for a few weeks. Followed with 1 bil dosage etc til mb one day she can handle the 20bil dosage.
4. Take high dose of vit C. For her it's max 500mg a day.
5. Take virgin olive oil. Here it's sold as Oliva forte in guardian or Watson's. 60ml for $89. Expensive but worth a try. Some articles said that virgin coconut oil helps too. If i was in Indonesia I'd go with virgin coconut oil since it surely will be cheaper.
Moisturizing wise I bought:
1. Maya severe eczema cream for worst conditions and Maya eczema cream for normal conditions.
2. For her cracked skin I used the Maya skin healing cream that contains turmeric which is really good for anti inflammation and anti biotic.
3. Moogoo Soothing Skin Cream. THIS cream is good for skin that needs moisture for long hours. Plus it helps your skin to fix the top layer of the skin which most eczema sufferers are having problems with. I usually only use it at night. Cos Asha always said the cream stings at the beginning. So I only apply after she is asleep.

When the Health Champion shop is out of stock on Maya products I used other creams which contains no fragrance and no parabens at the very least.

Alternatives:
1. For flare up skin i used physiogel AI cream which you can only get in hospital pharmacy
2. Under control eczema skin i used physiogel cream which you can get just anywhere
3. Cetaphil cream for extra dry skin
4. Aveeno baby eczema cream
5.Neosporin eczema cream
(the last two items can only be bought from US ol shop. I usually buy from iherb.com.  Some ols in Singapore has it but i forgot the names)
6. Cetaphil/physiogel lotion for other parts which has no eczema

That's about it I guess. Combinations of a good diet and extra knowledge of what can be done to resolve the problem naturally is a must. I actually don't want her to grow up with some food total restrictions. I am determined to introduce her allergens again as she got older bit by bit. But for now I want to let her digestive system to heal and mature first.

One more thing, i know all mothers love to see their kids eat more. But it is said that in order for the gut to heal faster don't over burden it with too much job a.k.a don't overeat. Makes sense. Explains why Bram's eczema usually subsides during Ramadhan. So I do not force her to eat nowadays.

I also noticed that since then she has been getting more sleep which is good. Means her body is repairing itself more.

In the end all the efforts are meaningless without prayers. I prayed day and night for Allah to lessen her pain, relieve her from her eczema and give me strength throughout. The knowledge above is only possible because Allah guides me and the strength Allah lent me.

About Allergies

Last week, approximately on Tuesday her legs are suddenly full of red bumps. Signs of allergy. My kids get small allergies alot. It usually comes out and once we stop the allergens it will jz disappear.

But until thursday it's still spreading. On friday it spread to her face. And I thought oh well it should subside soon. On saturday it was worse. Half of her face was swollen. She couldn't open one eye. I panicked. We were in Batam, I was sick too and didn't know where to go. I only brought zyrtec with me.

So I went to local pd. I suspected he doesn't tend to kids with eczema problems often.

This is my first time turning to steroids. I didn't want to use it but it was really bad and sudden I was scared it would spread elsewhere.

One of the few things that made the flares worse was the heat in Batam and the dusty air. It made it all really bad. Her face becomes more itchy when we went out of the air conditioned room. Plus I stopped all her dairy products temporarily. Especially her cow milk. Yogurt is still fine, cheese as well..

Now back in Singapore. First thing I did on Monday morning was...I took her to her usual Pd. She gave me the same type of steroid but made by original manufacturer in FRance, cream for the face, lotion for legs. She never gives steroids to my kids, ever. Just this once. She told me no more than 5 days. I used the steroid from the Indo pd for 2 days already so I can only use the new one for another 3 days. She gave me physiogel AI cream as well. The super expensive cream which apparently works even for Rana last time round. For antihistamine she told me to give 2 diff types. Aerius for morning and Zyrtec for night.

Alhamdulillah she looks better now. Plus today Allah gives me a cool wonderful weather to help her heal her eczema.

