I'm back! Sort of...

My last entry was 2012 when we say goodbye to Pohnpei at the end of our 2 year posting and heading back to the land down under, with additional one person to the family.

And here we are now, living in Vientiane, Lao PDR for almost a year and we became family of 4.

We settled in ok, ms. A enjoying school and playing with her friends, mr. B loves playing with m. Piu our gardener/day guard and Phoung our lovely nanny/maeban and playgroups.

Mr. Husband working as usual and enjoy beer Lao so much, 'it's cheap and really tasty' he said, but he still can't convince me to drink it though, I don't like beer, period.

As for me, I try to enjoy life as a madam meaning I have someone else to look after the house, no laundry and ironing oh yeah.. well I will be doing everything by myself when we are back to the land of down under, so why not.

Stay tune for our journey in Laos, and I promise to write regularly.

Good Bye Pohnpei

Our time in Pohnpei has come to an end, how time flies and it has been 2 years since we arrived in the Garden Island of Micronesia or famous for Pohnpei.

It's time to pack our stuff and move on to the next journey, going back to Australia where I called second home. My first home still Indonesia, a place where I was born and grew up until 2009 when I decided to leave everything and follow Mr. Husband to his homeland.

When I married Mr. Husband I knew that my life won't be boring, we can move to anywhere in this globe where his office reside.

Pohnpei is my first posting but fourth postings for Mr. Husband. When I said yes, he can apply for Pohnpei I don't know what to expect, as not much information I can get from google but one thing strike me was the island remind me of my first home, Indonesia, the tropical weather, the green scenery and the people, well Micronesian and Indonesian are quite similar, dark brown skin and brown eyes.

We arrived in 9 September 2010 and yes the island reminds me of my home town (5 hours drive from Jakarta), I saw familiar trees along the road and in the compound.
I see sugar cane, casava, breadfruit, lemongrass, pineapple, coconut, papaya, soursap, banana, tumeric and even jambu or sour apple as Pohnpean called it, the main difference is rice/padi field, I don't see a single of rice field in Pohnpei, in fact there is no rice field anymore in Pohnpei not like in my home town where you will see rice field pretty much everywhere you look.

Last week the removalist have come and packed our stuff, the house is empty now. We live out of settling in kit and 3 suitcases among the 3 of us. The house feels different, mind you the physic still the same but the heart is different. Everywhere I look, I see empty shelves and empty cupboard, it feels weird and cold, it doesn't feel home anymore, it just feels empty.

Sleep Training For Adults (From A Baby’s Point Of View)

 This is funny, I got this from my BC group :)

 OK, here’s my situation. My Mommy has had me for almost 7 months. The first few months were great – I cried, she picked me up and fed me, anytime, day or night. Then something happened.

Over the last few weeks, she has been trying to STTN (sleep through the night). At first, I thought it was just a phase, but it is only getting worse. I’ve talked to other babies, and it seems like it’s pretty common after Mommies have had us for around 6 months. Here’s the thing: these Mommies don’t really need to sleep. It’s just a habit. Many of them have had some 30 years to sleep–they just don’t need it anymore. So I am implementing a plan. I call it the Crybaby Shuffle. It goes like this:

Night 1–cry every 3 hours until you get fed. I know, it’s hard. It’s hard to see your Mommy upset over your crying. Just keep reminding yourself, it’s for her own good.

Night 2–cry every 2 hours until you get fed.

Night 3–every hour.

Most Mommies will start to respond more quickly after about 3 nights. Some Mommies are more alert, and may resist the change longer. These Mommies may stand in your doorway for hours, shhhh-ing. Don’t give in. I cannot stress this enough: CONSISTENCY IS KEY!! If you let her STTN (sleep through the night), just once, she will expect it every night. I KNOW IT’S HARD! But she really doesn’t need the sleep, she’s just resisting the change. If you have an especially alert Mommy, you can stop crying for about 10 minutes, just long enough for her to go back to bed and start to fall asleep. Then cry again. It WILL eventually work. My Mommy once stayed awake for 10 hours straight, so I know she can do it.

5 months and solid

Today Ms. A is 5 months and 2 days old, how time flies when you are having fun and she's not a newborn anymore :(.

I have been stalling to NOT give her solid because when she's on solid it means she's a big girl and I'm not ready I want my baby to stay baby for a long time :). Yeah I know that's not going to happen.

Ms. A has been watching us eating like a hawk, she will stop and look at me when I drink or eat something while I nurse her, I can see that her mouth is making chewing movement and she also starting to wake up at night for feed which she usually sleep through the night so I told Mr. Husband that I want to try give her solid and see if she's ready or not.

I decided to make her food not using commercial ones, so on Friday I grinded brown rice until become powder, 2/4 cup of raw brown rice make up 1 cup of brown rice powder.

Is Baby the Best Ice Breaker?

Based on my experience from 9 months pregnant and 4 months in the motherhood gig, I can tell that baby is the best ice breaker in the world.

When I was pregnant strangers ask me how far along I am or they ask me whether it's a boy or a girl and somehow there's softness in their eyes.

