My mom's not working today and we decided to go on a date... our first after Gabby came along. For the past 2 over months, every second of our lives revolves around little Gabby. We loved it that she's here with us, but we kinda needed to spend some time together... just the 2 of us. So, mom agreed to babysit Gabby while we went out on a lunch date.

We bathed Gabby, got early lunch for my mom and off we went for our date. We made plans to come back within 3-4hours. So we went to Serangoon Gardens for lunch. There's this old skool Russian steakhouse that's been there for the longest time and we decided to give it a try. Nothing fantastic at all! Not yucky, but we definitely won't go back there a 2nd time. Shashlik at Far East Shopping Centre is better. I remember there was this building along one of the lanes where we can find cafes to chill out at. But when we got there, the building was in the process of demolition! So we gotta find another place to chill...

We ended up at Olio Dome in Bishan CC. Sat down, ordered his coffee, my iced chocolate and a piece of cheese cake (I've been craving for it...) and spent the rest of our date chatting about everything. I really missed times like these. Really had my mom to thank for babysitting Gabby so we can afford to spend time like that once again.

My mom's not working today, so she's home helping me take care of Gabby. I was in the room, washing and sterilising my breastpump and Gabby's bottles. When I walked out, I saw this...

My mom was patting her to sleep and as she was falling asleep, she held on to my mom's hand... sometimes, she would hold on to our fingers when we're feeding her. So cute... and it feels good when she holds on to my fingers... :)

They say tummy time is good for me... it trains my neck and prepares me for crawling... hehe I can't wait for that to happen! I kind of like being on my tummy... but only for a little while. I don't like to be in this position for too long. Because in this position, I can't do my kicks and punches in the air... :p

I forgot which day exactly, but our little girl has started to become really responsive. She would smile sweetly at us when we talk to her and respond with her sweet coo-coo, as if she's chatting with us. Sometimes she will be really cheeky, especially with her Daddy. She loves to talk to her Po Po too, even though sometimes Po Po tend to be a bit lor-soh... haha

Today, I caught her in her cheeky acts. Earlier in the afternoon, she was taking her nap on her cot which is in our room. I popped in to check on her. As I walked near the cot, I saw that she's awake. When her eyes caught mine, she quickly shut them up and pretended to be sleeping... Then later in the afternoon when I was feeding her, she got cheeky again. I was watching TV while feeding her. She seemed to have stopped, so I wanted to check if she's asleep. She was actually watching me watch TV, but when she saw me turned down to look at her, she immediately shut her eyes and pretended to sleep again. hahaha... it was really cute.

I love watching her. Just one little grin from her melts my heart.

I bought this CK onesie for Gabby because it has her Daddy's name on it. Calvin even wanted to change it to "Calvin's baby"... so I did it in soft copy for him. haha

A couple of weeks ago, we bought Gabby a Fisher Price rocker chair. I wanted to get her a rocker chair so that I can have her within my sight when I'm doing stuff around the house. Before the rocker chair, she can only be in the sarong or the cot. So I'm always paranoid about how is she and what she's up to when I can't see her.

We put her in the rocker chair that same evening we bought it. Guess what's the first thing she did when she sat in there? She POOED!!! And it was a major one. I even video-ed it. I've watched the video over and over again and it still never fails to make me laugh out loud. It was really funny! And for the next few days, she always poos whenever she sits in the chair. I guess the angle and posture is really conducive for her to do her big business. Because of that, we call the rocker chair her poo-poo chair.

Now, she does other things in the poo-poo chair too.

~ Gabby doing big business in her poo-poo chair, with her kek sai face ~
I love to see her kek sai face... I think it's really cute.. hehe

~ Gabby relaxing and kiao-ka-ing in her poo-poo chair ~

~ Gabby sleeping soundly in her poo-poo chair ~

~ Gabby getting bored and yawning in her poo-poo chair ~

~ Gabby listening attentively to Po Po in her poo-poo chair ~

I saw how convenient it was for Nicole when she put her Cheyenne into the hotsling. I wanna use a baby sling too. So that I can carry Gabby around the house and still have both my hands to do stuff. So that I can bring her downstairs to get lunch and still have both my hands to make payment and carry the food. And I think I absolutely need a baby sling to bring Gabby to the nanny when I get back to work. I need to be "hands-free"!

Fiona has kindly given me her Moms-in-Mind babysling as her boy doesn't like it. Then I asked Nicole for her recommendation since she has tried both. Her recommendation: Hotsling. I like! hehe... I was secretly hoping she would recommend the hotsling... cos the vainpot in me is at work. Hotslings look so so much better than the MIM one... hehe

So I ordered mine online through amazon together with other stuff and my dear friend Nicole has kindly helped me with the shipment. The parcel arrived quite some time ago but I couldn't find time to try it on. I finally did a few days back and today, I tried again. It wasn't easy to squeeze Gabby into it. It took a while, and of cos by then, my little baby is getting warm and agitated. Check out her face... she doesn't seem too happy to be in there. Dunno if it's cos she's agitated from the handling, or she's not properly placed in the sling, or she's feeling too warm in there, or she simply doesn't like it.

My conclusion: I'm gonna try again when she has better neck support. When that happens, I wouldn't have to put her cradle carry position and we can progress to the front carry position. And hopefully, she'll be more willing to be in the sling when she gets to look around.