I did ask the PD abt the trigger cause I myself have no clue what it was. I suspected it was the chicken seaweed that we bought. She said it could be the additives. I don't think it's MsG. There must be another stronger additives inside it. Or maybe a preserve additive.

As far as I know, Asha is sensitive to shellfishes. But now I realize I must be cautious when buying frozen foods as well. And any other things with additives. This one when I looked it up was a product of China. So never ever buy anything from China!

I didn't enjoy my holiday in Batam. Even though I enjoyed the hotel. But left me with footnotes and lessons learned for next trips.

Rana 17months, Asha 4yrs 4 months

Asha

She's in K1 now. She's learning spelling, writing and spelling in school. Arabic and English. Reading... We'll get there eventually. Speaks mostly in English. With some mixed bahasa.

She enjoys outdoor playing more nowadays. Lesser ipads. She gets along better with her sis. She loves apples and watermelons.

She still nags for attention and whines. Still hard to wake up and get ready for school. Still listens more to the teacers compared to us. She is now 105cm and 18kg.

Aura

Rana is active. Likes to wrestle. Loves hanging around with people. She eats whatever her sis eats.

She speaks randomly for words. But ibu is very difficult hahahaha. She is about 10kg now. She walks everywhere run everywhere and so lovable.

She still sleeps early and wakes up early. Still allergic to cow formula. She is small in stature big in energy. She's a very expressive girl. Her biggest milestone is her increasing vocabs, and she can tell when she wants to go poo poo. Her frequent word is "mau mau".

Asha 4yo

She is officiallly 4yo!!

Her milestones:
- she is growing up. Now it is easier to reason out with her. We still fight occasionally but not that bad. Now she is only whiny if she's hungry or sleepy
- able AND willing to eat on her own. Using spoon and fork. Well sometimes she's just lazy but she is willing now
- shows interest in books and writing and spelling. During holiday she writes and draws evrywhere. Including my walls.
- she slowly learns to spell and can memorize words. She can imitate writing too
- attention span is long enough to watch a 90mins movie on movie cinema.

I wish she grows up well but I sure will miss the lil Asha :')

Rana One Year Old (+1month)

The thing is.. I am just too busy. I am sorry but I really was too tired to post anything. Until...I installed blogger on my android (like doh where hv I been?)

Rana's milestones are:
1. Kept on babbling. She's very communicative as in she is talking with body language that is so clear she could literally speak it. But no new words yet, so far just ayah,teteh. No ibu people!
2. I noticed her soft motoric skills are getting better. She is able to use fingers for anything. Such as teearing up bread, holding up pencils, pick up small objects, peeling off stickers.
3. Walking wise.. She's improving. Now once in a while she'd walk on her own but I can see she's not confident enough yet. She seems to still be more comfortable moving around on 4. Hope to see her more on 2 in the future.
4. Like her sis. She sooo loves music. Just dances to anything with tunes. Oh, and she sings! Babbling of course, musical babbles.
5. She understands NO! So if I say no she will shake her head and stop doing it. Oooooorr.. She will pretend to stop n when I look away she'll do it again.

Her vaccinations:
Just took her MMR vaccine. Scheduled for PCV vaccine next month.

Her food.
She eats more variety of food now. Good thing is some items are slowly eliminated from her food allergy list. She turns out to be able to tolerate fresh milk. And now she's fine with white egg and cheese. But i found other processed food using skimmed milk etc she still can't take.
She still eats normal rice witg veggie and meat. Just that i give up with no salt no sugar. I try to limit her exposure though. And it's hard. Whatever Asha eats she wants.

Another Virus Attack

This is October.

Time for a season change, and the time when viruses breed. The most common virus is FLU! As usual, Asha got it, Rana got it, Ibu got it.

Another sleepless nights, runny noses, coughs, and whiny kids all day long. Trips to the doctor. I guess so being exposed often to viruses is good, in a way.... Builds up their immune system.

Get well soon kids!

