WHY THE TITLE?

In his comment box, Mynn, in his desperate attempt to deny that he's ready to bake some buns in his family oven (ehem ehem) lamented that his daughter Sarah now doesn't like to be hugged anymore, and wondered when Amar will start hating it too. Summing his feelings with the title of my blog as an example, once again I feel honoured for the special mention.

Does anyone ever wonder why I gave this blog such a cliche and corny title? But then again, would anyone care anyway? Haha, as if THAT matters so much.

But if you DO wonder, here's why.

Several months back, when I thought Nunu had sleeping problems, I was at my wit's end. Not only was I sleep deprived, I felt physically & emotionally drained too. . Nunu was a fussy sleeper - kept waking up every time I put her down, won't sleep in her buai, kept waking up every 5 minutes in her cot - and woke up for nen-nen fix 5-6 times every night.

I admit my patience was wearing thin, and there was no way I could get out of the situation I was in. I can't remember how many times I sat in front of the TV with a sleeping Nunu in my arms with tears running down my face due to the exhaustion.

I turned to blogging to take my mind off things. I had no friends nor readers back then. Blogging syok sendiri. And at that time when I'm feeling so exhausted playing the mommy role and my biggest problem was her sleeplessness - it came to my mind that I have to pull my socks up and deal with it. Of course there's nobody else who can help me but myself. And I told myself when I thought that if this was my darnest problem, then turn it around and make it a wonderful experience, because when it's all over and Nunu has grown up and won't like to be in my arms anymore, I'd be wishing I can turn back the time and wish she's little again.

So there. Every time I open up this little blog of mine, I remind myself that I should savour each moment I have with Nunu. Because face it, although she is mine, the fact is she won't stay mine forever. Yeah, hehe - what a ground breaking insight to gain.

Haha, another corny crappy entry from yours truly.

YOU GIVE ME FEVER... FEVER *JENG*!

So the tooth fairy came somewhere during the raya holidays, blew her fairy dust at Nunu & wallah! she has those white jagged incisors bulging in her gums. Got lotsa money under her pillow summore!

It's about time. I'm about to think that I have a prodigy here. There's this old chinese belief that if a child is 'delayed' in the tooth & hair department, and especially in their physical developments like crawling, walking & talking - the child actually has a little bit more 'up' there. I don't know, chinese people belief lah - and Martian too. That's why he opposes the use of walkers & high chairs (huh???)

Back to the teething topic, I've been expecting symptoms like swelling, excessive salivation (fancy word for drooling, eh? LOL so far Nunu doesn't drool much) & extra crankiness, but when she was down with fever a week before raya, it didn't occur to me she might be cutting her first tooth (yeah, hoping she's a genius, guilty!) Only after the fever passed and my finger felt something sharp when feeding Nunu some rice did we carry out further inspection.

It's difficult taking a pick of her little chompers, even when she's asleep. Sorry I can't do much about the picture quality.



Back to the topic of fever, I wonder this week's episode of fever & lung infection got anything to do with Nunu taking her first 3 steps at the nanny's place last Monday (yeah, and I wasn't there to witness it. Boo hoo!). I remember the elders relating fever with 'tukar bulan' or 'nak pandai apa-apa'.


Very 'pandai' all right! Scraped her chin (again!) and upper lip this time.

This is the closest picture of her taking her steps that I can get.


Eeeeehhhhh, gerammmm!

Will... not.... give up!

WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING

You may ask, why I claim the Supermom alter-ego in my blogger profile. I hope I don't sound like a pompous swellhead. Believe me, I'm not trying to show off my 'super powers' or anything, but it's more like a reminder to myself, how far I'd go as motherhood allows me too.

I have prepared myself physically & mentally for a having a child with the man I love. I know the risks and the sacrifices that I'll have to make ( I think!)

But who knows the itty-bitty things that I have to ensure on a daily basis would somehow unleash my inner strengths and stretch my parenting potentials - literally.

Yeah, I'm perpetually amazed at myself; at how I can stretch and bend forward & backward to pick things up from the floor while holding a wriggly baby who might as well be surgically attached to my tortured waist. Nunu should be glad she has a contortionist as a mother. And I'm sure my hands & feetgrew extensions coz I can reach for things that looks impossibly attainable while sometimes my toes are doing the work that my fingers should :)

And I haven't even talk about the multi-tasking. I have proved myself all the marvelous things I can do in the car. And so far I can cut up vege, cook, stir-fry, potter around the house with one arm & hand & I've even got dressed once while holding a crying Nunu in one arm. Yeah, I know, very dangerous.

Nursing time is channel-surfing time for me, and this is also the time I will fold clothes, read a book, pump more milk, snap photos, check my cellphone inbox, clip my nails (or Nunu's), mow the lawn, solve complex mathematical equations in my head (OK, kidding) while I try to wolf down whatever ever-ready food available.

I'm positively sure I'm not the only one with these superhuman powers. I thank God for them, and I wish I have more. But I have only one grouse: at night, usually past eleven, when Nunu is hankering for my 'udders' for a sleeping partner (or a smillow substitute), I can't do a single thing. I'll just have to lie there on the bed beside Nunu, eyes wide awake from all the cup of joes that's still working it's charm (which I took at breakfast, for crying out loud!) while my aching body shuts down entirely for the night though I know there's still a lot to be done.

However, I'm looking forward to all the dazzling things Nunu and I can do together when I've finally purchased this wonderful wrap.



It came today from Edwin *muacks*. Maybe from now on I can do some blogging at peace with a slumbering Nunu close to my beating heart.

SLEEP AWAY THE AFTERNOON

I have mentioned before that Nunu hates sleeping in the baby hammock that we bought her. But she would happily doze off in the hammock at the nanny's place without drama. So it boggles me whether it's the one-spring or four-springs that makes the difference or the smelly, seasoned netting they have that life-spanned to the fourth generation.

