Faith Drinks from a Cup

Lost my patience with sippy cups, so I introduced Faith straight to the cup instead -- since newborns can be cup-fed breast milk, and we only introduce bottles, sippy cups and straws as transition to teach babies to drink from cup, might as well go straight to the cup then.

After many days of trying to lap, then sip, then learn to hold and swallow water; Faith made her own attempt to hold and drink from the cup on her own this evening. She's been trying to pull the cup away from my grip; sometimes hitting my hand while I try to feed her. I gave her the cup today. :) Daddy's so proud of her.


Faith Drinks from a Cup

Baby Food DIY

Faith has been developing very fast recently. Spending everyday with her makes us forget the world sometimes.

Friends have been asking how I make the vegetable and fruit cubes. K, this is how I do it.

Spinach

1. Cut and wash.
2. Steam for 3-5 min.
3. Puree in food processor till smooth. Add boiled water, a little at a time as you deem fit according to the required consistency while blending.
4. Stand to cool. Freeze in ice cube trays.
   

* Do not add water retained from steaming spinach to puree to limit the level of nitrate. Check out http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/nitratearticle.htm regarding Nitrate and Blue Baby Syndrome.

Prunes

1. Wash. Cut into halves to remove pit.
2. Cut prunes into cubes (I retain skin for more fibre cuz Faith always have constipation due to being a breastfed baby).
   
3. Steam for 3-5 min. Check if fruit is done by testing with a fork. It should poke through easily when done. (The idea is to have the fruit or vegetable soft and smooth enough to be swallowed by the babies easily.)
   
4. Blend in food processor till smooth. Add prune juice retained from steaming or boiled water, a little at a time as you deem fit according to the required consistency while blending.
5. Stand to cool. Freeze in ice cube trays.

* Each vegetable or fruit cube is equivalent to approximately 1 oz. Faith usually has one vegetable cube with brown rice cereal and one fruit cube for dessert or combined with vegetable and brown rice cereal at each meal.

* Do not use too much water for steaming, otherwise nutrients get diluted in the process of evaporating and condensing with the water used to steam. Steam with just enough water that you won't burn a hole in your wok/steamer/pan.

* Mine is a Kenwood mini chopper/mincer, not a blender. My mom complaint that she couldn't get the consistency as smooth as what I've got using a blender and my nephew could still get choked or would spit out fibre from the spinach. If you're using a blender, you might like to sieve after blending to get rid of potential choking hazards.

* I usually move the vegetable and fruit cubes into Ziplocs when they're well-frozen and have them labelled, so I can re-use the trays to prepare other vegetable and fruit.

* I always choose the freshest produce (don't mind paying more at Cold Storage or Market Place) since we want to give Faith the best in nutrition and considering the fact that we're freezing to keep, then keep the best!

I ain't expert. Just sharing what I do for my darling girl.

Happy cooking!

Bounce!

Faith said 'Bounce!' during her music class at Gymboree this morning. Both the instructor and I heard her repeating it clearly after we said 'bounce' while we bounced her on a ball as we sing along. Her instructor was shocked and couldn't stop exclaiming in amaze even when the class ended. :)

There are some words like this, that Faith only said once, then never repeats again...but I'm happy to hear them once. The important thing to me is her response and to observe that she understands. Sometimes she responses with happiness when I signed 'milk', 'eat', 'up' or something I think she wanted at that time but was whining because she didn't know how to tell me.

The bond between us strengthens by the day because of this effort in trying to communicate with each other. :)

Happy Family...Always :)

Our supposed picnic and photo-taking session for the 4 babies -- Faith, Angeline and Andrew, and Jeremy, were drenched by the early morning heavy rain. Didn't drench our fun and laughter though. :) The 3 families enjoyed our gathering as always. Thanks to Uncle CQ for the lovely photos.


Happy family...even on a rainy day when we had to move our picnic from Botanic Garden to MacDonald's at Tanglin Mall.



Getting harder to pull Faith away from something that catches her interest -- even for Daddy.


Mommy is always happy because she has Faith.

Lazing Faith

This is how Faith looks like when she lazes around. She was sleepy. She usually needs sometime to wind down before she can get to sleep.


Lazing Faith

Potty

Been trying to toilet-train Faith...really -- at her age, I'm training myself, not her. Don't want her to get stuck to the idea that 'disposable diapers are toilets' and 'toilets are big and scary for adults'.