The End of My Breastfeeding Journey

Rana is only 11months old. She stopped breastfeeding abruptly when she was 10months old. She was sick, having runny nose, and teething. She started biting on my breast and when I turned her down she started to pull a nursing strike. Which people say might last one to two weeks. And so I waited, and tried, and two weeks went by. And I finally accepted the fact that maybe this is the end of it.

It wasn't easy for me. Cos I breastfed Asha for 2 years full and enjoyed every minute of it. It was bitter for me. Lots of things went on my head. Did I try not hard enough? Did I do every possibility to get her back to the breast? How will our relationship be? Even then I always leave her at home while going out with Asha. I was scared I won't be as close to her as I should be.

But still, in the end, I still need to accept and cope with the fact that she is not wanting the breast anymore. So for the last month I tried pumping as often as possible. But now at 11months, my supply dropped significantly. Bare minimum. I could only provide a bottle of 4oz a day. I'm not sure why, but maybe one of the reason is because I often skip the pumping schedule when we needed to go out. Also these last week I was dead tired cos the toddler and the baby was both sick.

And now I am facing another horror truth. It might really be ending sooner than I expected. Would she be okay without my milk? I am really at dead end...

Of course rather than weeping over my helplessness over the fact I am now preparing myself mentally to accept that fact fully. I'm just praying that til she hits 1 year old I can still pump out that 4oz.

On the other hand, she is just growing perfectly. She's a fast learner, a generous baby, demanding baby at the same time. And even though she doesn't fall asleep sucking on my breast like her sister did, but she still fall asleep on my breast whenever I cuddled her to sleep. And though I truly recommend breastfeeding as much as possible, but even without it I don't need to worry so much.

Even though maybe later other problems will arise, I don't want to blame it to my abrupt end of breastfeeding. Looking at the positive side, I don't need to go through the screaming during wean off times.
I've had my moments, and all good things must come to an end.

I'd love to breastfeed again if Allah gives me another chance :)

MPASI Rana

MPASI Rana udah masuk ke minggu kesekian nih kayanya. Sejauh ini udah dikenalkan sama apel, pear, pisang, labu, alpukat, wortel, prune, dan nasi diblender. Anak kedua emang gak terlalu memusingkan banyak hal. Gak yang pake menu per hari gitu. Paling klo mau nyoba yang baru tinggal ke supermarket beli trus diblender pake hand blender. Nasi aja ya, saya ambil nasi dari rice cooker trus diblender pake hand blender :D.

Ga mau repot dan pusing. Karena yang kasih makan pembantu, dan kebetulan freezer penuh daging-dagingan dan susu perah, jadi saya stok makanan di cubes yang saya simpan di kompartemen kulkas paling atas. Gak banyak-banyak tentunya, paling stok makan 3-4 hari saja. Makannya kan masih sedikit

Masalah pup nih ya sekarang, sejauh ini karena makanan masih encer jadi pup masih lancar. Kalo udah 2 hari gak pup dikasih lactus untuk menghindari sembelit yang menyengsarakan bayi.

Mulai minggu ini mau mencoba pepaya, timun jepang (zuccini). Sementara sampe akhir bulan ke 7 mungkin masih encer banget. Di bulan ke 8 mau coba diblender tp agak kental sedikit. Bertahap deh. Finger food udah mulai juga, pake baby bites. Dulu Asha finger food nya apaan ya lupa. Kynya buah kukus sama brokoli rebus deh. Ntar mungkin ya bulan ke 8 gitu dicobain.

Semoga kali ini anaknya gak perlu ngalamin kaya Asha dulu sembelit mulu.

4 Weeks Full of Virus

After my husband came back, suddenly it's one virus attack after another. I meant the kids. The next week after he came back, Asha was hit with very high fever for 2 days. Doc said it was stomach flu virus, been viral for some time. Shortly after that she was coughing with some runny nose, and in a few days she was speaking hoarsely. Recovered from stomach flu within 4 days, and maybe one week to return to her original voice.