Imagine my surprise when I put her in our hammock last Sunday, and she slept for two whole hours. Ok, two blissful, quiet hours for me :)

Doesn't she look like she's floating in tufts of clouds?

SLEEPING PARTNERS

On some days when Nunu shrieks and fusses when she's sleepy (and I feel like going berserk), I truly dread bedtime. However, on some good days, she has the capacity to surprise me by calmly dozing off alongside her daddy.

BEDTIME BEDLAM, MIDNITE MAYHEM

Overwrought. I'm in dire need of a shut-eye. My head hurts. My tummy's growling. But I'm too upset to eat.

Nunu was being impossible last nite. She was too sleepy after the long trip to Alor Setar to visit my yet unnamed, newborn cousin.



At 9.30 pm, I tried putting her down to sleep after feeding her, but she kept waking up as soon as her head hits the pillow. After the third try, she dozed off, for only 10 minutes! I found her bawling and her head had rolled off the pillow to the far side of the cot, and I think she had bumped her head.
I let her suckle for a while and she dozed off again. Until Daddy came home an hour later and she must have awaken by the sound of the car engine. She was practically screaming bloody murder and this time, there was a deep imprint of the cot's bar at the side of her head.
I wanted to scream at him too, for so many reasons other than coming home so late, but I decided to say nothing, and kept holding sobbing Nunu and let her fall back to sleep. It wasn't anyone's fault other than mine, for not barricading the cot with enuff pillows (I was too worried the pillows would fall on her face and she might suffocate).
By that time, Nunu wouldnt let me go and I had no choice but to let her suckle in bed with me until she's in deep slumber. I wouldnt complain that I'm tired, but my head hurts, afflicted from so many things.
I'm in no position of changing how things are, but I can surely get that cot bumper now.

LULLABY... AND GOOD NITE...

Well, well, well. I never thought she had it in her.

As I mentioned before, Nunu's sleeping habit is really getting to me. Well, a few nites ago, when she was tired playing (and I was just simply tired), I decided to leave her alone on the playing mat as I fix myself a drink. Hearing no sounds of protests, I let her be a lil bit longer - did the laundry, washed dirty dishes, cleaned the sink, all the while peering over to the living room making sure she didnt get into trouble. All I saw was her feet, which was unusually still. Maternity instincts assured me that she's OK and just resting, so I delayed some more.

Imagine my surprise, upon returning to the living room (after thinking "enoughlah, left her so long already"), I found her FAST ASLEEP! On the mat! Spread-eagled! In front of the blaring TV! With the babygym barnyard still playing in the background summore! Waahhh, this is truly a momentous progress, I thought. Have to take a photo of this. The sheep link-a-doo I put for extra effects only lor.


Nunu, counting floating sheeps in dreamland

And this wishful thinking mommy, left her baby on the mat again this morning (which I almost NEVER do and NEVER thought possible) and came back to find the lil cherub drifting in dreamland again, all by herself.

Sigh... let's do this again, ok Nunu?

Third Moon

Nunu turns 3 months today, and my, how big she has grown now. The last time I had her weighed at the community clinic she was 5kg. Now anyone who carry her around guess she must have weighed 6-7kg already. Hmm, that's what good mother's breast milk's creamy goodness can do for a child. Good girl, Nunu!

Hmm, what new tricks can she do now? She can engage in a pretty intense conversation with her Abah now. She'd go "Ay, ay!" and "Gaaaah" and of her favourite line "Ngai, ngai!" when she's awfully hungry. Of course she thinks her constant babbles is comprehensible to us. Boy, she has no idea, does she!


the abah and the dot in deep conversation

She can't turn herself on her tum-tum yet, but she can focus on a book or a toy, get excited over it, and try to touch and hold it. Her neck and legs are much stronger and she can kick you pretty hard on the throat if you come to close. She can blow little bubbles with her drool and she can talk to the TV too. She doesn't purge that much anymore, neither does she poo that much. She gurgles and squels in delight at EVERY nappy change. Yes, even at 3 in the morning. You, lil'l sunshine, you *big yawn*

Hubby bought a baby hammock for Nunu so that she could fall asleep better, without having to go through endless hours falling asleep and waking up again a few minutes later as soon as I put her in the crib. It gets tiring for me these days. Well, I didn't mind this habit of hers at first. I thought we could cuddle up and fall asleep together on the couch. But after a week of battling her difficulty to get to sleep, I gave in. I can't get a single housework done at this rate! I never planned to have a baby hammock for Nunu, I never figured it would trouble me much and I can handle whatever sleeping patterns Nunu could possibly develop.

How wrong i was!

So, last night after her daily dosage of bedtime stories (told by the gentle, kindly voice from the DVD player), I carefully placed Nunu in the hammock. Her eyes sprang right open and she writhed and whimpered until I just had to pick her up and let her suckle back to sleep. After that, I tried to put her back in the hammock, ever so gently, and she WOKE UP AGAIN! Gosh, the pattern went on a few times, until at last, at 11.30 pm, I decided to put her in the crib, and she slept peacefully till 4 in the morning.

Fuh, who says motherhood is easy?

Sleeping Beauty

My bundle of joy


Looking at her sleeping so peacefully makes me wanna hold her tight and protect her from the harsh & unmerciful world. Then I realized God is Most Gracious and Most Merciful, and God will protect my baby. Immediately I thought of my good friend friend Zura, who lost her newborn due to lung complications just a week before I delivered Nunu. I felt so sorry for her and cried for hours, and it took days before I snapped out of it.

Precious Nunu, Mama is truly blessed to have you. May Allah protect you always, my love.