Wearing Sara :)

Much has been talked about baby-wearing and I must admit, I was influenced by all that I read about the benefits of babywearing. You can google for the benefits of babywearing but personally for me, the benefits are:

1. Sara becomes a bit restless if we put too much layer of clothes on her but she gets cold easily so, when I put her in the sling, she will feel the warmth and will immediately calm down.
2. She still needs me to cuddle her to go to sleep and when I put her in the sling and walk, the sensation of swaying motion will lull her to sleep.
3. The sling looks so stylish and I've had more than a few people asking me how to get one (err...i dunno whether this falls under the category of benefits, seems more like vain phatmommy...haha)
4. The sling is sooo convenient, I can even eat sizzling mee and steamboat while carrying Sara.
5. It helps a lot during Sara was about a month old, when she refuses to be left alone and wanted to be carried around all day. Sara even helps mommy wash the dishes, hang the clothes, tidy up the house...hihi
6. It can double up as a blanket in the car seat or in the stroller.
7. But, most importantly, Sara loves it and that alone is all I care about.
   

All in all, I'd say I have an amazing journey with the baby sling. I know a lot of people think that wearing the sling is quite troublesome but I promise you, once you have the hang of it, it will be no trouble at all. However, having said that, my hubby is still having trouble with the sling. As for where to get the sling, I'd recommend searching for it online. There are a lot of online baby stores offering various choices of baby slings. I bought mine for RM65 from this website (the cheapest one I could find because I wasn't sure I'd be able to fully utilize it) but there are very gorgeous choices out there. You can also try here for beautiful designs.

There is one more alternative to baby sling which is the baby pouch. It is relatively easier to wear as you don't need to adjust the length. But since me and hubby are wayyy different in size, we opt for the sling instead. But I'm still contemplating on buying the pouch especially seeing these pictures.

To dear hubby, if you read this, our baby wanted you to know that she's bored of the turquoise sling she wishes to be carried around in this pouch :)


For those interested, these pouches are from wanitamelayu.com (look for moleygarden hotmama pouch). thebabyloft.com also offers variety of choices on baby pouch and sling. For those of you who are interested on wearing your baby but don't know how, you can also search on youtube about babywearing. Loads of short clips are available on how to properly wear your baby. As they say, practice makes perfect so be patient if your first baby wearing experience gave you shoulder ache or back ache or if the baby cries. I sometimes even hesitate to put Sara on her stroller, car seat or on the bed watching her cute face sleeping so peacefully in the sling.

Sara @ 1 1/2 month old refusing to be put down so I have to carry her around in the sling :)

Sara the cover girl :)

Sara's little "car"

Remember I mentioned I wanted either Maclaren Techno or Quinny Zapp for Sara's stroller? Hehe, I ended up buying her a Maclaren Quest. We went to OU on Sunday along with Cik Ngah to look for the stroller. We went to EVERY baby shop in OU and as usual, Mommy couldn't resist buying Sara's clothes. Hehe.

Anyway, we went there to compare prices on the Maclaren Techno, but after some demonstration by the sales assistant in one of the shops in OU, we decided that techno is wayyy too big for our compact car. We ALMOST bought the Quinny Zapp with the Maxi Cosi seat (this is after hubby saw a baby sleeping contently in one of those) but I insisted on buying a Maclaren Quest. Sara's almost three months so there would be no problem for her and besides, she's a big baby. Most people thought she was 4 months anyway.

I've done research on the Net on how much this stroller costs and found out that it retails at RM849 at Mothercare, RM809 at littlewhiz.com and the cheapest is RM764 at mybbstore.com. After hours of fruitless search, we decided to go to mybbstore in jalan kuchai lama but on our way back to the parking lot, we stumbled across one more baby shop and decided to just ask the price since we saw one on display. And the price for the stroller is only RM679. Can u believe it? That's like THE CHEAPEST MACLAREN QUEST EVER. Hehe, dunno if anybody found one cheaper than that, but I am satisfied with my purchase and so does my little angel. Hehe.

Stroller-mania

I have been searching high and low for the best pram/stroller/buggy (whatever you want to call it - its still basically a thing to put your baby in :)

However, there are million of good choices out there. I'm currently eyeing the quinny zapp and maclaren techno. As I'm driving a very compact car, I really need a stroller that can be folded as small as possible. The only gripe I have with the Quinny Zapp is the lack of recline for baby to sit cormfortably. But it can be folded oh-so-stylish like this :


However, in order for me to fully utilize the Zapp, I'll need to buy the maxi-cosi cabrio seat which will cost me another RM700++. Currently, littlewhiz.com is having a sale and the Zapp is only RM799 which is the cheapest deal you can find in Malaysia. Call me a scrooge but I think spending almost RM1600 on stroller alone hardly worth the usage. But I'm seriously in love with the compactness of this stroller. Waaaa....

As for the Maclaren Techno, it can't be folded as small as the Quinny Zapp but it can be used from birth and the seat reclines to four position so that Sara can sleep cormfortably. The retail price is RM1200 (still too expensive for my liking). I've tried looking at other brands but none seem to met my expectation...

