TEN months old!

Okay, two more months to a year old. Breathe mummy breathe. WHERE DID ALL THESE TIME GO TO?

I don't think winter is a good season for my baby. She is still unwell. So, now on top of nursing a cough and a bad throat, she has the running bottoms. I feel so bad for my darling especially when I am being less than patient with her. I know that she is fussy as she is unwell but I sometimes get so frustrated after an entire day of dealing with it that I have no avenue of letting it out except on her. No, I do not beat her! I do, however, raise my voice at her to "stop it" (whatever she was doing that was bugging me). And of course after that, I am all guilty and would tell her that I'm sorry but I think the damage was done. I do try to catch myself before I raise my voice. I would normally just walk off to cool down. Of course she is in a safe place like strapped to her swing or in her playarea or her cot or exersaucer when I do that. Yes, I admit, I am no perfect mum and I can only try my best and at the end of the day, I am only human.

Back to my baby girl. She is TEN months old and is getting cheekier by the day. She makes me laugh so much.

New things she started doing over the course of the last month:-
1) Hold more than 1 thing in her hand, e.g. two balls or two cups or a ball and a cup etc.
2) Says papa with TOTAL recognition (and such love that I'm overwhelmed with jealousy)
3) Points to something that she wants with her index finger.
4) Drink from a small cup rather independently. (I usually put a small amount of liquid in it and have to remove the cup after she finishes).
5) Pull to a standing position by herself and tands for a good minute or more while holding on to the rails on her cot.
6) Play intelligently with her toys. E.g. she has a Tiny Love Musical stack and play toy that she can insert the balls into the cone to activate the music.

Not something that she does but still a milestone. Her top two teeth are out! And boy is she happy to use them!

At this age normally babies mimic a lot and so does Laetitia. Sometimes she tries to repeat the things I say and occasionally, it sounds pretty close. And she loves to chatter to herself or her toys too. I can't wait for her to start talking. :)

Play time.

Here's what she does at home when I leave her in the play area....

Attempting to stand by herself. Hiding under the bed

Seems like it's a lot of fun. Thank God for moments like these when I realised how cheery my baby is. It's very much needed especially after my horrible experience yesterday at the Paris metro where I was robbed of my handphone. I am still not over it. :(

What Laetitia has been up to...

So, it seems to be that Laetitia is suddenly picking up skills faster and faster.

For the last couple of days, she has been trying to hold more than one item in her hand at the same time and when she does succeed, she is absolutely delighted. Here's a pic of her finally managing to hold 2 stacking cups in her hands while I was feeding her and how gleeful she looked.
And here's papa and baby acting silly. These two are so in love with each other. Frankly, sometimes I think she loves her papa more. She would call out "Papa" with such love in her voice when he comes home but I have to beg and beg for her to call me "mammmm" or "ma ma" and she would not relent. sigh....

First tooth and many more coming!!!

Laetitia's first tooth has emerged! And it's the top left tooth instead of the bottom as it "normally" happens with most babies. I totally missed seeing it and Etienne was the one who pointed it out to me. I was concentrating on the bottom right tooth which is still trying to breakthrough. And of course now I notice that the top right is on it's way too. So, it looks like my baby is going to have quite a few all at one time.

The tough part is, I think she is in quite a lot of discomfort for she has been whinging a lot. At the same time, she has been having fun trying to chomp down on my shoulders, fingers, face, legs, basically every part of my body that she can get her mouth to! Soon, I'll have to sternly tell her to stop. Now I'm cutting her some slack since she is in some kind of pain.

Check out the little spots of whites on her top left of her gums.

The flu bug got her this time.

Well, my baby is sick again. :( It's not the new tooth which is making her grumpy and giving her a fever, it's the flu. And my poor little thing has been so ill this last month that she has not been putting on weight. She is only 100g heavier than a month ago. We went to a new Paediatrician as I felt that the previous PD prescribes medications (e.g antibiotics and cortison) too quickly and does not sufficiently explains the purpose of the medications nor the illness/recovery process to me. It's hard for me when my baby is ill and even harder when I do not get information of what is really going on. Plus, I do not like putting too much medication in my little one. Ha! I don't even believe in taking medication myself when I'm sick. *Not that it's a good thing when I am really ill.* Anyways, the new PD is great. Although I did come home with numerous medications, two were vitamins which he explained would be helpful to build up Lae's immunity since she has been sick relatively more these last two months. Another one of the medication was homeopathic. He also told me to call if Lae does not get better within 2 days. I was advised to give Lae more fluid in terms of juice or milk as she needs the calories since her weight gain is on a low side for the month. So far, this PD's approach is very agreeable for me.

So, in view of the fact that I should help Lae get back on track with her weight gain, I am more determine than ever to make sure she eats well. I went to buy some fresh produce for cooking her meals and got her the biggest spinach leafs ever! Don't believe me? Check this out. ONE SPINACH LEAF is bigger than my palm!

I made spinach, tomato, carrots and lamb porridge for her today. I think it was yummy since she finished the entire portion (200ml) given to her.

Onto more fun stuff, last Monday, my friend, fellow Message mum, Parisa, came over with little Amelie (or Millie as we affectionately calls her). The kidlets had a good time playing. Here's a lovely shoot of the two cuties.

A tooth is breaking through!

Finally after months of people telling me that Laetitia is teething (how they can see the little white pearlies just beneath the gums etc), it is FINALLY breaking through.

I can totally see it, feel it and she's having a fever and is grumpy. I hope it's just a couple of days before the tooth is fully out. Poor darling has been so off her normal behaviour.

On a side note, I have been trying to be more adventurous with Laetitia's meals. Normally she will have carrots as the main vegetable. I usually cook her vegetables in a slow cooker with rice to create a mashy vegetable porridge. This week, I made meals with celery (it's adventurous since I do not take vegetables and have to think "out of my box" for interesting vegetables aside from the normal carrots and green beans). It's the first time I'm cooking with celery. I didn't even know how they should looked like in the supermarket! I am also trying to vary the meats that I give her. I mean, it's boring to be having chicken, pork and beef all the time. I would get sick of my food too if I had to have the same things all the time. So, this is her new lunch menu for this week.

Monday, she had steamed seabass blended with carrots, celery and rice porridge.

Tuesday it was steamed duck blended with carrots, celery and rice porridge.

And today, she will be having steam rabbit thigh blended with turnip, celery and rice porridge.

Hear me ROAR!

One favourite thing that Lae loves to do now is ROAR. hahaha. She has this cute little roar that she does. I love it. She mimics a lot now and whenever Etienne or I make the roaring lion sound, she would happily do the same. Sometimes she would attempt to roar and gobble my arm or face at the same time!



And here's my baby just giving one of her many expressions.

A visit from Alrik and his parents

Alrik and his parents, Caroline and Pierre, came over for a visit late this afternoon. Pierre and Etienne work together. It's nice that we're able to get together in a more social context. It's wonderful to have some friends in the same situation, e.g. married with the first child as there are so much to share about in terms of experiences and of course silly things the babies get up to.

We spent a lovely time together and managed to capture a few photos.

Happy New Year!

Here's a cheeky grin with the tongue sticking out for the New Year! For 2007, Lae will stay for longer periods at the garderie! On Tuesdays and Thursdays she goes to the garderie from 12pm-7pm (though in reality, I only bring her in around 1.30pm after her lunch and picks her up around 6.30pm). On Wednesdays and Fridays, she goes from 4pm to 7pm. I will have to start searching for a school to resume my studies of the "wonderful" French language. Maybe I should take it from Sharon and start a simple French blog for Lae... or maybe not so soon. :p