In any case, I like my hotsling... it's red and it has flowers... hehe

They say we can start taking off their mittens from the 2nd month onwards. This is to start stimulating their sense of touch and train their motor skills. So, since I've learnt to cut her nails, I decided to give them a good file and take off her mittens yesterday.

This morning, she was sleeping soundly when I went by her cot to look at her. She stirred a bit and as I calmed her down, she held on to my finger.... BLISS! (^_^)

Esther and Joeel came by to see Gabby 2 days ago and brought along her yummy blueberry and banana muffins. They were yummy snacks for the hungry mommy... hehe...

Esther messaged me after she visited that day and offered to bring me dinner today... and look what she prepared for me!! Calvin's training program changed and he's at home today too. So Chef Esther prepared 1 more bento set for him. I LOVE THE PRAWNS!!! Very yummy!!! Thank you sooooooo much Esther. MUACKS MUACKS!!!!!!

Today is one of the most challenging days for me. Home alone with an overtired baby who can't get to sleep. My Gabby seems to have difficulty falling asleep today. She kept yawning and rubbing her eyes... I tried putting her in her cot, in her sarong, in her rocker, on the sofa... but none of it works. The one that works best was the sarong. At least she'd be able to doze off for a longer duration But, the minute I stop rocking her, she stirs and wakes up and gets frustrated. So she was only able to sleep for a max of like 15min. I could do nothing at all today. Most of my time was spent rocking her in the sarong.

I ordered McDelivery for lunch and had to eat my burger while rocking her. My milk expressing session was extremely delayed. I wasn't able to sit down at the pump to express my milk... until about 6 hours after the previous session, I suddenly remembered that Calvin's sister passed me another handheld breast pump! I just had to put batteries in and I can rock her while I express. YES! What a relief for my twin peaks!! Thank God!

I was extremely exhausted by the time my mom came home at about 5plus in the afternoon. And by that time, my Gabby was also extremely exhausted and she finally succumb to her own fatigue and fell asleep. So good to see her finally sleeping...

Mommy finally mustered enough courage today to cut my fingernails... hehe.. She has 3 different types of nail clipper/ scissors to choose from. Daddy and Mommy bought 1 that has a magnifying glass, Auntie Noi and Uncle Randy bought a grooming set for me for Christmas and Auntie Nicole bought this pair of scissors for me.

Mommy chose to use this pair of scissors and she says it's actually very easy to cut my nails! YEAH... I've have nicely manicured nails from now on.

Errrm... looks like Mommy needs a manicure too! :p

We had plans to go shopping yesterday but since our little girl was cranky the whole night through the night before, we postponed our shopping trip to today.

Xifen, Jo and Fei came over last weekend after attending Hoi's baby Remy's full-month party (my Gabby would have her full-month party on the same day if she had one.. :p). Jo was telling me about her breastfeeding experience, how she handles her pump and expressed milk now that she's back at work. And she showed me her Fridge-to-go. This is exactly what I need.

As my baby doesn't latch on to me for her feeds, I had to feed her with formula milk whenever we went out. With a fridge-to-go, I can feed my baby with breastmilk! So we went to Taka as there's a fair for household stuff and Fridge-to-go had a booth there.

Gabby has been a very good, or should I say sleepy girl today. We put her in the car seat initially. She sat there quietly for a while and then started to fidget and get cranky. Think she doesn't like to be in there. So I picked her up and carried her. She fell asleep in my arms in no time.

~ Gabby in her car seat (hand-me-down from Uncle Vincent) ~

She continued sleeping when we put her in her stroller. And we thought she's gonna wake up within the next half an hour so we quickly went into Crystal Jade for lunch before she starts stirring. Lesson learnt here: DO NOT order porridge when you bring along a baby. We kept thinking that she'd be waking up soon so we had to eat quickly. How to eat a piping hot bowl of porridge??!! In the end, our baby slept through our lunchtime.

She slept and slept as we shopped through the household fair at Taka Square. And she slept and slept as we shopped for a rocker chair at Taka's children's department. And she slept and slept as we strolled to Wisma for a coffee break. By this time, we decided that she has to have her feed soon. So we walked back to the nursery in Taka. When we stepped into the nursery, both Calvin and I wowed at their facilities. They've got more than enough changing stations, they've got a sofa and some chairs for bottle-feeding parents, they've got a breastfeeding room and they've also got a hot water dispenser and a sink for washing. This is the first baby room in a shopping mall that I've been to and I must say I'm quite impressed. I wonder if any other shopping mall has such good and comfortable facilities.

~ Calvin feeding Gabby in Taka's nursery ~

It's almost 5 hours since we've been out and I need to go home... go home and be a cow! Gabby, oh Gabby, why won't you latch on to Mommy? Then we can hang out longer...

My brother got us this very very pretty, practical and easy to use wrap. It's so convenient compared to wrapping her up in muslin wraps. All you have to do is to put her into the pants-like pouch. When it gets cold, you can wrap her up with the 2 flaps at the sides. The hood is also easily pulled up to cover her head. When she's fully wrapped up, she looks like a little pea pod... soooo cute!!! (^__^) Now we call this wrap the pea-pod-wrap.