In the meantime the sister caught the flu as well and had blocked nose. Just after I thought Asha's flu was recovering, she got another fever with runny nose and some coughs. Lasted 3 days, then still continued coughing and runny nose for a week. Now at the end of the week her nose is still running but no more midnight coughs.

When I thought it was over the sister who just recovered from blocked nose suddenly is having a fever. With coughs, and runny nose. I felt so tired from all these viruses attack. Hopefully this school holiday is a great time to heal themselves and strengthen their immunity systems. Cos really I am tired of running to see doc almost every week and I am tired due to sleeplessness.

Get well soon kids!

Rana (almost) 6 months Milestones

Milestones:

- Started solid food on 25 weeks old. Fave so far, are pear and banana. Dislike sour apples.
- Has rolled and scooted using her tummy so she's as mobile as a worm.
- Last check-up she weighed 7.6kg, and measured 62.5cm in length. In comparison with her big sis, she is small.
- Just had her 2nd dose of PCV shot. Next month will be her last vaccination for the year! Which is the 6 in 1 shot. After that, the next shot will be on 18months old.
- Slept less and less
- Drinks 300ml of EBM more or less during the 8 hours I'm not home.
- Able to sleep peacefully during the night to wake up as early as 5 am to ask for milk.
- Starts to annoy the big sis, wants to play with big sis, likes to snatch whatever big sis is playing.

Good job Rana! Be healthy and strong always!

Catatan ASI dan MPASI

Sekedar catatan saja, pada usianya yang hampir genap 6 bulan ini volume ASI yg Rana minum sekitar 300ml. Sehari-hari saya memompa di kantor terkumpul sekitar 300ml. Di rumah biasanya mompa juga malam, ya paling 80-100ml.

Nah tapi ada perkecualian, saya perhatikan biasanya seminggu menjelang mens dan 3 hari pertama mens, entah kenapa produksi ASI berkurang signifikan. Dulu waktu menyusui Asha tidak sesignifikan ini. Yang biasanya bisa terkumpul minimal 80-100ml sekali pompa, di waktu PMS dan awal mens 80 ml itu udah setengah mati. Sudah 2 bulan saya perhatikan seperti itu. Jadi mungkin percaya gak percaya memang ada efeknya.

Alhamdulillah stok di freezer masih banyak jadi saya gak terlalu kepikiran.

Sekarang memasuki minggu kedua memulai MPASI. Waktu saya memulai mencoba memberi MPASI ketika dia berumur 25minggu. Seharusnya menunggu 26minggu, tapi anaknya kok seperti sudah siap ya. Jadi Bismillah saya coba.

Menu pertama yang saya coba hanya puree buah saja. Saya belum berani memberikan cereal dan karbohidrat lainnya. Takut pencernaannya belum siap. Sejauh ini yang sudah dicoba baru pisang, apel kukus puree dan pear kukus puree. Saya mengikuti aturan 3 hari 1 jenis makanan. Meskipun buah-buahan yang dicoba tidak berpotensi memicu alergi, tapi karena Rana agak alergian jadi lebih baik ambil aman deh.
Hari ini mau mulai coba sayur labu kukus puree.

So far reaksi Rana positif terhadap pisang, apel, dan pear. Cuma kayaknya dia kurang suka apelnya. Mungkin yang saya kasih itu agak kecut ya, jd lain kali mesti beli yg red washington apple kayanya. Dulu waktu MPASI Asha yang atur semua pembantu yang lama, jadi saya gak terlalu terlibat. Alhamdulillah kali ini saya bisa lebih terlibat.

Eczema Anak-Anak

Waktu Asha masih bayi dia alergi dairy products. Jadi sampai umur 1 tahun saya tidak mengkonsumsi susu sapi, eskrim yg mengandung susu sapi, keju, coklat, dll. Berat memang, godaan dimana-mana. Saat itu saya menyadarinya ketika setelah minum susu dia sering ruam popok, dan memang keluar beruntusan. Setelah lewat umur 6bln sekali2 saya mengkonsumsi jajanan dairy products dalam jumlah kecil biasanya tidak apa-apa. Ketika pada umur 8 bln ASIP saya tidak mencukupi kebutuhan saya sempat memberi susu sapi, alerginya malah jadi sembelit.