When we were "stuck" in Guam for 10 days, every single person well most of people that we shared elevator with ask about Ms. A, "is that a boy or a girl?", "how old is she?", "oh she's so cute", "oh she's big for her age" and the comments will continue. Although, I'm a bit annoyed when people ask whether she's a girl or a boy when she's clearly wearing flower pink onesies.

Happy 4 Months

Time flies fast when you are having fun, I guess changing  nappies every 4 hours (give or take), broken sleep, sleep for 4 hours max, wake up at 3am, dealing with a catnapper, overtired, screaming and squealing baby is fun, right?

Ms. A is not a newborn anymore, she's more responsive now, she laughs, she smiles everytime she sees me which melts my heart, she "talks" back, she's more mobile, she grabs and hold things, and sometimes she sleeps through the night.

Happy 4 months my little possum, please stay healthy and happy for many months and years to come, and let the real fun begins.

Mummy and Daddy love you so much xoxo

Super Boobs Juice Has Super Power

One of the girl in my group share this and I just had to share it with the world.

Read the original article here

Other uses of breast milk

Want to use your extra frozen breast milk for something useful? Using breast milk can benefit your whole household!

We all know about the great benefits of breast milk for mom and baby and even the environment, but are there other uses of breast milk?

The answer is yes, breast milk can be used to actually cure a few ailments and even help heal certain diseases…it can be taken by baby, you or any other grown-ups for these purposes. 

Breast milk contains immunologic agents and other compounds that take action against viruses and parasites. 

Breast milk is sterile, anti-bacterial and can even help heal wounds and can help people heal faster after organ transplants and other surgeries.

The many alternative uses for breast milk discussed here…

Breast milk and its uses 

  

All of the below uses for breast milk or breast milk cures can be used for the whole family…

- Pink eye breast milk (eye infections). You can put a few drops of breast milk into baby’s eyes or any family members who are suffering from pink eye. The breast milk will keep the area clean and will initiate healing. You can do this as often as possible. 

- Eye puffiness or redness. Wonderful for removing puffiness and is used just as you would cows milk for the same purpose. Dab on with some cotton wool. 

- Opening a stuffy nose. Breast milk is natural and a great alternative to medications which might even make the situation worse. Just squirt a few drops into baby’s nose while he is lying down, then use a bulb to suction the excess out from his nose. 

Small Victories

It's been awhile since my last post, things happened here and there and caught me to stop posting for awhile until I have time to type with my 2 hands.

Yes, typing with my 2 hands is one of the things that I consider as a small victories in my new journey as a mother.

Why is that?

That means Ms. A is sleeping and she's not sleeping on me like she used to do in her early days. Don't get me wrong, I love the snuggles but things can be a bit tricky when your arms burn and you need to stretch it or you have this urge to go to the toilet. You try to move very little so it won't distract her precious sleep. Once, I tried to go to toilet with her on my chest sleeping, it was really tricky but it's doable and she opens her eyes and look at me like "what on earth are you doing woman?" lol, well a woman gotta do what a woman gotta do, no?

Don't judge me, I do whatever works for us.

The Day I Fall in Love

29 January 2012 is the day I fall in love with you, the day I welcome you to the world and the day I hold you for the first time in my life little Ms. A.


The journey begins when my water broke at 6.30am on 28 January 2012, we rushed to the hospital as told by midwife. She checked me and she said it's only 1cm dilated and sent me home, she gave us instruction that I should have some rest as labor can be anytime today but instead we went for a walk around the neigbourhood to speed things up. I got more contractions but still irregular so we had lunch and just chillin at the apartment.


At around 6pm the contraction become 3 minutes apart so we went back to hospital again in a hope that labor is happening, but the midwife said that it's only 2cm dilated so she sent me home again. I burst into tears because I wish to meet my little girl soon. I think the midwife felt sorry for me, she gave me medicine so I can sleep  and promise me that labor will be today. So off we go home again.

"Dear Non-Pregnant Person"

Dear Non-Pregnant Person, 

I hope you find these guidelines helpful in your interactions with pregnant women as failing to follow them may result in serious physical harm. If you are thinking, surely she doesn't mean me- then you should probably read this twice:

1) The appropriate response to a couple telling you they are having a baby is 'Congratulations!' with enthusiasm. Any other response makes you an a$$.

2) Through the wonders of science, we now know that babies are made ONLY by the mother and father- not grandparents. Unless the baby is in your uterus or you are the man that helped put it there, you may not ever use the phrase 'my baby'.

3) On the same note, unless you made the baby as defined in #2, the pregnancy, birth and raising of the child are not about you. You do not have input. No one wants to hear your opinion unless they ask for it.

4) The body of a pregnant women should be treated the same as any other body. You would not randomly touch someone's stomach if they were not pregnant, nor would you inquire into the condition of their uterus, cervix or how they plan to use their breasts. Pregnancy does not remove all traces of privacy from a woman.

5) Likewise, no woman wants to hear comments on her weight- ever. A pregnant woman does not find it flattering that you think she is about is pop, must be having twins, looks swollen or has gained weight in her face. Telling her she looks too small only makes her worry that she is somehow starving her baby. Making such comments invite her to critique your physical appearance and you may not act offended. The only acceptable comment on appearance is 'You look fabulous!'.