So, eventhough I am on the net almost 10 hours everyday, I can't find time to update my blog because phatMommy is busy looking for the perfect stroller for her little angel.

My Little Princess

People say that a picture is worth a thousand words....

and I wholeheartedly agree :)

Sara's update...

Eventhough I have just updated Sara's progress a week ago, there have been sooooo many changes in her...I'll try to make a list of all the new things that Sara can do now..

1) She loves sucking her finger

2) She loves riding in the car sleeping away in her car seat

3) She loves sleeping in her baby sling (eventhough I think my frame is too small for her to sleep cormfortably)

4) Her hair grows sooo rapidly (thank god! I got tired of answering my angel is a GIRL...)

5) She can now respond to people calling her name and can babble for a maximum of 15 minutes at a time...

6) She gets mad and WILL POUT if she wakes up and nobody is by her side...(such a spoilt child..huh)

7) If I feed her at twelve midnight before she goes to sleep, she will sleep peacefully until 4am.

8) She loves singing along to "pok amai-amai", Twinkle twinkle little star and play peek-a-boo. Too bad I can never seem to get a perfect picture or video of her chuckling and smiling to all the songs.

9) Sara now weighs 6kg...that is what probably cause me my chronic backpain...

Hee....

I just couldn't resist snapping this pic....tee hee hee

My Little Baldy

I have always intended to shave all of Sara's hair. So, the day after the cukur jambul ceremony, my mom came over to PIL's house. Nenek (my mom), Atuk (my dad), Mak Tok (hubby's mom) and Tok Bah (hubby's dad) were the ones responsible for shaving Sara's head. Hihi. Of course Atuk only voiced out a few suggestions here and there and Tok Bah was the one actually doing the job. I'll let these pictures speak for themselves.

Before

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MY LITTLE BALD ANGEL

Sara's "Cukur Jambul" Ceremony

On 7th March 2008, my little angel had her "cukur jambul" ceremony at her granny's house in Kuantan. We arrived in Kuantan the night before around 2am and I was afraid Sara would have one of her tantrums during the ceremony. But, lo and behold the most best-behaved baby in the world.....

I feel like shouting and telling all the other babies "Look, this is how you should behave in a kenduri!" Heh. Anyway, the ceremony went on smoothly with a few glitches here and there.

Before the kenduri, I made cupcakes as gifts to all the guests. It wasn't perfect as I had to pipe the icing with my right hand while my left hand is carrying and cuddling Sara.

I promise lots of people photos, so these are few of the photos of my little angel with both sets of the family.

Sara with hubby's family (her great grandparents, Uncle Shazril & baby Elisha)

Sara with Nyai, Mak Ngah & Mak Su

Sara with the youngest granny and aunties... :)

Since I was not able to hold a camera, I had to depend on my SIL to snatch pictures here and there. But, she was under the assumption that Sara was the princess of the day, so we end up with no picture of the actual event. Anyway, during the event, first we had the berzanji and marhaban. Then, I carry Sara on a kain songket to the elderly for them to snip a little hair. I carried her to about ten different people who snip her hair, put salt, sugar and dates to her mouth and kiss her but my perfect little princess didn't cry even once. I was beaming with pride. My child is such a good baby. Heh.

Then, we had the endoi or a ceremony in which we put Sara into a swing. Her swing was bought by my parents-in-law and decorated by her Nyai. My little princess looks so small and scared when I put her in the swing. Heh. The ceremony ended around 11.30am. All in all, the ceremony runs smoothly. However, I do feel a bit pissed because there was no photo of the actual ceremony. Grrrr....

I invited my dear friend and ex-housemate, Wani to the ceremony but she couldn't come in time because of work. However, she did come in the evening. I last met her when I was 4 months pregnant. She looked beautiful and her daughter is adorable. Damia is such a good girl and soft spoken with a big voice. Hehe.

At the end of the day, I felt exhausted but satisfied. It was good to meet friends and family and it was certainly heartwarming and touching to see the ceremony. I feel like my little angel is growing up so rapidly. To Sara, remember that both sets of grandparents worked hard for this ceremony. Everybody loves you very much and Mommy hope that you will be a good daughter, granddaughter and niece.

Sara's Passport

Today, we took Sara on her first outing. My mom and sister took the day off to settle our passport arrangements. Although I am back to my pre pregnancy weight, I still can’t fit into most of my regular clothes. Grrr….Anyway, after checking the immigration website, we decided to go to Metro Kajang. When we arrive, we asked around for the immigration office and were told that they have moved a looonnnggg time ago.

I was enraged. What is the purpose of having an official website when you don’t even update the information in it??? We end up having our lunch and taking our passport photo there. Remember I told you that my Sara is the cutest baby alive? Hee hee, she certainly is but her passport photo begs to differ. Haha…take a look at this pic.

I HATE SPECULUM

I swear, whoever invented that item is one sick person...they bloody hurt...I HATE SPECULUM!!!!!!!!!!