Untuk Rana, karena ketika hamil saya biasakan minum susu sapi saya kira dia tidak akan alergi. Ternyata sama saja. Lebih parah malah. Sejak dia lahir amat sensitif terhadap kandungan ASI saya. Kalau saya makan dairy products secuil aja, langsung deh keliatan. Betul-betul harus super ketat kali ini. Kemungkinan besar kalau harus ditambah sufor pun harus susu kedelai lagi.

Ketika Asha beranjak 1 tahun, alerginya berangsur-angsur berkurang, hingga sekarang dia berusia 3thn Alhamdulillah alergi susu sapinya sudah hilang. Tapiiiii ternyata dia jg ada bakat eksim dari ayahnya. Persis sama, terpicu seafood yang kurang segar. Kulitnya juga agak kasar. Sementara sabun JJnya mau dihabiskan dulu, dibantu dengan lotion QV.

Untuk Rana juga sama, sabun JJnya dihabiskan dulu, dibantu lotion QV. Saya masih belum tahu nih kedepannya bagaimana. Apakah sama dengan kakaknya? Lebih ringan atau lebih parah? Repot juga nih, semua dapat keturunan eksim dari ayahnya....

Sementara ini untuk pengobatan anak-anak kalau lagi kumat saya beri moisturiser yg berat. Seperti physiogel, neosporin. Tapi karena mahal tempat aplikasinya dipilih-pilih, hanya yang parah. Bagian tubuh lainnya pakai QV lotion. Lotion-lotion untuk bayi-bayi saya gak coba soalnya bukan buat kulit sensitif. Belum sampai tahap pakai krim steroid. Mudah-mudahan gak jadi separah itu.

Kalo bapaknya eksimnya kumat, jgn tanya, harus minum antibiotik sama pake krim steroid segala.

Mudah-mudahan sakitnya gak yang lebih aneh-aneh ya

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Sekedar update, waktu ke dsa sempet tanya soal neosporin, ternyata itu mengandung antibiotik. Jadi gak boleh sering-sering dipakai. Untung ditanyain. Sama dokternya disaranin pake moisturizer Cetaphil aja, soalnya saya komplen Physiogel AI creamnya terlalu mahal. Disini CEtaphil Ultra Hydrating Lotion sekitar S$18 yg ukuran 470ml. Physiogel AI Cream S$22 yg ukuran tube 50ml.

Aura 4 months old

She turned 4 months this 18 March. Her milestones are:
- she sleeps lesser now. Maybe about 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the afternoon. Then after afternoon bath she'd sleep until about 8pm then I feed her again. And most of the time she'd sleep all thru until 5/6 am.
- she drinks slightly more. I think still lesser compared to Asha at this age but she's growing well so far.
- she still only poop once evry week. I am so worried when she starts on solid what will happen *sigh*
- she's more alert now. Recognizes people, know how to look for attention.
- she seems to have started teething. Because she's "gnawing" on my nipple and she starts to bite things.

Nugget Ayam

Sebenernya resep ini nyontek dari blognya Anthie di link ini. Tapi dimodif dikit biar sesuai tingkat kemalasan dan selera.

Bahan:
100 gr oatmeal instan (yang merah)
100 gr ayam giling ato ayam fillet dicincang kecil
1 buah wortel serut halus
1 telur
50 gr Keju parut 

Coating:

1 telur campur garam sesuai selera

Bread crumb buat coating


Cara membuat:

1. Campur semua bahan aduk pakai tangan sampai tercampur semua 

2. Letakkan di container kotak lalu kukus sekitar 15-20menit.

3. Setelah dikukus boleh dicetak pakai cookie cutter atau dipotong kotak sesuai selera. Ketebalan juga diatur sesuai selera. Kalau aku bikinnya gak terlalu tebal soalnya anaknya ga suka yang tebel.