It might be regarded as paranoia, but I have a whole stack of reasons for disposing disposable diapers for good. The biggest being eliminating the chances of getting problems like urinary track infection, nappy rash, etc. Not to mention the expenses on these. Andrew and I care less about the cost, in this case, than potential hygiene and medical problems that could arise from long hours of wearing disposable diapers.

Anyway...haven't been making much progress since I haven't done much. I will have to be more diligent and vigilant on that. I've been distracted by 101 things -- easily! I am not one who can sit still.

Finally got a potty for Faith today. It's a simple, basic looking, blue potty. No fanfare of music, toys, animal or cartoon designs -- just potty. Potty is for pooh pooh and shee shee. Main business done, clean up and go back to play. Hehe...that's what I used to think when I was very small, 'Why do people have to pee and pooh so often? Such a waste of time and so disruptive to what I'm busy playing with...hmmm...' ;p

Yeah...I was a strange kid...Andrew too. We think of things like that even before we go to preschool. Faith seem to be turning out that way too...even though she's still so small. Why am I not surprised? :p

Amen!!!

Haha...Faith said 'Ameh!' today! This girl really surprises me every day. :)

We had another wonderful day today. She was so sociable today. Daddy and I noticed her behaviour seem to modify bit by bit every day. Things that we discover that she's learnt keeps fine tuning every day...her response to strangers, the way she interact with us and her toys, her response to other babies and older children...endless list.

Both of us are always tired out at the end of the day, due to our age, I supposed. If we were at our 20s, we might have been more energetic playing with her. Then again, we might not be so patient and treasure one another in this family so, so much.

I cannot express how grateful and in awe I am, for this miraculously wonderful family He has given us.

First Trip to the Zoo

Brought Faith to the zoo for the first time today. Grandma and Jason came to stay with us the night before so we could set off earlier to avoid the hot sun. Both Faith and Jason were so excited that they both slept late.

We ended up moving around in the zoo in 2 groups. One group with Hsiu Chin and the older kids (except Baby Esther). The other group, our family with the the baby and toddler, and Shellen with her 2 Js. They are too young to understand and really look at the animals. The only times when they really saw anything was during the shows and up close at huge animals like elephants, sea lions and polar bears.

We had a good time at the zoo even though most of the time we were stopping to feed the babies and toddlers. It's a nice, breezy walk for Andrew and I. Grandma had a great time too because she enjoyed our company. :) Faith laughs a lot whenever she's with Grandma.

Updates on Faith

Faith is growing up so fast and I have been so busy with all sorts of adventures with her that I have not been very efficient blogging on her milestones...hmmm...

Faith raised her arms at me from the pram and said 'Up!' while we were shopping at Forum Galleria yesterday. I was shocked! But delighted of course. :) This is the fourth word she has said so far.

Right after she turned 6 months, she muttered 'mamamama...' one day. It became clearer when she wanted milk and when she woke from nightmares. She'd cry 'Mama...mama...'

The following week she said 'babababa...' When Daddy came back from work, she beamed immediately at the sight of him and said 'Bababa'. Then one night, she woke at 2am (which is unusual), and scratched at Daddy's back saying, 'Babababa.' Daddy was down with very high fever and hadn't played with her that day. When she didn't get a response from Daddy, she stared at the ceiling quietly for 2 seconds and suddenly said, 'Ba-ba' that sounded very clearly Mandarin! Both Daddy and I stared at her -- jaw dropped and speechless.

Last week, Grandma was playing hide and seek with her. She was screeching with excitement and when she couldn't find Grandma who was hiding behind a pillar, she said, 'umma...umma...' That stole Grandma's heart away, of course. :)

We also just realized Faith has learnt how to sit and balance herself from falling backwards when we went to our GP for her long overdue 6-in-1 jab. It's like...she's suddenly growing up so fast!

I'm a very blessed and proud mother. :)

Guess What She's Eating?

Can you guess from her expression?


Guess what Faith's Eating?

PRUNES!!! It's so SOUR but she loves it!!! :*I

Yummy ;q' Home Made Baby Food!

All the work feels worthwhile and no sweat whenever I ladle these brilliant-coloured puree into the ice cube trays to be frozen. Tonight I made spinach and prune puree.


Spinach and prune cubes for Faith

Faith has been experiencing constipation on and off after she started on semi-solid. Think her digestive and bowel system is learning to digest these 'new' food. She's such a darling...welcomes with absolute trust, any new food I introduce to her.

All the cooking and washing after she's gone to bed is worthwhile. :) Knowing exactly what she is eating, rather than hoping the ingredient list labelled on the bottles are genuine makes me sleep better too. ;p