4. Siapkan coating. Balurkan bahan yang udah dikukus di telur kemudian dibalurkan di bread crumbs. Kalau aku senengnya setelah dibalur bread crumbs dimasukkan ke dalam ziploc berisi bread crumbs juga terus shake biar pelapisnya menempel lebih merata.

5. Simpan di freezer beberapa jam sebelum digoreng. Kalau aku biasanya bikin weekend terus baru digoreng sehari setelah ato beberapa hari kemudian.

Gampang banget dan lebih sehat! Aku tergolong orang pemalas tapi sempat bikin jadi dijamin deh semua juga bisa hahaha.

Rana 3 Months, Asha 38 Months

Rana

She has become such an adorable little baby. We went for her PCV and rotavirus vaccines on Saturday. Weigh her she was about 60cm and 7kg. SEVEN KILOGRAMS!!
In the past two months she only pass motion every week! I was a bit worried at the beginning but everyone says it's normal for breastfed babies. Most probably they absorbed everything. Even her pd said, "As long as it's not hard, she's not straining, it should be fine. She probably absorbed everything cos she has been growing very well." Starting this week she has started to pass motion more regularly. Every day or so. InsyaAllah it will continue to be so.

She has lifted her neck more often. Prefers upright position when being carried and half sitting down when she's on her back. She is very fond on strangers, has a very cheeky smile. People say she looks like Bram, but her eyes are shaped like mine. Her lips looks like my eyang putri.

She adores her big sister. Loves her company. And even though I know at her age there should be NO TV but sometimes when I put her on the living room and her sis is watching TV I just couldn't help it. She loves company, if you sit next to her she'll just lay quietly. When she's left alone she'd call for people. She loves travelling, and I mean walk around. She is in that stage where she is starting to enjoy scenery. She always looks at everything with such fascinated eyes.

Compared to Asha, she had more trouble adjusting to the bottle and less patience for slow milk flow. Now it's much better.

Asha

She is a very good big sister. Her jealousy and rivalry was worst at the first 2 months. After that she is adapting to the fact that she has a new baby in the house. Plus now there are 3 adults in the house so she could choose with whom she wants to play with. She got used to baby latching on to me and that I need to finish feeding her before I could entertain her. I try my best to provide extra time for her as well. Either for playing, walking about, go to the supermarket, just the two of us or her and the daddy.

Her speech and vocab have been growing fast. Now she goes to Zulfa nursery. So now she knows the doa before makan, before sleep, and some simple doas. Now she can draw stick man! Hahahahaha. She drew the whole family as stick people. Her cartoon fave has changed a bit, now she's into cartoon network. Geez. She loves going to the playground and play with other kids.

After she hits 3 yo, her appetite is better, her understanding is better too. Now it's easier to reason with her over things, to get her up for school and to take showers. We still have fights and bad screaming annoying days but it wasn't as bad as before she turned 3. Before this, she had 5 bad days out of 7. Now maybe 2 bad days out of 7. Her junkfood phase is slowly lessening.

I think that's about it for now. I'll post again whenever I remember to post. CIao

Two Weeks Post Partum

I'm still learning to cope up. My main problem with the tweensie is breastfeeding, my main problem with the bigsie is tantrum problem.

First Week.
I thought the second time breastfeeding I've gotten the hang of it. It turns out.. NO! I still got to suffer from poor latch on, cracked nipples, etc. First week was spent with me struggling to overcome that problem. Milk supply was no problem, it was better compared to last time but because of poor latch on I was engorged. Then I went to lactation consultant who taught me to latch on properly and helped me rid of my lumps. Within one week my nipple is healing and my milk flow is better.

My second problem on this week was, at day 6 Rana's jaundice level was 223mmol/L. Normal supposed to be around 103. The doctor did not send for phototherapy because the level had not exceeded 300 yet.

Aura Diandra Adiratna

Please welcome our newest addition to the family!!!